Dr. Ken Baker
At this time of year, the internet is flooded with “Top Science Stories of 2022” articles that tell both the good news and the bad news of the year. Spectacular images of the distant galaxy captured by the newly deployed James Webb Space Telescope and his Nov. 16 launch of Artemis I by NASA will help the nation to return astronauts to the moon in 2025. is the first step in…
And then there is Russia’s war on Ukraine, which is attacking international space and climate science programs and causing global energy and food crises.
With so many important reports, not much has changed the world this year: parrot bandits in Australia, self-medicating dolphins, grumpy octopuses, uncombed hair syndrome, poop pills, problematic deer and more. You may have missed some of the stories that weren’t. Along with the transition from summertime to autumn.
A few years ago, a few sulfur-crested parrots (large white parrots) living in the suburbs of Sydney figured out how to open plastic bin lids to get their discarded food scraps, and in the process shook the neighborhood. This behavior was soon imitated by other parrots and is now a widespread problem in much of the area.
Even rubber snakes don’t frighten these birds
Ecologist Barbara Crump has studied an intriguing cultural arms race between evolved species. The rubber snakes planted by people were quickly ignored, and weighting trash can lids with bricks worked for a while, but parrots eventually learned to push them away with their heads. Let’s face it, some residents have found that stuffing bars into the lid hinges has a deterrent effect…at least for now.
For ten years, wildlife biologist Angela Ziltener has been diving and observing pods of bottlenose dolphins in the northern Red Sea. In May, it published a report of a recurring phenomenon in which the dolphin alternately rubbed two types of his coral with one of his sponges.
Dolphin with coral, sponge for skin care
Ziltener’s team identified 10 compounds with antibacterial and antimicrobial activity released from corals and sponges. It’s scientists’ best guess that the chemicals help protect the dolphin’s skin from irritation and infection.
According to a report published in November, an Australian dark octopus (actual name) living in Jervis Bay off the southern coast of New South Wales becomes grumpy when another dark octopus gets too close. In a 24-hour period of underwater photography of a group of 10 octopuses, the researchers recorded 90 incidents of female octopus throwing debris (mainly silt, shells and algae) and 12 incidents of male octopuses. did.
17 throws actually hit another octopus. Octopuses typically defend themselves by crouching or raising their arms. To the fish he threw twice and to the recording camera he threw 12 times. Instead of picking up debris with its arms, Gloomy jets water from a siphon, a flexible tube that allows animals to move water in and out of their bodies.
We don’t often discuss human biology in these columns, but how can we resist the breakthrough of uncombed hair syndrome? There are about 100 cases. This is a condition in which a person’s thin, silvery hair sticks straight out of the head, like the white fluff on the head of a dandelion seed.
Amounts of hairspray or gel don’t make hair fall down for long, but the condition often improves with age and doesn’t seem to be associated with any serious health problems. , found that 71% of the 107 cases were associated with mutations in a single gene called PADI3. This caused hair shafts that were triangular rather than circular or oval in cross-section and grooved rather than smooth.
‘Poop pills’ fight allergies
… called a fecal microbiota transplant. In February, a team led by Rima Rachid, an allergist and immunologist at Boston Children’s Hospital, found that 15 people with severe peanut allergies received 36 “fecal pills” containing stool from healthy donors with no food allergies. published the results of a small but promising study ingesting
Previous research suggested that the bacteria in the encapsulated tasteless and odorless pills may boost the immune system’s ability to protect against severe allergic reactions.4 months later, 15 people all subjects showed a significant ability to tolerate small amounts of peanuts. Before you blow your nose on such treatments, remember that 32 million Americans suffer from some type of food allergy.
In general, there are more than 2 million deer-vehicle collisions in the United States each year, accounting for approximately 7% of all collisions. Wildlife biologist Laura Prue’s team analyzed her seven-year data from 23 states to find out when the collisions occurred, and found that nearly 10% of the time, the fall switch from daylight saving to standard time. I found out it happened right after.
The spikes occur in the middle of whitetail deer mating season, when many drives shift to nighttime when the animals are most active.
K.en Baker is a former professor of biology and environmental studies. If you have a natural history topic you’d like Dr. Baker to consider in a future column, please email your ideas.fre-newsdesk@gannett.com.
