My Science School

One of the most fascinating aspects about owls is their ability to rotate their heads. Of course, it's a myth that they do a 360-degree turn, but they can rotate it a good 270 degrees. For comparison, we humans can turn our heads only to about 90 degrees left or right. So, how do the owls do it? Let's find out.

Before we get into the details of how owls are able to turn their heads that much, it is important to understand why they need it. Unlike many other creatures, owls have eyes fixed in their sockets, and so, to see, they must move their heads. This helps them look for prey as well as avoid predators. For long, it was a mystery how owls could rotate their heads so much without damaging the blood vessels in the region. It was solved by researchers a few years ago.

So flexible      

One reason for the easy head rotation is the way an owl's head is connected to its body - the joint offers greater movement. Apparently, the birds also have multiple vertebrae, which gives them an extensive variety of motion. But the more important reason lies in the bird's blood vessels. The researchers discovered that "owls have backup arteries, which offer a fresh supply of nutrients when blood vessels get closed off by rapid turning". The arteries also expand to allow the blood flow to continue without any disruption. It's interesting how researchers found this out. They used as many as 12 dead birds for the study, and injected dye into the dead owls arteries to mimic blood flow and manually turned their heads.

It is said that though the owl is most noted for this head-turning ability, it may not be unique to it. For instance, some types of raptors or birds of prey too seem to be able to turn their heads nearly as much as owls do. But, it is perhaps more crucial to owls because unlike many other raptors whose eyes are located on the sides of their heads, owls have their eyes situated in front. And so the birds certainly needed some help in the head-rotation department!

 

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Spiders are fascinating creatures. Master builders who expertly weave strands of silk into intricate webs, spiders use these both as their home and their hunting grounds. Human beings have been enthralled by the spider's ways and there have been many who have wished to enter the spiders world to learn more about web construction and arachnid behaviour.

Notes from the web

In April 2021, a group of researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) along with collaborators at Studio Tomas Saraceno reported a way of translating the structure of spider's web into music. As spiders live in an environment of vibrating strings with different frequencies, which they use to sense the world around them, researchers decided to extract these rhythms of non-human origin and convert them to music.

In order to achieve their objective, a laser was used to capture the spider web. The 2D cross-sections thus obtained were then reconstructed into a 3D web network using the aid of computer algorithms. Next, different frequencies of sound were assigned to each strand of a web, thereby creating notes. These were combined based on the web's patterns to create melodies. By creating a harp-like instrument, the researchers then played the spider web music in a number of live performances around the world.

3D printing

Apart from the wow factor that such a research provides and the fact that it could act as musical inspiration as well, researchers have identified a number of other uses that might come in handy. After gaining insights into how spiders build their webs, the step-by-step knowledge could be used in constructing 3D printers that mimic these spiders and hence might be able to build complex electronic circuits.

Communication with spiders

Additionally, these experiments showed that an algorithm was able to correctly classify spider sounds into different activities, even though they sounded similar to human ears. This means that the time when human beings learn how to communicate with spiders in their own language may not be that far away!

 

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The 2008 Pixar movie "Wall-E" portrays the story of a robot that diligently cleans up garbage left behind by humans in a post-apocalyptic world. The futuristic world is devoid of life - no humans, no birds, no plants and no animals, but for one. A cockroach, which keeps Wall-E company. Can cockroach outlive everything on Earth? How did the myth come to be? In a paper titled-The Cockroach Papers: A Compendium of History and Lore, author Richard Schweid tried to trace the origin of the myth. He noted that cockroaches were reported to have survived the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombing. And the notion that cockroaches are immune to nuclear radiation started to spread.

So, what's the truth? Cockroaches are not immune to radiation but are 10 times more tolerant than humans. They are incredibly adaptive and can survive in any environment because of their eating habit. They can survive without food and water for weeks. They can also live without head for weeks. If our head is cut off, we would die of not being able to breathe, and also bleed to death. But the cockroach has an open circulatory system and simply continues to breathe through its spiracles. The neck would close up and clot. There's no uncontrolled bleeding. But it would die of starvation as it can't eat without the head. Yes, cockroaches have been around for 300 million years, outlasting even the dinosaurs, but their lifespan is after all 18 to 24 months.

 

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Cicadas are winged insects related to aphids. Apparently, there are at least 3,000 species of them globally. Among them are three species that form the Brood X (for Roman numeral 10) cicadas, noted for their unusual lifecycle. What is it? Let's find out!

There are two types of cicadas -annual and periodical. As the name suggests, the annual cicadas emerge every year, and the periodical, well, periodically. And the period is either once every 13 or 17 years. Brood X cicadas are periodical, and emerge once every 17 years. The females lay their eggs on trees, and when the wingless nymphs emerge from the eggs, they fall from the trees and burrow into the ground. And then the 17 year wait begins. Through the 17 years, the nymphs feed on the fluids in tree roots and grow slowly, molting through five growth cycles. After 17 years, they emerge from the ground en masse. Once they come out, the nymphs shed their skin to become winged adults. Of course, it may take a short while for the adults to get their hard exoskeleton, making them more vulnerable to predators. But the number of nymphs that emerges is so high-we're talking billions here - that despite threats from predators, these insects manage to survive in large numbers.

While there are many theories, it's not clear why they take so many years to come out. But what is apparent is that they know when exactly to come out, thanks to 'an "internal tally system" that tells them when it's time to surface. Though the timing of emergence could vary slightly among different locations, they always wait for the soil to be warm enough".

Between this May and June, billions of Brood X cicadas will emerge in at least 15 States of the U.S. They will be extremely noisy, but will not harm humans or agriculture. Within the few weeks that the adults live, they'll mate and lay eggs. The last time they emerged was in 2004. The next time they emerge will be in 2038!

 

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A mice infestation in your home could give your parents sleepless nights. They would swing into action, setting up traps to get rid of the rodents as quickly as possible. Mice are not only troublesome pests, but also dangerous. They eat away our supplies, damage our books and belongings and make a terrible mess of the house. And they also contaminate food and spread diseases. Now, imagine the plight of residents of rural Australia, which is witnessing the worst plague of mice in decades.

After years of drought, rural New South Wales and parts of Queensland enjoyed a bumper crop due to the recent wet season. But this influx of new produce and grains has led to an explosion in the mouse population. While houses are trapping dozens of these rodents every night, supermarkets tally crosses hundreds. Residents complain of unbearable stink whether the little mammals are alive or dead. Eyewitness videos shared online show thousands of the tiny rodents swarming around farms and streets. It is quite a nightmarish experience for farmers and businesses alike. Some unlucky farmers have lost their entire harvests to the mice. Hotels in the infested areas are closing their doors to visitors. The plague so far has estimated to have cost the businesses upwards of $30,000.

Locals say they started noticing the swarms up north in October 2020, and the wave of rodents has been spreading south ever since, growing to unimaginable proportions. Intensive baiting programmes have so far had little success against the infestation, and locals are hoping for a temperature drop or a heavy rain to drown the mice in their burrows. Efforts to poison the mice are backfiring as their carcasses started appearing in water tanks.

Not uncommon in Australia

The mouse plague has occurred several times throughout parts of Australia, usually in the grain-growing regions. Australia and China are the two countries where plagues of mice are known to occur.

What causes a mouse plague?

The breeding season in mice begins in spring and continues into autumn, given suitable weather conditions. One pair of breeding mice can produce a new litter every three weeks, potentially birthing over 500 offspring in one season. A female mouse reaches sexual maturity in 5 to 6 weeks. When the food supply is abundant the breeding season could extend well into autumn and lead to a population explosion. Most plagues end in July when cold winter conditions stress the population and when food becomes scarce.

 

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Though dreams are understood to be linked to mental functioning, their deeper implications continue to remain a mystery. Even today it is not clear what exactly causes dreams or what their roles and impacts are. While the experience is universal, is it unique to humans? Maybe not.

Initially, it seemed as if it would be difficult to ascertain if animals had dreams. However, over the last few decades, scientists have been getting closer and closer to finding that out. In fact, recent research would have us believe that it is likely that animals do have dreams.

In 2015, a team of researchers discovered that when lab rats are shown food and then go to sleep, certain cells in their brains seemed to map out how to get to the food", and the team likened this to a dream (of "their path to a reward"). Decades before this study, another study had found that cats were perhaps seeing images during their rapid-eye movement or REM sleep.

Interestingly, humans dream during REM sleep, and most mammals, and even certain birds and reptiles are said to go through REM sleep. A 2012 study showed "cuttlefish exhibit a sleep-like state accompanied by color changes, twitching, and rapid eye movements similar to REM sleep".

And, something similar has been exhibited by the octopus too - as revealed in a study published this March that could be linked to dreams. A footage shot by scientists in Brazil showed that an octopus delightfully named Marshmallow-lying at rest at the bottom of her tank, was "suddenly shifting in color from a pale white-green to brown and then orange, as her muscles twitch, suckers contract and her closed eyes shift around". These sophisticated creatures experience at least two different types of sleep, and one of them is "active sleep", similar to REM. The scientists say that the footage raises "the intriguing possibility that, like humans, octopuses experience dreams".

 

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Penguins have adapted to life in the sea rather than in the air. They may not be able to fly and they may look clumsy when they waddle about on land, but in the water they are superb swimmers. In fact, penguins swimming and diving in the sea are so graceful they have been mistaken for dolphins or porpoises.

Penguins have wings, but they are short and stubby compared with the wings of birds that fly. Penguins' wings are stiff at the shoulder too. They do not have elbow joints either. So penguins cannot fold their wings like other birds. But these sturdy little wings make great paddles in the water, where penguins are really at home. They are also useful for helping the birds along on land when they are frightened or just in a hurry. You will see penguins flapping them furiously to get up a bit of speed. For most of their es, though, penguins are well equipped with the wings they have. In any case, flying wings would be useless to them underwater.

 

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Most of us need eight hours sleep a night. Horses can get by with only half that amount - and unlike us they are able to fall asleep standing up, without falling over!

In the wild, horses are prey to wolves and other animals. Lying down, they are much more vulnerable than they are standing up. So over millions of years their bodies have developed a way of staying upright even when they are asleep. Although most horses no longer live in the wild, they can still fall asleep as their ancestors used to.

The reason they are able to do this is a unique system of ligaments - the cords which bind bones together. A horse's ligaments act like a sling over its whole body. These can lock its joints into a fixed position, so it can stand upright without any conscious muscular effort while it sleeps. It is a pity human beings have not developed a way of doing this. It could be very handy for long queues or travelling on crowded trains!

 

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When it comes to stealthy hunting, the chameleon takes some beating. This strange-looking lizard moves with slow, deliberate action and has a number of remarkable skills. It can catch and swallow its prey in a fraction of a second - one twenty-fifth, to be precise. It can look in two directions at once. And most celebrated of all, it can change its colour and markings to blend in with the background. This makes it almost impossible to see.

To do this the chameleon has special colour cells in its skin. It can look more brown or green, lighter or darker whatever is needed to match the surrounding foliage.

The chameleon's camouflage makes it very difficult to spot, but it also has amazing eyesight of its own. It can move its eyes independently and in any direction. So while one eye is scanning upwards in search of food, the other can be watching out for insects moving below.

It is even tougher for an insect that a chameleon does spot. Its long sticky tongue, sometimes as long as its body, can shoot with deadly accuracy and incredible speed. Insects can be caught and whipped back into the chameleon's mouth in almost less time than it takes us to blink.

 

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It is not to prevent it sneezing and scaring away its supper. No polar bears are cleverer than that. They are very cunning hunters.

In summer polar bears stick to a largely vegetarian diet. When the plants they feed on die off or are iced over in winter, they switch to eating meat by catching seals and fish. There is not a lot of cover in the Arctic, where polar bears live. And there is seldom enough to hide a huge bear up to three metres long. Being white helps a polar bear blend in to the background. But it is not all white. Its nose is black. So to hide this from their prey, polar bears have been seen holding paws over their noses to cover the one black spot that might give them away.

 

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All fish need oxygen to live - just as we do. But most fish use their gills to extract oxygen from water. So they do not breathe' air as such.

However, there seems to be an exception to every rule and in this case it is the lungfish of Australia, Africa and South America. As their name suggests, they can take oxygen from the air.

Lungfish are the last survivors of a group of animals that lived in an earlier period of the world's history. This was the time when animals started to move out of the water to live on land for the first time.

Today's lungfish live in dry parts of the world where the swamps which are their homes dry up in summer. When this happens they burrow into soft mud and breathe air until the rainy season brings water again. Some lungfish have survived for four years in this way.

 

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Before you shout out an answer, it is not to store water. It may be quite true that camels can store a huge amount of water. They can drink over ninety litres in just ten minutes. But they keep this elsewhere. Humps are stores of food - well, fat actually.

Out in the desert with nothing to eat or drink for days on end, a camel can live off the water stored in its belly. In the same way, the fat in its hump provides the nutrition it needs. When camels are fit and healthy their humps are large and firm. But by the end of a long desert journey, when the reserves of fat have been used up, the humps are flabby and may droop.

 

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Millions of years ago when the earth was still young, the land that now forms the Himalayas was an ocean floor. A lot has changed since then and today the Himalayas are the world's highest mountains. They rise to a peak at the summit of Mount Everest - not far short of nine kilometres above sea level. So what turned an ocean floor into a mountain range? The answer is a huge build-up of pressure.

The earth's surface is formed from gigantic rafts of land, known as tectonic plates. Sixty million years ago the plate on which India lies started moving. It moved northwards towards the plate that the rest of central Asia sits on. In between India and Asia at that time was the sea. And when the two plates crashed together the ocean bed under the sea was crushed. As the Indian plate kept pushing north, the sea floor buckled and folded. One layer of rock was squeezed up and piled on top of another. After sixty million years the effect is dramatic. The sea has long since disappeared and in its place stands a mighty mountain range separating India from the rest of central Asia. The process is still going on and experts think the Himalayas are being pushed slowly upwards, perhaps growing as much as five centimetres a year.

And what about the sea shells? Buried in some of the rock high up in the mountains, climbers have found the remains of shells that once lay on the floor of that ancient sea.

 

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Most of them go to the big fly heaven in the sky. In that case, you may say, how come there are so many flies the following summer? The point is, they do not all die. A very few survive. Some last out the winter as adults. Others make it through to spring as unformed flies known as larvae or pupae.

As soon as the weather turns warm again, the surviving flies set about making up their numbers. And they do this at a staggering rate. One estimate is that a single pair of flies can produce over 300,000,000,000,000 offspring in one season. That is why there are so many flies around the following summer.

 

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Crickets are very sensitive to air temperature – so sensitive that they act as living thermometers. Crickets are cold-blooded and their bodies work faster or slower depending on how hot or cold the air around them. This relationship between activity and temperature I very accurate. By doing a little mental arithmetic it is possible to calculate the temperature in Fahrenheit by counting a cricket’s chirps.

There are two ways of doing this. You can count the number of chirps in one minute. Then take away forty. Then divide by four. And finally add fifty. The number you end up with is the temperature in Fahrenheit. That is the most accurate way.

A simpler, but rougher, method is to count the number of chirps in fourteen seconds and then add forty.

In both cases you will have to do another calculation to convert the Fahrenheit temperature, if you want it in Centigrade. To do this subtract thirty-two from the Fahrenheit total. Then divide by 1.8. Your answer will be the temperature in Centigrade.

 

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