My Science School

Black kites, whistling kites and brown falcons are known as "firehawk raptors". They help spread wildfires in places like Australia by picking up and dropping lit branches or embers onto fresh patches of dry grass so as to scare out small animals. It makes it easier for them to swoop down to catch the fleeing prey.

Ongoing bird research will help answer questions, of course. “There’s loads to find out,” Bonta says, citing recent findings. “We just learned in 2016 that birds’ neurons are packed differently. They’re way smarter than we thought. We’re just beginning to understand avian memory. Crows’ problem-solving ability is amazing. There are a lot of tool-using behaviors.”

Part of the reason Westerners may have trouble accepting the concept of firehawks, Bonta suggests, is our lack of connection to our environment: “Westerners have done little but isolate ourselves from nature,” he says. Yet those who make a point of connecting with our earth in some form—he uses turkey hunters as an example—“have enormous knowledges because they interact with a species. When you get into conservation [that knowledge] is even more important.” Aborginal people “don’t see themselves as superior to or separated from animals. They are walking storehouses of knowledge.”

Credit : Penn State Altoona 

Picture Credit : Google

The Asian giant hornet is the largest hornet species in the world. Native to Southeast Asia and China, they can grow up to 2 inches long. As their sting can kill people, they are also called murder hornets. Considered an invasive pest, they pose a threat to the honeybee population.

The hornets like to create their nests by digging tunnels underground or using tunnels already dug by other animals. Their main sources of food are other larger insects, tree sap, and honey. Similar to the previously mentioned wasp species, Asian giant hornets also have a large stinger that contains a potent venom. If they sting something they usually release large amounts of venom, which can be lethal to humans if it occurs several times repeatedly. This is the reason why these wasps are often called murder hornets. Several Asian giant hornets were also spotted in the Pacific Northwest of North America, which caused mass panic because of how dangerous they can be. However, there were only several sightings and it is unclear whether more will continue to appear. 

Asian Giant hornet are social wasps that build a new nest yearly underground in abandoned rodent burrows or sometimes in dead, hollow trunks or the roots of trees. Nests can house over 300 insects. 

Similar to other social bees and wasps, the Asian giant hornet colonies are made up of one queen and non-reproductive female workers. In the springtime, queens will emerge from overwintering to feed and search for a suitable nesting site. She will build a nest, forage, lay eggs, and care for the young.

Once about 40 workers have reached adulthood, they take over foraging and caring for the colony, while the queen remains in the nest and lays eggs. At the end of summer, the queen will produce reproductive males and next year's queen.

In the fall the males will leave the nest and wait outside the nest entrance for the new queen to emerge. When she emerges, males will ambush and mate with her. After mating, she will look for a place to overwinter until next spring.

Picture Credit : Google

The grasshopper mouse found in the deserts of North America, howls to proclaim its territory. Do you know what it feeds on? Its main diet consists of scorpions, centipedes and other scary insects. Before feasting on its prey, it lets out a high-pitched cry into the night sky.

The three species of grasshopper mice – all members of the genus Onychomys – are among the most carnivorous of all rodents. These are not adorable grain-eaters. Grasshopper mice are agile little predators which regularly take on prey as large, if not larger, than themselves. Insects, scorpions, lizards, and other mice make up about ninety percent of a grasshopper mouse's diet. And, like other carnivores, they roam relatively large territories but have low population densities – a swath of habitat can only support so many hunters.

Since the diets of grasshopper mice are so different than those of their herbivorous relatives, we would expect their jaws to reflect this different lifestyle. But exactly how grasshopper mice diverge from their plant-eating cousins has been a matter of debate. In a 2006 paper on the jaw anatomy of the northern grasshopper mouse Onychomys leucogaster, anatomists Kazuhiko Satoh and Fumihiko Iwaku proposed that the carnivorous rodent had a relatively weak bite force but a wider gape compared to plant-eating mice. This seemed to be consistent with the predator’s attack strategy. Chewing grains all day requires a good deal of crushing power, but cutting into flesh and insect carapaces might not require as much force. Evolution had caused the grasshopper mouse to sacrifice bite strength for a wider gape to enfold its unfortunate prey.

Credit : Wired

Picture Credit : Google

Grapes and raisins are a big no for dogs and cats, as they are toxic to them even in small quantities. Though what substance in grapes causes the toxicity to these animals is still not known, what is known is they can be potential threats to them causing sudden, acute kidney failure and eventually death.

It isn’t quite known why grapes and raisins are toxic to pets. Some experts agree that mycotoxin, a fungal byproduct, is the culprit. Others believe that pesticides sprayed on the fruit could be responsible. Making matters even more confusing, some pets are able to eat the fruit without suffering any negative effects. But, even if you don’t know the cause, it’s just too risky to feed these fruits to your furry pals.

Grape or raisin poisoning symptoms usually appear within a few hours after your pet eats the fruit. Clinical signs include increased thirst, lethargy, diarrhea, and vomiting. Kidney failure, or renal failure, can occur without treatment. For this reason, always keep your veterinarian’s phone number on hand to call in the event of an emergency. If you know or suspect that your pet has eaten grapes or raisins, take him to your local vet immediately. 

Credit : Waterdown 

Picture Credit : Google

As you may be aware, microorganisms are extremely tiny that they can be seen only through a microscope. But did you know that they are the most abundant and diverse life forms in the world? And there's so much more we don't know about them yet. Discoveries about these organisms are being made frequently, and some of these do not fail to surprise us humans.

Microorganisms thrive in extreme conditions such as heat or cold, and it is not surprising that they live even in the polar regions, among the harshest in the world. The deserts of East Antarctica have "little available water, temperatures are below zero", and the winters are pitch-black without any trace of the sun, and yet, just a single gram of soil here can host "hundreds of bacterial species". So how do these Antarctic bacteria survive? On air!

A recent research has discovered that they live using energy sources such as hydrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide found in air, which also contains nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide. Though these energy sources are found in very small quantities in air, air itself is so abundant in the region that these organisms have unlimited access to these sources. The research suggests that "90% of Antarctic soil bacteria may scavenge hydrogen from the air. The bacteria gain energy from hydrogen, methane and carbon by combining them with oxygen". These bacteria consume atmospheric hydrogen even at temperatures as low as-20 degrees C. and they have enough to meet all their energy needs. And not just that! When these bacteria harvest energy from hydrogen, they get water as a byproduct. It keeps the bacteria hydrated, and this is a huge bonus in a place that is covered almost always in ice and where the moisture in the air is sucked by the cold air.

Picture Credit : Google

The perception that one's mobile is vibrating or ringing when it's not. It is characterised as a 'tactile hallucination' since the brain perceives a sensation that is not present. Psychologists say that detecting a vibrating/ring phone has become a habit, and the slightest muscle twitch or feeling of clothing moving could be misinterpreted by the brain.

Majority of cell phone users report experiencing phantom vibrations, with reported rates ranging from 27.4% to 89%.

"I think it's a little scary how dependent most of us have become on our devices," she said.

Smith said sometimes she suggests students go on a media "fast" and avoid using digital devices for a period of time.

"They'll typically report back, 'I couldn't go an hour,'" Smith said.

Phantom vibration syndrome isn't really harmful -- in the study of college students, more than 90 percent said they considered phantom vibrations to be ''only a little'' or ''not at all'' bothersome.

But some believe it's a warning sign that too much technology may be hazardous to human interaction. Smith says our attachment to devices becomes a serious problem when it keeps us from engaging with other people in the here and now.

"The remarkable prevalence of phantom vibration syndrome appears to reveal somethingabout our contemporary technological situation," writes Georgia Tech assistant professor Robert Rosenberger, Ph.D., in a recent analysis published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior. Habits, anxiety, brain chemistry and other factors may all contribute, and he says more study is needed to fully understand what's going on when we sense phone vibrations that aren't really there.

Credit : CBS News

Picture Credit : Google

Turritopsis dohrnii is known as the immortal jellyfish. This small, transparent creature begins life as a larva called a planula that settles on the sea floor and grows into a cylindrical colony of polyps. These spawn free-swimming, genetically identical medusae - jellyfish which grow to adulthood in weeks. In response to physical damage or starvation, they revert to an earlier stage of their life cycle, transforming back into a polyp. The born-again polyp colony eventually buds and releases medusae that are genetically identical to the injured adult.

The species T. dohrnii was first described by scientists in 1883. It was 100 years later, in the 1980s, that their immortality was accidentally discovered.

Students Christian Sommer and Giorgio Bavestrello collected Turritopsis polyps, which they kept and monitored until medusae were released. It was thought that these jellyfish would have to mature before spawning and producing larvae, but when the jar was next checked, they were surprised to find many newly settled polyps.

They continued to observe the jellyfish and found that, when stressed, the medusae would fall to the bottom of the jar and transform into polyps without fertilisation or the typical larval stage occurring. 

Credit : National History Museum 

Picture Credit : Google

For many people, pets are more than just pets, they are a part of the family. But just like other members of your family, pets can also infect us with germs.

Yes, we should all love our pet dog, cat, parrot, rabbit or whatever, but we also need to remember that our pets can also make us sick. We need to be enlightened to this fact, so that we can take the right precautions and ensure that our pets as well ourselves stay healthy.

Rabies: The WHO tells us that out of 59,000 rabies deaths worldwide, approximately 50% are from India. Rabies is a killer disease that has no cure.

If you have a pet dog, ensure that it gets its anti-rabies vaccine shots on time, and keep it away from stray animals. Rabies is also called 'hydrophobia' because the affected animal develops a fear of water.

Prevention: If your dog bites you, ensure that you wash the bitten area with soap under running water, and apply a disinfectant. Then immediately consult your doctor. Similarly, if your pet is bitten by a stray, consult your vet immediately.

Leptospirosis: Pet owners should also vaccinate their dogs against leptospirosis. This highly infectious disease is spread through the urine of infected animals and can survive in water or soil for a long time. These bacteria can enter your body through broken skin, an open cut or wound, or through your eyes, nose or mouth. Symptoms include chills, sore throat, cough and redness of the eyes.

Prevention: Always wash your hands and feet, and your pet's paws thoroughly after taking them for a walk. Since this disease spreads more during the monsoon, it would be wise to invest in gumboots for your pet.

Toxoplasmosis: You can be infected by this disease simply by cleaning your cat's litter box or by touching soil where your cat may have defecated.

Symptoms are similar to the common flu, where you feel tired, feverish and your body aches. Pregnant women need to take extreme care as this disease can also infect the foetus and cause a miscarriage.

Prevention: Always use gloves while cleaning your cat's litter box. Also always wash your hands thoroughly with soap after handling a cat's litter box/or after doing any gardening.

Capnocytophaga or 'Cat Scratch Disease': The bacteria called Capnocytophaga are found in the nails of cats. People who become infected normally experience diarrhoea, fever, vomiting, headache, and muscle pain.

People can become infected if they are scratched or bitten by a cat, or if a cat licks an open wound on their body. Symptoms include infection at the wound site, fever, headache, poor appetite, exhaustion and swollen lymph nodes.

Prevention: Wash the cat bite or scratch under running water with soap and then apply a disinfectant. Also, do not let a cat lick an open wound or cut.

Ringworm: Contact with the fungus that causes ringworm will cause it to take root in your skin. It is called ringworm because it can cause an itchy, red, circular rash. This fungus can live and thrive on bedding or towels used for your pets. Apart from adult pets, puppies and kittens are more likely to develop and transmit ringworm. The rash that it causes isn't serious, although it may cause you severe itchiness.

Prevention: A simple antifungal cream should help you get rid of it. But if it persists, then please see your doctor.

Psittacosis: Also known as 'parrot fever', this is a zoonotic infectious disease caused by a bacterium, contracted by inhaling the dried secretions from infected birds such as parrots or other pet birds. It can also be contacted through pigeons, sparrows, ducks or hens. Symptoms include headache, breathlessness, fever and a cough.

Prevention: Always use a mask and gloves while cleaning out your bird cages. Any pet bird showing signs of illness should be taken to the vet immediately.

If your symptoms do not go away in a few days always consult your doctor.

Love your pet... but take care they don't make you sick!

Credit : Noel Keymer (The Teenager Today)

Picture Credit : Google

Antarctic Petrel is a seabird that lives and breeds in the southern oceans, and on the Antarctic islands. Its plumage is partly brown, partly white. The head, sides, throat and back are brown.

The bill is black and the feet are yellow. It has an elongated nostril indicating a well-developed sense of smell which is an unusual feature to be found in birds. Its diet includes krill, fish, and small squid.

It is a highly social bird. They roost on icebergs in flocks that have thousands of birds. It is known for producing foul-smelling stomach oil that it uses to feed itself on long flights, feed its young via regurgitation and to spray at predators.

The movement of Antarctic petrels is generally dependant on their reproductive cycles. Breeding and nest-building take place on the coasts of these islands, and they act as the central place for foragers during the breeding period. Since the population of the female bird is more than that of the male bird, some of the females are unable to mate every season. Their breeding starts in winter; they lay their eggs towards the end of November, and then the females incubate their eggs for two months. After their eggs hatch, the parents feed the chicks, and the chicks flee the nest after around three to four months. During this time, petrel parents must be aware of the south polar skua (Stercorarius maccormicki) as these birds are natural predators to their eggs and young ones.

Picture Credit : Google

Arctic ground squirrel is a native to the Arctic and Subarctic of North America and Asia.

It has a tan coat with a white-spotted back. It has a short face with white markings around its eyes. It has strong forearms and hind legs adopted for burrowing. During winter, its coat turns silvery. In the summer, it feeds on a lot of food, which includes tundra plants, seeds, and fruit to increase body fat for winter hibernation.

When it hibernates, its body temperature drops below freezing to survive long, cold winters without any food. It makes "tsik-tsik" calls in response to threats. It also makes variation in sounds for different predators.

These animals are primarily, although not exclusively, herbivorous and eat a variety of grasses, stems, roots, leaves, berries, seeds and mushrooms. They will also occasionally eat insects, small vertebrates (e.g., baby mice) and fresh carrion. Arctic ground squirrels begin storing food materials, such as willow leaves, grass seeds and berries, in their burrows during the summer months for use in the spring when they wake from hibernation. 

Picture Credit : Google

The Elysia chlorotica is part animal and part plant. This green sea slug is the first animal ever found to create chlorophyll like a plant. This makes it capable of photosynthesis. Found in the east coast of the U.S. and Canada, it resembles a small leaf, an inch or two long.

It was among the first members of the animal kingdom thought to be capable of producing chlorophyll, a pigment found in nearly all photosynthetic plants that use solar energy to transform carbon dioxide into carbohydrates. Members of this species appear as wide, rippling, green leaves with snail-like heads. They inhabit the shallow salt marshes and inlets of North America’s Atlantic coast from Florida to Nova Scotia. Over their life span of 9–10 months, they can grow to a length of 1–6 cm (0.4–2.4 inches).

The photosynthetic ability of Elysia chlorotica appears to come from the temporary incorporation of chloroplasts (photosynthesizing structures within plants) from Vaucheria litorea, a yellow-green alga it consumes, into cells that surround E. chlorotica’s digestive tract. Chloroplasts and other plastids (small bodies involved in the synthesis and storage of foodstuffs) can continue to photosynthesize nutrients for the animals for up to several months. It is unknown, however, how much E. chlorotica relies on the photosynthetic capacity of the chloroplasts it brings into its body for energy, because individuals can survive long periods of darkness (possibly through digesting their stored plastids). E. chlorotica also assimilates the genes of V. litorea into its genetic structure; however, those genes do not appear to be active in the animal.

Credit : Britannica 

Picture Credit : Google

The brain is a complex organ that controls thought, memory, emotion, touch, motor skills, vision, breathing, temperature, hunger and every process that regulates our body. Together, the brain and spinal cord that extends from it make up the central nervous system, or CNS.

Weighing about 3 pounds in the average adult, the brain is about 60% fat. The remaining 40% is a combination of water, protein, carbohydrates and salts. The brain itself is a not a muscle. It contains blood vessels and nerves, including neurons and glial cells.

The brain sends and receives chemical and electrical signals throughout the body. Different signals control different processes, and your brain interprets each. Some make you feel tired, for example, while others make you feel pain.

Some messages are kept within the brain, while others are relayed through the spine and across the body’s vast network of nerves to distant extremities. To do this, the central nervous system relies on billions of neurons (nerve cells).

The cerebrum (front of brain) comprises gray matter (the cerebral cortex) and white matter at its center. The largest part of the brain, the cerebrum initiates and coordinates movement and regulates temperature. Other areas of the cerebrum enable speech, judgment, thinking and reasoning, problem-solving, emotions and learning. Other functions relate to vision, hearing, touch and other senses.

Credit : Johns Hopkins 

Picture Credit : Google

The brain is the fattiest organ in our body it is composed of nearly 60% fat. The largest part of the central nervous system, the brain controls our thoughts, speech, movements and memory. It is composed of billions of neurons, or nerve cells, and glial cells.

Each day humans must consume a certain amount of water to survive. Of course, this varies according to age and gender, and also by where someone lives. Generally, an adult male needs about 3 liters (3.2 quarts) per day while an adult female needs about 2.2 liters (2.3 quarts) per day. All of the water a person needs does not have to come from drinking liquids, as some of this water is contained in the food we eat.

According to Dr. Jeffrey Utz, Neuroscience, pediatrics, Allegheny University, different people have different percentages of their bodies made up of water. Babies have the most, being born at about 78%. By one year of age, that amount drops to about 65%. In adult men, about 60% of their bodies are water. However, fat tissue does not have as much water as lean tissue. In adult women, fat makes up more of the body than men, so they have about 55% of their bodies made of water. 

Credit : USGS

Picture Credit : Google

The tarantula hawk, a kind of large parasitic wasp, paralyses a tarantula spider with its sting and then lays an egg into the spider so that when the egg hatches the larva will have enough food to feed on for weeks together. Its sting is considered to be one of the most powerful insect stings on Earth.

In most cases, tarantula hawks won’t sting unless you bother them first. They’re similar to wasps in that they are incredibly bold, but it would take stepping on one or picking one up for you to receive a sting.

If you do get stung, you’ve had some bad luck, as the sting of the tarantula hawk wasp is rumored to be one of the most intense, painful stings of all insects. Because their stingers are so large, very few animals eat them, and as a result, they have few natural predators.

Luckily, the sting is not dangerous, unless you are unfortunate enough to develop an allergic reaction. The area where you are stung may remain red for up to a week, but the pain from most stings subsides within just a few minutes.

To treat the sting, make sure you wash the site with antibacterial soap and warm water. This will reduce the likelihood of an infection. You can apply a cold compress, ice, or topical cortisone or antihistamine to relieve the pain, itch, and swelling.

Credit : Rest Easy Pest Control 

Picture Credit : Google

Our planet has all kinds of creatures in all sizes. Some of them are really huge and some of them are so small it may take a lot of effort to even spot them. Among such tiny creatures are micromolluscs. As the name suggests, they are molluses (shelled organisms) that are really small in size even when they are fully grown adults, include a variety of micro snails, which could be marine, freshwater, or land organisms

Recently, a new micro snail species was discovered in Meghalaya. The species is so tiny that the adults among them are smaller than two mm in length. The new species-Georissa mawsmaiensis- is named after Mawsmai, the limestone cave in which it was discovered. Found by researchers Nipu Kumar Das and NA Aravind of the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment. Bengaluru, this species is slightly different from Georissa sarrita, which was documented in 1851, a good 170 years ago. Though the new species was collected from wet limstone rocks in the cave, it is not clear yet if it is a true cave species or not

As with any species discovery, this one is exciting too, but the researchers have certain concerns. Continued tourist visits to the cave and mining in the region could alter the ecology of the place, negatively impacting these organisms. Further, there are hardly any studies on such creatures, meaning not enough is known or documented about them to protect them.

Picture Credit : Google