Science Bulletins: Fish Biodiversity Protects Coral Reefs
Not all seaweed-eating fish are created equal. Reef fish near the islands of Fiji eat seaweed that is toxic to coral, helping maintain a healthy reef system. But some species of fish limit their grazing to only one type of seaweed. Herbivorous fish diversity is the coral’s best insurance for keeping different varieties of harmful algae in check.
via AMNH.
The dance of the dung beetle - Marcus Byrne
A dung beetle has a brain the size of a grain of rice, and yet shows a tremendous amount of intelligence when it comes to rolling its food source — animal excrement — home. How? It all comes down to a dance. (Filmed at TEDxWitsUniversity.)
via TED Education.
Shark Embryos & Nature’s Other Cannibals
Shark babies are cannibals. Just one more reason sharks are cool & terrifying. Trace tells us what drives some sharks to eat up their brothers and sisters, plus a list of other cannibals in the animal kingdom.
via DNews Channel.
Burying Beetles Turn Carcass into Baby Food
You want zombies? A scary movie? These beetles can trump most Hollywood horror films anytime!
via National Geographic.
The Most Venomous Animals in the World
via scishow:
There are a lot of ways to kill and be killed in the animal kingdom, but only a lucky few use the powers of venom. Not all are closely related, so how did they acquire the same defenses, where did venom come from, and how does it work? And what animals can kill you the most quickly? Find the answers to these questions, and more, in today’s episode of SciShow.
Like SciShow? Want to help support us, and also get things to put on your walls, cover your torso and hold your liquids? Check out our awesome products over at DFTBA Records: http://dftba.com/artist/52/SciShow
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References for this episode can be found in the Google document here: http://dft.ba/-5GmD
Thanks again to Dr. Bryan Fry at the University of Queensland.
Butterfly Stew
via jtotheizzoe:
What happens inside a pupa stays inside a pupa. Or it used to, anyway. Until recently, when special x-ray imagers were turned on a developing butterfly to elucidate its metamorphosis.
the process of caterpillar-to-butterfly is a messy one. An overfed worm not only has to convert a lot of the stored energy it gathered stuffing its face for a few weeks into new body parts, it does so by essentially dissolving much of its body and reforming. The pupa isn’t so much a dressing room for a beautiful diva as it is a bag to keep all the goopy globs of proto-butterfly from dripping on the ground. Sounds like both butterfly and human puberty involve a mess of bodily fluids and hiding in your room.
That’s what most biology books would have you believe anyway. This new work (written up in great detail by Ed Yong) demonstrates that while there’s still plenty of goop-globbing, quite a few structures remain intact, migrating and growing into adult forms in a more traditional way (like those blue circulation vessels). For the insect nerds in the bunch, this technique doesn’t revolutionize metamorphosis or anything, but it’s a view inside that most of us have never gotten.
And quite a view it is.
Why All The Bees Are Dying
Bee population around the world have collapsed. Now scientists are scrambling to find out why. Anthony has a list of the possible causes, and the threat this poses to food supplies worldwide.
via DNews Channel.
CICADAS ARE COMING!
via scishow:
Cicadas have developed an amazing strategy for growth, survival, reproduction, and overcoming predation by…doing nothing. They do nothing for years (except sip at the juice excreted from root structures) before emerging in huge, simultaneous swarms.
The swarm is so huge that predators can’t consume even a fraction of it, but so rare that predator populations can’t sustain themselves between emergence events. Clever little things!
6 Surprising Blood-Drinking Animals
via scishow:
Hank introduces us to 6 blood-drinking (or otherwise consuming) animals that you may not be aware of. Don’t freak out…
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Penguins and fluid dynamics: Helen Czerski
Helen Czerski is a physicist, oceanographer and TV presenter and she gave a lecture for Physics in Perspective at the Royal Institution.
More on Physics in Perspective:
http://www.iop.org/education/teacher/extra_resources/perspective/page_41717.htmlMore on penguins:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wondermonkey/2011/07/penguins-take-to-the-air.shtml
via Institute of Physics.
SciShow Talk Show - Brain Frames and a Harris’s Hawk
via scishow:
Today on the SciShow Talk Show, our Technical Director Nick Jenkins stumps Hank about how many frames per second the human eye can see, and Jessi from Animal Wonders shares Hara the Harris’s hawk.
The Boa in My Backyard
Stunning video of a boa constrictor killing and then eating an iguana. It all happened in the Costa Rican backyard of National Geographic Explorer Susan Perry.
via National Geographic.
Parasitic Mind Control
Now this is strange, even scary: ants controlled by parasites, all because they ate the slime of a snail!
via National Geographic.
Wild Warp Ep9 - Jesus Duck
Do ducks walk on water? They do if you’ve got a high-speed camera handy to capture their avian trailblazing in slow motion.
via Earth Touch.
Polar Bear vs. Ring Seal
Sometimes coming up for air might not be such a good idea — especially if there’s a hungry polar bear prowling about.
via National Geographic.
