Emily Baird by way of Live Science
I've heard of sailors navigating by the stars. I've heard of birds and turtles using the stars to find their way. But dung beetles? Who knew? Apparently, they are the latest in a long line of species who orient themselves by means of the heavens. Scientists already knew dung beetles had sensors in their eyes that could detect moonlight, but no one expected they could also see the stars.
Biologists in Sweden recently experimented with dung beetles under controlled conditions on moonlit nights, moonless nights, and cloudy nights. They constructed tiny hats for the beetles to block their view of the sky in some cases. [Note : you haven't lived till you've seen a dung beetle with a tiny hat.] Further tests inside a planetarium revealed that the beetles could navigate best when the Milky Way was visible, implying that they could also sense the light from the center of our galaxy. This matters because animals and insects that use celestial navigation are seeing fewer and fewer stars due to the light pollution from our cities, towns and highways. The critters will begin to die off if we're not careful, and it should go without saying that we don't want to find out what happens next.
All the geek that's fit to print:
- New Yorkers are no strangers to pigeons, but I bet most of them, myself included, never knew there was such variety in the pigeon genome.
- Wisdom the Albatross is the world's oldest wild bird, and she's still growing her family.
- Speaking of wisdom, these fish lack it completely as individuals, but they make up for it as a group.
- In prey versus predator, seal turns the table on sharks off the coast of South Africa.
- New largest prime number has been discovered and it's 17,425,170 digits long.
- Kickboxing frogs, just one of the many highlights of the Discovery Channel's new series on Africa in collaboration with the BBC. [VIDEO]
- Constellations aren't the only projections of human experience on the sky. Check out this collection of nebulas named after their earthly counterparts. [SLIDESHOW]
- Whimsical gallery of photographs of sea life with miniature figures for a change in perspective.
- Owls can rotate their heads 270 degrees without cutting off the blood supply to their brains. [VIDEO]
- Southern hemisphere dwellers: keep your eyes on the sky for Comet PANSTARRS. Northern hemispherites: you'll have to wait until March.
Stay geeky out there. @Summer_Ash
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totally fascinating!
Very good stuff! Thanks, Summer!
So, the ancient Egyptians were right about the godliness in dung beetles!
"All I ask is a pile of dung and a star to roll her by."
Needs work.
you nailed it!!!!!
The story about Wisdom the albatross is humbling in that it brings to mind the myriad magnificent creatures that share our earth. Time to save the planet is NOW!
The ethical obstacles to gene engineering melt away as we attempt to correct the injustice of extinction in many cases caused by ourselves. Currently, there are active projects to resurrect these life forms: (article)
Ok, maybe we can bring back many more including woolly rhinos, Irish Elk with antler racks 12 feet across, saber tooth tigers, oh yeah, and Neanderthals.
A small population of Neanderthals would tell us a lot about the evolution of consciousness, but think of the issues- They are human, so do they have constitutional rights? If so, then any forced sterilization would eventually be halted, and some would begin asserting rights of free association, forming colonies. If the species has reduced capacities, would discrimination based on species be legal?
The Neanderthal question is just a start. We are already improving the DNA of grains to be more resilient. It is only a matter of time before a country with self interest sufficient to disregard their moral qualms begins modifications of the human genome with the intent to create new species with enhanced cognitive, strength, or social docility characteristics.
Is this scenario far fetched? If North Korea had the necessary gene manipulation technology, what would restrain them from attempting to generate a species of super smart researchers where Einstein levels of mental horsepower were regarded as commonplace to under average? And if a North Korea type renegade state demonstrated rapid advances in technology, how long before every nation is in the race? Would China sit idly by? How about Russia, Iran and Israel?
It would be either jump with both feet, or see your nation be relegated to last place within a generation.
Functioning Congress?
There is a big difference between mining the planet's genetic history by bringing back extinct species using DNA from fossils and manipulating the genome to create new or improved species.
Living organisms are extremely complicated systems regulated by interacting signaling and receptor proteins. Altering a few elements of this mix in an attempt to generate a new or improved trait, such as 'super intelligence', would almost certainly lead to horrific defects and death.
No need to worry about anyone breeding Superman anytime soon.
Why on earth would we ever want to resurrect the Neanderthals?
Seriously think of the Lawsuits!!!
We've got lots of dung beetles in Congress, Eric Cantor comes to mind...I can see him winging around, tie flapping in the breeze...
Nah, real dung beetles actually provide a beneficial service -- they clean up poop.
Mr. Cantor seems more inclined to be on the spreading end of the business.
You improved my comment. Cantor is a poser-dung beetle, still around crap and pretending to do the job.
Reminds me of crab-lice.. I guess they don't see the stars..
By the light of the silvery moon we shall meet my dear. You with your ball ,I with mine. As I roll my dung I watch the stars twinkle and shine off of your shimmering backside. Here have some fresh dung still warm and fragrant, see how I rolled it into a heart shape? A valentine only for you.
Dingle berry,dingle berry, dingle berry rock...
This is exactly the kind of "dung" taxpayas should not have to fund sweety.The conclusion: Ban all artificial lights ( except government bureaucrats) and make us stumble around in the dark.
This is the mentality of the modern "technocrat". No matter how absurd it sounds, some high brow academic will push for the most insane policy.I declare, I've neva heard so many cock-a-manie ideas on one web site.
Yea, we should give all the government's money to corporations and big oil companies, SCREW those scientists - all they do is try to learn stuff to make the world a better place for everyone, and WHO NEEDS THAT when only RICH PEOPLE count!!
Did you READ any of the articles? Do you know that those dung beetles do a LOT of good for our environment? Did you know they are telling us that we are screwing OURSELVES up??? Nah, that would require you to think......GOD KNOWS, that's not something YOU want to spend time and money doing, is it!!
Dry it up now son, nobody is setting your britches on fire here.I read the article.I never said the beetle didn't do anything beneficial.All God's creatures serve a purpose.I simply was posting a forward looking statement of speculation based upon the left's response in similar scenarios. A dystopian "banning" of anything deemed a threat to any other thing.These critters need a visible milky way according to research, and city lights block the light from Cassieopia's tunic from arriving here.I see that "we" are screwing ourselves up you believe.You got a mouse in your pocket? I'm not part of your we.I'm not dimming my lights to make some twerp in an Ivy League college feel important.
No go away son, you botha me!!
I don't know how rickymouse turned into magnolia belle, southern drawl and all, but must have been one of those hush-hush operations. Either he/she is a troll or just a trouble-maker. Whatever.
One more thing, I doubt there is any dung beetles living in Houston.Or any other big city.The way Washington works, the big cities will be able to keep their light "pollution" especially blue cities. It will be the suburbs and rural America you will launch your phony crusade against.
The NASA Hubble page is one of my favorite bookmarks and I use some of their pictures for wallpaper and screen savers. I love the fitting names they have such as The Catseye Nebula and the Sombrero.
Although I think they spent way too much money on Hubble and sent it up when they knew it was flawed, I'm glad they got it working correctly to give us these views of the universe.
Sense of Direction - Since Congressional Herbivores have no sense of direction, they only follow nose to tail to swat at gnats and flies, the clean-up process follow directions moving away from the power center and it is left to bug the public to do the real work in recycling waste in epic proportions.
JL from Montana I'm not trying to stir the pot here. I'm like the teeta-totta on the playground, just trying to provide balance.
My name, region or any otha factor should not be relevant.
A quibble: The band of light across the sky we call the Milky Way is our view of the galactic disk as seen from our point of view inside it, and it goes all the way around the sky. Not much visible light comes from the galactic center because of dust clouds between us and it. Infrared light from the galactic does make it through, but it's hard even for telescopes to detect from the Earth's surface except in polar regions because the atmosphere itself glows in the infrared.
@sullyman2112 deleted throughout for thread-jacking. Apologies to everyone whose replies got deleted, too.
perect thanks ilgazpet