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Nowadays, all of the 2,500 giant panda bears alive live in the Shaanxi, Gansu, and Sichuan provinces of central China. However, according to a new study which the journal Current Biology published, once upon a time, these bears had a much larger range. They were living in the southern part of China, as well as Myanmar and Vietnam. However, experts do not know how these ancient creatures were related to the fluffy and goofy ones we know today. This is why the discovery of a fossilized panda skull in a cave in southern China in 2014 is so important.

What’s even more interesting is that after successfully sequencing the bear’s mitochondrial genome, researchers found out that it belongs to an entirely new panda lineage. The skull is about 22,000-years old and it was found in Cizhutuo Cave in China’s Guangxi Province which is now empty of panda bears. The recently-sequenced genome actually represents the oldest panda bear DNA in the world. So, after struggling to create a panda family tree, the researchers realized that this species split from modern giant pandas about 183,000-years ago.

Fossilized panda bear skull offers important clues

According to Qiaomei Fu, a paleogenomics expert at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, even if this ancient panda has common traits to the modern giant pandas, it also has a completely separate history. Now, the next step is for the experts to sequence a genome from the panda skull’s nuclear DNA. It was reportedly easier for them to extract the mitochondrial DNA from the skull because there are 1,000 copies of it every cell. In comparison, there are only two copies of nuclear DNA in every cell and this makes the work a lot harder. It’s important for them to find out more about this new lineage and possibly shed some light on certain traits that giant pandas nowadays have.

Image source: wikimedia

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Ask anyone about the most representative image they have about Africa and most certainly their answer will be the baobab trees. They are iconic, out of this world and let’s not even mention ancient. Until last year, the biggest baobab tree was the Platland tree in South Africa, also called Sunland. It stood at 62 ft high and 111 ft around. Moreover, it was about 1,000-years old. Its hollow center hosted a fully functional cocktail bar which was able to receive 15 people at once. But starting Spring 2016, this miraculous tree began splitting apart.

By November last year, it was completely crumbled down. According to the bar’s owners, rot caused by heavy rain was to blame for the death of the tree. The problem is that the Platland tragedy was not singular. According to a new survey of baobab trees in Africa, published in Nature Plants, the majority of the biggest and oldest such trees have died or severely deteriorated over the past ten years. But what could cause this sudden demise? Experts blame climate change. According to the organizer of the survey, Adrian Patrut, a chemist at Romania’s Babeș-Bolyai University, what is happening is very strange. These trees can live up to 2,000 years and yet, they are dying right before our very eyes.

The mysterious cause of the baobab trees’ demise

Patrut began this survey back in 2005 and eventually, he managed to cover over 60 trees. A group of two dozen of them were exceptionally rare, big and old. Some of the trees he observed were even older than 2,000-years old. Baobabs are among the most difficult trees to date because of their intricate shape and growth patterns. And some experts even criticized Patrut because of his methods.

However, he was right to try and find out more about their demise. He admits that more research is needed to establish the clear cause of these deaths even if he already has one in his mind: climate change.

Image source: flickr

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You may have noticed that best friends tend to borrow each other’s body language and way of talking. Well, according to a new study which the journal Current Biology recently published, this is not only the case with humans. There are many species out there that can change their calls to resemble those of their closest buddies. What’s even more interesting is that when it comes to male bottlenose dolphins, which live in Australia’s Shark Bay, this concept falls. In fact, they act the exact opposite.

Entire years of research have shown that that male dolphin friends usually like to team up in groups of two to three individuals. It seems that like that, they improve their chances of finding females to mate with. The idea is that male dolphins each have their own whistle, the way people call other people by their name. And while these whistles might be the same for more males outside the group, just like many men can be called John, no male dolphin has the same sound inside the group. According to study leader Stephanie King, these different “names” allow the individuals to form some complex social bonds.

Male dolphins and their interesting social connections

Male dolphins have such strong friendships that sometimes, they may even caress each other with their pectoral fins. In fact, sometimes, they may swim with their fins on top of each other, giving the sensation that they are holding hands. It’s worth noting that experts have known about these “names” for both male and female dolphins since the 1960s. However, it wasn’t until now that they realized just how important socially-wise they are.

Back in 2013, King also showed that dolphins answer when they hear recordings of their own whistles. However, they don’t answer when they hear those of other dolphins. Think of it like a student who answers to the professor calling out their name.

Image source: pxhere

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According to a new study which the journal Science recently published, it seems that bees, and especially honeybees, are intelligent enough to understand the concept of zero. This makes them part of a small and elite group of animals that are able to grasp the mathematical concept of nothingness. The idea behind this discovery is to provide new possibilities for Artificial Intelligence to get developed even further. Even tiny brains can understand abstract and complex notions so, this means that one day, AI might be able to do it too.

A team of Australian and French scientists wanted to test whether or not bees can rank numerical quantities. Also, if they can understand that zero, or nothing, belongs and the lower end of a number sequence. According to Associate Professor Adrian Dyer, it seems that the number zero is the base of all modern technological advancements and mathematics. Having honeybees recognize and understand this concept is very unusual because it’s very complex. It even takes children years to comprehend. For years, experts thought that only humans had the capacity to understand what zero means. However, in time, they discovered that birds and monkeys can do it too. Now, it seems that honeybees are also part of that category.

Bees are intelligent enough to understand the notion of nothingness

Bees are famous for being the perfect pollinators, but they are also perfect for investigating insect cognition. Previous research has shown that honeybees can learn skills form other bees. Moreover, they are able to understand other complex notions like difference and sameness. But the fact that bees only have less than 1 million neurons has made experts believe that it was too hard for them to grasp other concepts. In comparison to humans, who have 86,00 million neurons, bees do not stand too well.

However, it seems that they were wrong. Bees are intelligent enough to grasp even the most complex notions. This could be very valuable when it comes to the evolution of Artificial Intelligence.

Image source: pixabay

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There are certain creatures out there that do not bleed red, as we might expect. In fact, brachiopods and marine worms have violet blood. Certain types of mollusks, crustaceans and octopuses have clear blood that only turns blue when there’s oxygen around. Most backboned animals, including humans, have red blood because of the hemoglobin that has the role of transporting oxygen. However, this is not the case with all backboned creatures. A special group of lizards that only live in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands have blood that is lime-green.

Now, experts are trying to figure out why these little reptiles have such unusual blood and what led to its existence. Their genus is actually called Prasinohaema, which means “green blood” in Greek, and were first discovered rather recently, in 1969. However, nobody bothered to study them until a fascination with them hit Christopher Austin of Louisiana State University, a few decades later. What’s even more interesting, Austin says, is that these lizards also have green bones, tissues, muscles, mucosal lining and even tongue. It seems that this unusual color comes from a very high level of a green pigment called biliverdin.

The lizards that have green blood

Biliverdin actually forms when hemoglobin cells die. The liver extracts the iron from them, therefore creating this green waste product. Then, it gets transformed into something called yellow bilirubin. If the bilirubin levels are too high in the blood, it causes jaundice, that yellow skin we see in some people. In certain cases, it can even be fatal. Thankfully for them, these little lizards are not affected by it.

A new study, which the journal Science Advances recently published, offers more details about these lizards and their lime-green blood. As for the purpose of this anomaly, experts are not sure about it yet. The high levels of this substance might protect them from parasites. Still, tests are needed in order for this theory to be confirmed.

Image source: wikimedia

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A species of small, mice-like marsupials that only live in Australia called have recently been added to the list of endangered species by the government. The Antechinus species are famous for their marathon-like mating sessions, which can sometimes last up to 14 hours. This is actually the reason why they may all disappear from the face of the Earth, and soon. The black-tailed dusky and the silver-headed species are the most endangered ones because of all that sex.

Antechinus males and females run frantically from one partner to another during their mating season, which lasts for many weeks each year. They do not know the concept of courting. For them, mating is everything that matters, with as many partners as possible. While this might sound like fun for some people, the marsupial males usually die four or five days after the mating season ends, because of the effort. According to Andrew Baker, leader of a research team that has discovered five new species of Antechinus since 2012, both males and females suffer from all the mating. However, because the males produce testosterone, its high levels keep the cortisol from shutting off. It eventually reaches a toxic level. The small animal then bleeds internally and dies.

Antechinus marsupials are in danger because of too much sex

Apart from this, the Antechinus also face threats from humans, who are chopping trees off and leave them without their habitat. Moreover, global warming also affects the small marsupials, as they like a wet and cold climate.

Baker says that in order for these species to be saved, people need to make the Antechinus migrate towards the southern parts of Australia. It’s colder there, and they may have a chance. Especially because there might only be a few hundreds of the both species left right now. Another similar example is that of the garter snakes. They engage in orgies so massive and exhausting that the males age more rapidly and die sooner.

Image source: pixabay

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NASA scientists admitted that they are somewhat baffled by photos which show a series of strange holes in the ice of the Arctic region’s Beaufort Sea. The images were captured by Operation IceBridge, a fleet of data-collecting research aircraft NASA routinely flies over polar environments.

Nathan Kurtz, a project scientist, told reporters that he has, “never seen anything like it before”. NASA featured the images in its April 2018 edition of “Puzzlers.”

 

“I’m not sure what kind of dynamics could lead to the semi-circle-shaped features surrounding the holes. I have never seen anything like that before,” states Kurtz in a NASA release.

 

The Nature of the Strange Ice Holes in the Arctic Still Unknown

 

Nobody at the space agency is suggesting anything paranormal is going on, such as the mysterious formations being made by a UFO or an unknown species of giant ice worm. Instead, it’s an artifact of the geophysics of ice dynamics.

To the left of the ice holes in the Arctic are wave-like features. To the right is something called “finger rafting.” Both of these are well-understood attributes of Arctic ice formation. Finger rafting is caused when ice floes collide. Wave-like features can be attributed to wind and wave action.

But this mysterious formation of ice holes in the Arctic is clearly something new. Kurtz said the area where the photographs were taken is comprised of young ice forming within an area of open water.

That means the ice is probably thin, pliable, and mushy. Geophysicist Don Perovich, a researcher with Dartmouth College, said the wave-like figures near the holes prove the ice here formed only recently.

Scientists do have some working theories on the matter, however. One possibility points to warm paths of water flowing beneath the ice.

Another suggestion is that a marine mammal of some kind punched holes into the ice. Indeed, the openings appear like those known to be made by harp seals and ring seals. They sometimes gnaw through the ice to make breathing holes.

 

Image Credits go to: NASA (EarthObservatory)

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What do you think that the Southeast Asian exploding ants do when they are confronting an enemy? Exactly, they explode. It’s a shame that these special ants have been ignored for decades. Until now. Recently, a team of researchers have completed a survey, which the journal ZooKeys recently published, on the special traits of these ants. Interestingly enough, they have discovered over a dozen species of ants that seem to fit exactly into this category. One of them is also completely new.

It’s not a secret that ants have an amazing society and are capable of prosocial behaviors. They can build bridges, collect their wounded comrades and carry then back to the nest, and can even take care of the injured. However, when it comes to self-sacrifice, none of them even come remotely close to the exploding ants of Southeastern Asia. When there’s a threat nearby, these ants can literally trigger a rupture in their abdominal wall. Now, the insect doesn’t literally “explode”, but this action causes toxic liquid to pour out of its body. This substance can then kill the attacker. These ants do sacrifice themselves to protect the entire colony.

The incredible “exploding ants” and their courageous sacrifice

According to the scientists, this suicidal behavior is called “autothysis”, and it has also been observed in termites. It’s interesting that ants do not think of themselves as individuals, as some other species do. Instead, they work in the benefit of the entire colony. This is why experts consider ants as functioning like a superorganism.

Exploding ants were actually discovered during the first half of the 20^th century. However, after 1935, nobody was capable of identifying any new species. This lack of information prompted experts to conduct the recent expedition to Borneo, Malaysia and Thailand. Thankfully, it was a success and they managed to return with a lot of new information on these fascinating ants.

Image source: wikimedia

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Cockroaches, even if everyone hates them with a passion, are very special in their own, twisted way. If you cut the legs off a nymph, they grow back in no time. If there are any crumbs around you might discover that you do have cockroaches in your house. Also, they do not seem to be getting sick because their homemade antibiotics keep them healthy and safe. Apart from this, like it wasn’t enough, they can survive insecticides, survive in the most brutal conditions and still come back to hunt your dreams.

Cockroaches seems to have superpowers. But where do they come from? According to a new study, which the journal Nature Communications recently published, the answer might be in their genes. A team of researchers managed to sequence the genome of a cockroach and found an arsenal of genes that are making these critters super adaptable. It seems that cockroaches have a huge genome, second only to locusts. It’s interesting that the American cockroach is actually closely related to termites more than to the German cockroach.

Cockroaches and their superpowers

So, what’s the secret in their genes that makes them invulnerable? Well, it seems that 60% of its genome contains repetitive elements. Also, 95% of their protein-encoding genes actually produce protein. Those give the cockroaches the ability to survive those urban environments. They also have a huge number of receptor of all kinds, making them appear exactly at the right moment, when you’re enjoying your sandwich.

Also, some enzymes help them survive pesticides and extreme conditions. Moreover, while in nymph stage, cockroaches can also regenerate, like it wasn’t enough. Considering that its Chinese nickname is xiao qiang, meaning “mighty little one”, we understand where the inspiration came from. Even if you despise cockroaches you must admit, they are truly special.

Image source: pxhere

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According to a new report, which the journal Nature recently published, coral reefs are at a very high risk because of the increased acidity in the planet’s oceans.

This is also a result of climate change, and it seems that it could seriously harm coral reef growth over the next few decades if the problem of carbon dioxide emissions persists.

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is over 1,400 miles long and is held as being the largest coral reef in the world. It is also the planet’s biggest living organism structure.

To reach these results, the researchers conducted an experiment during which they intentionally made seawater acidic. Then, they allowed it to flow over a community of natural coral reefs.

According to study lead author, Rebecca Albright, these findings are substantial evidence that the acidification of the oceans will slow down coral reef growth in the following years.

The best solution for his would be to drastically reduce the greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible to avoid such a disaster.

Studies have shown that climate change is primarily at fault for the shifting of the ocean water towards the more acidic side of the chemical balance.

 

Coral Reefs at Risks because They Might Stop Growing

 

It’s important to know that this type of acid is not like the one seen in chemistry experiments. Typically, the water in oceans is slightly alkaline.

However, after the Industrial Revolution began back in the 1800s, the oceans of the world have become about 30% more acidic. This is happening because climate change creates excess carbonic acid. The oceans then absorb it.

Other experts agree with this study, saying that they already knew about acidic oceans and their influence on coral reef growth. However, this new experiment confirmed it and informed people about the degree of severity of this phenomenon.

 

Image source: Wikimedia