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Can you guess the length of a giraffe's tongue?
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Hungry? A snacking giraffe showing off its blue/black tongue, which can grow 45 to 50 cm long. The dark colour protects the species' prehensile tongues from sun damage during long periods of exposure, when its helping the giraffe navigate between thorns and leaves.
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8932 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Bullying is an effective evolutionary strategy
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Bullying is not easy to define, namely because there is no one way to bully. It comes in many forms, from physical playground scuffles to verbal attacks. Even governments have a hard time defining it, often referred to as a repeated behaviour with the intent to hurt someone either physically or emotionally. By this definitions, there are many ape and monkey bullies, too. In fact, any hierarchical society is likely to have bullies in its midst. An unfortunate monkey at the bottom of the hierarchy is repeatedly attacked and picked upon by those higher up in the group - they are sometimes beaten up every day. Bullying amongst rhesus macaques, for example, seems to release tensions among the higher-ups. Bullying seems to reinforce their bonds, a ...
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3286 |
duddy |
7 years ago |
Breast milk varies depending on gender
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Studies in humans, monkeys and other mammals have found that mothers have different breast milk 'recipes' depending on the sex of their newborn – boys often get milk that's richer in fat or protein, while baby girls get higher calcium levels and more milk overall. These findings could help improve baby milk formulas.
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3349 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Blue blood is quite costly
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Did you know one quart of horseshoe crab blood costs $15,000 dollars? The critter's blue blood is a sort of bacteria killing machine that clots around ‘invaders’, eliminating them and protecting horseshoe crabs from lethal infections. Researchers have been harnessing the power of this blue blood to test medical supplies for contamination.
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3716 |
savio |
10 years ago |
Blood of Heroes from ancient times
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Elafonisi Beach on the Greek island of Crete has pastel pink sand! That rosy hue is caused by tiny particles of pink shells and coral that have been ground down over many years of erosion.
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5476 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Birthmarks and what causes them
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Birthmarks are congenital marks on the skin that appear at birth and occasionally disappears spontaneously. The term nevus refers to a benign cutaneous tumor consisting of blood capillaries. Such tumors, which rarely spread from their original site and are not dangerous, vary in color according to whether the capillaries composing them carry arterial or venous blood. The popularly termed cherry marks and port-wine stains (shown below) are nevi on a level with the surface of the skin. Certain other vascular nevi, commonly known as strawberry or raspberry marks (scientifically known as hemangiomas), are slightly elevated above the surface. These can appear anywhere on the body's surface, including the airway within the nose. The former Soviet ...
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5146 |
bio_man |
2 years ago |
Birds with purple crowns
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These beautiful birds are called purple-crowned fairy wrens, endemic to northern Australia. The picture was taken by ornithologists (bird banders) studying the birds as part of population monitoring in Australia. The way they are holding them is called "photographer's grip" which gently secures the legs while keeping the rest of the bird free. Handling time is generally very short.
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5933 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Being afraid of the dark is totally normal
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Even though being afraid of the dark sounds childish, our fear of the dark is an evolutionary trait that we picked up to survive real-life predators stalking the night. Researchers have hypothesised that this innate fear stems from a point of human history when we were nowhere near the top predators we are today. Humans only really became super predators with the advent of technology, which wasn’t that long ago. Before technology, our ancestors were constantly on the look-out for predators that wanted nothing more than to chow down on human sandwiches. To make that even scarier, most of these predators hunted at night - a time of day when we are especially vulnerable to attack because of our relatively poor eyesight. This means that it was ...
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13159 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Beer companies are trying to get scientists drunk
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| After winning the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922, Carlsberg gave Niels Bohr a perpetual supply of beer. The brewing company had a pipeline running from the brewery to Bohr’s house, so that he could have fresh beer on tap all the time. |
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2246 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Become an astrobrewologist
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Launched into orbit three years ago, a vial of Scotland's 'space whisky' is due home so researchers can see how the conditions in space affect flavour. This is one small step for man, one giant leap for whisky.
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6221 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Beautiful people make more daughters
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Beautiful people make more daughters, according to a study.
Why? It is more genetically advantageous for females to be attractive, as (in a heterosexual relationship anyway) males are more likely to choose a female partner who is attractive for both short and long-term mating, while a female partner is less likely to choose an attractive male for the long-term. Thus, for procreation among attractive people, it is less necessary to make males.
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4399 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Barbados thread snakes
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At first, it just looks like a worm. But when you peek closer, it slithers like a snake. It sticks its tongue out like a snake. It creeps you out like a snake. Discovered under a rock in 2006 in Barbados, this thread snake is as thin as spaghetti and smaller than any of the 3,100 other known snake species. Researchers believe it is the smallest a snake can evolve to be.
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5990 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Baby blue eyes
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Waardenburg Syndrome is a rare autosomal genetic disorder that has possible bright blue eyes as one of its qualifying criteria, along with possible deafness (common). Actually, the cause of the blue eyes is a form of albinism that may include patches of non-pigmented skin or forehead hair, regardless of ethnicity. There are four types of Waardenburg Syndrome, with a mix of possible characteristics as the determinant. Medical challenges increase with type. The boy in the picture is displaying two major symptoms of type 1; bright blue eyes and dystopia canthorum, a condition where the inner corners of the eyes are set more widely apart, but with normally distanced eyes. ...
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3950 |
savio |
10 years ago |
As this tarantula matures, its abdomen changes from blue to red
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As its scientific name suggests, the Antilles pinktoe tarantula ( Avicularia versicolor) changes color as it matures. The spider’s abdomen turns from blue to pink or red and the carapace becomes metallic green. Antilles pinktoe tarantulas are native to Guadeloupe, Dominica and Martinique in the Caribbean Sea. They are arboreal (tree-dwelling) species, and can spin elaborate funnel webs in which they spend most of their time. Though these tarantulas are naturally docile, they are quick and can jump up to 30 cm far or high! ...
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9884 |
duddy |
7 years ago |
Are you a 'supertaster'?
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A supertaster is a individual who lives in a more intense taste world because they have up to twice as many taste buds than the average person. Among individuals of European descent, it is estimated that about 25% of the population are supertasters. The evolutionary advantage to supertasting is unclear. In some environments, heightened taste response, particularly to bitter plant alkaloids, would represent an important advantage. However, other environments, increased response to bitter may have limited the range palatable goods. In our modern energy rich environment, supertasting may be cardioprotective, due to decreased liking and intake of fat, but may increase cancer risk via deceased vegetable intake. It may be a cause of picky eating ...
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1436 |
bio_man |
6 years ago |