Transcript

1.9.25 · Science Show KY

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome to Radioized Diary of Science and Nature. Your reader's
0:04
Kelly Taylor. I'll have some articles related to the topics
0:08
of science and nature, but first a reminder that RADIOI
0:12
is a reading service intended for people who are blind
0:16
or have other disabilities that make it difficult to reprinted
0:19
material from Popular Science. We have an article that is
0:24
headlined eleven weird, groundbreaking and cute animal stories from twenty
0:31
twenty four. This is by Laura Basis, December twenty fifth.
0:37
Whether a large and fuzzy social media sensation or deep
0:42
sea slug slunking around in the ocean's mighty zone midnight zone,
0:48
there are still so many exciting animals on Earth just
0:51
waiting for their close up. In that spirit, here are
0:54
eleven of the most exciting animal stories that Popular Science
0:58
covered this year. A wildlife filmmaker and biology doctoral student
1:06
took what could be the first picture of a newborn
1:10
great white shark. Filmmaker Carlos Ghana and University of California
1:15
Riverside biology doctoral student Philip Sterns were looking for sharks
1:21
near Santa Barbara on California's Central coast. Most great whites
1:25
are gray on top with white bellies, but Ghana's drowne
1:29
camera showed a roughly five foot long shark pup that
1:33
had more white on its body than normal. When they
1:36
enlarged the photos, they saw that a layer of white
1:38
skin appeared to be shedding as it swam. The team
1:42
believes that they observed a newborn great white shedding its
1:46
embryonic sack. It was quite a year for tartar grades.
1:52
These microscopic creatures, commonly called water bears, can survive in
1:57
environments with extreme temperatures without water or oxygen, and withstand radiation.
2:03
In January, we learned that these microscopic creatures have a
2:06
molecular sensor that detects uninhabitable elements of their environment. It
2:12
then tells them when to go dormant and when it
2:15
is safe to resume their normal activity. These findings were
2:19
detailed in the journal plus one PS one. Scientists also
2:26
uncovered some new clues to their ultra resilience in April.
2:30
A surprising mechanism in the DNA goes into overtime to
2:34
repair DNA that has been exposed to deadly radiation. When
2:38
they are exposed to radiation, tartar grade cells harness the
2:42
power of hundreds of genes to create new proteins used
2:46
to repair DNA. These proteins then ramp up the level
2:50
of DNA repair to levels that study co author and
2:53
biologists Courtney Clark Hatchell called ridiculous. T twenty four was
3:00
technically the year of the Dragon on the Chinese zodiac,
3:04
it was the year of the cicada. In some parts
3:06
of the United States, trillions of chirpy, red eyed periodical
3:11
cicadas emerged from underground in a rare double emergency event.
3:16
These specific types of cicadas crawl out from below the
3:19
ground every thirteen or seventeen years and can make as
3:23
much noise as a jet engine. During the Cicada Apocalypse,
3:28
Brewed thirteen and Brewed nineteen, cicadas emerged at the same
3:33
time from roughly April to July. The Northern Illinois brood
3:38
is a seventeen year group and stretches across parts of Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa,
3:43
and northern Illinois. The Great Southern Brood emerges every thirteen
3:47
years and is primarily located in Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia,
3:54
North Carolina, South Carolina, and importantly Southern Illinois. SA Illinois
4:00
turned out to be the center of the cicada apocalypse,
4:03
a four year old child finding a one in a
4:06
million blue eyed cicada quote. I would put the periodical
4:11
cicadas as a natural phenomenon in the same category as
4:15
April's total solar eclipse, said Penn State University entomologist Michael Savarka.
4:24
The ocean odyssees oddities are known for their impressive eyesight.
4:32
That's the mantis shrimp. They also have herculean strength and
4:40
punches with the force of a twenty two caliber bullet.
4:45
With cameras that are about a thousand times faster than
4:47
a regular camera, University of California Santa Barbara ecologist Patrick
4:51
Greene captured footage of their fights. He found that their
4:55
shields can absorb an additional twenty percent of the shock
5:00
coming from a rival mantis shrimp. Using their tough tailplates
5:04
in a coiled way appears to help the mantis shrimp
5:07
to dissipate more energy than their armour can absorb alone.
5:12
These findings were detailed in a stubblished study published in
5:15
the Journal of Experimental Biology in May. Elephants use various
5:22
vocal cues and to convey meaning and could also be
5:26
using something akin to individual names. Wild African savannah elephants
5:32
appear to address one another with name like calls, a
5:35
very rare ability among non human animals. The findings were
5:39
described in the journal Nature, Ecology and Evolution in June.
5:44
In this study, a team used machine learning methods to
5:47
analyze recordings of four hundred and sixty nine calls or
5:51
rumbles made by wild African elephant female offspring in the
5:57
Amboseli National Park and Samburu and Buffalo Springs National Reserve
6:02
in Kenya. Quote. The fact we were able to get
6:05
such clear cut results with the playback experiment was pretty surprising,
6:10
says Cornell University behaviorally cologist Michael Pardo. It was incredibly
6:15
difficult to get the recordings for the playback experiment because
6:18
we needed very clear recordings of rumbles made in a
6:21
long distance contact calling context where we knew who the
6:25
caller was and who the receiver was. Honestly, I was
6:29
a little shocked that the results were statistically significant. End quote.
6:35
In July, a lobsterman fishing off the coast of Newcastle,
6:39
New Hampshire, found a candy colored lobster. The crustacean was
6:44
donated to the Seacoast Science Center, a marine science education
6:48
organization in Audijorn Point State Park. Now, its crazy color
6:54
does not mean that it actually tastes sweet or anything
6:57
like candy. It's hue as the result of a very
7:00
genetic mutation quote. Lobsters commonly have multiple layers of a
7:05
caratenoid pigment known as as taxanthan that shows as layers
7:12
of red, yellow, and blue. When all these layers are stacked,
7:16
they give the lobster a modeled blotchy pattern of oranges, reds, blues, pinks, purples, yellows,
7:22
and browns that form the lobster's camouflage. Sometimes these pigments
7:27
are either not expressed or are over expressed. The results
7:31
are more colorful lobsters. They appear in shades of blue
7:36
about one in two million, red one in ten million,
7:41
split colored one in fifty million, albino one in one
7:46
hundred million, and cotton candy one in one hundred million.
7:53
There are seven new species of tree frogs to add
7:56
to the family. Tree Scientists found these sevens species in
8:00
the lush rainforests of Madagascar. They were all named after
8:05
captains of the sci Fi series Star Trek due to
8:08
the strange, high pitched whistling sounds that sound a bit
8:12
like the sounds that they make. The new species were
8:15
described in a study published in October in the journal
8:19
Vertebrate Zoology. The newly discovered species are from the genus Buffis.
8:25
They are found across the island of Madagascar and communicate
8:29
with other frogs with their signature whistling sounds. When the
8:33
research team heard the calls, they immediately reminded them of
8:36
the sound effects used across the various Star Trek series.
8:40
The names Buffis Kirki, Mufis Picardi, Bufis Ciscoi, Buffis Jane Wayi,
8:49
Bufis archer Eye, Bufus Pikei, and Buffis Bernhame were also
8:57
fitting due to the amount of trekking through the rainforest
9:00
that the team needed to do in order to find
9:02
the frogs. And pygmy hippos sees the spotlight. Shortly after
9:12
Thailand's mood Dang became a social media sensation, the Royal
9:17
Zoological Society of Scotland's Edinburgh Zoo welcomed their own pygmy
9:22
hippo named Hagis. The bouncing baby girl was born on
9:26
October thirtieth to otto and Gloria. Pygmy hippos are native
9:31
to the forests and swamps of West Africa, primarily in Liberia.
9:35
Adult pygmy hippos generally weigh between three hundred and fifty
9:38
and six hundred pounds, or about the same as some
9:41
domestic pigs. By comparison, they are about ten times smaller
9:45
than the standard sized hippo. Despite their stocky size, these
9:50
large mammals can really move. They can run roughly eighteen
9:53
miles per hour on average, comparable to lizards and humans.
9:57
Pygmy hippos are listed as endangered by the International Union
10:01
for Conservation of Nature. Only an estimated twenty five hundred
10:05
remain in the wild due to habitat loss from logging,
10:09
mining and other human activities. And there was a coral
10:15
as big as a blue whale. Scientists found the world's
10:18
largest known coral bobbing around in the southwest Pacific Ocean.
10:22
It is one hundred eleven feet wide, one hundred four
10:25
feet long, eighteen feet high, and six hundred feet around.
10:29
It is a conglomerate of individual creatures called coral polyps
10:33
that have grown over three hundred years. Instead of a
10:36
coral reef. Like the Great Barrier Reef in Australia that
10:39
is a network of several colonies, this is a standalone
10:42
coral that has grown uninterrupted for centuries. The mega coral
10:46
is mostly brown, but has some splashes of bright reds, yellows,
10:50
and blues. The rippling waves mirror the ocean's surface. It
10:55
is a pavona clavas and provides crustaceans and fish with
10:59
shelter and a place to breed and live. Was also
11:03
uncovered by accident. The team of explorers from National Geographic
11:07
initially thought that it was a shipwreck due to its
11:10
large size. A closer look revealed that it was in
11:13
fact a giant living organism, just as many across the
11:20
United States were sitting down around the Thanksgiving table for
11:23
a feast. A study was published in the journal Science
11:26
and details how hibernating ground squirrels can go for six
11:30
to nine months without any water. Specific brain regions that
11:34
are involved in triggering thirsts are strongly suppressed. Combined with
11:39
previous findings, the new research lends clarity on an extreme
11:43
mammalian strategy for staying underground for so long. However, this
11:48
physiological mechanism alone isn't enough to fully explain the lack
11:52
of thirst. Other signals at trigger thirst, like hormones related
11:56
to kidney stress and low blood volume, still circular throughout
12:00
the mammals bodies, which should by all standard measures, be
12:04
crying out for fluids. However, even when active during hibernation
12:09
and offered water, the squirrels still avoided Per this new study,
12:15
one of the planet's apex predators snow big secret that
12:19
orca whales are incredible hunters. This year, scientists discovered two
12:24
more examples of just how adept they are at going
12:27
after prey. In South Africa, a solitary orca named Starboard
12:33
was observed eating a great white shark for the first time,
12:37
and the predation event was detailed in a study published
12:39
in March in the African Journal of Marine Science. Starboard
12:44
the orca was working alone to incapacitate and consume an
12:48
eight foot long juvenile white shark in Only two minutes later,
12:52
the orca was observed carrying the shark's liver in its mouth.
12:56
The event is challenging conventional beliefs about the whale cooperative
13:00
hunting behaviors in the region. The world's biggest fish may
13:04
also be on the menu. For a unique pod of
13:07
orcas off the coast of Mexico, They may be going
13:10
after whale sharks. At almost sixty feet long, whale sharks
13:14
are the largest fish on the planet and can certainly
13:17
feed a big and hungry orca whale. The orcas appear
13:21
to be targeting the whale shark's ventral side, the area
13:25
near their bellies. This part of their body is the
13:28
least protected, so is particularly particularly vulnerable. There is less
13:34
muscle and cartilage on their ventral side, which would allow
13:37
the orca is easier access to important blood vessels like
13:41
the aorta. The findings are detailed in a study published
13:45
in November in the journal Frontiers and Marine Science. And
13:51
now we'll go to Time magazine. This article as headlined
13:56
an Uphill Battle the Year in Climate, written by Justin Worland.
14:05
By early November, it was virtually certain that twenty twenty
14:07
four would be the hottest year on record. The evidence
14:11
was being felt around the world, from flooding that killed
14:14
hundreds in Spain to drought in forty eight of America's
14:17
fifty states. Insurance giants dropped coverage in danger zones and
14:22
warned about the growing challenge posed by climate change. Amid
14:26
all that a casual observer might have expected, negotiators gathered
14:31
at UN Climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan to double down
14:36
on the most critical efforts to cut global emissions and
14:39
prevent the problem from getting worse. Instead, the talks, known
14:44
this year as COP twenty nine, devolved into a chaotic
14:48
conflict across decades old battle lines. The deal that emerged,
14:53
an agreement for developed countries to lead in providing three
14:56
hundred billion dollars annually in climate finance to global south nations,
15:02
was enough to keep hope alive, but far from sufficient
15:05
to tackle the scale of the problem. Chandi Rhina, negotiator
15:10
for at risk India, summed up the prevailing sentiment after
15:14
the finance agreement was gabbled in quote, we are extremely hurt.
15:20
The talks were a fitting in to a complicated year
15:23
of climate action. As a problem grows worse, leaders constrained
15:27
by political consideration keep eking out piecemeal solutions. The solutions
15:32
could be worse, but they could also be a lot better.
15:36
And twenty twenty four, few politicians are denying the urgent
15:40
science of climate change, Yet most are struggling to act
15:44
on the scale necessary to help the world avoid the
15:47
worst effects of warming. But that doesn't mean all is lost.
15:51
This year brought some glimmers of progress. The economics of
15:55
clean energy have improved, policies and acted years ago are
15:58
paying dividends, and innovators technological, financial and policy continue to
16:05
forge ahead. In time, those developments will make a more
16:11
sustainable future inevitable. The question is what the path looks
16:16
like to get there. Any assessment of the year in
16:20
climate requires a clear eyed look at the science. In November,
16:24
the World Meteorological Organization warned not only that twenty twenty
16:29
four is on track to be the hottest on record,
16:32
but also that global temperature rise may bob above the
16:35
one point five degrees celsius threshold laid out in the
16:39
Paris Agreement. To avoid that, a UN Environmental environment Program
16:45
report said countries would need to cut emissions forty two
16:49
percent by twenty thirty and fifty seven percent of twenty
16:53
thirty five. It noted that hitting these numbers remains technically possible,
16:59
but it would require muscular government programs to promote clean energy,
17:03
stop carbon releasing deforestation, and push high polluting industries to decarbonize.
17:11
The current political context is not exactly friendly to such
17:15
sweeping government programs. In the EU, a long standing climate
17:19
leader populist backlash. The EU a long standing climate leader
17:26
populist backlash. This year gave right wing anti climate policy
17:31
makers a record presence in the European Parliament. European Commission
17:37
President Ursula vander Lyon, head of the EU's executive branch,
17:42
remains in office, but her new cabinet will be playing defense.
17:46
Top officials say they will focus on streamlining existing climate
17:50
policies to make the block more competitive, rather than issuing
17:54
new ones. There is a clear conviction that we will
17:58
continue to lead on this, says wopkay Hextra, the block's
18:03
top climate official. But the EU needs to bridge that better,
18:07
marry that better with competitiveness for our companies and a
18:12
just transition for our people. Nowhere, however, is the reality
18:19
of challenging politics more stark than in the US, where
18:22
Donald Trump won a non consecutive second term as president.
18:27
He will enter the White House promising to end what
18:30
he has called the green new Scam, as he describes
18:34
the Biden administration's clean energy tax breaks and subsidies. Trump
18:39
may not be able to repeal in its entirety the
18:42
Inflation Reduction Act, President Joe Biden's landmark climate law, given
18:47
the jobs the law is created in conservative places where
18:50
voters support Trump, but his return nonetheless casts a pall
18:55
on global climate efforts. Investors dumped greens Stole in response
19:01
to Trump's assent. Leaders in the global South have already
19:05
felt less diplomatic pressure to decarbonize, and some companies have
19:10
doubled down on their strategy of keeping quiet on climate efforts. Quote.
19:14
It's clear that the next administration will try to take
19:17
a U turn and erase much of this progress, says
19:21
John Podesta, Biden's climate envoy, on the first day of
19:25
COP twenty nine. Quote. I'm keenly aware of the disappointment
19:28
that the United States has at times caused in quote.
19:33
Combine the stark science with the stark political realities, and
19:36
you get a pretty grim picture. The uphill climate battle
19:39
got a lot more difficult this year. Still, a careful
19:42
observer can't identify meaningful green shoots. No matter the political complications,
19:49
Countries continue to deploy clean energy at a rapid clip,
19:53
driven by economics renewables are often cheaper than fossil fuels
19:58
and energy security concern Producing clean energy at home means
20:02
less reliance on polluting imports. Globally, investment in green technologies
20:07
has reached nearly two trillion dollars annually, twice the level
20:11
of investment in new fossil fuel supply, according to the
20:15
International Energy Agency. Many climate advocates have celebrated the resurgence
20:20
of nuclear power, long considered taboo and too expensive. Investing
20:25
in nuclear offers a zero carbon solution to companies building
20:29
energy intensive AI data centers, and there are the nascent
20:34
initiatives launched in twenty twenty four that will pay dividends
20:38
in the months and years to come. Financial innovators have
20:41
pushed pursued new ways of investing in climate projects. That
20:46
includes efforts on the global stage to use government money
20:49
to de risk private sector climate investments in the global South.
20:54
Thus far, these efforts have been relatively small, but their
20:57
impact will grow as a program's scale. Policy innovators, too
21:02
are thinking through ways to continue progress in the new
21:05
political atmosphere. Linking emissions reduction with trade, for example, offers
21:11
a potential opportunity even under Trump in climate conversations. It
21:16
has become almost cliche to say the energy transition is inevitable,
21:21
and yet that's the truth. Will it happen fast enough?
21:25
Right now things don't look good, but that doesn't mean
21:27
we should give up every bit of warming we can
21:29
avoid matters. In November, I spoke with World Bank President
21:33
aj Banga about his agenda to remake the Bank with
21:37
climate in mind. More than any policy guidance, what struck
21:41
me was his approach to making change by carefully tweaking
21:45
the organization's structures. It's a lesson worth remembering as we
21:49
head into twenty twenty five. In time, small changes add
21:53
up to something much bigger. Quote. Forecasts are not destiny.
21:58
He says, you can change destiny, but you have to
22:01
work at it. Now. Go to USA today. What started
22:10
the wildfires raging across the Los Angeles area? This is
22:14
from January eighth. Fire officials are investigating the causes of
22:19
multiple wildfires that are destroying homes and forcing thousands to
22:24
evacuate across parts of southern California on Wednesday. The Palisades
22:29
Fire started burning around ten thirty am Tuesday and scorched
22:34
nearly three thousand acres between the beach towns of Santa
22:37
Monica and Malibu. Around six thirty pm, the Eton Fire
22:41
broke out in Altadena near Pass Pasadena and swelled to
22:46
more than twenty two hundred acres. By ten thirty PM,
22:49
a smaller blaze named the Hurst Fire had ignited in
22:53
Silmar in the San Fernando Valley, northwest of downtown Los
22:58
Angeles and consumed about five acres. The cause of all
23:03
three blazes are still under investigation, according to col Fire,
23:07
but the powerful Santa Ana winds are likely driving their
23:10
rapid growth. Quote. The combination of low humidity, dry fuels,
23:15
and shifting winds has heightened the potential for spotfires and
23:20
rapid expansion, as Colfire said in an update, Even before
23:26
the fire started, the National Weather Service had issued its
23:29
highest alert for extreme fire conditions for much of Los
23:32
Angeles County. The Weather Service office in Los Angeles warned
23:36
Monday that wind gusts could reach one hundred miles per
23:40
hour in some areas this week, prompting extreme fire behavior
23:45
wherever blaze is ignited. Quote. This is a particularly dangerous situation.
23:51
In other words, this is about as bad as it
23:53
gets in terms of fire Weather, says the Weather Office
23:58
in Los Angeles on Monday. Quote, stay away of your
24:03
stay aware of your surroundings, Be ready to evacuate, especially
24:08
if in a high fire risk area. Be careful with
24:12
fire sources. A wildfire, an uncontrolled blaze that occurs on
24:18
open land with vegetation, can be ignited by natural or
24:22
artificial causes. Lightning is the most common natural cause. In
24:26
higher elevations, Lightning sometimes strikes drive to vegetation and sparks
24:31
of fire that can easily become uncontrollable. In cities with
24:35
roads near wildfire, such as southern California, it's very common
24:39
for vehicles to unknowingly ignite a fire, says Luca Carmegnani,
24:45
fire advisor from the University of California Agriculture and Natural
24:49
Resources Department. We can expect to see larger wildfires. Climate
24:56
change is helping drive an increase in large wildfires in
24:59
the US. Carmig Nanny, the fire advisor, went on to say,
25:06
for example, we have a truck with a train that
25:09
drags on the road and generate sparks where you have
25:12
like a catalytic converter. There are different ways that cars
25:15
and trucks can start a fire from the road. Strong
25:20
winds can cause power lines to move, which may generate
25:24
sparks that eventually land on dry fuels such as grass
25:27
or vegetation. Carmcgnaughni added that unextinguished campfires are a prevalent
25:34
human cause of wildfires. Historically, wildfire season typically begins in
25:40
July and ends around late November to early December. This
25:45
time of year has the driest conditions, which are perfect
25:49
for igniting and burning vegetation. Last month, the Franklin Fire
25:54
in scenic Malibu was clickly quickly contained, while November's Mountain
26:00
and Fire burned tens of thousands of acres, destroyed and
26:03
damaged hundreds of homes in western Ventura County and was
26:08
the third most destructive wildfire in southern California since at
26:12
least twenty thirteen. The National Weather Service's Los Angeles office
26:17
issued a red flag alert Tuesday, the first in January
26:21
since twenty twenty one. November December now January. There's no
26:26
fire season, its fire year. It's year round, says California
26:31
Governor Gavin Newsom in a press conference. Climate change is
26:38
leading to larger and more severe wildfires in the western
26:41
United States. According to the twenty twenty three National Climate
26:45
Assessment Report, warmer temperatures create conditions that make fire behaviors
26:50
more dangerous. John Keeley, a senior research scientist with the
26:54
US Geological Survey, previously told USA Today that climate change
26:59
isn't the only reason for the increase in large fires
27:04
in California. Population growth, increasing fire ignitions, and the Santa
27:09
Ana winds are bigger factors in wildfires. Heely said, these
27:14
factors don't appear to be affected by climate change right now,
27:19
and climate change is likely to be a bigger driver
27:22
in the northern part of the state rather than the south.
27:26
He said, Well, that will be all for today's Diary
27:30
of Science and Nature. Your reader was Kelly Taylor. Thanks
27:35
for listening, and now stay tuned for the Health Corner
27:38
on RADIOI