Koalas Bellow Out Their Size During Mating Season

 Posted on December 19, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  575 words  |  Fernande Dalal

During mating season, the usually quiet koala community comes alive with deep, choppy growls made by males advertising their goods. Now researchers have found that male koalas advertize their size by changing the resonance of their calls. Lower resonances (also called formants) have a more baritone quality, and advertize larger males, an attractive quality in a koala. . "As male body size increases the formants become lower and more closely spaced," [Read More]

Mystery of 15th-Century Bayeux Tapestry Solved

 Posted on December 19, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  626 words  |  Fernande Dalal

A medieval tapestry that tells the story of the Norman conquest of England over 230 feet (70 meters) of wool yarn and linen has just divulged one of its secrets. Though the origins of this magnificent work of textile, called the Bayeux Tapestry, are murky, researchers now think they know why the tapestry was made: to be displayed in the nave of the Bayeux Cathedral.  The dimensions of the cloth mean it would have fit perfectly into the 11th-century nave of the Bayeux Cathedral in Normandy, France, the researchers reported Oct. [Read More]

Photo trickery captures ethereal jellyfish 'ballet' in Spanish lake

 Posted on December 19, 2022  |  2 minutes  |  417 words  |  Fernande Dalal

(opens in new tab)A clever photographer has used some camera trickery to capture a stunning shot of what appear to be around a dozen "dancing" jellyfish in a Spanish lake. But there's a twist: There are only two jellyfish.  Spanish photographer Angel Fitor snapped the photo, titled "Medusa Ballet" (named for the free-floating life stage of jellyfish) at Mar Menor, Europe's largest saltwater lagoon. The mesmerizing image features 11 Mediterranean jellyfish (Cotylorhiza tuberculata), also known as fried egg jellyfish, whose translucent orange bells perfectly match the setting sun behind a far-off mountain on the horizon. [Read More]

Spellbinding new 'selfie' video captures penguin feasting on giant sardine ball

 Posted on December 19, 2022  |  2 minutes  |  337 words  |  Patria Henriques

A spellbinding new "selfie" video captures a Gentoo penguin feasting on a giant ball of sardines and soaring through the sea off Argentina. Gentoo penguins normally feed near the seabed, but this new footage from the Beagle Channel in southern Argentina proves they dine on shoals of sardines near the surface given the chance.  "We wrote in many papers that the seabird community in the Beagle Channel rely on sardines but this is the actual proof, and now it is confirmed and with a star behind the camera: the penguin," [Read More]

Spiders Pose as Bird Poop to Evade Predators

 Posted on December 19, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  474 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Many animals camouflage themselves to avoid being eaten by predators, but few are as strange as a spider that disguises itself as bird poop.   The orb-web spider's silver body and the white, silken, disclike decoration on its web give it an uncanny resemblance to bird droppings. The spiders may use this disguise to avoid being captured by predatory wasps, researchers say. "These predators usually will form a search image to hunt for spiders, and [they] usually will not be interested in bird droppings," [Read More]

There's a Lot of Sperm on the International Space Station Right Now

 Posted on December 19, 2022  |  2 minutes  |  380 words  |  Trudie Dory

For the first time, err, officially, NASA will set loose human sperm in outer space. The Micro-11 mission, which made its way to space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket's Dragon resupply capsule, amounts to a bunch of containers of frozen human and bull sperm. Aboard the International Space Station (ISS), scientists will thaw the sperm, according to a NASA statement, and then study it to see how weightlessness affects its ability to move and prepare to fuse with an egg. [Read More]

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson released from hospital

 Posted on December 19, 2022  |  2 minutes  |  382 words  |  Patria Henriques

Updated April 13 at 8:30 a.m. ET. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was discharged Sunday (April 12) from St. Thomas' Hospital and will continue to recover from COVID-19 at his country residence, Chequers. He had been moved into "standard care" on Thursday (April 9), after spending three nights in the intensive care unit.  Doctors had moved him into the ICU on Monday (April 6) as a precaution in case he ended up needing a ventilator to breathe, The Washington Post reported. [Read More]

Uncannily Lifelike Roman Masks Recreated in Wax

 Posted on December 19, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  501 words  |  Patria Henriques

CHICAGO — Some 2,000 years ago, elite Roman families stuffed their closets with wax masks made in the likeness of their male ancestors so that during funeral processions actors could fill in for the missing links of the genealogical line. Scholars know about the strange practice from ancient sources, such as the Greek historian Polybius, though none of the masks themselves survive. Recently, however, a team of researchers at Cornell University made life-cast molds of their own faces to recreate these imagines maiorum, and they found that the wax masks were indeed uncannily lifelike. [Read More]

What's on the Far Side of the Moon?

 Posted on December 19, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  680 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Looking up at the silvery orb of the Moon, you might recognize familiar shadows and shapes on its face from one night to the next. You see the same view of the Moon our early ancestors did as it lighted their way after sundown. Only one side of the spherical Moon is ever visible from Earth — it wasn't until 1959 when the Soviet Spacecraft Luna 3 orbited the Moon and sent pictures home that human beings were able to see the " [Read More]

Wild Madagascar: Photos Reveal Island's Amazing Lemurs

 Posted on December 19, 2022  |  2 minutes  |  370 words  |  Patria Henriques

Lemur LifeThe quirky 100-plus lemur species call just one place home: the island of Madagascar. Since arriving there some 62 million years ago, the primates that became lemurs have enjoyed an island paradise, where there were few predators and plenty of food. The tens of current species have taken on various shapes and sizes, as well as lifestyles. Now, results of a June 2012 conference of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission finds that many lemurs are on the brink of extinction due primarily to habitat loss. [Read More]