Mosquitoes Really Can Carry Libraries of Animal DNA
From missing dinosaur feathers to fictitious pack-hunting behaviors, many details of the Jurassic Park movie franchise belong firmly in fantasy, but not the mosquitoes. Yet, incredibly, the films’ central premise may be more realistic than expected: Mosquito meals really can provide a thorough ecological snapshot of the area they buzz about, new research from the University of Florida finds. “They say Jurassic Park inspired a new generation of paleontologists, but it inspired me to study mosquitoes,” says entomologist Lawrence Reeves. Reeves, fellow entomologist Hannah Atsma, and their colleagues caught more than 50,000 individual mosquitoes, representing 21 different species, across a 10,900-hectare protected reserve in central Florida over eight months. Based…
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Dolphins possess a “taste for fat” to obtain their mother’s milk
About fractals. A pattern confirmed for the first time
Many people are fascinated by the beautiful images called fractals. Expanding beyond the typical perception of mathematics as a body of complicated, boring formulas, fractal geometry blends art with mathematics to demonstrate that equations are more than just a collection of numbers. What makes fractals even more interesting is that they are the best existing mathematical descriptions of many natural forms. The concept of “fractals” has become increasingly popular, although it first appeared more than two centuries ago, with a prominent and prolific mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz. Leibnitz is believed to have first addressed the notion of self-symmetry or self-similarity, but it was not until 1960 that the…
Dolphins possess a “taste for fat” to obtain their mother’s milk
Scientists have discovered that young dolphins have specialized receptors for detecting fatty acids in their mother’s milk. The findings, published in the journal Marine Mammal Science, provide important insights into how these marine mammals grow, feed, and communicate. The new findings challenge previous assumptions about cetacean sensory systems. A first experiment Unlike terrestrial mammals, dolphins and other marine mammals have limited olfactory capabilities – the sense of smell is largely non-functional in aquatic environments. Therefore, researchers speculated that dolphins had other ways to perceive their surroundings and detect food. Fat plays a crucial role in providing energy and supporting brain development in baby dolphins, who are entirely dependent on their…
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Mosquitoes Really Can Carry Libraries of Animal DNA
