Tag Archives: nature

The Star Observer reports: A new series from NBC called Queer Planet is providing fascinating looks at both homosexuality in the animal kingdom and at the people apparently incapable of even acknowledging that it exists. The trailer for the documentary series was released on May 17th and gave a preview of a “rich diversity of animal sexuality” with gay penguins, …

CNN reports: A vital system of ocean currents could collapse within a few decades if the world continues to pump out planet-heating pollution, scientists are warning – an event that would be catastrophic for global weather and “affect every person on the planet.” A new study published Tuesday in the journal Nature, found that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current – …

The Associated Press reports: Human feces, overflowing garbage, illegal off-roading and other damaging behavior in fragile areas were beginning to overwhelm some of the West’s iconic national parks, as a partial government shutdown left the areas open to visitors but with little staff on duty. Unlike shutdowns in some previous administrations, the Trump administration was leaving parks open to visitors …

ABC News reports: One of the biggest icebergs ever recorded, a trillion-ton behemoth more than seven times the size of New York City, has broken off of Antarctica, triggering disagreement among scientists over whether global warming is to blame. The event, captured by satellite, happened sometime in the past few days when the giant chunk snapped off an ice shelf. …

It’s not what you think. Or maybe it is. (Tipped by JMG reader Blair)

Via ABC News: The worst grasshopper infestation in 20 years has become so thick around Albuquerque, N.M., that the airborne bugs are showing up on weather radar, officials said today. “Albuquerque has not seen these levels of grasshoppers since the early-mid 1990′s,” said John R. Garlisch, extension agent at Bernalillo County Cooperative Extension Service. The National Weather Service said the …

You probably shouldn’t watch this before breakfast.

Via the Salt Lake Tribune: A group of Boy Scout leaders is potentially facing felony charges for destroying a rock formation nearly 200 million years old. The trio of men was adventuring in Utah’s Goblin Valley State Park when they decided to film themselves knocking over one of the formations, known as “goblins.” One man can be seen leveraging himself …

From the Yahoo story titled Why Insects Have Gay Sex: Researchers have widely examined homosexual behavior in mammals and birds, but have addressed it less frequently in insects and spiders. To assess the range of evolutionary explanations for same-sex intercourse in the invertebrate world, a team of biologists from Tel Aviv University in Israel examined roughly 100 existing studies on …

Sadly, those tears are just bug poop.

Source. (Via Towleroad)

The tides in Provincetown are rather dramatic. It was a bit of an exhausting slog to muck back in from way out there.

I came across this park worker installing some new paving stones noting gifts to the Central Park Conservancy’s tree endowment fund. Reading the plaques is like a short history in recent events, as some of the gifts are made in the names of disaster victims: 9/11, Japan’s earthquake, the 2004 tsunami, etc. Many of the park’s oldest trees were destroyed …

Hit this link for the runners-up. Cool stuff.

The jury is out on whether this is photoshopped, but either way I’m seeing a new Disney character.

Via Richard Dawkins: Using its fins to walk, rather than swim, along the ocean floor in an undated picture, the pink handfish is one of nine newly named species described in a recent scientific review of the handfish family. The new-species determinations were made based on a number of factors, including number of vertebrae and fin rays, coloration, the presence …

The science journal Nature has published a study claiming that the sexual orientation of mice can be changed with the neurotransmitter 5-HT. Although the question of to whom a male directs his mating attempts is a critical one in social interactions, little is known about the molecular and cellular mechanisms controlling mammalian sexual preference. Here we report that the neurotransmitter …

This weekend’s feature article in New York Times Magazine deals with homosexuality in the animal kingdom. Here’s an excerpt: Various forms of same-sex sexual activity have been recorded in more than 450 different species of animals by now, from flamingos to bison to beetles to guppies to warthogs. A female koala might force another female against a tree and mount …

Australian scientists gave cocaine to bees and discovered that while high the bees acted just like human cokeheads. “When foraging honeybees discover a particularly good source of pollen or nectar, they fly back to the hive and perform a symbolic dance for their nest mates,” said Dr Andrew Barron. “This is a specialised form of communication to tell their nest …