Curio Cabinet

Before gold glittered on Earth, it may have quaked in space. For years, science has posited that light elements, like hydrogen and helium, have existed on Earth since as far back as the Big Bang while heavier elements, like gold and uranium, were probably made elsewhere. That’s because a vast amount of energy is needed to create such heavy elements. These theories have been backed up by modern astronomical evidence of heavy elements being created during stellar events, such as nuclear fusion in the cores of stars. When these stars explode, they shower nearby solar systems with heavy elements. Now, researchers might have found another stellar event with the capacity to create gold: starquakes on a type of neutron star known as magnetars.
 
When stars explode, their cores can become neutron stars, the densest celestial objects in the universe. Magnetars are neutron stars with particularly strong magnetic fields. Since magnetars have fluid cores beneath their crusts, motion under the surface can cause massive starquakes, similar to earthquakes on our own planet. When this happens, magnetars can release bursts of radiation. While re-evaluating 20-year-old data from NASA and European Space Agency telescopes, researchers found evidence that these radiation bursts also cause massive explosions during which some of a magnetar’s mass is ejected into space. These explosions create the necessary conditions for the formation of heavy elements. Is it any wonder that gold shimmers like stars when that’s where it’s originally from?

[Image description: An earring in the shape of a gold star, made in the 8th-12th century.] Credit & copyright: Earring with Star and Granules The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Jeannette and Jonathan Rosen, 2001., Public Domain.
 

The Greeks had nothing on this ancient astronomer! For centuries, the oldest surviving star catalog, mapping the exact positions of heavenly bodies, was known to have come from ancient Greece. Created by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus of Nicaea some time around 130 B.C.E., it gave ancient Greece the distinction of being the first civilization to map stars using coordinates. Now, researchers in China have turned that idea on its head, as they claim to have dated a Chinese star catalog to more than 100 years before the Greeks’. It was compiled by Chinese astrologer and astronomer Shi Shen some time around 335 B.C.E. and is being called The Star Manual of Master Shi.
 
While this new star catalog shows detailed information about 120 stars, including their names and coordinates, it doesn’t include a date. To determine when, exactly, it was made, researchers had to get creative. We know that stars’ positions change over time relative to earthbound viewers due to a phenomenon called precession, in which the Earth wobbles slightly on its axis in slow, 26,000-year cycles. Researchers first compared The Star Manual of Master Shi to other manuals made in later periods, like the Tang and Yuan dynasties. Then, they used a specially-made algorithm to compare the positions in Shi’s manual to 10,000 different moments in later periods, factoring in the process of precession. The algorithm found that The Star Manual of Master Shi had to have been created in 335 B.C.E., which makes sense since that year falls right within Shi’s lifetime, at the height of his career. In the process of comparing Shi’s work to that of later astronomers, they also found that his coordinates had been meticulously and purposefully updated by another famous, ancient Chinese astronomer: Grand Astronomer Zhang Heng, of the Han Dynasty. We may have just discovered how important Shi’s manual was, but it seems that other astronomers already knew what was up (in the sky.)

 
[Image description: A starry sky with some purple visible.] Credit & copyright: Felix Mittermeier, Pexels

That’s one spiny little bugger! In some places (particularly in Europe) hedgehogs are a common sight, while in other places (like the U.S.A.) they’re considered exotic pets. Regardless of location, hedgehogs are famous for being small, cute, and, of course, spikey. An average European hedgehog has between 5,000 and 7,000 spikes covering its back and sides.
 
Hedgehogs have a wide range that includes parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. They evolved around 15 million years ago and are still very similar to their ancient ancestors in size and appearance. They’re often mistaken for rodents, but they’re not actually members of the order Rodentia, which includes animals like mice, squirrels, and hamsters. Rather, hedgehogs belong to the order Eulipotyphla, along with animals like shrews and moles. Like their relatives, hedgehogs don’t eat seeds, grains, or fruit; they’re insectivores. Their diets mainly consist of worms, slugs, and beetles, though hedgehogs are opportunistic eaters and will even eat carrion if they happen across it.
Despite their small size and cute appearance, hedgehogs are pretty good at fending off predators thanks to their spikes. When a threat approaches, a hedgehog will roll into a prickly ball while hissing. The display is enough to drive most predators off.
 
Their natural defenses have helped hedgehogs become common in many places, including some where they really shouldn’t be. Hedgehogs were introduced to New Zealand from Europe in 1870, in an attempt to control New Zealand’s slug and snail populations. Unfortunately, hedgehogs are now invasive pests in the island nation, as they gobble up native wildlife and have no natural predators to control their population.
 
African pygmy hedgehogs are particularly popular as pets worldwide, as they typically do well in captivity and can even bond with their owners to a degree. They do have some special needs though. Not only do hedgehog owners need to have strong enough stomachs to feed their pets mealworms and other insects, but African pygmy hedgehogs also require heating lamps. If their body temperature slips below 68 degrees Fahrenheit, they can enter a hibernation-like state called torpor, which can be deadly. When it comes to keeping these prickly pals, not everyone can stand the heat.

 
[Image description: A brown hedgehog walking in green grass.] Credit & copyright: George Chernilevsky, Wikimedia Commons. The copyright holder of this work has released it into the public domain. This applies worldwide.

This week, as the weather continues to warm, we're looking back on some of our favorite springtime curios from years past.
 

Do you have trouble falling asleep? Do you get rocky "half-sleep"? Well hibernation might be just the cure for you. In two recent unrelated experiments, researchers isolated the neurons in the brain that "switch" on hibernation in mammals. One study, led by neurobiologist Sinisa Hrvatin of Harvard, intentionally reached its findings. Hrvatin and her team first hypothesized that they could trick mice into going into hibernation, mostly by limiting their diets and exposing them to cold temperatures. They were correct. Hrvatin and her team noticed that the combination of variables led some mice to enter a state of torpor in 10 hours, and others in up to 48 hours. As the mice lulled to sleep, the scientists observed and tagged neurons in their rodent hypothalami. The hypothalamus is an area of the brain largely concerned with primordial sensations like feeding, temperature, and eating. Once the scientists tagged and cataloged the neurons involved in the torpor, the scientists could stimulate those neurons on command. In other words, they could instantly thrust mice into a pleasant siesta. The second study, based in Japan, largely came to the same conclusion but unintentionally. Both teams posit that artificial hibernation could carry over to humans, allowing for the long-sought-after suspended sleep during space flights, metabolic control of body temperature during surgery, and a much safer form of sedation for unruly patients. And of course it may bring z's to all us purple-eyed, groggy insomniacs. Just remember to set a couple of alarms and set them beside your head before you drift off. Otherwise, you might oversleep until the spring of 2021!
 

Image credit & copyright: Huntsmanleader, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.