Curio Cabinet

They say that fashion trends repeat themselves;. Just look at all the 80s stuff everywhere: oversized sweaters, neon colors… salmon hats? While the fashionistas on land are thrifting for mom jeans, orcas are having an 80s fashion comeback of their own. Back when glam rock and shopping malls were thriving, orcas in the Northwest Pacific experienced something of a cultural trend. A female orca was spotted “wearing” a dead salmon like a hat in the summer of 1987, and soon, other orcas seemed to follow suit. There was no discernible reason for them doing this, at least none that any scientists could deduce, but like a viral trend on social media, the curious behavior spread. Then, like most viral fads, the salmon-hat trend seemingly disappeared without a trace by the following year with no explanation to be had.
 
Then, just last month, another orca was spotted in South Puget Sound in Washington state wearing a dead salmon. Scientists were baffled to see this same, strange behavior almost 40 years apart. Some believe that the behavior was passed on by orcas who were around in the 1980s and remember the trend, and that’s actually not too far-fetched. Individuals in pods learn from other orcas, and everything from the way they communicate to how they feed can be distinct from other pods. Pods are even known to have “dialects,” where their whistles and clicks sound different from one another. But why would any killer whale put a dead fish on their head and swim around with it to begin with? Some researchers believe that an abundance of food might trigger the behavior. Both this year and 1987 saw high food availability, and this behavior might just be a way for them to save food for later consumption. Orcas have been known to tuck food between their body and their pectoral fin, but salmon might be too slippery for that, forcing them to balance them on their heads instead. Form and function combined? Now that’s forward-thinking fashion.

 
[Image description: Two orcas leaping from the water.] Credit & copyright: Robert Pittman, NOAA. This image is in the public domain because it contains materials that originally came from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, taken or made as part of an employee's official duties.

This ain’t your grandma’s ferry. Lake Tahoe will soon see hydrofoil ferries shuttling passengers around at breakneck speeds, and the best part? The ferries will be electric with zero-emissions. Nestled between California and Nevada, Lake Tahoe is a popular destination for outdoor enthusiasts. The lake and surrounding area offers its 15 million annual visitors everything from ski resorts to long-distance hiking trails, but their presence presents several conundrums. First, the very things that attract people to the area are under threat due to having to support so many visitors. Every vehicle kicks up road sediment, which threatens the clarity of the famously clear, blue lake. While tourism makes up a large portion of the local economy, the locals are often frustrated by the congestion and associated delays from having to share their space with so many visitors. Some workers who commute to tourism-related jobs find it difficult to get there due to all the traffic.
 
The solution seems almost too fantastical to be real: a high speed ferry that can cross the lake in less time than it would take to drive around it, while having a smaller environmental impact. A local company called FlyTahoe is teaming up with Candela, a Swedish tech company, to create the Candela P-12, an electric hydrofoil ferry. The zero-emission vessel is capable of carrying 30 passengers at 25 knots, which means commuters and visitors can cross the lake in around 30 minutes. And because the hydrofoil design lifts the hull above the water for most of the journey, the vessel is around 80 percent more energy-efficient than other boats. FlyTahoe is currently working with local businesses to secure docking rights for their ferries, but soon enough, there might be electric boats flying around Lake Tahoe. Water relief that would be.

 
[Image description: A close-up photo of the surface of water under the sky at sunset.] Credit & copyright: Matt Hardy, Pexels

Forming memories is kind of the brain’s thing. That’s where all the information about our past is stored…right? As it turns out, the brain might not be the only organ in the human body capable of forming memories, according to a paper published by New York University (NYU) researchers in Nature Communications. Memories in the brain are stored by neurons—specialized cells that are uniquely structured for that purpose. However, researchers at NYU have found that memory genes can be activated in nerve cells and organs to help them function more efficiently using something called the massed-spaced effect. It’s a phenomenon where people retain information better when they’re exposed to it in spaced intervals rather than in a single occurrence. When cells outside the brain are exposed to chemical signals, it’s similar to the process by which neurotransmitters interact with neurons. Researchers found that it activates the cells’ memory genes and, like neurons, the cells can then “remember” better when signals come in intervals rather than in single, large bursts. The memories these cells form aren’t quite like memories in neurons, though. They appear to be specifically related to improving their individual functions and can’t be consciously accessed. This study sheds more light on how neurons work, but it also gives enormous insight into how the rest of the body functions. One of the co-authors of the study, Nikolay Kukushkin, said in the university’s press release, “This discovery opens new doors for understanding how memory works and could lead to better ways to enhance learning and treat memory problems. At the same time, it suggests that in the future, we will need to treat our body more like the brain—for example, consider what our pancreas remembers about the pattern of our past meals to maintain healthy levels of blood glucose or consider what a cancer cell remembers about the pattern of chemotherapy.” A disease that remembers the last time you tried to kill it? Frankly, that’s something we’d rather forget.

[Image description: Models of a human brain and lightbulb against a pink background.] Credit & copyright: KATRIN BOLOVTSOVA, Pexels
 

Ah rats, there’s too many drivers on the road this time of year…including actual rats. When a group of neuroscientists taught rats to drive tiny, specially-made cars, they weren’t surprised by their success. They were surprised, however, by how much the rats seemed to enjoy it. One of the researchers, Kelly Lambert at the University of Richmond wrote in Live Science, “Rats typically prefer dirt, sticks, and rocks over plastic objects.” Yet when Lambert and her colleagues started training rats to drive, the rambunctious rodents took to it quickly—and with gusto. Maybe it was just the breakfast cereal researchers used as rewards, but the rats didn’t seem to mind the strange little contraptions they were placed into. The “cars” they drove, which consisted of a clear box on wheels steered by wires the rats could pull on, were fairly rudimentary and definitely not street-legal (rat rods, one might call them), but they were still unnatural contraptions that the rats were unfamiliar with. It would have been reasonable to assume that the rats would fear the cars. Yet, the rodents seemed to love them. As Lambert further elucidated, humans didn’t evolve to drive cars either. What allows us to enjoy driving is the human brain’s flexibility, a trait also shared by rats. It even seems that, just as humans sometimes go driving to regain a sense of control when stressed, so can rats. After driving, the rats were found to have lower levels of corticosterone, the rat equivalent of humans’ cortisol, the “stress hormone.” At the same time, their levels of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) went down. DHEA is a hormone that protects against the effects of corticosterone. Of course, the researchers didn’t do all of this just for kicks, as adorable as the concept of driving rats may be. This was part of a larger study exploring the effects of chronic stress in humans, including its negative health consequences, like type 2 diabetes. These scientists managed to perform valuable research while giving the world rats that can drive. Rats off to them!

Is that a nose or a vacuum? For giant anteaters, it’s both. These strange-looking animals have long, luxurious fur, a prominent stripe, and intimidating claws. But their most stand-out feature is their long muzzle and the tongue inside, which can extend over two feet. Giant anteaters use this impressive appendage to reach deep inside anthills and termite mounds and effortlessly lap up the insects within. Since giant anteaters are currently considered a vulnerable (but not yet endangered) species, the recent birth of a giant anteater pup at the Cotswold Wildlife Park in West Oxfordshire, England, has made international headlines and piqued worldwide interest in this unusual species.
 
There are only four species of anteaters in the world, and, as their name implies, giant anteaters are by far the biggest. They can reach lengths between six and eight feet, and weigh up to 140 pounds. For a long time, scientists assumed that giant anteaters were related to pangolins and aardvarks because they look so much alike, with long noses and curved claws. Thanks to DNA analysis, we now know that these similarities were due to convergent evolution (when two species evolve similar traits because they fill similar niches) and giant anteaters are actually more closely related to sloths and armadillos.
 
Since they’re native to Central and South America, giant anteaters are always surrounded by animals that are just as large and powerful as themselves. Jaguars pose a particular threat, especially to anteater pups. Giant anteaters have no teeth to defend themselves with, but their curved claws can be used both for digging up insects and for self defense. On the rare occasion that a giant anteater gets into an altercation, it may rear onto its hind legs, using its tail for balance, and slash at an opponent with its claws. Don’t let their friendly demeanor, toothless mouths, and funny-looking faces fool you—these insect-eaters pack a wallop.

 
[Image description: An anteater standing with its nose in the air at San Francisco Zoo.] Credit & copyright: Daderot, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication