Curio Cabinet

You really shouldn’t spray paint at church—especially not on the grave of the world’s most famous biologist. Two climate activists recently made headlines for spray painting a message on Charles Darwin’s grave, in London’s Westminster Abbey. They hoped to draw attention to the fact that Earth’s global temperatures were 34.7 degrees higher than pre-industrial levels for the first time in 2024. While there’s no way to know how Darwin would feel about our modern climate crisis, during his lifetime he wasn’t focused on global temperatures. Rather, he wanted to learn how living things adapted to their environments. His theory of natural selection was groundbreaking…though, contrary to popular belief, Darwin was far from the first scientist to notice that organisms changed over time.
 
Born on February 12, 1809, in Shrewsbury, England, Charles Darwin was already interested in nature and an avid collector of plants and insects by the time he was teen. Still, he didn’t set out to study the natural world, at first. Instead, he apprenticed with his father, a doctor, then enrolled at the University of Edinburgh’s medical school in 1825. Alas, Darwin wasn’t cut out to be a doctor. Not only was he bored by medical lectures, he was deeply (and understandably) upset by medical practices of the time. This was especially true of a surgery he witnessed in which doctors operated on a child without anesthetics—because they hadn’t been invented yet. After leaving medical school, Darwin didn’t have a clear direction in life. He studied taxidermy for a time and later enrolled at Cambridge University to study theology. Yet again, Darwin found himself drawn away from his schooling, finally spurning theology to join the five-year voyage of the HMS Beagle to serve as its naturalist. The Beagle was set to circumnavigate the globe and survey the coastline of South America, among other things, allowing Darwin to travel to remote locations rarely visited by anyone.
 
During the voyage, Darwin did just what he’d done as a child, collecting specimens of insects, plants, animals, and fossils. He didn’t quite have the same “leave only footprints” mantra as modern scientists, though. In fact, Darwin not only documented the various lifeforms he encountered on his journey, he dined on them too. This was actually a habit dating back to his days at Cambridge, where he was the founding member of the Gourmet Club (also known as the Glutton Club). The goal of the club had been to feast on “birds and beasts which were before unknown to human palate,” and Darwin certainly made good on that motto during his time aboard the Beagle. According to his notes, Darwin ate iguanas, giant tortoises, armadillos, and even a puma, which he said was "remarkably like veal in taste." His most important contribution as a naturalist, though, was his theory of natural selection.
 
Darwin came up with his most famous idea after observing 13 different species of finches on the Galápagos Islands. Examining their behavior in the wild and studying their anatomy from captured specimens, Darwin found that the finches all had differently shaped beaks for different purposes. Some were better suited for eating seeds, while others ate insects. Despite these differences, Darwin concluded that they were all descended from the same bird, having many common characteristics, with specializations arising over time. Darwin wasn’t the first person to posit the possibility of evolution, though. 18th-century naturalist Jean Baptiste Lamarck believed that animals changed their bodies throughout their lives based on their environment, while Darwin’s contemporary Alfred Russel Wallace came up with the same theory of natural selection as he did. In fact, the two published a joint statement and gave a presentation at the Linnean Society in London in 1858. Darwin didn’t actually coin the phrase “survival of the fittest,” either. English philosopher Herbert Spencer came up with it in 1864 while comparing his economic and sociological theories to Darwin’s theory of evolution.
 
Despite Darwin’s confidence in his theory and praise from his peers in the scientific world, he actually waited 20 years to publish his findings. He was fearful of how his theory would be received by the religious community in England, since it contradicted much of what was written in the Bible. However, despite some public criticism, Darwin was mostly celebrated upon his theory’s publication. When he died in 1882, he was laid to rest in London’s Westminster Abbey, alongside England’s greatest heroes. It seems he didn’t have much to fear if his countrymen were willing to bury him in a church!

 
[Image description: A black-and-white photograph of Charles Darwin with a white beard.] Credit & copyright: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ggbain-03485, George Grantham Bain Collection. No known restrictions on publication.

How did Pluto get its moon? By playing it cool, of course. Scientists have long wondered how a small dwarf planet like Pluto managed to trap an entire moon in its orbit. Now, researchers at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory of the University of Arizona think an icy “kiss” might have been the key. Pluto and its moon, Charon, make for an unusual pair. Most planets are substantially bigger than their moons, but that’s not so with Pluto. The icy dwarf planet is around 1,400 miles wide, and its moon is 754 miles wide while being about 12 percent the mass of Pluto. They are, essentially, two dwarf planets orbiting around one another. In fact, scientists sometimes refer to them as a double dwarf planet system. Researchers are just now piecing together how the two of them ended up together, and the answer appears to be an unusual process they’re calling “kiss-and-capture.” Billions of years ago, Charon collided with Pluto, but since both of them were solid enough to withstand the impact, they ended up stuck together in a snowman-like configuration. This is different from a standard “collision capture,” where the impact deforms both colliding bodies as if they were fluids. Because Charon rotates more slowly than Pluto, the two couldn’t merge together. Instead, the dwarf planet and moon remained attached for around 10 to 15 hours, after which point Charon started to migrate away, into its current orbit. Scientists at the University of Arizona are basing this theory on an advanced computer simulation where the material properties of both bodies were used to determine how they would react during a collision. It seems that, even in a simulated environment, these two were made for each other.

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

Can you feel the heat? Devastating wildfires are wreaking havoc in populated areas of California, and as firefighters continue to battle the blazes, you may be wondering why it seems like such an uphill fight. As our climate warms, it’s increasingly important to understand how wildfires start, how they spread, and why fighting them can be extraordinarily difficult. Wildfires can start in a number of natural ways, from lightning strikes to the concentrated heat of the sun, but the most common culprit is human interference. Most wildfires are started by simple, careless actions, like discarding lit cigarettes in a dry area or failing to follow proper safety procedures with a campfire. Regardless of how they start, though, wildfires can grow out of control at an unbelievable pace. The speed at which a wildfire grows is based on three main factors: fuel, weather, and topography.
 
The density and material properties of a fire’s fuel (lush vegetation vs. dead, dry vegetation) can greatly impact how fast the fire spreads, but once it reaches a certain point, there’s very little difference. Even healthy, green vegetation can be quickly dried out by intense heat, and as long as there is net energy from a given source of fuel, the fire will spread. Topography, or the geography of a given location, matters a lot too. For example, fire tends to spread faster uphill because hot gases from the fire rise upward to preheat and dry out vegetation ahead of the flames. In grass fires, flames can spread up to four times faster uphill. Then, there is the weather. Humidity affects how quickly a fire spreads since it has to burn away ambient moisture in the atmosphere, but in California, firefighting efforts have largely been hampered by strong winds. Wind provides more oxygen for the flames, helping it burn hotter while carrying ashes and other flammable material over long distances, potentially spreading it to unconnected areas. Strong winds can also make it difficult to fly over the wildfires and douse them from above, hindering firefighters’ ability to contain the spread. Once wildfires spread to densely populated areas, the fires can easily destroy most buildings, whether they’re made of wood or brick, although the latter would last a little longer. If you’re given orders to evacuate ahead of an approaching wildfire, don’t try to weather the firestorm with a garden hose. It’s better to lose your home than your life.

 
[Image description: A nighttime wildfire burning among pine trees at Lick Creek, Umatilla National Forest, Oregon.] Credit & copyright: Brendan O'Reilly, U.S. Forest Service- Pacific Northwest Region. This image is a work of the Forest Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.

Save the last dance for these beautiful birds. Bengal floricans are critically endangered birds famous for their elaborate courtship dances. Unfortunately, there are fewer than 1,000 of them left, and only three wild populations are known: one in India, one in Cambodia, and another in Vietnam. Conservationists have long struggled to boost the birds’ numbers, since they’re elusive and it wasn’t known whether they would survive well in captivity. But recently, the Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity in Cambodia’s Phnom Kulen National Park has been rearing wild-caught Bengal floricans and returning them to the wild with great success. The facility monitors surrounding grasslands for Bengal florican nests and takes in any eggs that have been laid in unfavorable places. They then hand-rear the chicks until they’re ready to be released, all while keeping contact between birds and handlers to a minimum to ensure that the animals don’t get attached to humans. One day, the facility hopes to create a captive breeding program to further improve the birds’ numbers.
 
The world would certainly be less interesting without Bengal floricans. These lively, black-and-white birds are the only surviving member of the genus Houbaropsis, and have several quirky qualities. Though their bodies are small, their long legs elevate them high off the ground, with adults reaching an average height of about 22 inches. Unlike many birds, Bengal floricans aren’t strictly insectivores or vegetarians; they’re omnivorous, able to eat fruits, nuts, insects, and small reptiles. But it’s their mating habits that really set these birds apart. From February to June, male Bengal floricans stage an elaborate, two-part show to attract and woo females.
 
At sunrise, the birds puff out their feathers and dance around their territories, bobbing their heads and calling. They sometimes leap straight into the air and float back to the ground, over and over, while making a humming sound. This is how they got the nickname “the whispering bird” in Cambodia. The display is meant to attract nearby females, but if it doesn’t work, males then take to the air, careening in a complicated pattern of dips and dives. This part of the display can be seen over a long distance, making it more likely to attract a mate.
 
If the courtship display works, females will nest on the ground and lay one to two eggs, which she’ll incubate for around four weeks. Bengal floricans’ small population already makes it difficult for males and females to find one another; the fact that they lay so few eggs at a time adds to their population woes. It’s lucky that humans are stepping in to protect these energetic avians—it would be truly tragic to lose a bird that can whisper, jump, and dance all at once.

 
[Image description: An illustration of a male and female Bengal Floricans standing on their long, thin legs. The male is taller with more black feathers.] Credit & copyright: Hamilton, General Douglas (1892) Hamilton, Edward , ed. Records of sport in southern India chiefly on the Annamullay, Nielgherry and Pulney mountains, also including notes on Singapore, Java and Labuan, from journals written between 1844 and 1870, London, Illustrated, photo. Frontis of the author. Numerous illustrations, some full page. 284 pages.: R. H. Porter, pp. 36. This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or fewer.

There’s a new tissue in town…sort of. Scientists at the University of California, Irvine have rediscovered a largely forgotten type of skeletal tissue, and their findings have massive potential in the field of regenerative medicine. Most cartilage in the body is held together and keeps its shape thanks to an extracellular matrix, a network of molecules and cells that provide rigidity and structure. Then there are adipocyte fat cells, which are soft and fluctuate in size based on water and food availability. Cartilage forms connections between bones, and the same kind of cartilage was thought to provide the structure for our noses, ears, and other soft, flexible body parts. However, researchers have now discovered that there is another type of skeletal tissue, called lipocartilage, which doesn’t rely on an extracellular matrix. Instead, it’s filled with lipochondrocytes, which are similar to adipocyte fat cells but don’t change size or shape over time, regardless of food availability. They’re soft, yet can maintain their shape under pressure, like resilient bubbles.
 
The existence of lipochondrocytes was actually first discovered in 1854 by Dr. Franz von Leydig, who noticed the presence of fat in the cartilage of rats’ ears. Just like with Von Leydig’s rats, lipocartilage is found in human ears and noses, allowing them to maintain their shape while remaining highly flexible. Von Leydig’s discovery, however, was largely unexplored by the wider medical community until scientists at UC Irvine began their own research into the subject. The discovery of lipocartilage could change the way that surgery on cartilage works in the future. Currently, the best option to replace and repair damaged cartilage is to harvest donor tissue from the ribs. In the future, lipochondrocytes could be used to grow custom-made cartilage, which might even be 3D printed into specific shapes. All this because someone decided to take a closer look at rats’ ears!

 
[Image description: A diagram of the skeletal system with individual bones named.] Credit & copyright: LadyofHats (Mariana Ruiz Villarreal), Wikimedia Commons. This work has been released into the public domain by its author, LadyofHats. This applies worldwide.

Even legends come and go, but dreams never really die. In the 1960s, acting legend Marlon Brando purchased an atoll, a ring shaped island surrounding a lagoon, in the South Pacific with the hopes that it would one day become a “university of the sea” for scientists. Now, researchers are honoring the late actor’s ambitions. Located around 30 miles north of Tahiti, Tetiaroa is an atoll consisting of 12 coral islets (also known as a motus) around a lagoon. In his autobiography, Brando wrote, “The lagoon was… infused with more shades of blue than I thought possible: turquoise, deep blue, light blue, indigo blue, cobalt blue, royal blue, robin’s egg blue, aquamarine.” But for Brando, Tetiaroa was more than just a tranquil tropical getaway. The actor saw its potential as a haven for marine research, a potential that is now being realized thanks to the Tetiaroa Society, a nonprofit focused on education and conservation of the atoll. Back in 2014, the Tetiaroa Society opened the Ecostation, a research facility for visiting scientists. Not long after, they built 35 private villas for visitors of all kinds, including students from nearby communities who are given a chance to learn about their Polynesian heritage. The resort provides around 70 percent of the funding for the Tetiaroa Society, which allows them to make use of the atoll’s relatively pristine state to study the effects of climate change, microplastics, and shoreline erosion. The islets of the atoll are home to green sea turtle nesting sites, which scientists keep a close eye on to see how environmental problems affect them. Unfortunately, the atoll has its share of unwanted intruders in the form of mosquitoes and other invasive species, but its isolated nature is allowing scientists to research better ways to eradicate them. That kind of vigorous research must take atoll!

 
[Image description: The surface of water.] Credit & copyright: Matt Hardy, Pexels