Curio Cabinet

For these frogs, every leap is a leap of faith. A team of scientists have found that the reason some tiny species of frogs in Brazil can’t jump well is due to their undersized ear canals. The frogs in question are pumpkin toadlets, which are native to Brazil and are known for their bright colors and extremely diminutive size. Even when fully grown, they’re small enough to sit snugly on a person’s fingertip. Technically, these frogs can jump; it’s the landing that’s the tricky part. When these tiny toadlets take a leap, they instantly lose control of their bodies, often landing upside down. To figure out why, an international team consisting of scientists from the U.S. and Brazil looked at 147 species of frogs and toads to see what anatomical differences may be responsible. It turns out, the answer lies in the animals’ ear canals, which in the case of pumpkin toadlets are so small that they’re practically non-functional.
 
The ear canals of most frogs allow them to orient themselves quickly in mid-air. This is made possible by the fast-moving fluids within the inner ear that trigger nerve cells. However, the ear canals of pumpkin toadlets are so small and contain so little fluid that they cannot get a grasp on their orientation in the time between jumping and landing. So how have these frogs managed to not only survive but thrive without being able to effectively perform the one activity that others of their kind are so well-known for? The short answer is: these little guys just don’t need to jump much. Edward Stanley, one of the scientists involved in the research, told the press, “They’re not jumping around a lot, and when they do, they’re probably not that worried about landing, because they’re doing it out of desperation. They get more benefits from being small than they lose from their inability to stick a landing.” In addition, the researchers say that these frogs have other adaptations that help them survive despite their lack of acrobatic ability. For example, some of these frogs have bright warning colors, camouflage, or simply thicker skin. That last one might come in handy if other frogs decide to tease them about their jumping skills.

 
[Image description: A tiny toad sits on a human hand.] Credit & copyright: Marys_fotos, Pixabay

Fashion might look a little fishy in the future, and that’s a good thing. A Tampa-based company, Inversa Leathers, has been making a splash in both the fashion world and the world of conservation by selling wallets and other accessories made from lionfish leather. Although native to the Pacific and Indian Oceans, lionfish have long been wreaking havoc in the Atlantic and Caribbean, where they were introduced by people. As invaders to the ecosystem, lionfish have earned a reputation for fast destruction. Within five weeks of entering a coral reef system, a single one of the spiky, venomous creatures can devour 79 percent of juvenile marine life in the area. Compounding the problem is the fact that a single female lionfish can release around 25,000 eggs per day, so their population increases fast. Not only does this devastate native fish populations, it also destroys coral reefs. Since many of the fish preyed upon by lionfish eat algae that grows on reefs, their absence leads to algae overgrowths that suffocate coral.
 
An avid diver, Inversa Leathers co-founder Aarav Chavda was shocked by the destruction caused by lionfish. To do his part to help, Chavda teamed up with his friend Roland Salatino to start a company which buys wild-caught lionfish by the thousands each day. Once purchased, the fish are processed for meat, which is sold to restaurants around Tampa. The hides are then taken to a tannery in Ohio where they’re turned into a workable leather, which can be used to make anything from wallets to watch straps. In this way, Inversa is creating an economic incentive to go after lionfish. Chavda told The Guardian, “A lot of the geographies, especially the lower-income Caribbean area, have no market at all [for lionfish]—and so this fish is not only destroying the coral reefs, which sustain these fishing cooperatives’ livelihoods, but they also can’t do anything about it. They could hunt lionfish, but that takes time, and it means they’re not hunting other things. They’d be spending their precious time not on lobster, not on grouper—so it’s very unfortunate.” Looking ahead, Chavda plans to branch out by developing new fashion materials from other invasive species, curbing their spread by creating demand for them as a product. Fish sticks and cool wallets all around!

 
[Image description: A lionfish is pursued by a scuba diver underwater.] Credit & copyright: G1les, Pixabay

It's Flashback Friday! In honor of World UFO Day, enjoy these curios all about mankind’s fascination with the mysteries of space. Take solace UFO conspiracy theorists: Japan is with you. In 2020, the Pentagon officially released some UFO footage—which was so convincingly unidentifiable that Japan is now taking preemptive action. There are two videos, one from 2004 and another from 2015. Both show saucer-shaped craft either zooming by at astonishing speeds or eerily hovering. One UFO is roughly 40 feet long and levitates just 50 feet above water (see below). A now-retired navy commander was in the cockpit of a jet during the 2004 sighting. In a recent interview, he described how the UFO moved forward, backward, and to the sides as if an arcade game spaceship. He also noted how his radar was jammed in the UFO's presence. Even weirder, these UFO sightings were initially leaked in 2017 by To the Stars, a scientific entertainment company formed by Tom DeLonge… of the rock group Blink-182. Evidently, DeLonge turned a fascination with aliens into an effective enterprise? Nevermind—cut to 2020. At a press event, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura stated he firmly believes in UFOs. Which is surprising, seeing as Japan has never formally documented one. Regardless, Machimura affirmed that "[He] definitely believe[s] they exist," which prompted reporters to giggle. Sure, they can laugh it up all they want. But the Pentagon's footage has inspired Machimura and his cohort to instill new UFO protocols in Japan's air force. What a strange—or rather "alien"—time we live in.
 

Below: some of the Pentagon's UFO footage.
 

Image credit & copyright: Pixabay/Victor Tangermann
 

Move over wind and solar, there’s a new green energy in town and it’s powered by…carbon dioxide? Yep, the same greenhouse gas that’s driving climate change may soon have a widespread hand in mitigating it, thanks to Italian startup Energy Dome. The fledgling company, which began in 2020, recently announced the opening of its first carbon dioxide (CO2) battery in Sardinia, Italy. Also known as a grid-level energy storage plant, the facility both produces and stores energy without having to maintain low temperatures, as many other kinds of long-term batteries do. As Energy Dome’s name suggests, the secret to its CO2 battery is a large dome filled with carbon dioxide gas. To charge the battery, electric compressors condense the gas into liquid. This process produces excess heat, which is captured and stored. Then, when energy needs to be “withdrawn” from the battery, the heat is used to evaporate the liquid CO2, which once again fills the dome in gaseous form as energy from the process is harvested by turbines and delivered to the power grid. Although Energy Dome’s current battery only stores about four megawatt hours (MWh) of energy, it has served as proof-of-concept for the company’s larger planned facilities. In fact, Energy Dome has already sold facilities in Germany, Africa, and at least one Middle Eastern country, some of which are slated to open by 2023. These plants should be capable of storing 200 MWh of energy. The secret to Energy Dome’s ultra-speedy rollout? The fact that its CO2 batteries require no specially-made equipment. Of course, the abundance of CO2 probably doesn’t hurt, either.
 

[Image description: A combined photograph of wind turbines on the left and solar panels on the right.] Credit & copyright: seagul, Pixabay
 

For some polar bears, any ice is nice. Scientists from the University of Washington in Seattle recently published findings from their study of a genetically isolated group of polar bears in Greenland. These bears have adopted unusual hunting habits in the face of climate change: rather than hunting from sea ice, which has become increasingly rare in recent years due to warming waters, this population of a few hundred bears have begun hunting on freshwater ice that breaks off from glaciers. Normally, polar bears hunt seals on large plains of sea ice. Since they’re mammals, seals have to occasionally surface to breathe and rest, which gives the bears a chance to strike. But this group of polar bears in southeast Greenland swim out to floating blocks of glacial ice, from which they ambush passing seals. Researchers observed the bears from 2015 to 2019, and found that they hunted this way for more than 250 days out of each year. It marks the first time that polar bears have been observed hunting from frozen freshwater for such extended periods.
 
Unfortunately, shrinking sea ice is still a major problem for most polar bears. According to lead author Kristen Laidre, an ecologist at the University of Washington’s Polar Science Center, only polar bears living in certain parts of Greenland and Svalbard have access to glacial ice. Glacier ice may help small numbers of polar bears survive for longer periods under climate warming, and may be important to prevent extinction, but it is not available for the vast majority of polar bears,” Laidre said, in an interview with NewScientist. “Climate action is the single most important thing for the future of polar bears. Most polar bears in the Arctic depend on sea ice.” In fact, as ocean temperatures continue to rise and sea ice becomes rarer, polar bear populations are projected to decrease by 30 percent over the next 35 years. Still, it’s good to see that some polar bears have been able to adapt to a changed environment. Now if only humanity would do its part to help keep them afloat.
 
[Image description: A polar bear with snow on its muzzle.] Credit & copyright: 358611, Pixabay