Curio Cabinet / Nerdy Curio

A lot of cells can really motivate along, and that’s great—until it’s not. According to a paper published in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, researchers at Rockefeller University’s Laboratory of Structural Biophysics and Mechanobiology have finally figured out how cells build filopodia, the tiny, finger-like protrusions that some cells use to move through the body. More than just solving a mystery, however, the discovery may lead to better cancer treatments. Until recently, the process by which filopodia formed was something of a mystery. Filopodia are made of a protein called fascin, which bind actin filaments, or thin, flexible protein fibers together. On its own, actin isn’t particularly strong, but when stitched together in a hexagonal bundle they become strong enough to stick out from a cell and move back and forth to propel it forward. Filopodias’ formation process was captured using advanced imaging technology like cryo-EM and tomography, and understanding the process might help treat certain kinds of cancer. That’s because cancerous cells use the same mechanism to form filopodia and move around, allowing them to spread, or metastasize. In some cases, the process of filopodia-building goes haywire, creating much more than is needed for cancer cells or even creating filopodia where they shouldn’t be, accelerating the cancer’s spread. There are already fascin inhibitors (drugs that block the protein fascin) to try to address this issue, but knowing more about filopodia might lead to better versions in the future. Soon enough, cancer might not have a leg to stand on.

Gorillas really aren’t supposed to fly. Earlier this month, a five-month-old gorilla was rescued from a plane’s cargo hold after someone tried to illegally import him into Thailand by way of Istanbul, Turkey. The baby primate, now named Zeytin, is recovering at Polonezkoy Zoo, and workers there hope that he may one day be reintroduced to the wild. Zeytin’s plight highlights a growing problem for wild gorilla populations: the illegal pet trade. But this is far from the only threat faced by the world’s largest primates.
 
Male gorillas can stand up to six feet tall and weigh up to 500 pounds, while females generally grow to around 4.5 feet tall and weigh around 250 pounds. Despite their enormous size and strength, these giants are fairly gentle. Most of their diet is made up of plants, though they also eat insects, like termites. Male gorillas may be famous for pounding their chests and shrieking, but such displays are actually fairly rare and are used to intimate opponents in order to avoid real fights.
 
There are two gorilla species: Eastern and Western, each of which has its own subspecies. All four kinds live in central and east African rainforests, and all four are endangered. Like many rainforest animals, their habitat has been rapidly shrinking due to human encroachment and the expansion of the logging industry. However, the biggest and most violent threat to gorillas is illegal poaching. Ape meat is seen as a delicacy in some wealthy areas, and gorillas are prone to being killed for their meat since they do not typically attack or run from people who get close to them.
 
All gorillas live in groups called families or troops that can have up to 50 members. Troops are composed of a dominant male, called a silverback, several adult females, and their young offspring. Gorillas don’t leave the troop they were born into until they’re between eight to twelve years old, which highlights another challenge they face: slow birth and growth rates. Gorillas live to be between 35 to 40 years old in the wild, but females only have one baby at a time, with gestation taking around 8.5 months. Since each baby takes around a decade to fully mature, gorilla populations struggle to bounce back after poaching attacks or habitat destruction. Luckily, conservationists have implemented captive breeding programs around the world and some countries have enacted laws to protect gorilla habitats from further destruction. Here’s hoping that brighter times are ahead for these dark-furred wonders.

 
[Image description: A gorilla sitting in green grass at the Pittsburgh Zoo.] Credit & copyright: Daderot, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

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
 

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.

Don’t you just lava good eruption? Researchers at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport have predicted the eruption of an underwater volcano this year, something that can normally only be done a few hours in advance. While the word “volcano” mainly conjures up images of towering mountains spewing lava, most volcanoes are actually on the ocean floor. There are approximately 4,000 volcanoes per million square kilometers in the Pacific Ocean alone, and there’s almost always an eruption going on somewhere. Knowing when those eruptions will occur is nearly impossible, except when it comes to the Axial Seamount, one of the most closely-monitored volcanoes in the ocean. The Axial Seamount is located around 300 miles off the coast of Oregon, and one of its eruptions was successfully predicted back in 2011. It erupted again just a few years later, in 2015, and it just so happened that the second eruption came a few months after researchers began monitoring it. William Chadwick and his colleagues took the data from the 2015 eruption and continued to monitor Axial’s surface, which has now grown to around 95 percent of its pre-2015 eruption size as a result of magma buildup. Chadwick and his team believe that the next eruption is imminent. Thankfully, an eruption wouldn't pose any threat to those on land, but studying underwater volcanoes and learning to forecast them early might one day lead to a similar system for terrestrial volcanoes. That would be quite a relief, since volcanos on land can wreak havoc on nearby wildlife and people. Imagine a forecast that calls for a light shower of flaming rocks and chance of pyroclastic blast.

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

It’s official: the bald eagle is now the national bird of the United States. Of course, you could be forgiven for thinking that it had always been the national bird. It’s been used as an American symbol since not long after the singing of the Declaration of Independence. In fact, it first appeared on our national seal in 1782. A new bill recently signed into law on Christmas Eve made it official, though. The bald eagle is certainly worthy of national attention, and not just because of the way its striking white head contrasts with its brown body. Bald eagles are tenacious predators that have fought their way back from the brink of extinction.
 
Bald eagles inhabit a large swatch of North America, including parts of the continental United States, Canada, and Mexico. They prefer areas with large bodies of freshwater surrounded by old-growth trees, which are tall enough for nesting. Bald eagles prefer their nests far off the ground, at heights between 50 and 125 feet. Like the trees and lakes they live by, bald eagles themselves are quite large; males can weigh up to 14 pounds with wingspans of up to eight feet. The hooked talons on their feet can be between three to four inches long, and are used for hunting their favorite prey: fish like herring, flounder, and salmon.
 
Like all birds, bald eagles originally descended from reptiles. Their ancestors were a group of birds called kites, from which the first eagles descended around 36 million years ago. As large as bald eagles are, their size is nothing compared to some of their extinct ancestors. For example, the Haast's eagle, famed for being the largest eagle to ever live, could weigh as much as 40 pounds and had a wingspan of around 10 feet.
 
Today, bald eagles living in more northerly areas tend to be larger than those in the south, since packing on weight helps shield the birds’ bodies from cold temperatures. Regardless of where they live, however, bald eagles lead unique lives, especially when it comes to their relationships. These birds of prey mate for life, and their courtship rituals are a sight to behold. When two bald eagles decide to enter a relationship, they announce their intention by performing acrobatic midair feats together, including a display known as a “cartwheel” or “death spiral” where the two eagles freefall while clutching talons. After mating, both parents tend to the chicks, which usually number between one and three.
 
That’s not to say that life for bald eagles is all love and roses. While grown eagles don’t have many predators themselves, their population has been adversely affected by human interference over the years. In the mid-1900s, they were hunted to near extinction, and in 1973 they were declared endangered. Their numbers have improved since then, but they remain susceptible to environmental dangers like lead poisoning. A recent study of thousands of bald eagles found that around 50 percent suffered from chronic lead poisoning, a result of them eating spent ammunition or leftover fishing tackle alongside their prey. Here’s hoping people will think harder about where they’re leaving lead now that this majestic bird is officially a national symbol.

 
[Image description: A close-up photo of a bald eagle’s face.] Credit & copyright: Adrian Pingstone (User:Arpingstone), Wikimedia Commons. This work has been released into the public domain by its author, Arpingstone. This applies worldwide.

You know what they say, there’s no “human” in “team.” According to a paper published by researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, ants are smarter than humans…at least when it comes to teamwork. Working together is certainly something that Homo sapiens can do, but we’re just not as efficient at it as ants. To prove this, researchers pitted a team of humans against a colony of longhorn crazy ants and had them perform the same task, but at different scales. Both humans and ants were placed inside mazes with identical layouts and were made to move a T-shaped object through it. The ants worked in teams of around 80, while humans worked in groups of up to 26 as well as an individual working alone. To level the playing field, the human subjects were made to wear face masks and instructed not to speak or communicate (after all, ants can’t exactly talk to each other.) Under these conditions, the ants thrived, performing their given task successfully in a cooperative manner. On the other hand, humans easily grew frustrated and often resorted to “greedy” actions that led to them ignoring the contributions of their team members, and prevented them from performing the complex task. The conclusion? Complex intelligence isn’t always better when it comes to solving problems. Lead researcher Prof. Ofer Feinerman wrote, "We've shown that ants acting as a group are smarter, that for them the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In contrast, forming groups did not expand the cognitive abilities of humans. The famous 'wisdom of the crowd' that's become so popular in the age of social networks didn't come to the fore in our experiments." Two heads might be better than one, but three is still a crowd.

[Image description: A close-up photo of an ant on a green leaf.] Credit & copyright: Egor Kamelev, Pexels
 

They’re some of the cutest critters around, and they’ve made quite the comeback. Fur seals, as their name suggests, are covered in visible fur, unlike many seal species which have sleek skin or very, very short fur. Unfortunately, the very fur that gives these marine mammals their name has also made them a target for hunters at various points in history. Northern fur seals, for example, were nearly hunted to extinction in the early 19th century before being protected by law in 1915. Yet this species has bounded back in unexpected ways. This year, the Farallon Islands near San Francisco, California, where northern fur seals were once hunted for their blubber and pelts, saw record numbers of baby seals born. Of the 2,133 fur seals counted on the islands during a recent population survey, a whopping 1,276 were new pups.
 
It shouldn’t be too surprising that fur seals are resilient. They originally evolved as land mammals around 15 to 17 million years ago, but quickly took to the water in pursuit of abundant aquatic prey. To this end, they developed flippers, streamlined bodies, and, like other members of the clade Pinniped, which includes walruses and sea lions, they have plenty of adaptations to help them survive in conditions that humans would find inhospitable. Northern fur seals’ fur is extremely dense, with around 350,000 hairs per square inch, and it’s made up of two layers—thick, outer guard hairs for protection, and a soft inner layer that keeps heat close to the body. A layer of blubber also protects the seals’ organs from frigid waters, as does their hefty overall size. Females can weigh up to 120 pounds, while males can reach a whopping 600 pounds.
 
Fur seals are pelagic, meaning that they spend the majority of their lives in the open sea. Northern fur seals are relatively solitary animals, only returning to land and gathering in groups each summer to breed. While at sea, fur seals sleep by floating on the surface with three flippers sticking out of the water to minimize heat loss. While half of their brain sleeps, the other half remains partially conscious–just enough to ensure that the seal doesn’t drown. Unlike most mammals, who need long periods of REM sleep, fur seals only have short bursts of REM sleep while at sea, which has led scientists to study their unusual sleeping patterns. When they’re awake, fur seals are capable hunters, feasting on more than 60 different species of fish. Squid can also make up large portions of their diet, depending on place and time of year. During breeding season, though, male fur seals stop eating entirely, focusing instead on mating and on fighting off aggressive male rivals. Males commonly lose around 20 percent of their body weight each breeding season. Even for a New Year’s resolution, that seems a bit extreme.

 
[Image description: A close-up photo of a brown Northern Fur Seal’s face.] Credit & copyright: Greg Thompson/USFWS. This image or recording is the work of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee, taken or made as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.

Icarus, eat your heart out! NASA’s Parker Solar Probe just flew closer to the sun than any other man-made object, and just in time for Christmas. One Christmas Eve, the spacecraft flew within 3.86 million miles of the sun’s surface at a speed of 430,000 mph. That may sound like it’s still a long way from the sun’s surface, but as Kelly Korreck of NASA’s heliophysics division told NBC News, “If you can imagine, it’s like going 96 percent of the way there to the sun’s surface.” Nick Pinkine, Parker Solar Probe Mission Operations Manager said in a NASA press release, “No human-made object has ever passed this close to a star, so Parker will truly be returning data from uncharted territory. We’re excited to hear back from the spacecraft when it swings back around the Sun.” As expected, the spacecraft remains out-of-contact after reaching its destination, and NASA is expecting the probe to transmit a beacon tone on December 27, which will allow them to reestablish connection with it. While it passes near the sun, the probe will collect valuable data about the star’s atmosphere, which consists of a bubble of hot plasma. Scientists are hoping that the probe’s data will help them understand some of the sun’s stranger features. For example, the atmosphere of the sun is actually hotter than its surface for reasons that aren’t fully understood. The mechanism behind solar cycles and the actual chemical composition of the sun are also a bit mysterious. Imagine shedding light on a star this bright.

 
[Image description: The sun in the sky surrounded by clouds, with a bird flying beneath.] Credit & copyright: Bradley Hook, Pexels
 

Do you recall the most Christmasy critters of all? What better day than Christmas to learn about some of the most unique deer on Earth: reindeer. These hardy animals not only live in extreme conditions, where temperatures can reach as low as -97 degrees Fahrenheit, they also spend their lives evading dangerous predators, all while traveling around 3,000 miles a year.
 
There are seven subspecies of reindeer, also called caribou. Their range covers tundras and forests in northern countries like Greenland, Russia, and Canada. Reindeer are also found in Alaska. Reindeer are migratory, meaning that they move from place to place. Unlike some birds, which stay put for most of the year before flying south for the winter, reindeer are pretty much always on the move, crossing the tundra in summer and heading for boreal forests in winter. Reindeer herds usually have around 100 members, but during breeding season herds can come together to form super-herds of up to 500,000 deer. Reindeer calves are particularly prone to predation from powerful animals like wolves and bears, making it all the more important for adult reindeer to stick together. The fact that they can run up to 50 miles-per-hour shortly after being born also helps keep predators at bay.
 
Like all arctic animals, reindeer have plenty of adaptations to help them survive the cold. Their dense fur traps heat against the bodies, their milk is super rich to help their calves pack on fat, and they’ve even optimized vitamin D absorption so that they don’t become deficient in the necessary vitamin during long stretches of arctic night. These adaptations aren’t surprising since reindeer first evolved during Earth’s latest ice age, in the late Pliocene Epoch, around 3.6 million years ago.
 
A reindeer was first depicted pulling Santa’s sleigh in the 1821 poem Old Santeclaus with Much Delight. That one deer eventually turned into a whole team…though some may be surprised to find that Santa’s reindeer are all female. Unlike many deer species, both male and female reindeer have antlers. Males shed their antlers just before winter, while females don’t shed theirs until spring, so only female reindeer would have antlers at Christmas time! Of course, names like “Vixen” were already a pretty big giveaway.

 
[Image description: A Svalbard Reindeer eating grass.] Credit & copyright: iNaturalist, stevestevens. Public Domain, CC0 1.0 Universal.

No one likes lockjaw, but no one’s crazy about having to get a tetanus shot either. These shots are among the most unpleasant of common vaccines due to their lingering side effects, but according to a paper recently published in the journal Nature, researchers at Stanford University may have found a way to deliver the vaccine topically. The secret to their success lay with Staphylococcus epidermidis, a harmless but hardy bacteria that lives on the skin. As it turns out, S. epidermidis isn’t unassuming as previously thought. Since the bacteria isn’t a pathogen, it was long assumed that the body’s immune system ignored its presence. However, more recent research revealed that the immune system actually mounts an aggressive response against the bacteria and produces antibodies against it, although this process has no noticeable symptoms. The reason for the disproportionate but easily ignored response is a protein in the bacteria called Aap, which triggers the immune system. With that in mind, researchers engineered the bacteria to produce antigens from the tetanus toxin instead of Aap, so when the bacteria was applied to the skin, it would trigger the immune system to make antibodies for the toxin instead. They tested the topical treatment on mice and found that the treated rodents were completely immune to the tetanus toxin, even at six times the lethal limit. Following up on that success, they repeated the process with the diphtheria toxin and achieved similar results. The best part is that, aside from having no needles involved, there were no adverse effects to the topical vaccine. One of the researchers, Michael Fischbach, said in a statement through the university, “We think this will work for viruses, bacteria, fungi, and one-celled parasites. Most vaccines have ingredients that stimulate an inflammatory response and make you feel a little sick. These bugs don’t do that. We expect that you wouldn’t experience any inflammation at all.” It really seems that there’s no fly in this ointment.

They may look like walking piles of snow, but they’ve got much sharper teeth. This time of year, polar bears are everywhere in the form of ornaments, stuffed animals, and commercial mascots. While their white fur and arctic habitat make polar bears perfect holiday symbols, they also pose real challenges as these cold-weather animals attempt to adapt to a warming planet.
 
Polar bears evolved from brown bears a relatively short time ago: around 48,000 years. Of the world’s eight bear species, only polar bears are officially classified as marine mammals. In fact, their scientific name, Ursus maritimus, means “sea bear.” That’s because polar bears spend the majority of their lives on the Arctic Ocean’s sea ice. In winter, when the sea ice is at its thickest and most expansive, it covers around six million square miles. Polar bears mate on the sea ice in the spring, dig dens and have their cubs (usually back on solid land) between November and January, then return to the sea ice with their cubs to teach them to hunt. Polar bear cubs stay with their mothers for around three years to learn the vital skills they’ll need later in life. Of course, polar bears have many adaptations that help them survive the harsh arctic temperatures, which can plummet to -60 degrees Fahrenheit. Their fur isn’t actually white; each individual hair is clear, but light scatters across the hairs’ surface, creating an effect called luminescence, which makes them appear white. This coloring helps them blend into their snowy surroundings even when their fur gets a bit dirty. Polar bears have black skin, which helps to absorb heat, and a thick layer of blubber to keep them warm and make them buoyant.
 
Unlike most bears, which can supplement their diets with fruits and berries, polar bears have few food options other than meat. Their most important prey are ringed seals, which swim beneath the sea ice but must surface periodically to rest and breath. Polar bear’s hunt and eat all they can while the sea ice is at its thickest, usually from winter to early March. After that, the ice begins to melt and break up, shrinking through September, at which time polar bears must return to solid land. Otherwise, polar bears could end up stuck in the middle of the thawed Arctic Ocean. While these powerful marine mammals can swim for days at a time without stopping, doing so has a serious impact on the energy and fat reserves that they carefully build via months of hunting on the sea ice. If a polar bear loses too much weight, its resistance to the cold decreases dramatically, and its chances of survival plummet.
 
Because of their unique way of life, polar bears are being hit hard by climate change. Sea ice doesn’t stick around as long as it used to, leaving them with less time to hunt each year. An unexpected thaw can also leave polar bears stranded at sea. It’s uncertain what the future holds for this highly unusual species, but it’s vital that we keep that at the forefront of our thoughts—which shouldn’t be hard this time of year.

 
[Image description: ] Credit & copyright: Photo by Sgt. Carter Acton, Defense Visual Information Distribution Service, USCGC Healy Polar Operations, ID 230922-D-GO191-1044. This image is a work of a United States Coast Guard service personnel or employee, taken or made as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.

That’s some weather they’ve got there. With its planet-engulfing dust storms, Mars is both terrifyingly violent and awe-inspiringly beautiful. Recently, scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder have figured out just what gets the Red Planet’s storms going. Photographs taken by rovers on the surface of Mars, while extremely impressive, can be somewhat deceptive. Most of the photos depict a serene, empty landscape of rocks and dirt. What they don’t usually show are the planet’s frequent, massive dust storms that can grow to cover millions of square miles and last for days at a time. Storms of that scale are unheard of on Earth, yet they happen regularly on Mars. Fortunately for the rovers, Mars’ thin atmosphere means that the wind from these seemingly violent storms can’t really knock them over. They can simply bury the rovers in dust, though, rendering them inoperable, as was the case with NASA’s Opportunity rover, which died in 2018. The reason for Mars’ many, enormous dust storms was something of a mystery until recently. But Heshani Pieris and her colleagues at CU Boulder might have found the culprit: high temperatures. Pieris and her team looked at data collected by the Mars Climate Sounder instrument aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter over the last 15 Earth years, or 8 Martian years. What they found was that 68 percent of the major dust storms were preceded by periods of rising temperatures, which might allow great quantities of dust to rise up into Mars’ atmosphere. Still, there are more factors than just temperature at play. In a statement through the university, Pieris said, “This study is not the end all be all of predicting storms on Mars. But we hope it’s a step in the right direction.” Today’s forecast: Windy with a lot of dust.

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

You’re not likely to find this bird in a pear tree, but it’s still a holiday celebrity. It’s the perfect time of year to learn about partridges (as in “a partridge in a pear tree” from the Christmas song, 12 Days of Christmas). Despite their portly, soft appearance, these little birds were actually included in the song due to their surprisingly brave demeanor.
 
There are many species of partridge, but the kind from the Christmas song was likely a gray partridge, which is native to western Asia and Europe. It was introduced to North America in the early 1900s, and still roams the continent despite not being native. Because they were once so plentiful in Hungary, gray partridges are sometimes called Hungarian partridges, or simply “Huns” by hunters. As their name implies, they have mostly gray and white feathers, though there’s a bit of orange around their throats. Like most game birds, gray partridges are large enough to make a decent meal, weighing a little over a pound. Like other members of the pheasant family, they spend most of their time on the ground, in open grasslands, foraging for seeds and insects. Though they’re capable of flight, they typically don’t fly far, and only when threatened. They even sleep on the ground, huddling together with other members of their social group, called a covey, which can include around a dozen birds.
 
Mother gray partridges are famously protective of their young. Nesting on the ground leaves them vulnerable to many predators, like foxes and birds of prey, all of which are larger than partridges. Despite the size imbalance, mother gray partridges will claw and peck at any adversary. Since they're willing to give their lives in defense of their young, 12 Days of Christmas uses a partridge as a metaphor for the Christian figure of Jesus. Other birds in the song also serve as Christian references, such as the two turtle doves, which represent the bible’s two testaments. Metaphorical or not, live birds don’t really make the best Christmas gifts—especially not 184 of them in the span of 12 days.

 
[Image description: An illustration of a gray partridge, a bird with gray and white feathers, with an beak and feet.] Credit & copyright: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the American Foundation for the Maud E. and Warren H. Corning Botanical Collection 1963.594.40.b, Public Domain, Creative Commons Zero (CC0) designation.

How can something so big be so small? Black holes conjure up the image of light and matter circling an unimaginably large void. Yet, while they’re theoretically capable of devouring entire galaxies, some black holes might be so small that they’ve gone unnoticed until now. According to MIT physicists who recently published a paper in Physical Review Letters, tiny black holes might have been responsible for shaping the cosmos and might explain the mystery behind dark matter. The existence of small black holes isn’t anything new. Stephen Hawking famously hypothesized the creation of “primordial” black holes soon after the Big Bang, which would have been regions of ultradense matter rather than anything like the supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies. MIT physicists, however, have discovered that the very same process that produced primordial black holes could have also led to the creation of even smaller, “super-charged” black holes that would qualify as a new state of matter. Both the primordial and super-charged black holes would have been created in the first quintillionth of a second at the birth of the universe, but while the former were likely scattered across the cosmos, the latter disappeared just as quickly as they came about. Most of them would have been about the size of an atom, but with the mass of an asteroid, though some may have been as small as protons and as massive as rhinos. While super-charged black holes no longer exist, they may have left their mark in ways that could be detectable in the future. During their brief existence, they could have affected the balance of fusing nuclei, and following their trail might reveal the nature of dark matter. Dark matter—invisible matter that outnumbers regular matter five to one but remains unaccounted for— could be primordial black holes, and tracking the effect of super-charged black holes might lead physicists to confirm the hypothesis. That would be a supermassive development indeed.

[Image description: A starry night sky with blue and purple streaks visible.] Credit & copyright: Felix Mittermeier, Pexels
 

Gangly yet fluffy, gentle yet combative, useful yet challenging to manage. Alpacas are interesting animals, that’s for sure! As winter weather sets in, you may well find yourself bundling up in earmuffs, a scarf, or a hat made from alpaca wool. This wool is actually the main reason that alpacas exist today—they were bred specifically so that people could harness its amazing warmth and softness.
 
Alpacas are often mistaken for llamas, and the two animals are related, but alpacas’ closest relatives are wild vicuñas, a South American animal native to the Andes mountains. Because of their soft, fast-drying wool, vicuñas were domesticated by the Incas, which eventually resulted in the alpacas we know today. Alpacas are still part of the Camelidae family, which also includes llamas and camels. Like most of their relatives, alpacas are tall, lanky animals with large toenails and soft foot pads, rather than hooves. Of course, they’re distinguished by their fluffy wool, which can only be sheared once a year.
 
Once alpaca wool is sheared and washed, it is called roving. Roving can be spun into yarn, which can then be made into anything from scarves to rugs. While alpaca wool can be profitable, keeping alpacas isn’t exactly a walk in the park. Despite their fluffy good looks, alpacas aren’t exactly cuddly creatures. They prefer the company of their own herd to the company of people, and they can be fussy and finicky. Like camels, alpacas aren’t afraid to spit a wad of sticky mucus at anything or anyone that annoys them. Alpacas mainly eat hay, but they’re more than willing to nibble any other plants that they encounter. With their flexible, almost finger-like lips, alpacas can pluck individual leaves from trees or bushes and grind them up in their strong teeth. So, while it may sound fun to start an alpaca farm, you might want to make sure that your pasture is free from foliage…and that your clothes are spit-proof.

 
[Image description: Two newly-sheered alpacas. A brown alpaca looks to the left while a white one looks ahead.] Credit & copyright: Cybularny, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

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
 

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

Wood you look at that? The world’s largest living organism is Pando, a network of quaking aspens (Populus tremuloides) in Utah. Now, a group of researchers believe that it might also be the oldest living thing, according to a new paper (though it hasn’t been peer-reviewed yet.) When most people think of big living things, they might imagine leviathans like blue whales or long-gone beasts like dinosaurs. However, the truth is weirder. Located in south-central Utah, Pando Aspen Grove consists of 47,000 individual aspen trees on the surface. Underneath, however, they’re all connected by a single root system, and every tree is mostly genetically identical. That's because this species of aspen reproduces asexually, creating a clone of itself that is still connected to the same root system. Essentially, the individual organism is a forest unto itself. This trait also makes it tricky for scientists to accurately age Pando, and estimates have ranged anywhere between a few thousand years to a few million. In the latest attempt to age the aspens, researchers collected 500 pieces of roots, leaves, and bark and compared it to other species of aspen by sequencing their DNA. They then identified around 4,000 genetic variations in Pando that came about over time due to mutations as it cloned itself. Researchers expected trees that were close to each other to have more of these variations in common, revealing a spatial signal, but they didn’t necessarily find this to be the case. The spatial signal was weaker than expected, perhaps indicating that Pando has some way of protecting its genome, but based on one of their models, the researchers believe that Pando could be anywhere between 16,000 and 80,000 years old. While that is a far cry from the millions of years some have suggested, it’s still far older than the oldest solitary tree, a 5,000-year-old bristlecone pine in California. Imagine being able to call a five-millennia-old tree a whippersnapper.

[Image description: A grove of quaking aspen trees in Zion National Park, in Utah.] Credit & copyright: U.S. National Park Service, Wikimedia Commons. This image or media file contains material based on a work of a National Park Service employee, created as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, such work is in the public domain in the United States. Original Source.

Here’s a critter that seems permanently dressed for fall. With their beautiful auburn coats that perfectly match falling leaves, it’s no wonder that red foxes have come to be associated with autumn. That’s not the only reason for the fox-to-fall connection, though. Like many North American mammals, red foxes are particularly active in the fall as they stock up on calories ahead of the cold winter. This means that people tend to spot them more frequently during the fall, and thus they became conflated with the season itself. The truth is, red foxes are fascinating animals all year long.
 
Red foxes are the largest fox species in the world, and the most widely distributed. They’re found throughout the northern hemisphere in North America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. Red foxes are also highly adaptable, meaning that they’re able to live in a variety of environments within their range. A red fox can thrive in open fields, forests, or even in urban areas by scavenging through humans’ trash and eating common urban pests like mice and rats. They can also adapt to various weather conditions. Red foxes living further north may grow longer, thicker coats in the winter, while foxes in warmer environments maintain short coats and use their large ears to disperse heat from their bodies.
 
It is thought that red foxes evolved in the Middle East or in what is now China around 3.4 to 1.8 million years ago. The species’ ancestor was either Vulpes alopecoides or V. chikushanensis, both of which were smaller than the modern red fox and are now extinct. Some scientists believe that red foxes then crossed from Eurasia to North America over a land bridge that once existed across the Bering Strait. These red foxes mainly stayed in the northernmost parts of North America. Then, in the mid-1700s, European colonists introduced red foxes to the Eastern U.S. so that they could continue the sport of fox hunting in their new home. These red foxes interbred with other, native North American species, like Gray foxes and Swift foxes, and eventually came to live just about everywhere within the continental U.S.
 
Modern red foxes are active all year, meaning that even those who live in very cold areas don’t hibernate through the winter. Instead, they make use of their excellent hearing to locate prey, like mice and voles, under snow. Although red foxes dig dens during mating season to protect their pups, adult foxes tend to live out in the open, using their thick tails to curl over their bodies for warmth. Despite being successful predators, red foxes still have to worry about becoming prey themselves when it comes to larger predators like wolves, coyotes, bears, and mountain lions. Humans also have a long history of hunting red foxes for their fur, and deforestation is dangerous to the species as a whole. Luckily, there are still plenty of red foxes around, and the species isn’t considered threatened or endangered. It’s testament to the impressive, year-round, multi-climate survival skills of these tenacious canines.

 
[Image description: A red fox standing in snow with its head lowered.] Credit & copyright: Joanne Redwood/jem9redwood, Wikimedia Commons via iNaturalist. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.