Share it! Science

So much happens in the world of science each day. It would be difficult to sum up a year of scientific discoveries in one blog post, however I will attempt to share some of the stories I have found interesting this year. I have been writing about science in the news since September and I appreciate all of you who have read my posts. I hope that you have found the news interesting and have been able to use the resources and activities with your children or in your classrooms. For those of you who have been with me since day one, and those of you who haven't, here is the year end science news round-up. See something that interests you? Click on the links to see my posts on those topics.

(photo source)

I love wildlife, so often animal science catches my eye. From fish that "spit fireworks" to investigating how the shape of rhinoceros beetles' horns help them beat their opponents, scientists have been busy investigating animal adaptations. Who knew that bats could jam the echolocation of other bats to secure their food, or that fish exhibit play behaviors? Long-standing beliefs about animals changed when we discovered that giant father salamanders take care of their young, and new genetic mapping completely changed our classification system of birds! We also learned not to swim too close to electric eels, particularly if you happen to be a fish, unless you want to lose control of your nervous system!

It has been a great year for astronomy and space exploration. Just in the past few months NASA has launched the MAVEN spacecraft to study atmospheric conditions on Mars, and had an incredibly successful trial launch of the Orion spacecraft. History was made when the European Space Agency's Rosetta Mission put the Philae lander on a comet. The second of four lunar eclipses to occur in 2014 and 2015 occurred in October and the Geminid meteor shower lit up the sky in December.

Exciting advances in innovation including 3-D printing and the eruption of the "maker" revolution have kept me in awe throughout the fall. I have been inspired by the inventions by students like Ann Makosinksi's flashlight powered by your own hand. Not to mention the incredible medical advances 3-D printing has allowed for, especially in prosthetics for children and human organ growth. It even turns out someday we might all be printing out our meals on 3-D food printers. Robotics like "robochick" and "flipperbot"are being used in wildlife biology particularly with penguin and turtle monitoring. Technology is moving along at lightning speed!

Photo credit: VanessaO

Weather is often a topic of conversation and we've made some discoveries there, too. Our previous understanding of rain drops was blown out of the water when scientists found that some droplets travel faster than their terminal velocity! Students are designing their own weather balloons and participating in citizen science programs to help propel our understanding of weather patterns. Even birds and cows might help us to make predictions about storms and weather now that we understand more about them!

Children's language development and their exposure to musical training programs is linked? Scientists finally named Earth's most abundant mineral after half a century? Average citizens just like you are participating in citizen science projects like PenguinWatch? Dreadnoughtus, the largest dinosaur to ever be discovered, was named this year? Not to mention an over-abundance of acorns and pristine fossilized remains of carnivorous plants! Who knew?!

photo credit: Jackie, Flick.com

I probably was hungry when I decided to write about the trend of eating invasive species and how artificial sweeteners interfere with the beneficial microbes in our guts! Then the holiday season got me researching about pumpkins, Turkey genome sequencing and science experiments for Hanukkah and Christmas.

I have shared my observations and resources for studying snow crystals, animal tracks, oak ball galls, meteors and feeder birds. If you are still hankering for a science experiment to try at home after reading about all of this science, perhaps something with bubbles, milk, eggs and toilet paper rolls, driedels and spinning tops or poinsettias and candy canes will feed the need!

That just scratches the surface of all the science discoveries in the past four months. If you still have some space in your brain, hop on over to my "Extra, Extra! Read all about it!" page to see some interesting articles that I didn't have a chance to write about.

I hope that you all have a great New Year! Thanks for reading my blog! I'd love to hear from you- comment below or send me an e-mail at: shareitscience@gmail.com

We have known for quite some time that wild animals are able to sense phenomena humans are unable to understand. Two recent studies have shown that if we could talk to the animals, Dr. Dolittle style, then maybe they could help us prepare for storms and weather patterns!

Golden-winged warbler (photo: U.S. Fish and WildlifeService- Midwest Region)

Scientists studying the migratory behavior of the golden-winged warbler in eastern Tennessee saw something unexpected as they reviewed their data. The birds were being tracked by geolocator throughout their migration and had arrived at their normal breeding grounds in the Cumberland mountains of Tennessee. Then, for no logical reason, the small birds had changed course and flown about 932 miles out of their way to the Gulf coast and back again a few days later. The researchers thought that this anomaly was some sort of fluke. Upon further review of the data, and taking into account other environmental factors during that time frame, it was evident that the tiny birds had flown away to avoid tornadoes that would arrive there two days later. The supercell storms caused 84 tornadoes and killed 35 people as they swept through the southern part of the United States in April, 2014. The birds had vacated their breeding grounds when the storms were still hundreds of miles away and before any noticeable change in air pressure, temperature or wind speed had occurred in the area. So how did the birds know to leave when all weather conditions seemed normal? It is most likely that the birds heard what scientists call "infrasounds". Infrasounds are those that fall into the range of frequencies below 20 hertz. Although this is below the human range of hearing, birds and other animals can hear these sounds. Infrasounds include winds blowing over mountains, ocean waves hitting shorelines, bombs exploding, supersonic jets and volcanoes erupting. Birds use these sounds as a map when they are traveling. Although it has been noted many times that birds alter their routes due to weather during migration, it has never been documented that they move away from breeding grounds to avoid weather like this before. Once the storms had passed the birds returned. It does beg the question, if we were more in-tune with nature would we be able to prepare better for unexpected weather?

The next study might prove an old-wives tale true. A common weather adage is that when cows lie down it is about to rain. If cows are standing in the pasture it is thought that there will be clear weather.

photo: Kevin Walsh

Before we had easy access to weather predictions people had to take cues like these from nature to know what was to come. Scientists from the University of Arizona studied cow behavior and weather patterns to see if this old belief was true. Researchers put pedometers on cows to measure their activity. The scientists found that in warmer weather, the cows spent more time standing up. If the weather began to get colder, as it does when a storm front is approaching, the cows more often laid down. The belief is that the cows stand to allow for more air flow around their bodies when it is hot to keep them cool, and lay down to conserve energy and heat when it is cold. Further research to include changes in humidity will have to be completed before we can consider this old belief to be completely true, however, there is clearly science to what farmers have been observing for thousands of years!

Animals can tell us so much and as scientists we are just learning how to understand them. As we uncover more and more of the mysteries of the natural world and pay more attention to natural cues we will better understand how to conserve wildlife and make choices that keep humans safer. Our ancestors were in-tune with the world around them and in many ways it is something we have lost. I hope that more studies like this will engage humans with nature again. For lesson plans and information on animal communication to engage your kids and students, check out the links below.

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