Street trees reduce depression, according to Science Alert 30 January 2021 and Scientific Reports 31 December 2020 doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-79924-5. A group of researchers in Germany “analysed the association of street tree density and species richness with antidepressant prescribing for 9751 inhabitants of Leipzig, Germany. They found “for individuals with low socio-economic status, high density of […]
Antarctic rainforest found, according to BBC News and ScienceDaily 1 April 2020, and Nature 2 April 2020, doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2148-5. A team of scientists from Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Germany and the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) have examined a core of rock from West Antarctica, approximately 900km from the South Pole and found it contained fossilised […]
Jellyfish are ecosystem engineers reported in Hakai Magazine 19 February 2020 and bioRxiv 8 November 2019, doi.org/10.1101/784173. Tides and winds keep water flowing in most coastal regions, but in some sheltered areas among mangroves, tides and winds may not penetrate enough to keep the water moving. Scientists at University of South Florida who were studying […]
Reef in no trouble at all, says expert in an interview recorded by the Institute of Public Affairs. Dismissed university Professor Peter Ridd, a marine geophysicist at James Cook University, made the following comments about the Great Barrier Reef: “When you bury down to the data about that bleaching event in 2016, at the extreme […]
“UK farmers are tackling climate change” according to a report in BBC News 18 August 2019. Farmers are regularly condemned by climate change activists and environmentalists because farm animals “produce greenhouse gas emissions”. According to the BBC “Agriculture is currently responsible for about 9% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, mostly from methane.” However, many […]
‘Herd’ of opal dinosaurs found, according to reports in UNE News 30 May 2019 and National Geographic 3 June 2019, and Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology published online: 3 June 2019 doi: 10.1080/02724634.2019.1564757. A team of scientists led by Phil Bell of University of New England, (UNE) Armidale, Australia, have found “remains from a herd of […]
Thirsty mosquitoes seek blood, according to reports in ScienceDaily 1 May 2018 and Scientific Reports 1 May 2018, doi:10.1038/s41598-018-24893-z. Scientists at University of Cincinatti were studying the effect of dry conditions on mosquitoes when some of the mosquitoes escaped from a laboratory container. They noticed the dehydrated mosquitoes were very aggressive and tried to bite. […]
Squished squirrels evolve as road kill victims of “evolutionary illusions”. New Scientist 22 April 2006, p11 reported they are doing things they “evolved to do, but at the wrong time or in the wrong place.” Ecologist Joel Brown of University of Chicago, Illinois claims this explains why so many squirrels end up being squashed on […]
Squirrels and spruce boom and bust. According to a new study published in Science on 21 December 2006 (DOI: 10.1126/science.1135520), spruce trees in the Canadian Yukon, and parts of Belgium and Italy, have evolved a synchronized boom and bust approach to seed production in an attempt to thwart Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus,) that feed on […]
Spikey watering system described in About the Garden, Australia, Spring 2005. An article on the spines on cacti and succulent plants reminded us that they are generally claimed to have evolved to protect plants from being eaten. However the author brought out a positive side to the spines existence in that “their main function is […]