Nature involves Science, too! (Nobody Cares...)

[Free]

With nothing able to eat them, cane toads are eating each other

It's creating an evolutionary pressure to grow fast.

arstechnica.com

The cane toad may be the poster animal for invasive species. Native to South America, it has been introduced to many other ecosystems in the hope it would chow down on agricultural pests. Instead, the toad has become a pest itself, most notably in Australia. Free from the predators and parasites in its native range, the toad's poison glands have turned out to be a hazard for most species that try to eat it where it's been introduced.

But that doesn't mean that it's completely free of the risk of predation. Australian cane toad tadpoles have been observed feeding on their fellow cane toad offspring. This cannibalism seems to be an evolutionary response to the lack of competing species in its invasive range, causing cane toads to turn on their remaining competition: each other. And the toad has already turned to an additional evolutionary response to try to limit the danger of cannibalism.

 

[Beebo Brink]

Every year, billions of black ice worms crawl from the ice on Mount Rainier. We have no idea why.

We don't know much about the worms, but what we do know is pretty weird.

www.livescience.com

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

Someone who had more patience than Richard Feynman managed to make the ants lay a trail in a circle.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Between September and March every year, literally every afternoon a massive thunderstorm develops over the Tiwi Islands just north of Darwin in the Northern Territories, Australia. Because of its consistency, it's even been given a name - "Hector". Assuming clear skies locally, Hector can be seen from the seafront at Darwin and points nearby that give a clear view to the north/northwest.


Although the whole Australian northern tropics see loads of rain during the wet summers, the Tiwi Islands is a particular, definite spot where a thunderstorm will predictably appear every day during this season. It's one of only two well-known specific spots on Earth that so consistently see storms, the second one being the southwest shore of Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Day before yesterday, a volcanic fissure began erupting on La Palma, in the Canary Islands. The first day's eruption was fairly mild, but yesterday it began outputting a heavy lava flow that has been engulfing parts of the nearby town. The eruption was preceded by about a week of seismic activity.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Cavers descend into Yemen's 'Well of Hell'

The 112m-deep pit has long been shunned by many local people, who believe it harbours genies.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

A new type of conspiracy theorists has arrived: volcano deniers!

“If you look at the photos and videos, the volcano rises from a slope and not from the top, which is where the lava from a balcony is supposed to come from,” writes a user on Twitter to the astonishment of hundreds of people.

At the moment there are not many, but enough so that have aroused reactions of outrage and mockery on social media. Are the “volcano deniers”, and they believe that the recent eruption of the La Palma volcano, which already leaves thousands of evacuees and numerous damages, is fruit of a machined plan.

Then24

All Daily News Here!

then24.com

 

[Free]

A new type of conspiracy theorists has arrived: volcano deniers!

This is a whole new real estate business market!

 

[danielravennest]

Cavers descend into Yemen's 'Well of Hell'

The 112m-deep pit has long been shunned by many local people, who believe it harbours genies.

www.bbc.co.uk

"They also came across snakes and various dead animals. "

 

[WolfEyes]

fruit of a machined plan.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Kilauea seems to have finished its nap! On September 29, several fissures opened up in the middle of the crater floor and lava quickly began to completely cover the now-solidified lake from the previous eruption. As it did, other vents opened along the edges of the crater, as can be seen in this clip:

Most recent information:

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

I've stood about as close as those remote cameras to Halemaumau. They used to let tourists staying at Volcano House walk down there.

Google says Volcano House is open to visitors right now (!), if you want to get a close (though not THAT close) look.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

 

[Lexxi]

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

 

[Beebo Brink]

 

[Free]

Gentlemen, your time could be up.

Endangered birds shock scientists by reproducing without mating, ignoring males

They had access to male birds, but decided to go ahead and reproduce without them.

www.newshub.co.nz

California condors, a critically endangered species, can reproduce without mating, according to a study by conservation scientists at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.

During a routine analysis of biological samples from the California condors in the zoo's breeding program, the scientists found that two condor chicks had hatched from unfertilized eggs.

Here's a lot more about the phenomenon from The Atlantic (you may hit their subscription lock).

After 30 Years of Breeding Condors, a Secret Comes Out

‘Virgin birth’ might be more common in animals than we thought.

www.theatlantic.com