A team of researchers has measured the highest level of UV radiation ever recorded on Earth’s surface. On December 29, 2003, the UV index peaked at 43 at the summit of Licancabur volcano (5,917 meters high) and near Laguna Blanca (4,340 meters high) in Bolivia. In comparison, the UV index in Toronto never exceeded […]
Category: Paper of Interest
Link drawn between pesticide use and bird declines
Researchers in the Netherlands have drawn a link between use of the neonicotinoid (neonic) pesticide imidacloprid and declines in insect-eating birds. The study found that in areas of the Netherlands where imidacloprid concentrations in surface water were highest – more than 20 nanograms per litre – bird populations tended to decline by 3.5 per cent […]
Kidney Donation is safe for older adults
Healthy kidney donors aged 55 years and older enjoy similar longevity and cardiovascular health than similar non-donor adults, a new study shows. The authors matched 3368 American donors to older healthy non-donors and followed them for nearly 8 years between 1996 to 2006 and found out that that donors were not at a higher risk […]
Predicting species tolerance to pesticides
A new computer model could help biologists predict how various species will respond to pesticides. Because of varying responses to pesticides between species – including their tendency to develop tolerance – it’s costly and difficult not only to judge their potential effectiveness but also to manage the unintended consequences in non-target species. The new model […]
How salmon evolve to beat the heat
Researchers have discovered a link between egg size of chinook salmon and their ability to deal with warmer temperatures. The team captured spawning salmon and measured examined the genetic and maternal effects acting on the ability of offspring to tolerate heat; they found that mothers with larger eggs have more thermally tolerant offspring. As egg […]
Electrical charges help geckoes stick
Researchers have gained new insight into how geckos are able to walk on almost all surfaces, even upside down. Previous studies have attributed the stickiness of gecko toe pads to a type of force called van der Waals attractions that acts on the tiny hairs – called setae – covering the bottom of geckos’ toe […]
Ancient hedgehogs and tiny tapirs in BC
Newly described fossils from the eocene epoch – between 50 and 53 million years ago – found in British Columbia’s Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park provide evidence of hedgehogs and tapirs, two species that today are absent from North America. The fossils help fill an important gap as the only other North American fossil localities yielding […]
Hawks and owls have trouble as single dads
Some male hawks and owls have trouble adapting their behaviour in order to raise chicks on their own, a new study finds. In breeding pairs, the male is the primary provider of prey for their young while females tear the prey into right-sized chunks and also brood the chicks. (i.e. use their bodies to shield […]
Night-time squawking helps track bird migration
New audio recordings confirm that Lake Erie is not a barrier to bird migration, but that birds pick their routes so as to stay above islands if possible. Migratory birds fly at night, so the team used audio recordings from the north shore of Lake Erie and from Pelee Island — in the middle of […]
Enzyme detector could lead to greener pulp and paper
Researchers have developed a new process to screen microorganisms for new enzymes that could make pulp and paper processes greener and cheaper. Lignin — one of the main components of wood — is hard to break down and usually requires treatment with harsh chemicals. However, some microorganisms use enzymes to break down lignin in nature. The […]
Could graphene help power quantum computers?
Researchers have found experimental evidence of strange quasiparticles in graphene that could be used as qubits, the bits of information processed by quantum computers. Graphene is a single-atom-thick lattice of carbon, but when two layers are sandwiched together and subjected to a magnetic field, strange entities can exist at the interface. Unlike the 3D world […]
Digesting dinner keeps leatherback turtles warm
Scientists have determined that metabolic heat produced from digesting prey is a key component of what keeps leatherback turtles warm in the cold waters off Canada’s Atlantic coast. Researchers attached temperature monitors to seven leatherback turtles off the coast of Cape Breton and discovered that they cool down during the day (most likely due to […]
The kangaroo: A five-legged animal
New research shows that when they’re not hopping, kangaroos use their tails as a fifth leg to help propel them forward. Researchers trained five red kangaroos to walk over a force-measuring platform and discovered that rather than simply acting as a prop — as a pair of crutches would — the tail acts like […]
Tree ring data traces eastern Canada’s ‘Little Ice Age’
New data from trees preserved in lakes in the Taiga of northern Quebec show that eastern Canada experienced much colder than usual summers following distant volcanic eruptions in the 13th century, and again in the 19th century. The so-called ‘Little Ice Age’ is well-documented in the historical and tree ring records worldwide, but the strength […]
Bass beats in the brain
A new study helps explain why, in musical cultures from around the world, rhythm is usually played on low-voiced instruments while pitch is played on high-voiced ones. It turns out that when two sounds are played together, the human brain perceives timing differences in low-pitched sounds more easily than those in high-pitched sounds. In the […]
What’s in a bird’s name?
Scientific names of birds are not quite as accurate as one might think, but a new paper describes an online database that can help birders and biologists stay on the same page. A good example of changing names came in 2011, when the species known as the Common Moorhen was reclassified as a different species […]