How I Met the Rare Pangolin

When I was 14 (in 2011), my family traveled to Southern Africa and we saw some pretty amazing things!

This included the pangolin: a rare animal that is like an anteater with scales. We were told that in Greater Kruger National Park, a guide will see one every four years.

Luckily, on our last day at the park, we had the pleasure of meeting one!

Some Fun Facts

• No one knows how long they live for.
• The pangolin is the world’s most hunted animal.
• A pangolin’s tongue can be longer than its body.
• They are the only mammal covered in scales.
• They may be more closely related to hyenas, bears, and wolves (in the Carnivora order) than to anteaters, sloths, and armadillos (in the Xenarthra order).
• February 18th is World Pangolin Day, which was also the day I began writing this presentation.

And while I had planned on the Pangolin being the center of my presentation … I began to think about how strange it was that I both got to see the Pangolin (at all) and that I researched Pangolins on World Pangolin Day.

Statistically…

• The likelihood a guide will see a Pangolin is rumoured to happen once in four years. (For simplicity’s sake, let’s say that all guides will see a Pangolin once every four years)
• My family was in Greater Kruger National Park for approx. 3 days.
• So, the probability of me meeting a Pangolin would be…  
• (3 days visiting) x (1 in 1460 days) = .0021 = 0.21%
• And the likelihood I would look up information about Pangolins on World Pangolin Day is…
• 1 in 365 days = .0027 = 0.27%
• And for both of these things to happen, the likelihood is:
• (.0021)(.0027) = 0.000006 or 0.0006%

But perhaps there was a greater force than chance uniting us together… like a hidden, magical quality?

Perhaps a magical, hidden quality (related to the Carnivora order) has linked the Pangolin and me together …. Or perhaps it was just chance (0.0006%)?

The world may never know!

The End!

References

Kelly, Guy. "Pangolins: 13 Facts about the World's Most Hunted Animal." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 15 Mar. 2016. Web. 18 Feb. 2017. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/03/15/pangolins-13-facts-about-the-worlds-most-hunted-animal/>.

Information About Saving Pangolins: http://savepangolins.org/

Slime Can See: Bacteria Composed of Tiny Eyes

Slime Can See:

Bacteria Composed of Tiny Eyes

Cyanobacteria- An ancient and abundant one-celled life form that lives in water and receives energy from photosynthesis. Often referred to as “pond slime”.

Plants and the atmosphere depend upon cyanobacteria.

Studied by Conrad Mullineaux of the University of Freiburg in Germany and Queen Mary University of London.

The research team flashed a light and discovered “light hitting the front of a cell was bent, or refracted, and sent to the opposite side.”

This is very similar to the process that takes place in the human eye. Light travels through the cornea and is then focused toward the back of the eye, onto the retina.

Are We Connected to Bacteria?

→ 2.7 billion years old- making it older than any animal eyes.                                                          → 500 million times smaller than the human eye

We cannot directly see them but they can see us

The eye and cyanobacteria are both signed by their shape and function.

We see the world the same way. Do these signal that we are connected somehow?

Sources- http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35502310

http://www.livescience.com/53670-bacterial-slime-can-see.html

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/bacteria-have-ability-see-eye-opening-study-finds-n515141

Yawning - sympathy or survival?

YAWNING: SYMPATHY OR SURVIVAL

Dulcie Everitt

Why Do We Yawn?

Yawning is speculated to be either:

• An involuntary reflex that cools the brain so that it operates more efficiently and keeps you awake
• A means of communication towards members of the same species
• In some animals it allows them to remain calm

Why Is Yawning Contagious? 

• The University of Albany suggests that yawning is an “Empathic mechanism which function to maintain group vigilance”, in other words, in dangerous situations groups can remain aware of the dangers to enhance the chances of surviving the situation
•  This was proven by an observation made at University of Maryland that paratroopers yawn before jumping...
• Psychopaths DO NOT yawn - is this a lack of empathy, or a chemical imbalance perhaps? 
• May have helped early humans to communicate and co-ordinate sleeping times
• Unconscious herding behaviour
• Duke University suggests that it is related to variables like empathy, tiredness or energy levels

Is This Natural Magic or Science? 

If it is sympathy then what is actually transferred between people? And why would this connection be necessary? 

• Natural connections between people of the same species? Energy frequencies? 

If it is science, where do we get this behaviour from? God or Evolution? (It occurs in many animals, not just humans - does this make a difference?) 

• Evolution: if it allows communication/increased alertness then it might be a feature of people who are more highly adapted to survival 
• Could evolution explain the fact that psychopaths do not yawn? I.e. because they are not suited to civilization and therefore die before they can reproduce? 

These questions remain puzzling and there are ongoing studies into the nature of this animal behaviour. 

Sydney Hoffman

Shape-Shifting Frogs

Specimen: Pristimantis Mutabilis

Description: The pristimantis mutabilis or mutable rainfrog was discovered in 2009 by Katherine and Tim Krynak in the Andes of Ecuador.  They along with their colleagues published their findings in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.   This frog has phenotypic plasticity and can change the texture of its skin depending on the environment it is in in approximately five minutes.  This phenotypic plasticity helps them blend into their surroundings, which protects them from predators.  Because its skin changes based on its environment, it is only possible to observe its spiky skin in when it is in the wild.  The only other frog that is known to exhibit a similar ability is the related pristimantis sobetes.  This means that the ability to change the texture of their skin likely was a trait that came from a common ancestor and only survived in these two species.

pristimantis mutabilis

 pristimantis sobetes

Map of where the frogs are found:

Works Cited:

Guayasamin, Juan M., et al. "Phenotypic Plasticity Raises Questions for Taxonomically Important Traits: A Remarkable New Andean Rainfrog ( Pristimantis) with the Ability to Change Skin Texture." Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, vol. 173, no. 4, Apr. 2015, pp. 913-928. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/zoj.12222.

Hurst, Luke. "Shape-Shifting Frog Discovered". Newsweek. N.p., 2015. Web. 6 Mar. 2017.

Staff, News. "Pristimantis Mutabilis: Scientists Discover Shape-Shifting Frog In Ecuador | Biology | Sci-News.Com". Sci-News.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 6 Mar. 2017.

Quantum Entanglement: The World Just Gets Weirder

Quantum Entanglement

Quantum entanglement is a fascinating phenomenon in physics on the super-microscopic level. Just when we thought we had a grasp on "reality" via classical mechanics, quantum mechanics tells us that the world is even weirder and more complex than we had initially thought. There are two interesting quantum phenomena that raise interesting philosophical questions, they are quantum entanglement and quantum teleportation. 

Quantum Entanglement 

Quantum Teleportation

I find quantum entanglement particularly interesting as it appears to break our the laws of our current understanding of physics. Watch the video below to learn more about how quantum entanglement works.

According to the video and our understanding of quantum entanglement, it appears that two entangle particles are able to communicate with each other over vast distances. Have they perhaps been "signed"? Their communication implies a faster than the speed of light communication as one particle will immediately flip to the opposite sign of their entangled counterpart the very moment we measure the first particle's position. Perhaps particles at their most elemental form have hidden qualities? Maybe there is a connected world after all?