India Narrative

Our perception of a volcano is reddish fire and destruction, which is conditioned by the images of molten lava wreaking havoc on human settlements and animal habitats. Yet, there is more to volcanoes than that, as pointed out by a report in sciencenews.org which states that a new study suggests how two billion years ago such volcanic eruptions on the moon led to water vapour becoming ice on its poles. The details of this study have been reported in the Planetary Science Journal of May month. The presence of ice on the moon was confirmed in 2009 and since then it has been argued as to how it came into being on the moon. The options discussed included comets, charged atoms carried by the solar wind, asteroids or that it originated on the moon itself because of eruptions in volcanoes between 4 to 2 billion years ago. Planetary scientists from University of Colorado, Boulder Andrew Wilcoski observed: “It’s a really interesting question how those volatiles [such as water] got there. We stil

Climate change is a fact that can’t be wished away and now to understand its impact on both flora and fauna, scientists are conducting many studies. One such as per a report in sciencealert.com delves on how species are struggling to relocate to new habitats. Moving to places which are at a higher altitude raises two points. These are temperatures which are colder and also thinner, meaning they have less oxygen and make breathing harder. To comprehend these two issues, a group of Anna’s hummingbirds also known as Calypte anna were moved to a place 1,200 metres or 4,000 feet above their usual home. Researchers made a rather odd observation when they found that the metabolic rates of these birds lowered as they lingered around while there was lesser efficiency in flying shorter durations, most probably due to wanting more oxygen. Though in future the temperatures may become warmer, the study’s cool environs had a drastic consequence on their sleep patterns. Dozing off these creatures wen

Bacteria are found in most unexpected places – deserts which are arid, lakes which are toxic and acidic and now scientists have discovered them in one of the unexpected habitats -- the venom of spiders and snakes said a report in sciencealert.com. This finding is contrary to the previously held belief that since these venoms had antimicrobial compounds, they therefore were presumed to be sterile with no microbes thriving in them. This means that with the bacteria already in existence in the venom, a person who is bitten by a snake or spider may need to be treated for infection. Stressing the importance of this find, Sterghios Moschos a molecular biologist from Northumbria University in the United Kingdom said: "We found that all venomous snakes and spiders that we tested had bacterial DNA in their venom. Common diagnostic tools failed to identify these bacteria correctly – if you were infected with these, a doctor would end up giving you the wrong antibiotics, potentially making m

Availability of abundant prey is vital for the conservation of a huge number of large predators and that is precisely happening in the Northern Territory of Australia. A report in smithsonianmag.com mentioned that the population of saltwater crocodiles of this region are thriving as they are getting to eat more feral pigs than earlier. Suggesting this in a study published in the journal Biology Letters, scientists have compared the bones of crocodile specimens which are 40 to 55 years old and kept in museum with those of the present-day reptiles and noted the change and shift in their diet over a period of time. In a statement, the Director of Griffith’s Australian Rivers Institute, Stuart Bunn said: “We measured the naturally occurring carbon and nitrogen isotopes extracted from the crocodile’s bones and other tissue which are derived directly from the animal’s diet. This gives truth to the old adage ‘you are what you eat’.” This comparison of the bones highlighted that the modern rep

Like any other mother, the female octopus is protective of her eggs. Guarding them day and night, she zealously shields them from predators while ensuring they remain oxygenated by blowing water over them. Yet, a report in smithsonianmag.com stated that a mother octopus is different as unlike other mums, she ceases to eat and worse self-destructs and inflicts injury to herself – tearing her skin, beating herself against rock and eating her arms. Finally, she dies before getting to see the eggs hatch! Till now what the octopus experts knew was that the optic glands of the creature were accountable for this peculiar conduct. This was confirmed since the removal of these glands saw the octopus start eating and living longer. Yet, what was fascinating was how did these glands trigger such amazing and strange actions? Read more

When marine creatures like sea turtles travel great distances in the oceans to their breeding grounds without any aid for navigation, it has fascinated scientists. A report in sciencealert.com states that a new study has revealed that this ability in turtles is due to its built-in geomagnetic steering and also plenty of luck and tenacity. For this study 22 hawksbill turtles or Eretmochelys imbricata were fitted with GPS trackers to chart their routes they would adhere, to reach their foraging regions following mating and breeding. It was indeed surprising to know that the routes taken were circuitous. For instance, one creature swam 1,306 kilometres to reach an island which was merely 176 km from where it started. Basically, the travelling entailed plenty of swimming before they reached the dry land. In their paper, the scientists wrote: "Our results provide compelling evidence that hawksbill turtles only have a relatively crude map sense in the open ocean. The existence of widesp

It was one of the rare chances which the scientists could not dream of letting go. It was a golden opportunity, described a report in sciencealert.com, to study monozygotic or identical twins in common parlance, who in their childhood got separated and were raised in completely dissimilar environments – different countries and families. The findings of this research -- published in Personality and Individual Differences – were both interesting and amazing. Twins generally have similar scores in cognitive tests thereby pointing that intelligent quotient is heritable to a tune of 80 per cent but in this particular case, there was a 16-point difference between the twins. While there were several similarities too, the divergences were sharp and stood out. The findings stress on the need to relook at the perception about how much of intelligence is due to our genes and how much comes about because of the environment one is brought up in. Read more

Science is continuously striving to make headway in the medical field and find out how dreaded diseases work and what can be their cure. Neurobiologists Tushar Kamath and Abdulraouf Abdulraouf from the Broad Institute led a team that studied cells of the brain taken from persons who have died due to Parkinson’s disease or dementia and juxtaposed them with those from unaffected persons as per a report in sciencealert.com. The team was able to spot out certain brain cells that died due to the disease and also what made them susceptible to death. The “highly susceptible” found made them the prime target for therapeutic intervention while the research also brought into limelight how genetic risk plays a role in the disease. A neurodegenerative disease which is ongoing in nature – Parkinson’s attributes include movements which are uncontrollable like tremors, difficulties in speech, and problems of balance that turn worse with passage of time. The reason for this is the harm caused to nerv

The necessity of preserving forest cover is not just essential from the environment point of view but also because they are pristine. Recently, fossils of leaf found in Borneo have been studied for the first time in detail and it came up with a startling revelation – these rainforests covering the island have been in place for at least 4 million years and nurturing life as per a report in sciencealert.com! The present look of the forests – dominated by dipterocarp trees – is what it was 2.6 and 5.3 million years ago, that is in the Pliocene Epoch, making it necessary to preserve this invaluable ecosystem for the future, said the scientists. Home to more than 50 per cent of the total species in the world, Borneo has 270 types of dipterocarp trees and considering that tropical biodiversity in Asia is under threat, it is essential to help in its preservation. Talking about this find, Peter Wilf a palaeobotanist from Pennsylvania State University said: "This is the first demonstration

A recent study busted the long-held belief among dog-lovers and people in general that breed makes a notable difference in the behaviour of these animals. Bringing this to light, a report in smithsonianmag.com stated that irrespective of the breed, any of these animals can be a human being’s favourite and loyal companion and friend. Published in the journal Science, the genome study concluded that breed alone can’t be a deciding factor to zero on the dog’s personality. For this study, the scientists conducted a survey of 18,385 dog owners. They were asked about the demeanour of their pet. The questions asked included if the dogs continued to work till it was not completed, their conduct with the strangers – if it was friendly or otherwise, etc. The DNA of 2,155 pure as well as mixed dogs were sequenced and these compared with the results of the survey. Read more

Whenever an animal is seen licking its wounds most people react by saying that it is something natural for them to do so and that it helps heal the injury. All sorts of creatures, including dogs, mice, ants and cats do it. Why do they do it and does it truly help questions a report in livescience.com? Creatures indulge in this action since licking brings a sense of self-soothing and the spit has attributes that assuage. Dr. Benjamin Hart, who is a retired veterinarian and University of California, Davis professor emeritus stated that licking is an instinctual response which has come across through evolution and it gives relief from pain and irritation, while also accelerating the healing process. Yet in the case of pets including dogs this can be ineffectual as modern medical science enables better treatment of wounds. University of Minnesota’s animal behaviour expert and vet, Dr. Kristi Flynn observed that for animals "without thumbs or medication”, licking is "the best they

There are natural catastrophes which are remembered for hundreds of years and impact several generations. One such remarkable event is the earthquake triggered by a gigantic tsunami that hit northern Chile 3,800 years ago that devastated the population on the coasts. So deep was its effect, says an article in sciencealert.com that following the quake, people returned to the shore only after 1,000 years! This mega quake would have a magnitude of 9.5 and so potent it was that boulders were hurled in New Zealand’s inland even though it was thousands of miles away. The occurrence of this event is proved by the uplifted land structures or what is called littoral deposits and discovery of marine rocks, shells and sea life in Chile’s higher regions of Atacama Desert. Sharing details on this, James Goff who is a geologist and tsunami expert from Australia’s University of New South Wales said: "We found evidence of marine sediments and a lot of beasties that would have been living quietly

Sometimes an out of the box theory looks like a plausible explanation for something which seems bizarre. Take for example the small arms of the mighty and ferocious Tyrannosaurus rex which couldn’t be clarified despite many suggesting that they were used as slashing machines or helped in grasping the partner during mating, as per a report in sciencealert.com. Though it is really difficult to figure answers by looking at bones which are 66 million years old, a new study has come with a fresh hypothesis, which states that the short arms helped in bringing down the chances of accidental bites by other T. rex when these creatures indulged in eating frenzies. The smaller the size, the lesser were chances of it being bitten off! Elaborating on this new study, its author Kevin Padian, said: "What if several adult tyrannosaurs converged on a carcass? You have a bunch of massive skulls, with incredibly powerful jaws and teeth, ripping and chomping down flesh and bone right next to you. Wha

A close look at monkeys from whom humankind has evolved suggests that the love of people for alcohol stems from the liking these primates have for fruits which are ripe, states sciencealert.com report. Scientists discovered during their study of Panama’s black-handed spider monkeys or Ateles geoffroyi that they eat on a regular basis palm fruits that have ethanol in little amounts. Further, the samples of urine from two monkeys showed metabolites that were ethanol specific, thus proving that it was being absorbed and used by the body. Talking about this, Christina Campbell from California State University, Northridge, who is a primatologist said: "For the first time, we have been able to show, without a shadow of a doubt, that wild primates, with no human interference, consume fruit containing ethanol. This is just one study, and more need to be done, but it looks like there may be some truth to that 'drunken monkey' hypothesis." Proposed for the first time in 2000 by

Right from the inception of life on the Earth, some or the other mighty predator dominated the world, it could be a mighty shark in water or a dinosaur on the land. Likewise, a report in sciencenews,.org talks about a sabre-toothed mammal which was among the first hypercarnivores, that existed 42 million years. This menacing creature whose size was that of a bobcat, stalked in the jungles and forests of those days located in today’s San Diego. As compared to the other animals that existed in that era, this was a hypercarnivore – it evolved to consume meat and probably only meat. What was distinctive about this creature or Diegoaelurus vanvalkenburghae as it is scientifically known, and which belonged to the now vanished and unusual Machaeroidine family, is its fangs which were sabre-like and its sharp and slicing teeth. Till now a dozen fossils or remains of other Machaeroidine have been discovered, which mostly are from Wyoming but some were found in Asia too. It was with the help of

It is generally believed that serious and fatal diseases of Europe like whooping cough, smallpox and the dreaded tuberculosis reached different parts of the world, including South America, due to colonisation. Yet, a report in sciencealert.com mentions that a recent study suggests that tuberculosis strain may have already reached South America coasts and mountains, much before this. Scientists in 2014 discovered in skeletons from 1,000 years ago in South America the DNA of a bacterium which was connected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis which leads to tuberculosis in human beings. It may be noted that this was much before the Spanish, French and Portuguese set foot in the continent as colonisers. Even though it has been known to science that TB moves from one species of mammal to another yet the detection of this ancient strain in South America points to the need for rethinking as to how the bacteria spread originally. The 2014 or the pre-contact strains had the closest resemblance to M

  It is indeed a proud moment for Thailand as for the first time in 104 years a new genus of tarantula has been discovered in Asia. And it is indeed novel. As per a report in sciencenews.org, this newly found hairy spider is called bambootula. The reason is that it makes its home in bamboo which is stiff and tall and found in northern Thailand. The scientific name of the creature is Taksinus bambus. Talking about this species, Narin Chomphuphuang an arachnologist from Thailand Khon Kaen University said, it “is the world’s first tarantula with a biology tied to bamboo”. The hollow bamboo stems provide the spider with a hole or tunnel and obviously a readymade nest but the bambootula has a problem. It does not have the wherewithal, that is tools, to drill into the culms. For this it depends on animals like borer beetles and rodents or natural forces to make the openings. The creature once inside creates a “retreat tube” made of silk to keep itself secure and enabling it to move around wi

It is amazing to see spiders attack their prey in packs but it has always intrigued scientists as to how the coordinated offensive takes place. This is precisely what a team of researchers decided to study, says a report in sciencealert.com. Among 50,000 known species of spiders there are 20 which, contrary to their usual solitary life, live together in colonies. One of them is Anelosimus eximius, a social spider which lives in a large group of more than 1,000 individuals, who spin webs that span many metres. When a victim is trapped, these creatures harmonise their attack together enabling them to tackle prey much larger than them individually. Also read:  Beware of the snake’s hiss, the reptile means business Till now it was a puzzle as to how such coordinated effort takes place but new research reveals that using vibrations in the giant-sized webs is what helps these creatures to synchronise their attack on the prey. Senior author of this new study, Raphael Jeanson who is researcher

  The monstrous creature – Otodus megalodon – in 2018’s superhit sci-fi thriller “The Meg” remains etched in the memory of viewers because of its sheer menacing size. Now, a recent study as per a report in scitechdaily.com has disclosed that these extinct creatures also known as megatooth sharks became bigger in size in cooler environments than the warmer ones. In their study, Kenshu Shimada, a professor of paleobiology at DePaul University along with other co-authors looked afresh at the body size patterns of megalodon, the fossil shark which was present between 15 to 3.6 million years ago on Earth, over time and space. The scientists in their new study examined published records of geographic occurrences of the teeth of Meg in tandem with their estimated total body lengths. Whatever is known to science about this species is through teeth and vertebrae in the fossil record. It is scientifically accepted that these creatures were huge in size, and grew to a minimum of 50 feet in length

  Even with Global Position System, elaborate maps and precise calculation of distance and speed, many are still unable to locate their destination or reach on the appointed time. Yet, as per a sciencedaily.com report, this is not the case with pregnant northern female elephant seals or Mirounga angustirostris. Every year, between December and March, these creatures breed on the beaches located on the west coast of Canada, Mexico and the US. On becoming pregnant, the females leave these breeding beaches and migrate. They go on a journey of about 240 days over 10,000 kilometres across the Eastern North Pacific Ocean in search of food, before returning to the breeding beaches and giving birth within five days of arriving. Intriguing as it may sound, now a study that has been published in the journal Current Biology stated that this spectacular ability to navigate without any aid is due to the creature’s internal map sense, which plays the vital role of a built-in GPS. Also read:  Single