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Dogs have a famously great sense of smell, but what makes their noses so much more powerful than ours? They're packing some sophisticated equipment inside that squishy schnozz.

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--- How much more powerful is a dog’s sense of smell compared to a human?
According to one estimate, dogs are 10,000-100,000 times more sensitive to smell than humans. They have about 15 times more olfactory neurons that send signals about odors to the brain. The neurons in a dog’s nose are spread out over a much larger and more convoluted area allowing them more easily decipher specific chemicals in the air.

--- Why are dog noses wet?
Dog noses secrete mucus which traps odors in the air and on the ground. When a dog licks its nose, the tongue brings those odors into the mouth allowing it to sample those smells. Dogs mostly cool themselves by panting but the mucus on their noses and sweat from their paws cool through evaporation.

--- Why do dog nostrils have slits on the side?
Dogs sniff about five times per second. The slits on the sides allows exhaled air to vent towards the sides and back. That air moving towards the back of the dog creates a low air pressure region in front of it. Air from in front of the dog rushes in to fill that low pressure region. That allows the nose to actively bring odors in from in front and keeps the exhaled air from contaminating new samples.

---+ Read the entire article on KQED Science:

https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2....019/02/26/how-your-d

---+ For more information:

The Odor Navigation Project funded NSF Brain Initiative
https://odornavigation.org/

Jacobs Lab of Cognitive Biology at UC Berkeley
http://jacobs.berkeley.edu/

Ecological Fluid Dynamics Lab at University of Colorado Boulder
https://www.colorado.edu/lab/ecological-fluids/

The fluid dynamics of canine olfaction: unique nasal airflow patterns as an explanation of macrosmia (Brent A. Craven, Eric G. Paterson, and Gary S. Settles)
https://royalsocietypublishing.....org/doi/full/10.109

---+ More Great Deep Look episodes:

The Fantastic Fur of Sea Otters | Deep Look
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxqg_um1TXI

You've Heard of a Murder of Crows. How About a Crow Funeral? | Deep Look
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixYVFZnNl6s&t=85s

Newt Sex: Buff Males! Writhing Females! Cannibalism! | Deep Look
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m37QR_4XNY

What Makes Owls So Quiet and So Deadly? | Deep Look
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a68fIQzaDBY

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How James Brown Invented Funk | Sound Field
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AihgZv1D5-4

How To Suck Carbon Dioxide Out of the Sky | Hot Mess
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKtXojkwlK8

What’s the Real Cost of Owning A Pet? | Two Cents
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma3Mt5BPlTE

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?Congratulations ? to Branden W., Edison Lewis, Vampire Wolf, Haithem Ghanem and Droidtigger who won our GIF CHALLENGE over at the Deep Look Community Tab, by identifying the special region in the canine skull which houses much of the smell ability: https://www.youtube.com/channe....l/UC-3SbfTPJsL8fJAPK

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KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate in San Francisco, CA, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, radio and web media.

Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, which is also supported by the National Science Foundation, the Templeton Religion Trust, the Templeton World Charity Foundation, the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, the Vadasz Family Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Fuhs Family Foundation and the members of KQED.

Giant Malaysian leaf insects stay still – very still – on their host plants to avoid hungry predators. But as they grow up, they can't get lazy with their camouflage. They change – and even dance – to blend in with the ever-shifting foliage.

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DEEP LOOK is a ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.

---

You’ll have to look closely to spot a giant Malaysian leaf insect when it’s nibbling on the leaves of a guava or mango tree. These herbivores blend in seamlessly with their surroundings because  they look exactly like their favorite food: fruit leaves. 

But you can definitely see these fascinating creatures at the California Academy of Sciences, located in the heart of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, through the spring of 2022. 
An ongoing interactive exhibit, ‘Color of Life,’ explores the role of color in the natural world. It's filled with a variety of critters, including Gouldian finches, green tree pythons, Riggenbach's reed frogs, and of course, giant leaf insects.

---+ Read the entire article on KQED Science:

https://www.kqed.org/science/1....947830/these-giant-l

--- What do giant leaf insects eat?
They’re herbivores, so they stick to eating leaves from their habitats, like guava and mango.

--- What’s one main difference between male and female giant leaf insects?
Males can actually fly as they have wings, which they use for mating.

--- But did you know that females don’t need males for mating?

They are facultatively parthenogenetic, which means they sometimes mate or sometimes reproduce asexually. If they mate with a male, they produce both males and females, but if the eggs remain unfertilized – only females are produced.

---+ For more information:
Visit California Academy of Sciences
https://calacademy.org/

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It’s a Bug’s Life: https://www.youtube.com/playli....st?list=PLdKlciEDdCQ

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?Congratulations ?to the following fans on our YouTube community tab for correctly identifying the type of reproduction female leaf insects can use in the absence of a suitable male - parthenogenesis.

Sylly
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GOT7 HOT7 THOT7 VISUAL7


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---+ About KQED

KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate in San Francisco, CA, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, Radio and web media.

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#leafinsects #insect #deeplook

The silent star of classic Westerns is a plant on a mission. It starts out green and full of life. It even grows flowers. But to reproduce effectively it needs to turn into a rolling brown skeleton.

You can learn more about CuriosityStream at https://curiositystream.com/deeplook.
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DEEP LOOK: a new ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Get a new perspective on our place in the universe and meet extraordinary new friends. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.

Tumbleweeds might be the iconic props of classic Westerns. But in real life, they’re not only a noxious weed, but one that moves around. Pushed by gusts of wind, they can overwhelm entire neighborhoods, as happened recently in Victorville, California, or become a threat for drivers and an expensive nuisance for farmers.

“They tumble across highways and can cause accidents,” said Mike Pitcairn, who tracks tumbleweeds at the California Department of Food and Agriculture in Sacramento. “They pile up against fences and homes.”

And tumbleweeds aren’t even originally from the West.

Genetic tests have shown that California’s most common tumbleweed, known as Russian thistle, likely came from Ukraine, said retired plant population biologist Debra Ayres, who studied tumbleweeds at the University of California, Davis.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture employee, L. H. Dewey, wrote in 1893 that Russian thistle had arrived in the U.S. through South Dakota in flaxseed imported from Europe in the 1870s.

“It has been known in Russia many years,” Dewey wrote, “and has quite as bad a reputation in the wheat regions there as it has in the Dakotas.” This is where the name Russian thistle originates, said Ayres, although tumbleweeds aren’t thistles.

The weed spread quickly through the United States — on rail cars, through contamination of agricultural seeds and by tumbling.
“They tumble to disperse the seeds,” said Ayres, “and thereby reduce competition.”
A rolling tumbleweed spreads out tens of thousands of seeds so that they all get plenty of sunlight and space.

Tumbleweeds grow well in barren places like vacant lots or the side of the road, where they can tumble unobstructed and there’s no grass, which their seedlings can’t compete with.

--- Where does a tumbleweed come from?

Tumbleweeds start out attached to the soil. Seedlings, which look like blades of grass, sprout at the end of winter. By summer, Russian thistle plants take on their round shape and grow flowers. Inside each flower, a fruit with a seed develops.
Other plants attract animals with tasty fruits, and get them to carry away their seeds and disperse them when they poop.
Tumbleweeds developed a different evolutionary strategy. Starting in late fall, they dry out and die, their seeds nestled between prickly leaves. Gusts of wind easily break dead tumbleweeds from their roots and they roll away, spreading their seeds as they go.

--- How big do tumbleweeds grow?

Mike Pitcairn, of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, said that in the state’s San Joaquin Valley they can grow to be more than 6 feet tall.

--- Are tumbleweeds dangerous?

Yes. They can cause traffic accidents or be a fire hazard if they pile up near buildings.

---+ Read the entire article on KQED Science:

https://www.kqed.org/science/1....922987/why-do-tumble

---+ For more information on the history and biology of Russian thistle, here’s a paper by Debra Ayres and colleagues:

https://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/28657/PDF

---+ More great Deep Look episodes:

How Ticks Dig In With a Mouth Full of Hooks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IoOJu2_FKE

This Giant Plant Looks Like Raw Meat and Smells Like Dead Rat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycUNj_Hv4_Y

Upside-Down Catfish Doesn't Care What You Think
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eurCBOJMrsE


---+ See some great videos and documentaries from the PBS Digital Studios!

Above the Noise: Why Is Vaping So Popular?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9zps5LsVXs

Hot Mess: What Happened to Nuclear Power?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jEXZZDU6Gk


---+ About KQED
KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate in San Francisco, CA, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, radio and web media.

Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, which is supported by the Templeton Religion Trust and the Templeton World Charity Foundation, the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, the Vadasz Family Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Fuhs Family Foundation Fund and the members of KQED.
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(FYI - This episode is a *bit* more bloody that usual – especially a little after the 2-minute mark. Just letting you know in case flesh wounds aren’t your thing)

The same blood-sucking leeches feared by hikers and swimmers are making a comeback... in hospitals. Once used for questionable treatments, leeches now help doctors complete complex surgeries to reattach severed body parts.

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Leeches get a bad rap—but they might not deserve it. Yes, they’re creepy crawly blood-suckers. And they can instill an almost primal sense of disgust and revulsion. Humphrey Bogart’s character in the 1951 film The African Queen even went so far as to call them “filthy little devils.”

But the humble leech is making a comeback. Contrary to the typical, derogatory definition of a human “leech,” this critter is increasingly playing a key role as a sidekick for scientists and doctors, simply by being its bloodthirsty self.

Distant cousins of the earthworm, most leech species are parasites that feed on the blood of animals and humans alike. They are often found in freshwater and navigate either by swimming or by inching themselves along, using two suckers—one at each end of their body—to anchor themselves.

Upon reaching an unsuspecting host, a leech will surreptitiously attach itself and begin to feed. It uses a triangular set of three teeth to cut in, and secretes a suite of chemicals to thin the blood and numb the skin so its presence goes undetected.

---+ Read the entire article on KQED Science: https://www.kqed.org/science/1....921659/take-two-leec

---+ For more information:
David Weisblat at UC Berkeley studies leeches development and evolution
https://mcb.berkeley.edu/labs/....weisblat/research.ht

Biologists recently reported that leeches in that region can provide a valuable snapshot of which animals are present in a particular area
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14772000.2018.1433729?journalCode=tsab20&

---+ More Great Deep Look episodes:

Why the Male Black Widow is a Real Home Wrecker | Deep Look
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpJNeGqExrc

For Pacific Mole Crabs It's Dig or Die | Deep Look
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfoYD8pAsMw

Praying Mantis Love is Waaay Weirder Than You Think | Deep Look
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHf47gI8w04&t=83s

---+ See some great videos and documentaries from the PBS Digital Studios! Above the Noise:

Cow Burps Are Warming the Planet | Reactions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnRFUSGz_ZM

What a Dinosaur Looks Like Under a Microscope | Eons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rvgiDXc12k
Hawking Radiation | Space Time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPKj0YnKANw

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---+ About KQED KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate in San Francisco, CA, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, Radio and web media.

Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, which is supported by the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, the Vadasz Family Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Fuhs Family Foundation Fund and the members of KQED.
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They may be dressed in black, but crow funerals aren't the solemn events that we hold for our dead. These birds cause a ruckus around their fallen friend. Are they just scared, or is there something deeper going on?

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It’s a common site in many parks and backyards: Crows squawking. But groups of the noisy black birds may not just be raising a fuss, scientists say. They may be holding a funeral.

Kaeli Swift, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Washington’s Avian Conservation Lab in Seattle, is studying how crows learn about danger from each other and how they respond to seeing one of their own who has died.

Unlike the majority of animals, crows react strongly to seeing a fellow member of their species has died, mobbing together and raising a ruckus.

Only a few animals like whales, elephants and some primates, have such strong reactions.

To study exactly what may be going on on, Swift developed an experiment that involved exposing local crows in Seattle neighborhoods to a dead taxidermied crow in order to study their reaction.

“It’s really incredible,” she said. “They’re all around in the trees just staring at you and screaming at you.”

Swift calls these events ‘crow funerals’ and they are the focus of her research.

--- What do crows eat?
Crows are omnivores so they’ll eat just about anything. In the wild they eat insects, carrion, eggs seeds and fruit. Crows that live around humans eat garbage.

--- What’s the difference between crows and ravens?
American crows and common ravens may look similar but ravens are larger with a more robust beak. When in flight, crow tail feathers are approximately the same length. Raven tail feathers spread out and look like a fan.

Ravens also tend to emit a croaking sound compared to the caw of a crow. Ravens also tend to travel in pairs while crows tend to flock together in larger groups. Raven will sometimes prey on crows.

--- Why do crows chase hawks?
Crows, like animals whose young are preyed upon, mob together and harass dangerous predators like hawks in order to exclude them from an area and protect their offspring. Mobbing also teaches new generations of crows to identify predators.

---+ Read the entire article on KQED Science:
https://www.kqed.org/science/1....923458/youve-heard-o

---+ For more information:
Kaeli Swift’s Corvid Research website
https://corvidresearch.blog/

University of Washington Avian Conservation Laboratory
http://sefs.washington.edu/research.acl/

---+ More Great Deep Look episodes:

Why Do Tumbleweeds Tumble? | Deep Look
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dATZsuPdOnM

Upside-Down Catfish Doesn't Care What You Think | Deep Look
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eurCBOJMrsE

Take Two Leeches and Call Me in the Morning | Deep Look
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-0SFWPLaII

---+ See some great videos and documentaries from PBS Digital Studios!

Why Climate Change is Unjust | Hot Mess
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5KjpYK12_c

Is Breakfast the Most Important Meal? | Origin Of Everything
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxIOGqHQqZM

How the Squid Lost Its Shell | PBS Eons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4vxoP-IF2M

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KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate in San Francisco, CA, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, Radio and web media.

Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, which is supported by the Templeton Religion Trust and the Templeton World Charity Foundation, the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, the Vadasz Family Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Fuhs Family Foundation Fund and the members of KQED.
#deeplook

Alfalfa leafcutting bees are way better at pollinating alfalfa flowers than honeybees. They don’t mind getting thwacked in the face by the spring-loaded blooms. And that's good, because hungry cows depend on their hard work to make milk.

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---

Sure, cows are important. But next time you eat ice cream, thank a bee.

Every summer, alfalfa leafcutting bees pollinate alfalfa in an intricate process that gets them thwacked by the flowers when they release the pollen that allows the plants to make seeds. The bees’ hard work came to fruition last week when growers in California finished harvesting the alfalfa seeds that will be grown to make nutritious hay for dairy cows.

This is how it works.

To produce alfalfa seeds, farmers let their plants grow until they bloom. They need help pollinating the tiny purple flowers, so that the female and male parts of the flower can come together and produce fertile seeds. That’s where the grayish, easygoing alfalfa leafcutting bees come in. Seed growers in California release the bees – known simply as cutters – in June and they work hard for a month.

Alfalfa’s flowers keep their reproductive organs hidden away inside a boat-shaped bottom petal called the keel petal, which is held closed by a thin membrane that creates a spring mechanism.

Cutter bees come up to the flower looking for nectar and pollen to feed on. When they land on the flower, the membrane holding the keel petal breaks and the long reproductive structure pops right up and smacks the upper petal or the bee, releasing its yellow pollen. This process is called “tripping the flower.”

When the flower is tripped, pollen falls on its female reproductive organ and fertilizes it; bees also carry pollen away on their hairy bodies and help fertilize other flowers. In a few weeks, each flower turns into a curly pod with seven to 10 seeds growing inside.

Cutters trip 80 percent of flowers they visit, compared to honeybees, which only trip about 10 percent.
---

--- What kind of a plant is alfalfa?
Alfalfa is a legume, like beans and chickpeas. Other legumes also hold their reproductive organs within a keel petal.

--- What do bees use leaves for?
Alfalfa leafcutting bees and other leafcutter bees cut leaf and petal pieces to build their nest inside a hole, such as a nook and cranny in a log. Alfalfa farmers provide bees with holes in styrofoam boards.

---+ Read the entire article on KQED Science:
https://www.kqed.org/science/1....946996/this-bee-gets

---+ Shoutout!

?Congratulations ?to the following fans for correctly identifying the bee body part coated in pollen, on our Leafcutting Bee - the scopa or scopae!

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#leafcutter #bees #deeplook

You might suppose this catfish is sick, or just confused. But swimming belly-up actually helps it camouflage and breathe better than its right-side-up cousins.

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DEEP LOOK: a new ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Get a new perspective on our place in the universe and meet extraordinary new friends. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.

Normally, an upside-down fish in your tank is bad news. As in, it’s time for a new goldfish.

That’s because most fish have an internal air sac called a “swim bladder” that allows them to control their buoyancy and orientation. They fill the bladder with air when they want to rise, and deflate it when they want to sink. Fish without swim bladders, like sharks, have to swim constantly to keep from dropping to the bottom.

If an aquarium fish is listing to one side or flops over on its back, it often means it has swim bladder disease, a potentially life-threatening condition usually brought on parasites, overfeeding, or high nitrate levels in the water.

But for a few remarkable fish, being upside-down means everything is great.

In fact, seven species of catfish native to Central Africa live most of their lives upended. These topsy-turvy swimmers are anatomically identical to their right-side up cousins, despite having such an unusual orientation.

People’s fascination with the odd alignment of these fish goes back centuries. Studies of these quizzical fish have found a number of reasons why swimming upside down makes a lot of sense.

In an upside-down position, fish produce a lot less wave drag. That means upside-down catfish do a better job feeding on insect larvae at the waterline than their right-side up counterparts, who have to return to deeper water to rest.

There’s something else at the surface that’s even more important to a fish’s survival than food: oxygen. The gas essential to life readily dissolves from the air into the water, where it becomes concentrated in a thin layer at the waterline — right where the upside-down catfish’s mouth and gills are perfectly positioned to get it.

Scientists estimate that upside-down catfishes have been working out their survival strategy for as long at 35 million years. Besides their breathing and feeding behavior, the blotched upside-down catfish from the Congo Basin has also evolved a dark patch on its underside to make it harder to see against dark water.

That coloration is remarkable because it’s the opposite of most sea creatures, which tend to be darker on top and lighter on the bottom, a common adaptation called “countershading” that offsets the effects of sunlight.

The blotched upside-down catfish’s “reverse” countershading has earned it the scientific name negriventris, which means black-bellied.

--- How many kinds of fish swim upside down?

A total of seven species in Africa swim that way. Upside-down swimming may have evolved independent in a few of the species – and at least one more time in a catfish from Asia.

--- How do fish stay upright?

They have an air-filled swim bladder on the inside that that they can fill or deflate to maintain balance or to move up or down in the water column.

--- What are the benefits of swimming upside down?

Upside down, a fish swims more efficiently at the waterline, where there’s more oxygen and better access to some prey.

---+ Read the entire article on KQED Science:

https://www.kqed.org/science/1....922038/the-mystery-o

---+ For more information:

The California Academy of Sciences has upside-down catfish in its aquarium collection: https://www.calacademy.org/exh....ibits/steinhart-aqua

---+ More Great Deep Look episodes:

Take Two Leeches and Call Me in the Morning
https://youtu.be/O-0SFWPLaII

This Is Why Water Striders Make Terrible Lifeguards
https://youtu.be/E2unnSK7WTE

---+ See some great videos and documentaries from the PBS Digital Studios!

PBS Eons: What a Dinosaur Looks Like Under a Microscope
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rvgiDXc12k

Origin of Everything: The Origin of Race in the USA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVxAlmAPHec

---+ Follow KQED Science:

KQED Science: http://www.kqed.org/science
Tumblr: http://kqedscience.tumblr.com
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/kqedscience

---+ About KQED

KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate in San Francisco, CA, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, Radio and web media.

Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, which is supported by the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, the Vadasz Family Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Fuhs Family Foundation Fund and the members of KQED.
#deeplook

Most plankton are tiny drifters, wandering in a vast ocean. But where wind and currents converge they become part of a grander story … an explosion of vitality that affects all life on Earth, including our own.

SUBSCRIBE: http://goo.gl/8NwXqt

Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, which is supported by HopeLab, The David B. Gold Foundation; S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation; The Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation; The Vadasz Family Foundation; Smart Family Foundation and the members of KQED.
#deeplook

Ladybugs spend most of their lives alone, gorging themselves on aphids. But every winter they take to the wind, soaring over cities and fields to assemble for a ladybug bash. In these huge gatherings, they'll do more than hibernate-it's their best chance to find a mate.

SUBSCRIBE to Deep Look! http://goo.gl/8NwXqt

DEEP LOOK: an ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Get a new perspective on our place in the universe and meet extraordinary new friends. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.

Read more on ladybugs:
http://ww2.kqed.org/science/20....16/02/09/the-once-in

Where do ladybugs live?
In California, ladybugs spend most of the year on crops in the Central Valley, or on domestic garden plants, feeding on aphids. When the weather starts to turn chilly, however, the aphids die off in the cold. With food becoming scarce, the ladybugs take off, flying straight up. The wind picks them up and carries them on their way, toward hills in the Bay Area and coastal mountain ranges.

What do ladybugs eat?
Ladybugs spend most of the year on crops or on domestic garden plants, feeding on aphids.

Are ladybugs insects?
Ladybugs belong to the order Coleoptera, or beetles. Europeans have called these dome-backed beetles by the name ladybirds, or ladybird beetles, for over 500 years. In America, the name ladybird was replaced by ladybug. Scientists usually prefer the common name lady beetles.

Why are some ladybugs red?
The red color is to signal to predators that they are toxic. "They truly do taste bad. In high enough concentrations, they can be toxic," said Christopher Wheeler, who studied ladybug behavior for his Ph.D. at UC Riverside.


More great Deep Look episodes on biology:

Where Are the Ants Carrying All Those Leaves?
https://youtu.be/-6oKJ5FGk24

Watch Flesh-Eating Beetles Strip Bodies to the Bone:
https://youtu.be/Np0hJGKrIWg

Nature's Scuba Divers: How Beetles Breathe Underwater:
https://youtu.be/T-RtG5Z-9jQ


See also another great video from the PBS Digital Studios!

It's Okay to Be Smart: Why Seasons Make No Sense
https://youtu.be/s0oX9YJ5XLo

If you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, In the Bay Area, one of the best places to view ladybug aggregations is Redwood Regional Park in Oakland. Between November and February, numerous points along the park's main artery, the Stream Trail, are swarming with the insects.
http://www.ebparks.org/parks/redwood


KQED Science: http://www.kqed.org/science
Tumblr: http://kqedscience.tumblr.com
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/kqedscience

Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, which is also supported by HopeLab, the David B. Gold Foundation, the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, the Vadasz Family Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Smart Family Foundation and the members of KQED.
#deeplook

"Playlist Best of Ultravox https://goo.gl/s6T8GZ
Subscribe for more https://goo.gl/1tdEtf"
ROCK STARS PERFORM LIVE IN CONCERT.

Every winter, California newts leave the safety of their forest burrows and travel as far as three miles to mate in the pond where they were born. Their mating ritual is a raucous affair that involves bulked-up males, writhing females and a little cannibalism.

SUBSCRIBE: http://goo.gl/8NwXqt

These amphibious creatures are about five to eight inches long, with rust-colored skin, except for their bright yellow eyes and belly. They began to arrive at the UC Botanical Garden around November, and will stay here for the duration of the rainy season, usually through the end of March.

While California newts (Taricha torosa) are only about six inches long, they might travel as far as three miles to return to their birthplace. That's the equivalent for a human of walking about a marathon and a half, without any signs or road maps. Scientists aren't sure exactly how they find their way, but they think it might be based on smell.

Why do newts live in a pond? California Newts live most of their time in the forest, but mate in the pond where they were born.

Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, which is supported by HopeLab, The David B. Gold Foundation; S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation; The Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation; The Vadasz Family Foundation; Smart Family Foundation and the members of KQED.
#deeplook

Sure, the female black widow has a terrible reputation. But who’s the real victim here? Her male counterpart is a total jerk — and might just be getting what he deserves.

Learn more about CuriosityStream at http://curiositystream.com/deeplook
SUBSCRIBE to Deep Look! http://goo.gl/8NwXqt

DEEP LOOK: a new ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Get a new perspective on our place in the universe and meet extraordinary new friends. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.

We’ve all heard the stories. She mates and then kills. Her venom is 15 times stronger than a rattlesnake’s. One bite could kill you. With a shiny black color and a glaring red hourglass stomach, she has long inspired fear and awe.

But most species of widow spider (there are 31), including the western black widow found in the U.S., don’t kill their mates at all. Only two widow spider species always eat their mate, the Australian redback and the brown widow, an invasive species in California.

And the male seems to be asking for it. In both of these species, he offers himself to her, somersaulting into her mouth after copulation.

He may even deserve it. During peak mating season, thousands of males will prowl around looking for females. Females set up their webs, stay put and wait.

Once the male arrives at her silken abode, he starts to wreck it, systematically disassembling her web one strand at a time. In a process scientists call web reduction, he bunches it into a little ball and wraps it up with his own silk.

Then, while mating, he will wrap her in fine strands that researchers refer to as the bridal veil. He drapes his silk over her legs, where her smell receptors are most concentrated.

After all of that, he is most likely to crawl away, alive and unscathed.

--- Why does the black widow spider eat her mate?

No one really knows, but scientists assume his body supplies her with nutrition for laying eggs. Sometimes she eats him by accident, not recognizing him as a mate.

--- How harmful are black widows to people?

We couldn’t find a documented case of a human death from a black widow spider in the U.S., but a bite will make you sick with extreme flu-like symptoms. Luckily, black widows aren’t aggressive to people.

--- Why do black widows have a red hourglass?

It’s a warning sign, a phenomenon common in nature that scientists call aposematicism, which is the use of color to ward off enemies.

---+ Read the entire article on KQED Science:

https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2....018/01/09/why-the-ma
---+ For more information:

Black widow researcher Catherine Scott’s website: http://spiderbytes.org/

---+ More Great Deep Look episodes:

Why Is The Very Hungry Caterpillar So Dang Hungry?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el_lPd2oFV4

Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Snail Sex
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOcLaI44TXA

---+ See some great videos and documentaries from the PBS Digital Studios!

Origin of Everything: Why Does Santa Wear Red?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fajNM5OPVnA

PBS Eons: 'Living Fossils' Aren't Really a Thing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPvZj2KcjAY

---+ Follow KQED Science:

KQED Science: http://www.kqed.org/science
Tumblr: http://kqedscience.tumblr.com
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/kqedscience

---+ About KQED

KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate based in San Francisco, serves the people of Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial media. Home to one of the most listened-to public radio station in the nation, one of the highest-rated public television services and an award-winning education program, KQED is also a leader and innovator in interactive media and technology, taking people of all ages on journeys of exploration — exposing them to new people, places and ideas.

Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, which is supported by HopeLab, The David B. Gold Foundation; S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation; The Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation; The Vadasz Family Foundation; Smart Family Foundation and the members of KQED.
#deeplook #blackwidow #spiders

How long does it take to film a decorator crab putting on its seaweed hat? Hint: It's days, not hours. The Deep Look team is back with a second behind the scenes video! Get to know host Lauren Sommer and producers Gabriela Quiros, Josh Cassidy and Elliott Kennerson as we put together our episode on decorator crabs and reflect on the joys and challenges of making nature films.

SUBSCRIBE to Deep Look! http://goo.gl/8NwXqt

DEEP LOOK is a ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Get a new perspective on our place in the universe and meet extraordinary new friends. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.

* NEW VIDEOS EVERY OTHER TUESDAY! *

---+ Episodes Featured in this video:

The Snail-Smashing, Fish-Spearing, Eye-Popping Mantis Shrimp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm1ChtK9QDU

Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Snail Sex

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOcLaI44TXA

These Termites Turn Your House into a Palace of Poop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYPQ1Tjp0ew

Decorator Crabs Make High Fashion at Low Tide

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwQcv7TyX04

Roly Polies Came From the Sea to Conquer the Earth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj8pFX9SOXE

Why Does Your Cat's Tongue Feel Like Sandpaper?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h_QtLol75I

How Mosquitoes Use Six Needles to Suck Your Blood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD8SmacBUcU

The Bombardier Beetle And Its Crazy Chemical Cannon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWwgLS5tK80

This Pulsating Slime Mold Comes in Peace (ft. It's Okay to Be Smart)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx3Uu1hfl6Q

Sea Urchins Pull Themselves Inside Out to be Reborn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak2xqH5h0YY

These 'Resurrection Plants' Spring Back to Life in Seconds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoFGKlZMo2g

Nature's Mood Rings: How Chameleons Really Change Color

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp9W-_W8rCM

Pygmy Seahorses: Masters of Camouflage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3CtGoqz3ww

If Your Hands Could Smell, You’d Be an Octopus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXMxihOh8ps

How Do Pelicans Survive Their Death-Defying Dives?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfEboMmwAMw


---+ Follow KQED Science:

KQED Science: http://www.kqed.org/science

Tumblr: http://kqedscience.tumblr.com

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/kqedscience

---+ About KQED

KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate in San Francisco, CA, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, Radio and web media.

Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, which is also supported by HopeLab, the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, the Vadasz Family Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Smart Family Foundation and the members of KQED.
#deeplook

African elephants may have magnificent ears, but on the savanna, they communicate over vast distances by picking up underground signals with their sensitive, fatty feet.

You can learn more about CuriosityStream at https://curiositystream.com/deeplook.
Love Deep Look? Join us on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/deeplook
SUBSCRIBE to Deep Look! http://goo.gl/8NwXqt

DEEP LOOK is a ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.

Thousands of elephants roam Etosha National Park in Namibia, a nation in southwest Africa, taking turns at the park’s numerous watering holes. The elephants exchange information by emitting low-frequency sounds that travel dozens of miles under the ground on the savannah.

The sound waves come from the animals’ huge vocal chords, and distant elephants “hear” the signals with their highly sensitive feet. The sound waves spread out through the ground and air. By triangulating the two types of signals using both ears and feet, elephants can tune into the direction, distance and content of a message.

Seismic communication is the key to understanding the complex dynamics of elephant communities. There are seismic messages that are sent passively, such as when elephants eavesdrop on each others’ footsteps. More active announcements include alarm cries, mating calls and navigation instructions to the herd.

Seismic communication works with elephants because of the incredible sensitivity of their feet. Like all mammals, including humans, elephants have receptors called Pacinian corpuscles, or PCs, in their skin. PCs are hard-wired to a part of the brain where touch signals are processed, called the somatosensory cortex.

In elephants, PCs are clustered around the edge of the foot. When picking up a far-off signal, elephants sometimes press their feet into the ground, enlarging its surface by as much as 20 percent.

Strictly speaking, when elephants pick up ground vibrations in thei feet, it’s their sense of feeling, not hearing, at work. Typically hearing happens without physical contact, when airborne vibrations hit the eardrum, causing the tiny bones of the inner ear tremble and transmit a message to the brain along the auditory nerve.

But in elephants, some ground vibrations actually reach the hearing centers of the brain through a process called bone conduction.

By modeling how the elephant’s inner ear bones respond to seismic sound waves, scientists are hoping to use a bone-conduction approach develop new and better hearing aids for people. Instead of amplifying sound waves through the ear canal, these devices would transmit sound vibrations into a person’s jawbone or skull.

--- Where did you film this episode?

It was filmed in Etosha National Park in Namibia, at Menasha watering hole, which is closed to the public. We also filmed with the elephants at the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) sanctuary in San Andreas, Calif.

--- Do all elephants communicate seismically?

Both species of elephants – Asian and African – can pick up vibrations in their feet. There are some differences in anatomy between the two species, which cannot interbreed. Those include attributes related to their hearing, and probably arose as adaptations to their distinct habitats.

---+ Read the entire article on KQED Science:

https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2....018/07/17/how-elepha

---+ For more information:

Visit Caitlin O’Connell-Rodwell’s non-profit, Utopia Scientific. You could even go with her to Africa: http://www.utopiascientific.or....g/Research/mushara.h

Support the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS): http://www.pawsweb.org

---+ More Great Deep Look episodes:

These Whispering, Walking Bats Are Onto Something
https://youtu.be/l2py029bwhA

For These Tiny Spiders, It's Sing or Get Served
https://youtu.be/y7qMqAgCqME


---+ Follow KQED Science:

KQED Science: http://www.kqed.org/science
Tumblr: http://kqedscience.tumblr.com
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/kqedscience

---+ About KQED

KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate in San Francisco, CA, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, Radio and web media.

Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, which is supported by the Templeton Religion Trust and the Templeton World Charity Foundation, the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, the Vadasz Family Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Fuhs Family Foundation Fund and the members of KQED.

#deeplook #elephant #seismiccommunication

An onslaught of tiny western pine beetles can bring down a mighty ponderosa pine. But the forest fights back by waging a sticky attack of its own. Who will win the battle in the bark?

SUBSCRIBE to Deep Look! http://goo.gl/8NwXqt

DEEP LOOK is a ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Get a new perspective on our place in the universe and meet extraordinary new friends. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.

* NEW VIDEOS EVERY OTHER TUESDAY! *

Bark beetles are specialized, with each species attacking only one or a few species of trees. Ponderosa pines are attacked by dark brown beetles the size of a grain of rice called western pine beetles (Dendroctonus brevicomis).

In the spring and summer, female western pine beetles fly around ponderosa pine stands looking for trees to lay their eggs in. As they start boring into a ponderosa, the tree oozes a sticky, viscous clear liquid called resin. If the tree is healthy, it can produce so much resin that the beetle gets exhausted and trapped as the resin hardens, which can kill it.

“The western pine beetle is an aggressive beetle that in order to successfully reproduce has to kill the tree,” said U.S. Forest Service ecologist Sharon Hood, based in Montana. “So the tree has very evolved responses. With pines, they have a whole resin duct system. You can imagine these vertical and horizontal pipes.”

But during California’s five-year drought, which ended earlier this year, ponderosa pines weren’t getting much water and couldn’t make enough resin to put up a strong defense. Beetles bored through the bark of millions of trees and sent out an aggregating pheromone to call more beetles and stage a mass attack. An estimated 102 million trees – most of them ponderosa – died in California between 2010 and 2016.

-- What is resin?

Resin – sometimes also called pitch – is a different substance from sap, though trees produce both. Resin is a sticky, viscous liquid that trees exude to heal over wounds and flush out bark beetles, said Sharon Hood, of the Forest Service. Sap, on the other hand, is the continuous water column that the leaves pull up to the top of the tree from its roots.

--- Are dead trees a fire hazard?

Standing dead trees that have lost their needles don’t increase fire risk, said forest health scientist Jodi Axelson, a University of California extension specialist based at UC Berkeley. But “once they fall to the ground you end up with these very heavy fuel loads,” she said, “and that undoubtedly is going to make fire behavior more intense.”

And dead – or living – trees can fall on electric lines and ignite a fire, which is why agencies in California are prioritizing the removal of dead trees near power lines, said Axelson.

---+ Read the entire article about who’s winning the battle between ponderosa pines and western pine beetles in California, on KQED Science:
https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2....017/10/24/with-calif

---+ For more information:
Check out the USDA’s “Bark Beetles in California Conifers – Are Your Trees Susceptible?”
https://www.fs.usda.gov/Intern....et/FSE_DOCUMENTS/ste

---+ More Great Deep Look episodes:

This Mushroom Starts Killing You Before You Even Realize It
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl9aCH2QaQY&t=57s

The Bombardier Beetle And Its Crazy Chemical Cannon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWwgLS5tK80

There’s Something Very Fishy About These Trees …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZWiWh5acbE

---+ See some great videos and documentaries from PBS Digital Studios!

Vascular Plants = Winning! - Crash Course Biology #37
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9oDTMXM7M8&index=37&list=PL3EED4C1D684D3ADF

Julia Child Remixed | Keep On Cooking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80ZrUI7RNfI

---+ Follow KQED Science:
KQED Science: http://www.kqed.org/science
Tumblr: http://kqedscience.tumblr.com
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/kqedscience

---+ About KQED

KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate in San Francisco, CA, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, Radio and web media.

Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, which is also supported by HopeLab, the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, the Vadasz Family Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Smart Family Foundation and the members of KQED.
#deeplook

It's an all-out brawl for prime beach real estate! These Caribbean crabs will tear each other limb from limb to get the best burrow. Luckily, they molt and regrow lost legs in a matter of weeks, and live to fight another day.

You can learn more about CuriosityStream at https://curiositystream.com/deeplook
Help Deep Look grow by supporting us on Patreon!!
https://www.patreon.com/deeplook

PBS Digital Studios Mega-playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playli....st?list=PL1mtdjDVOoO

DEEP LOOK is a ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.

On the sand-dune beaches where they live, male blackback land crabs do constant battle over territory. The stakes are high: If one of these baby-faced crabs secures a winning spot, he can invite a mate into his den, six or seven feet beneath the surface.

With all this roughhousing, more than feelings get hurt. The male crabs inevitably lose limbs and damage their shells in constant dust-ups. Luckily, like many other arthropods, a group that includes insects and spiders, these crabs can release a leg or claw voluntarily if threatened. It’s not unusual to see animals in the field missing two or three walking legs.

The limbs regrow at the next molt, which is typically once a year for an adult. When a molt cycle begins, tiny limb buds form where a leg or a claw has been lost. Over the next six to eight weeks, the buds enlarge while the crab reabsorbs calcium from its old shell and secretes a new, paper-thin one underneath.

In the last hour of the cycle, the crab gulps air to create enough internal pressure to pop open the top of its shell, called the carapace. As the crab pushes it way out, the same internal pressure helps uncoil the new legs. The replacement shell thickens and hardens, and the crab eats the old shell.

--- Are blackback land crabs edible?

Yes, but they’re not as popular as the major food species like Dungeness and King crab.

--- Where do blackback land crabs live?

They live throughout the Caribbean islands.

--- Does it hurt when they lose legs?

Hard to say, but they do have an internal mechanism for releasing limbs cleanly that prevents loss of blood.

---+ Read the entire article on KQED Science:

https://www.kqed.org/science/1....933532/whack-jab-cra

---+ For more information:

The Crab Lab at Colorado State University:
https://rydberg.biology.colostate.edu/mykleslab/

---+ More Great Deep Look episodes:

Want a Whole New Body? Ask This Flatworm How
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m12xsf5g3Bo

Daddy Longlegs Risk Life ... and Especially Limb ... to Survive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjDmH8zhp6o

---+ See some great videos and documentaries from the PBS Digital Studios!

Origin of Everything: The Origin of Gender
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e12ZojkYrU

Hot Mess: Coral Reefs Are Dying. But They Don’t Have To.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUAsFZuFQvQ

---+ Follow KQED Science:

KQED Science: http://www.kqed.org/science
Tumblr: http://kqedscience.tumblr.com
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/kqedscience

---+ About KQED

KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate in San Francisco, CA, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, Radio and web media.

Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, which is also supported by the National Science Foundation, the Templeton Religion Trust, the Templeton World Charity Foundation, the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, the Vadasz Family Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Fuhs Family Foundation and the members of KQED.

---+ Shoutout!

Congratulations to ?Jen Wiley?, who was the first to correctly ID the species of crab in our episode over at the Deep Look Community Tab:

https://www.youtube.com/channe....l/UC-3SbfTPJsL8fJAPK

#deeplook #pbsds #crab

Support Deep Look on Patreon!! https://www.patreon.com/deeplook

The notorious death cap mushroom causes poisonings and deaths around the world. If you were to eat these unassuming greenish mushrooms by mistake, you wouldn’t know your liver is in trouble until several hours later. The death cap has been spreading across California. Can scientists find a way to stop it?

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Where do death cap mushrooms grow?
In California, they grow mainly under coast live oaks. They have also been found under pines, and in Yosemite Valley under black oaks.

Why do death caps grow under trees?
As many fungi do, death cap mushrooms live off of trees, in what’s called a mycorrhizal relationship. They send filaments deep down to the trees’ roots, where they attach to the very thin root tips. The fungi absorb sugars from the trees and give them nutrients in exchange.

Where do California’s death cap mushrooms come from?
Biologist Anne Pringle, at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, has done research that shows that death caps likely snuck into California from Europe attached to the roots of imported plants, as early as 1938.

How deadly are death cap mushrooms?
Between 2010 and 2015, five people died in California and 57 became sick after eating the unassuming greenish mushrooms, according to the California Poison Control System. One mushroom cap is enough to kill a human being, and they’re also poisonous to dogs. Death caps are believed to be the number one cause of fatal mushroom poisonings worldwide.

What happens if you eat a death cap mushroom?
A toxin in the mushroom destroys your liver cells. Dr. Kent Olson, co-medical director of the San Francisco Division of the California Poison Control System, said that for the first six to 12 hours after they eat the mushroom, victims of the death cap feel fine. During that time, a toxin in the mushroom is quietly injuring their liver cells. Patients then develop severe abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting. “They can become very rapidly dehydrated from the fluid losses,” said Olson. Dehydration can cause kidney failure, which compounds the damage to the liver. For the most severe cases, the only way to save the patient is a liver transplant.

For more information on the death cap:

Bay Area Mycological Society’s page with photos: http://bayareamushrooms.org/mu....shroommonth/amanita_

Rod Tulloss’ detailed description: http://www.amanitaceae.org/?Amanita%20phalloides


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Those hundreds of powerful suckers on octopus arms do more than just stick. They actually smell and taste. This contributes to a massive amount of information for the octopus’s brain to process, so octopuses depend on their eight arms for help. (And no, it's not 'octopi.')

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Everyone knows that an octopus has eight arms. And similar to our arms it uses them to grab things and move around. But that’s where the similarities end. Hundreds of suckers on each octopus arm give them abilities people can only dream about.

“The suckers are hands that also smell and taste,” said Rich Ross, senior biologist and octopus aquarist at the California Academy of Sciences.

Suckers are “very similar to our taste buds, from what little we know about them,” said University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, cephalopod biologist William Kier.

If these tasting, smelling suckers make you think of a human hand with a tongue and a nose stuck to it, that’s a good start. It all stems from the unique challenges an octopus faces as a result of having a flexible, soft body.

“This animal has no protection and is a wonderful meal because it’s all muscle,” said Kier.

So the octopus has adapted over time. It has about 500 million neurons (dogs have around 600 million), the cells that allow it to process and communicate information. And these neurons are distributed to make the most of its eight arms. An octopus’ central brain – located between its eyes – doesn’t control its every move. Instead, two thirds of the animal’s neurons are in its arms.
“It’s more efficient to put the nervous cells in the arm,” said neurobiologist Binyamin Hochner, of Hebrew University, in Jerusalem. “The arm is a brain of its own.”

This enables octopus arms to operate somewhat independently from the animal’s central brain. The central brain tells the arms in what direction and how fast to move, but the instructions on how to reach are embedded in each arm.

Octopuses have also evolved mechanisms that allow their muscles to move without the use of a skeleton. This same muscle arrangement enables elephant trunks and mammals’ tongues to unfurl.

“The arrangement of the muscle in your tongue is similar to the arrangement in the octopus arm,” said Kier.

In an octopus arm, muscles are arranged in different directions. When one octopus muscle contracts, it’s able to stretch out again because other muscles oriented in a different direction offer resistance – just as the bones in vertebrate bodies do. This skeleton of muscle, called a muscular hydrostat, is how an octopus gets its suckers to attach to different surfaces.

--- How many suction cups does an octopus have on each arm?

It depends on the species. Giant Pacific octopuses have up to 240 suckers on each arm.

--- Do octopuses have arms or tentacles?

Octopuses have arms, not tentacles. “The term ‘tentacle’ is used for lots of fleshy protuberances in invertebrates,” said Kier. “It just happens that the eight in octopuses are called arms.”

--- Can octopuses regrow a severed arm?

Yes!

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Brown pelicans hit the water at breakneck speed when they catch fish. Performing such dangerous plunges requires technique, equipment, and 30 million years of practice.

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California’s brown pelicans are one of two pelican species (once considered the same) that plunge from the air to hunt. The rest, like the white pelican, bob for fish at the water’s surface.

The shape of its bill is essential to the birds' survival in these dives, reducing “hydrodynamic drag” — buckling forces, caused by the change from air to water — to almost zero. It’s something like the difference between slapping the water with your palm and chopping it, karate-style.

And while all birds have light, air-filled bones, pelican skeletons take it to an extreme. As they dive, they inflate special air sacs around their neck and belly, cushioning their impact and allowing them to float.

Even their celebrated pouches play a role. An old limerick quips, “A remarkable bird is a pelican / Its beak can hold more than its belly can…” That beak is more than just a fishing net. It’s also a parachute that pops open underwater, helping to slow the bird down.

Behind the pelican’s remarkable resilience (and beaks) lies 30 million years of evolutionary stasis, meaning they haven’t changed much over time.

--- What do pelicans eat?

Pelicans eat small fish like anchovies, sardines, and smelt.

--- How long to pelicans live?

Pelicans live 15-25 years in the wild.

--- How big are pelicans?

Brown pelicans are small for pelicans, but still big for birds, with a 6-8 foot wingspan. Their average weight is 3.5 kg.

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OK. Maybe you would. But the lengths they have to go to to stock up for the winter *will* surprise you. When you see how carefully they arrange each acorn, you might just need to reorganize your pantry.

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Have you ever wondered why woodpeckers pound so incessantly?

In the case of acorn woodpeckers – gregarious black and red birds in California’s oak forests – they’re building an intricate pantry, a massive, well-organized stockpile of thousands of acorns to carry them through the winter.

“They’re the only animals that I know of that store their acorns individually in holes in trees,” said biologist Walter Koenig, of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, who has studied acorn woodpeckers for decades at the University of California’s Hastings Natural History Reservation in Carmel Valley.

Over generations, acorn woodpeckers can drill thousands of small holes into one or several trees close to each other, giving these so-called granaries the appearance of Swiss cheese.

This sets them apart from other birds that drop acorns into already-existing cavities in trees, and animals like squirrels and jays that bury acorns in the ground.

In spring and summer, hikers in California commonly see acorn woodpeckers while the birds feed their chicks and care for their granaries. They don’t mind people staring at them and they’re easy to find. They greet each other with loud cries that sound like “waka-waka-waka.”

They’re also found in Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, and all the way south to Colombia.

These avian performers are constantly tapping, drilling and pounding at their granaries.

“They’ll usually have a central granary, maybe two trees that a group is using,” said Koenig. “Those trees are going to be close together.”

Acorn woodpeckers make their granaries in pines, oaks, sycamores, redwoods and even in the palm trees on the Stanford University campus.

Their holes rarely hurt the trees. The birds only bore into the bark, where there’s no sap, or they make their granaries in snags.

“They don’t want sap in the hole because it will cause the acorn to rot,” said Koenig. “The point of storing the acorns is that it protects them from other animals getting them and it allows them to dry out.”

--- What is an acorn?
It’s the fruit of the oak.

--- Do acorn woodpeckers only eat acorns?
In the spring, acorn woodpeckers have their choice of food. They catch insects, eat oak flowers and suck the sap out of shallow holes on trees like coast live oaks.

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