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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2012 16:10:25 GMT -8
How cool would it be if you could pee through your mouth? Actually, it doesn't sound appealing at all. But scientists have discovered a Chinese soft-shelled turtle that can do just that. Its name is Pelodiscus sinensis, and it comes equipped with unusual gill-like projections on its mouth [source: Choi]. The turtles typically live in salty swamps and marshes. Strangely, when they're on dry land, they often stick their heads in puddles. In fact, researchers discovered these turtles can submerge their heads underwater for as long as 100 minutes. They also found the turtles can pee about 50 times more urea through their mouths than from their rears [source: Choi]. So why are they doing this? Like humans, turtles need to wash out the urea their bodies create. Urea is a result of proteins that decompose in our bodies. Humans create the urine to do this by drinking fresh water. But the soft-shelled turtles can't simply drink some water, because they live in a salty environment, and saltwater's not good to drink. Scientists speculate that to solve this problem, the turtles get rid of their urea by sticking their heads in fresh water, like that found in puddles, and simply rinse the urea out through their mouths [source: Choi].
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2012 16:10:51 GMT -8
The goopy puddles known as slime molds are part of a group of microbes called protists. These single-celled organisms don't have brains, yet researchers discovered they have memories. Slime molds secrete a thick, translucent slime as they move. Then, they use the slime trail they've laid down to record where they've been -- which, in turn, helps them go around obstacles and find things. In studies, researchers hid a sugary meal behind a U-shaped barrier, and the slime mold found it by using its trail to figure out where it had already been, and thus where to look next [source: Choi]. Such a memory isn't the same as a human memory, of course. Slime molds can't store memories, for example. Still, the findings help us understand how early organisms figured out problems and puzzles. And the discovery marks the first demonstration of a spatial memory system in a brainless organism [source: Choi].
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2012 16:11:08 GMT -8
Blue and green honey? Mon dieu! Sounds like a fun, marketable product. But not to beekeepers in the town of Ribeauville, in northeastern France. France has tough standards for honey production. French honey must have standard coloration (nearly colorless to dark brown), and must come from the nectar of plants. So when the Ribeauville bees starting producing colorful versions of their sweetener, the beekeepers weren't happy [source: Andries]. An investigation ensued, and the beekeepers discovered the culprit: a neighboring biogas factory. The plant was processing colored M&Ms, and storing the sweet waste material outside and in uncovered containers. That lured the Ribeauville bees from their hives 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) away, and they promptly began pigging out on the sugary remains. Next thing you know, blue and green honey [source: Andries]. Employees at the waste-processing plant cleaned the outdoor and uncovered containers, then moved all remains into a covered hall [source: Andries]. A bummer for the bees, most likely.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2012 16:12:29 GMT -8
Not all dinosaurs were enormous creatures. Researchers identified a 2-foot-long (0.6-meter) heterodontosaur, P. africanus, that was running around the earth 200 million years ago, living along forested rivers. The pint-sized creature sported quills and a blunt beak, giving it a bird-like appearance. It also had fangs. Yet these little guys weren't out to kill prey. They were plant-eaters, reserving their chompers for self-defense and foraging [source: Dell'Amore]. Interestingly, the finding of a new heterodontosaur species wasn't considered that unusual. What was more surprising was the ensuing discovery that P. africanus had an advanced jaw structure that allowed its choppers to neatly cut plants because the upper and lower jaws worked like self-sharpening scissors. The new dino species was identified from some fossils that had been collected in the 1960s in South Africa, but had been sitting around Harvard University gathering dust [source: Dell'Amore].
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2012 16:12:58 GMT -8
University of Tulsa researchers discovered virgin female cottonmouth and copperhead snakes giving birth, a process called parthenogenesis. This evolutionary rarity had previously been observed in captive female snakes, Komodo dragons, birds and sharks when they had no other option for reproduction, as there were no males available. But strangely, the cottonmouth and copperhead snakes had given birth as virgins even though there were plenty of healthy males around [source: Than]. Scientists don't know why the virgins forged ahead on their own. One theory is that the snakes, which were smaller than normal, had been scorned by the males and thus didn't have any other options. Another idea is that their parthenogenesis was simply a random biological error, or that the snakes had contracted some kind of bacteria or virus that triggered the blessed events [source: Than]. Parthenogenesis happens when a cell is produced along with the egg, and the cell acts like a sperm to fertilize the egg. The resulting offspring, then, are part-clone and part individual [source: Than].
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Post by Crusher on Jan 1, 2013 0:17:23 GMT -8
TLDR, but will if manzana is a virgin copperhead.
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Post by hkguy on Jan 1, 2013 7:27:40 GMT -8
Somebody needs a new winter hobby.
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