from American Scientist
July-August 2011
If peahens (Pavo cristatus) tally eyespots on their suitors’
tail feathers, they do a sloppy job. Also in this issue’s news roundup: Cave bears and ancient art, “six-winged” insects and more.
In the News: Peacock Mystique
Posted in American Scientist, news
Comments Off on In the News: Peacock Mystique
Himba Music from Namibia
Psychologist Disa Sauter studies how culture influences the way people express emotions such as disgust, fear and pleasure. Sometimes her work takes her to remote communities. In this segment, she recalls a musical experience in a Himba village in Namibia.
The segment aired on The World on June 22, introduced by host Lisa Mullins.
[audio:http://elsakristen.com/audio/Himba.mp3]
Visit The World‘s site to see pictures from Sauter’s trip.
Posted in PRI
Comments Off on Himba Music from Namibia
A Cheap Imitation Is Sometimes Best
from ScienceNOW Daily News
June 21, 2011
The animal kingdom is full of fakes: tasty butterflies that look like toxic ones, harmless flies that look like bees, and spiders that look like ants, to name a few. It’s all a big ploy to avoid being eaten. Some species sport less-convincing disguises than others, and the existence of these obvious fakes is a puzzle.
Posted in news, ScienceNOW
Comments Off on A Cheap Imitation Is Sometimes Best
Dying Generously
from American Scientist
May-June 2011
Suicide is an evolutionary conundrum. Single-celled organisms regularly kill themselves in reaction to stresses they might have survived, but it’s not obvious why natural selection permits such volatile behavior.
Posted in American Scientist, news
Comments Off on Dying Generously
In the News: Shivering in Europe
from American Scientist
May-June 2011
Early humans lived in Europe for 700,000 long cold years before they mastered fire. Also in this issue’s news roundup: Grapes need to have more sex, methane monsoons on Titan, and more.
Posted in American Scientist, news
Comments Off on In the News: Shivering in Europe
Ant Video
These videos show Camponotus femoratus ants interacting with Peperomia macrostachya seeds. (The small ants are Crematogaster levior, which live in the same nests with Ca. femoratus.) Ultimately, the Ca. femoratus carry the seeds back to their nests and the plants grow there. The video was shot in December, 2006, in floodplain forest at the Los Amigos field station in Madre de Dios, Peru.
Posted in Observations
Comments Off on Ant Video
Interview: Hanging Around in the Rainforest
In a reversal of roles, I’m on somebody else’s podcast…talking about my own research: “Insect biologist Elsa Youngsteadt explains to Curiouser & Curiouser host Jai Ranganathan why tropical ants create gardens up in trees.”
Click here to check out that episode, along with many other engaging interviews on Curiouser & Curiouser.
Posted in ant gardens, insects
Comments Off on Interview: Hanging Around in the Rainforest
Bats Gorge During Exercise
from American Scientist
March-April, 2011
Like marathoners nursing packets of sweet energy gel, foraging bats have to nourish their hard-working muscles on the go. But recent experiments reveal that flying bats can quickly refuel not only with sugary foods, but also with proteins and fats—nutrients that would give other exercising mammals a bellyache.
Posted in American Scientist, news
Comments Off on Bats Gorge During Exercise
In the News: Honeybee Cooties
from American Scientist
March-April 2011
For bees and wasps, flowers may be as germy as a kindergarten sandbox. Also in this issue’s news roundup: The Vikings might have taken a Native American woman back to Iceland. Data collected in the 1970s finally reveal the moon’s molten core. And more.
Posted in American Scientist, insects, news
Comments Off on In the News: Honeybee Cooties
Carnivorous Plant Feasts on Bat Dung
from ScienceNOW Daily News
25 January, 2011
A predator that can’t hunt won’t last very long. So when biologists found a carnivorous plant in Borneo that was bad at catching insects, they were puzzled. Just what does it eat to stay alive? The answer, a new study reveals, appears to be bat guano. The enigmatic plant makes a snug roost for tiny bats, which drop nutritious excrement into their host’s digestive fluid.
Posted in news, ScienceNOW
Comments Off on Carnivorous Plant Feasts on Bat Dung