PiPS vs HALLOWEEN!

PiPs vs Halloween and two larvae-ghosts (by @sciencemug)
Pumpkin free pic by LOGAN WEAVER | @LGNWVR, blue door free pic by Aziz Acharki, dark corridor free pic by charlesdeluvio (source of the three images: Unsplash).
Orange larva pic by Bruno Vellutini is under an Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0) license (source: flickr).
Larva pic by Alvaro E. Migotto is under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) (source: Cifonauta).
All images adapted by @sciencemug.
PiPs cartoons by @sciencemug.

The two spooky-cute creatures (they're larvae) deserved a Halloween cartoon, don't you think?

And if you now want more halloweenish creatures, well, go find seven of 'em here (courtesy of the Smithsonian Science Education Center (SSEC))!

Enjoy!

 

PS

I agree, dear reader, very few words are indeed scarier than "Booo!" (well, probably any German word pronounced out loud is - for those who don't speak the language at least), but, for the joke sake, I had to pick one, and "unprovoked illegal genocidal colonialist war started and waged by a nazi-fascist terrorist nuclear imperialistic state among other atrocities purposefully and cynically putting millions of people in the poorest parts of the world at risk of starving", well, was too long to fit in the cartoon. And it was more than one word. And it's actually more enraging than scary.
So I chose "Inflation".

OF PLASTICS & HUMAN PLACENTA: MEET THE "PLASTICENTA" (Pt 4/4 - PLASTIC POLLUTION)

Keywords: plastics, plastic, microplastics, mesoplastics, macroplastics, megaplastics, nanoplastics, pollution, pollutants, environment, fetus, foetus, placenta, placentas, birth, women, pregnancy, health, human health, food, food chain, food safety, additives, plasticizer, plasticizers, ocean, oceans, marine fauna, sea, seas, zooplankton, shellfish, fish, fauna, animals, Anthropocene

Part 1 is here

Part 2 is here

Part 3 is here

(Read other plastic related stories here & here)

 

Plastic pollution (by @sciencemug)

[Frog pic, by Alexas_Fotos is a free to use (for editorial use only) image (source: pixabay.com); adapted by @sciencemug]

 

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Ooooh, hello dear English speaking-reading-hearing reader, welcome back to me, @sciencemug, the blog/podcast/twitter&instagram accounts/entity behind the unsuccessful e-shop stuffngo on zazzle.com which tells you science stories while rolling, just to see what happens, a perfect, but surprisingly less expensive than one could think, replica of the dices Einstein’s god actually left on the cosmic green table once done with them, aaand which talks to you thanks to the voice, kidnapped via a voodoo-wireless trick, from a veeery very very dumb human. 

Aaand which does all of this in English-question-mark, a language that is to proper English what twerking is to elegance. 

Today I’m gonna tell you the last part (the first three are here, here, aaand here) of a story about human placentas and plastics! 

A group of Italian researchers (aka the Italian Brains, aka the ITBs) finds microplastics fragments (MPs), that is plastic particles smaller than half a centimeter, in placentas of women in good health and who have had normal pregnancies and deliveries.

The study is lead by Medical Doctor Antonio Ragusa, Head of the Department of Woman, Mother and Newborn of the San Giovanni Calibíta Fatebenefratelli, in Rome, and Dr. Ragusa and colleagues’ research is told in a paper (P) published on the science journal Environment International. 

Aand, dear reader, at the end of the post be sure not to miss reading the answers kind Doctor Ragusa gave to this blog’s three questions for the "Oddities & Bloopers: The Researcher's Fun Corner". 

Oook, so, people, read the previous posts to learn what the Italian Brains did to finally make their troubling discovery.

I just remind you that microplastics most probably enter human body via inhalation and ingestion, and that they are dangerous for human health, and, of course, for a developing fetus. 

Aaaaand in this fourth and final part of the post, then, we’re gonna find out how massive and widespread plastic presence in the environment be and therefore how often and easily you humans are exposed to plastic pollution, and how harmful this kind of pollution be to life-forms in general, and you sapiens people in particular.

Let’s start with the “massive and widespread plastic presence in the environment” topic.

THE TRUE REASON WHY DINGOES FLEE FROM THE TUBE-MAN!

A bunch of Australian researchers put an "oversized inflatable human effigy that [they dub] ‘Fred-a-Scare’ [aaah, I love scientists!]" (P) near some food, outdoors. And the science jokers also gear the place with a speaker playing gunshots noises on command.

Then the brains wait and see which of these two tricks of theirs (if any) is able to scare off captive dingoes from getting to the food (they perform three trials, one a day, with a dozen animals).

Well, the bullets voices don't seem to bother the canids much ("11/12 accessing the food; the same as control" (P) on the first trial).

As per our dear waving-&-shaking Fred-a-Scare, ohoh, it surely does the job.

75% of the dingoes, indeed, run away at least once from the tube-man, and, on the last trial, a fat 58% of them keep being scared by it, leaving the food be.

Sooo, the science Aussies conclude that, even if they need field trials to be sure, "in conjunction with other devices and methods, and at intervals that reduce the risk of habituation, the inflatable effigy could provide a valuable tool for deterring dingoes, and perhaps other species, from particular areas, even where food (or potential prey) is present" (P).

Good news for campgrounds and breeders, then.

Buut, dear reader, this dumb blog, in the following cartoon, show you the true reason why dingoes, which are smart animals, stay the heck away from the inflatable tube-men.

 

Dingo & the tube-men (by @sciencemug)

[The tube-men pic by Joshua Coleman, and the field pic by Stephanie Cook are free images (source: Unslpash);  the dingo pic is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license (source: Wikimedia Commons); all pics are adapted by @sciencemug]

Bibliography

- Smith, B.P., Jaques, N.B., Appleby, R.G., Morris, S., and Jordan, N.R. (2020). Automated shepherds: responses of captive dingoes to sound and an inflatable, moving effigy. Pac. Conserv. Biol.

THE TRUTH ABOUT FLAMINGOS' SOCIAL LIFE!

Soo, dear reader, from 2013 to 2016 a bunch of scientists studies (P) flocks of captive flamingos at the WWT Slimbridge Wetland Centre, a center for science and conservation in the UK.

And the brains find out that the pink birds have pretty intense social lives, that the larger their flocks the more frequent their social behaviors, that "arrangements of dyads, trios and quartets with higher ties strengths were visible [with both] male-male and female-female [stable over time] bonds", and, ultimately, that "flamingo societies are complex (i.e. formed of long-standing preferential partnerships and not loose, random connections)" (P).

So, dear reader, for you and you only, this dumb blog, in the two following cartoons, respectively reports a truth that the good researchers failed to uncover (A), and a common example of what the intense social life those cool flamingos have looks like (B).

A 

A flamingo complaining about the smartphones' design by @sciencemug)

 [Free flamingo pic by Lieselot. Dalle (source: Unsplash); smartphone free pic by Neil Soni (source: Unsplash); all pics adapted by @sciencemug]

B

Two flamingos runnnig on water (by @sciencemug)

Free flamingos pic by Dattatreya Patra (source: Unsplash); adapted by @sciencemug] 

Paper (P)

Rose, P.E., and Croft, D.P. (2020). Evaluating the social networks of four flocks of captive flamingos over a five-year period: Temporal, environmental, group and health influences on assortment. Behavioural Processes 175, 104118.

THE TRUE NATURE OF CATS-SPECIFIC MUSIC (THE ONE THAT LOWERS THE FELINES STRESS LEVEL)!

So, dear listener, a bunch of researchers do a study (P) on the effects of cat-specific music on the felines' stress level when the furry pets go to the veterinary.

And the scientists find that: "cat-specific music can significantly lower stress-related behaviors in cats visiting the veterinary clinic for wellness examinations. Adding cat-specific music to veterinary offices as environmental enrichment could provide great value to the cat’s welfare in the clinic" (P).

The cat-specific music the scientists refers to is "purring and suckling sounds [...] layered into tempos and frequencies used in feline vocalization music" (P). 

But, dear reader, this dumb blog in the following cartoon is showing you the real nature of the "cat-specific music" the cats find so relaxing.

A cat listening to relaxing cat-specific music (by @sciencemug)

[Cat free pic by Michael Sum (source: Unsplash); iPod free pic by Zhang Kenny (source: Unsplash); headphones free pic by Brett Jordan (source: Unsplash); all pics adapted by @sciencemug]

'Cause, let's admit it pal, cats are fundamentally beautiful jerks...

Paper (P)
Amanda Hampton, Alexandra Ford, Roy E Cox, Chin-chi Liu, Ronald Koh (2020) Effects of music on behavior and physiological stress response of domestic cats in a veterinary clinic - Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 22, 122–128.

 

OF PARROTS AND PROBABILITIES!

Soo, dear reader, parrots can understand probabilities, and that's news 'cause so far only great apes (including you, humans) were thought to have such an ability.

A study (P) indeed shows that kea (Nestor notabilis) are capable of "true statistical inference" (P) and this "has important implications not only [to understand] how intelligence evolves, but also for research focused on creating [...] artificial general intelligence" (P).

But, dear reader, this dumb blog has evidence - see the following cartoon - that parrots' porpbabilities reading skills are not at all that good...

Parrots and probabilities (by @sciencemug)

[Kea parrot (Nestor notabilis) pic by Murray Dawson is under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (source: Wikimedia Commons); adapted by @sciencemug]

Wanna see another cartoon 'bout parrots and the fact that they are altruistic? Check this out!


Paper (P)

Bastos, A.P.M., and Taylor, A.H. (2020). Kea show three signatures of domain-general statistical inference. Nat Commun 11, 1–8.

OF WOLVES & BLUEBERRIES

So, dear reader, a bunch of researchers in Minnesota, USA, for the first time ever observe (P) an adult wolf giving blueberries to pups as food (the wolf regurgitated the berries to feed 'em to the pups).
According to the scientists, their finding "suggests wild berries might be a more valuable food source for wolves in southern boreal ecosystems than previously appreciated" (P).

In this dumb blog's opinion, the following cartoon shows what was actually going on, between the adult wolf and the pups, when they were spotted by the researchers.

Wolves and blueberries (by @sciencemug)
[Wolves free pic is by M L (source: Unsplash); adapted by @sciencemug]

Wanna see a video of an adult wolf eating blueberries? Check this out.


Paper (P)

Homkes, A.T., Gable, T.D., Windels, S.K., and Bump, J.K. (2020). Berry Important? Wolf Provisions Pups with Berries in Northern Minnesota. Wildlife Society Bulletin 44, 221–223.