Fireflies are lighting up summer skies. But the glowing bugs are still on the decline
There's no official count, but experts say a particularly wet spring may have created the ideal conditions for young fireflies to grow into adults to set summer nights aglow.
Fireflies light the night everywhere: There are over 2,000 known species across the globe. They use their characteristic flashes to communicate and find the perfect mate.
In New York City, the lightning bugs are out in the five boroughs, sparkling once the sun goes down in places like Central Park and Prospect Park. The summer months are ideal to spot them as they start to dwindle throughout the month of August.
While northeastern nights may seem brighter this summer, the bugs are still on the decline and they're waning at a faster rate than ever before.
'It would be a mistake to say firefly populations are high this year, therefore there's no decline,' said Matt Schlesinger with the New York Natural Heritage Program, who is part of an effort to count fireflies in state parks.
Habitat loss, pesticide use and light pollution are responsible for a decline in population. In cities, blaring lights from billboards, cars and storefronts can drown out the bugs' glow, making it harder for them to find their kin and pass their genes onto the next generation.
Fireflies are part of the story of summer, said entomologist Jessica Ware with the American Museum of Natural History. Her children grew up seeing them flash in her backyard, but the bugs started to disappear once her kids hit their teenage years.
In the past few months, her family has seen the fireflies come back. Their return made her think about all the kids who are glimpsing the glowing bugs for the very first time.
'It shouldn't be new,' Ware said. 'It should be something that is a universal part of summer.'
To look out for fireflies, consider turning the lights off at night and avoid spraying front lawns with insecticides.
'We still need to do some work ourselves, to change our behavior, to really make sure that large populations can continue to stay large,' Ware said.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
7 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Scientists pick up massive surge in painful gut disorder - and they think it's linked to a virus that has touched almost everyone's life
A new study has revealed a post-pandemic surge in gut-brain related disorders like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The researchers compared data from the UK and US before the pandemic in 2017, and after the pandemic in 2023. They found a sharp 28 per cent increase from 4.7 to six per cent in cases of IBS which can cause stomach cramps, bloating and diarrhoea. This troublesome condition is classified as a gut-brain interaction disorder because it is rooted in problems with the gut communicating with the brain. There was also a 44 per cent rise from 8.3 to 11.9 per cent in functional dyspepsia—which causes stomach aches, bloating and premature feeling of fullness. Those with Long Covid—fatigue, breathlessness and muscle weakness triggered by the virus—were significantly more likely to have a gut-brain disorder. Worryingly those with the debilitating condition Long Covid also reported worse anxiety, depression and quality of life. Their recent findings were published in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. It is estimated that since the pandemic began, nearly two million people in the UK have experienced Long Covid. This includes 1.3 million people with symptoms lasting for more than a year and 762,000 with symptoms lasting more than two years. Earlier this year, experts said they finally discovered the cause of Long Covid—and it is linked to dementia. Those suffering from Long Covid have suffered unique changes to their brains which can make it harder to think and speak. The previous study found they have fewer protective proteins in their brains and higher levels of inflammation—both of which have been linked to dementia. Long Covid patients also perform worse in language tests, such as finding the right word or understanding what certain words mean, which can be signs of brain fog. The study suggested, for the first time, that damage to the brain, rather than a ramped up immune system, causes the symptoms of Long Covid. Though the study included just 17 people, the researchers planned to use the findings to launch larger-scale studies to find the causes of Long Covid. The recent findings also follow a warning from experts that the virus may also dramatically raise the risk of dementia. Previously, US researchers found those suffering from Long Covid may be five times more likely to get the memory-robbing illness. Dr Gabriel de Erausquin, a neurologist at University of Texas Health San Antonio is exploring the link. The existing studies show those over 57 who've suffered Long Covid 'have the profile of a person with very early Alzheimer's', he told the Wall Street Journal. What is Long Covid? According to the NHS, if someone continues to have symptoms 12 weeks after being infected, they may be suffering from Long Covid. The most common symptoms include: Extreme tiredness (fatigue) Feeling short of breath Memory and concentration difficulties i.e. 'brain fog' Dizziness Heart palpitations Muscle aches and joint pains However, others also include:
BBC News
8 hours ago
- BBC News
The quest to make an ice cream that doesn't melt
Ice cream is a staple of summer – but melts quickly when the mercury rises. Can scientists help it keep its cool? Few things delight on a summer day like an ice cream cone. Few things cause such despair, however, like the total disintegration of said ice cream, running down one's fingers, sagging from the cone, heading earthwards before you can say "toddler meltdown". Any number of rhapsodies could be written about the pleasures of something so short-lived, all the sweeter for their brevity. But you would have to go to another story to find them, because here we will not tolerate such masochism. Reports of Japanese manufacturer Kanazawa Ice's ice pops, and, later on, soft-serve ice cream, withstanding numerous heat-based assaults without melting, went viral some years ago, however. The scientists behind this ice cream had pumped it full of polyphenols, a class of antioxidant molecules found in many fruits. The result was a curious stability, a notable lack of creamy liquid running over fingers. How did it work? Ice cream is composed primarily of cream and sugar. Machines for producing the stuff churn the sweet slurry in a refrigerated drum, and when it forms a frozen film on the drum's interior, a scraper chips it off. This keeps the ice crystals from growing to a distasteful size, the phenomenon behind the slightly jagged texture of some ice cream when you bring it home from the grocery store. When ice cream, somewhere in the long trip between factory and your freezer, heats up slightly, melts, and then is refrozen, chunky, unpleasant crystals result. This is a known problem with taking ice cream from its first freezer into a world full of temperatures greater than zero. Ice cream manufacturers already use a number of stabilisers, such as carrageenan, from seaweed, and guar gum (from guar seeds), to try to keep ice cream from suffering too much from its journeys. When Cameron Wicks, a food scientist then studying at the University of Wisconsin who now works at food producer General Mills, saw the video of Kanazawa Ice's no-melt ice cream, she wondered how the polyphenols had their stabilising effect. The molecules are known for their potential health-promoting traits, not necessarily their engineering qualities. In the lab, she began to experiment with cream mixtures using higher and higher levels of one particular polyphenol: tannic acid. In experiments where she mixed cream with 0.75%, 1.5%, and 3% tannic acid, she noticed that almost immediately, the higher concentrations began to thicken. After chilling the mixtures for 24 hours, she took measurements and noted that tannic acid had caused them to gel, so strongly that the 3% mixture could be cut with a knife or turned upside down without falling out of a cup. Putting the cream under the microscope, Wicks saw that the higher concentrations had more distinct fat globules. The tannic acid, she and her colleagues surmised, was interacting with the proteins in the cream, creating a supportive network or barrier to the merging of the fat globs. That would explain why ice cream made from such a substance is resistant to melting: the liberated fats from the melted crystals of cream would not be able to run down, thanks to the addition of the polyphenol. More like this:• Should you avoid dairy when you have a cold?• Why not all comfort food is the same• The explosive potential of custard powder That said, this chemical trick is not a way to freeze time and break the physical laws of the Universe. It's more like a bra for your ice cream – or a nice, supportive pair of dessert hosiery. As the hours pass, Wicks found in later experiments, ice cream made this way acquires a pudding-like texture, although it will continue more or less in its previous shape. And polyphenols do not, of course, keep the ice cream cold. Ice cream that does not melt, that instead warms up into a rubbery monolith, is not really what most of us expect from a frozen dessert. Expectation matters more than you think when it comes to food. If you expect vanilla ice cream, and discover upon taking a bite that it is mashed potatoes, it is a profound readjustment. Perhaps polyphenols will join the ranks of more established stabilisers, helping to keep ice cream more or less at it should be through the travails of long-distance travel. But will high-dose polyphenol desserts, designed to withstand a hair dryer's blast or to hold their shape for hours make their way to an ice cream stand near you? Only time will tell. -- For more science, technology, environment and health stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
BreakingNews.ie
2 days ago
- BreakingNews.ie
SpaceX delivers new crew to orbiting station in just 15 hours
SpaceX delivered a fresh crew to the International Space Station on Saturday, making the trip in a quick 15 hours. The four US, Russian and Japanese astronauts pulled up in their SpaceX capsule after launching from Nasa's Kennedy Space Centre. Advertisement They will spend at least six months at the orbiting lab, swapping places with colleagues who have been up there since March. SpaceX will bring those four back as early as Wednesday. Moving in are Nasa's Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan's Kimiya Yui and Russia's Oleg Platonov – each of whom had been originally assigned to other missions. The docked SpaceX capsule next to the International Space Station (Nasa and SpaceX via AP) 'Hello, space station,' Mr Fincke radioed as soon as the capsule docked high above the South Pacific. Ms Cardman and another astronaut were pulled from a SpaceX flight last year to make room for Nasa's two stuck astronauts, Boeing Starliner test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, whose space station stay went from one week to more than nine months. Advertisement Mr Fincke and Mr Yui had been training for the next Starliner mission. But with Starliner grounded by thruster and other problems until 2026, the two switched to SpaceX. Mr Platonov was bumped from the Soyuz launch line-up a couple of years ago because of an undisclosed illness. Their arrival temporarily puts the space station population at 11. The astronauts greeting them had cold drinks and hot food waiting for them. While their taxi flight was speedy by US standards, the Russians hold the record for the fastest trip to the space station – a lightning-fast three hours. Advertisement
