AI's Most Promising Alien Hunters
Are we alone in the universe? Harvard Professor Avi Loeb says he doesn't think so. He and his team have set up the Galileo Project, aiming to bring a more rigorous approach to the study of unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAP. Using advanced technology such as high-resolution cameras and spectrographs to capture and analyze data on UAP, they hope to better understand the universe around us. (Source: Bloomberg)
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Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Bed Bugs May Have Been The First Urban Pest to Ever Plague Humans
Humans were letting the bed bugs bite long before beds existed, and while they do live on other species, we're the main reason this notorious parasite is still going strong. In fact, bed bugs might have been the first pest to plague our cities – earlier than the black rat, for instance, which joined us in urban life about 15,000 years ago, and even the German cockroach, which only got the memo about 2,100 years ago. Researchers think the blood-sucking pests – Cimex lectularius – first jumped from their bat hosts onto a passing human some 50,000 years ago, a move which would change the course of the insect species forever. Human bed bugs, it turns out, have boomed since the Last Glacial Maximum about 20,000 years ago. But it's a different story for those populations that continued living on bats. "Initially with both populations, we saw a general decline that is consistent with the Last Glacial Maximum; the bat-associated lineage never bounced back, and it is still decreasing in size," says entomologist Lindsay Miles, from Virginia Tech. "The really exciting part is that the human-associated lineage did recover and their effective population increased." The researchers were able to track this evolution because the human bed bugs have a much narrower genetic diversity, since only a few 'founders' probably came with us when we abandoned life in caves. But our move into cities around 12,000 years ago is what really kicked off the human bed bug boom. This was only briefly interrupted when DDT was invented in the 1940s. Populations crashed, humans slept sweetly, and then five years later, the bed bugs were back. Since then, bed bugs have travelled around the world with us, and even become resistant to our pesticides. For now, it seems, bed bugs are here to stay. It's been a long-term relationship, after all. The research is published in Biology Letters. Your Brain Wrinkles Are Way More Important Than We Ever Realized Something Strange Happens to Your Eyes When You're Sexually Aroused 2-Year-Old Prodigy Joins 'High IQ' Club Mensa as Youngest Member Ever
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
Meet The ‘Horned' American Bird Last Seen On Martha's Vineyard 92 Years Ago — Now Lost To The World Forever
Birds, more than other animal groups, have had a horrific time with extinction, especially over the ... More past several hundred years. Here's one uniquely American example. The extinct heath hen (Tympanuchus cupido cupido) is historically interesting for a number of reasons, the first being that it is speculated to have been served at the Pilgrims' first thanksgiving. This speculation makes some sense. Heath hens were abundant along the United States' northeastern shoreline in the 1600s. Odds are it would have been easier to round up a few heath hens to serve at dinner than wild turkeys, though turkeys wouldn't have been a big ask either. In fact, heath hens came to be known as 'poor man's food' in the eighteenth century, as they were cheap and plentiful. And, yet, by 1932, the species was gone. The story of the heath hen underscores an important ecological point: just because a species is plentiful doesn't mean it is impervious to extinction. Take the American passenger pigeon, for example – once among the most numerous birds on Earth, with flocks so vast they were said to darken the skies for hours in the 1800s. But by 1914, it too had vanished, wiped out by relentless hunting and widespread habitat loss. (Sidebar: While humans have driven many bird species to extinction, the tables have occasionally turned. Meet four bird species known to attack humans – two with documented fatal consequences.) Here's the unfortunate tale of the heath hen, and why it went extinct so quickly. The heath hen, a subspecies of the greater prairie chicken, once thrived in the scrubby, coastal plains from Maine to Virginia. Its 'horns' – actually feathers on its head that males could raise during courtship displays – gave it a striking appearance. In the spring, males would gather in leks and perform dramatic dances, puffing out orange air sacs on their necks and stomping their feet to show dominance and vitality. These 'booming grounds,' as they were often called, could be used for generations, sometimes over a century. In parts of their range, the spectacle became such a draw that it even attracted tourists. A male greater prairie chicken in full spring display on the Midwestern prairie. The now-extinct ... More heath hen, once found along the eastern seaboard, performed similar courtship rituals on its own 'booming grounds' from New England to Virginia. The heath hen was unique as the only member of the North American prairie chickens (genus Tympanuchus) found along the eastern seaboard. Its geographic isolation gave rise to a genetically distinct population that was smaller in size and redder in color than greater prairie chickens from the Midwest. Sadly, the heath hen faced a rapid downfall. Overhunting was the first and most significant blow. By the early 1800s, the bird was already vanishing from much of its range. People hunted it with little restriction, often taking dozens in a day. Its reputation as cheap, easy protein made it a popular choice for colonists and later urban markets. Hunting wasn't the only threat. As the northeastern United States industrialized, the bird's scrubby, fire-maintained habitat was replaced with farms, towns and roads. Fire suppression policies also allowed forests to grow denser, making them less suitable for the heath hen, and increasing the risk of devastating fires. By the 1870s, the bird's range had contracted entirely to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. There, a small, isolated population struggled on for decades. Conservationists attempted to save it, even establishing a reserve, but it was too little, too late. Disease, harsh winters, fires, inbreeding, and predators all took their toll. The final blow came quietly. By 1929, only one known heath hen remained: a lonely male named 'Booming Ben.' He continued his courtship displays in vain for three years, calling for a mate who would never arrive. After 1932, he was never seen again. Today, the heath hen serves as a poignant reminder: even a species that seems secure can vanish within the span of a human lifetime. But if there's a silver lining, it's that the effort to save the heath hen marked one of the earliest coordinated attempts to prevent the extinction of an American bird. Although it came too late, the lessons it offered helped lay the foundation for future conservation successes – like the recovery of the whooping crane, trumpeter swan and wood duck. In this way, the loss of the heath hen helped shape a more hopeful path for the species that followed. Does thinking about the extinction of a species instantly change your mood? Take the Connectedness to Nature Scale to see where you stand on this unique personality dimension.
Bloomberg
3 hours ago
- Bloomberg
America Has Plenty of Rare Earths. But Not for Long
Hypocrisy, it's said, is the tribute that vice pays to virtue. The US government's meltdown about rare earths similarly shows how an administration determined to halt the energy transition knows it's already lost the argument. Rare earth magnets are the super-strong pellets that help stick a charging cable to your laptop, smartwatch or headphones. They're also an essential component in a swath of high-tech applications. About 90% are produced in China.
