Climate Migrants, Tool-using Octopuses, A New Super-Earth
This week: Octopuses join the ranks of tool-using animals. Pre-Columbian Peruvians may have been a stressed-out bunch. Astronomers have found the most Earth-like planet discovered so far. Excess carbon dioxide in the air is making our oceans increasingly acidic. And Bangladesh’s people and wildlife are struggling to survive the impacts of rising seas.
Elsa’s Favorite Science Stories:
- Tool-using Octopus: Humans aren’t the only animals that use tools. Chimps collect termites with twigs. Dolphins fish with sponges. Now, scientists have found yet another tool-using animal. It’s a marine invertebrate – an octopus – that lives off the coast of Indonesia. The octopuses use empty, discarded coconut shells as transportable shelters.
The study.
A study of tool use in ants.
Video: Filmed by Julian Finn. Provided courtesy of Current Biology and Museum Victoria.
- Stress in Pre-Columbian Peru: Stress is a common problem in today’s society. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly one-third of workers surveyed report high levels of stress. But a new study finds that high stress levels may not be unique to modern lifestyles. Researchers analyzed hair from Peruvian mummies, some more than 1,000 years old, and found high levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
The study.
WNYC’s Radiolab explores stress.
Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, a book on stress by Robert Sapolsky. - A New Super-Earth: Astronomers have detected an Earth-like planet orbiting a dim, nearby star. The planet is more than twice the size of Earth and is composed mostly of water, with an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium. Astronomers are getting better at finding such hard-to-detect planets, raising hopes that they’ll discover a habitable Earth-like planet in the near future.
The study.
The New York Times on this and other recently discovered super-Earths.
Join the planet hunt yourself: Help sort through real data from real telescopes.
Update on REDD: Remember our interview last week with The Nature Conservancy’s Sanjayan Muttulingam about saving tropical forests? Well, climate negotiators in Copenhagen are closing in on a deal to compensate developing countries for preventing deforestation. Learn more from the stories linked below.
Climate Talks Near Deal to Save Forests.
Would REDD work without a binding international emissions treaty? Find out here.
Ocean Acidification: Oceans are soaking up some of the excess carbon dioxide in the air and becoming more acidic. That’s not good for marine wildlife and for humans who depend on oceans for food and livelihood. But climate negotiators aren’t talking about what carbon dioxide is doing to our oceans.
Guest: Meg Caldwell, Stanford University.
Climate Migrants in Bangladesh: Droughts, floods, and sea level rise caused by climate change are already displacing people from their land. But where will these climate migrants go? Bangladesh is grappling with that question.
Report by: Joanna Kakissis.
Read the transcript of this story–with photos.
Hear how some farmers in Bangladesh are trying to prevent flooding, from podcast #35.
Learn more about climate migrants all over the globe, from the United Nations University.
Climate migrants and global security, from the Center for American Progress.
Rising Seas Threaten Tiger Habitat: The rising sea also threatens the Sundarbans, a mangrove forest spanning the border between India and Bangladesh. The forest is home to the endangered Royal Bengal Tiger. The displaced tigers are moving further inland towards parts of the forest inhabited by people, thus increasing the number of tiger-human conflicts.
Report by: The BBC’s Chris Morris.
More about Bengal tigers from the World Wildlife Fund.
