![]() A recent study conducted by researchers at Cornell University has revealed something shocking: Spiders can hear you screaming from more than ten feet away! And what’s even more impressive is that spiders don’t even have ears! They sense vibrations in the air through the sensitive hairs on their legs. And up until now, it was believed that spiders could only “hear” things that were only a couple of centimeters away. The researchers, led by Gil Menda and Paul Shamble, wanted to test how good a spider’s hearing is. They experimented with a common type of jumping spider, Phidippus audax, for their experiment. They implanted microelectrodes in the heads of the spiders (the spiders weren’t harmed by this) to test when their brain fired neurons, indicating when the arachnid “heard” a sound. To test the spiders’ hearing, they clapped their hands together right next to the spider, and walked further and further away until they were about 10 feet away. Incredibly, the spider’s neurons fired even at this distance. This made the researchers “very surprised, our studies extended the range of auditory sensitivity to more than 3 meters – over 350 body lengths – for our spiders.” -Gil Menda, study co-leader. They also experimented with blocking sounds. They found that when water covered the special sensory hairs, the spiders couldn’t hear for very far. They also discovered that the spiders “froze” whenever they heard anything like a hum or buzz (80-130 hertz). Coincidentally, this is the frequency of a wingbeat of their biggest predators- parasitoid wasps and flies. Despite the fact that this study was conducted on only one type of spider, it has been found that most spiders also have the same ability to “hear.” And, the study shows that spiders evolved to be able to hear, so that they wouldn’t be eaten by predators. I think it’s very interesting that spiders can hear, despite the fact that they don’t have ears. This study is interesting to me because it shows how animals evolve to be able to stay alive. Source: https://www.dogonews.com/2016/10/27/scary-study-reveals-spiders-can-hear-you-shrieking-from-across-the-room
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Five years ago, a man named Rami Adham made it his mission to help the refugee children of Syria, his country of origin (especially the children in Aleppo, his hometown). Adham, an aid worker, used his savings to buy food and medicine for the refugees, as well as toys for the children. After seeing how happy it made the children the first time he brought toys for them, he began to bring the toys every time he returned to Syria. Adham, who is now a Finnish resident, has established the Finnish-Syrian Association to collect donations. He visits different refugee camps in Syria every two months, bringing up to 70 kg of toys every time he makes the perilous journey back to Syria. The journey is dangerous not only because of the violence in Syria, but Syria closed most of its borders to traffic, causing him to have to smuggle the toys throughout the mountainous border between Syria and Turkey. However, none of the violence seems to faze the “toy smuggler of Aleppo.” The response he gets from the children each time he visits his what makes him continue working. Each time he visits, he makes it a point to visit a little girl that can’t speak. The young girl lost her voice while screaming at the government forces who killed her father and kidnapped her mother. Since the first time Adham met the little girl, he’s given her a Barbie and a My Little Pony toy, saying that “her reaction is always the same, a beautiful smile” (Rami Adham). Recently, Adham has established a Go Fund Me campaign to raise money to build a school for the refugee children. In the two months since he started the campaign, he has obtained over €60,000 of the €100,000 Euros he needs to build the school. I think that Adham is doing an amazing thing. The toys and supplies he brings for the children will give them hope during this terrible time in Syria. I also hope that he gets all the money he needs to build the school for the refugee children. Source: http://www.dogonews.com/2016/10/3/rami-adham-brings-joy-to-syrias-children-one-toy-at-a-time Every year, the month of September is the year where the carbon dioxide levels are at their lowest in the northern hemisphere. However, this year the carbon diozide levels have remained above the “red line” of 400 parts per million, cauusing scientists to predict that CO2 levels will not return to environment levels “ever again for the indefinite future” (dogo news). The extreme amount of carbon dioxide in the air has mainly been cause by humans, and is a constant issue. Scientists all over the world have been trying to find solutions to this problem, and a good solution has never been found…until now.
A team of researchers led by Columbia University professors Juerg Matter and Martin Stute have found a solution: turning carbon dioxide into stone! The scientists teamed up with Iceland’s largest power plant, Hellisheidi, to figure out a solution to the problem. Hellisheidi is the world’s largest geothermal facility, meaning that it uses volcanically-heated water to run electricity-generating turbines, producing few emissions. Their project, called the CarbFix project, included mizing the Co2 in the air with water and pumping it 1,500 feet underground into the basalt near the volcano. The acidic solution interacts with the iron, calcium and magnesium ions in the volcanic rock to form environmentally benign carbonate materials. Over the course of two years, nearly 95% of this CO2-water was converted to limestone. It can take up to 1,000 years for carbon dioxide to naturally turn into limestone. Encouraged by the results of the CarbFix project, the Icelandic scientists paln to bury 10,000 tons of CO2- nearly a fourth of Iceland’s annual carbon emissions. The results of this experiment, published recently, have made a big impact on the rest of the world. We now have a solution to an extreme problem. I think this is very important for our environment. Because the CarbFix project was such a success, we might be able to improve the environment around us. Source: http://www.dogonews.com/2016/9/29/iceland-combats-climate-change-by-turning-carbon-dioxide-to-stone |
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April 2017
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