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Saturday, May 10, 2008 | Categories: Episodes
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The Love Flower
Orchid, courtesy Macquarie University Media
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It goes without saying that orchids are attractive flowers, but the Australian tongue orchid goes above and beyond the call of floral duty. It's one of a number of orchids that use sexual deception to lure pollinating insects into its petals. In fact, wasps find the tongue orchid downright irresistible. Anne Gaskett, a PhD student at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, has been studying the complex (and slightly disturbing) relationship between tongue orchids and the wasps that pollinate them. Ms. Gaskett says the orchids are so adept at mimicking the sexual signals of female wasps that male wasps actually choose to copulate with the flower, rather than mate with a female wasp. Talk about flower power.
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Anne Gaskett's homepage (including video of wasp mating with flower)Ms. Gaskett's paper in The American NaturalistA media release from Macquarie UniversityFood for Thought
The Smart Choice |
The benefits of breast-feeding are well known. Mother's milk has the ideal balance of nutrients for developing babies; it's nature's perfect baby food. It may also be the perfect brain food. Dr. Michael Kramer, a Professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at McGill University, has confirmed what scientists have suspected for a while: breast-feeding contributes to higher IQ scores later in life. Dr. Kramer found that 6-year-olds who nursed exclusively had slightly higher IQ scores than kids who weren't exclusively breast-fed as infants. Just why breast-feeding boosts intelligence isn't yet known. Dr. Kramer says it could be something in the milk but, just as likely, it could be a more intensive mother-child interaction which might lead to better brain development.
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Related LinksDr. Kramer's webpageDr. Kramer's article in the Archives of General PsychiatryNews release from McGillcbc.ca StoryRats in the Clouds
Dwarf Cloud Rat, courtesy Field Museum |
Finding a new species of mammal in the Philippines is nothing remarkable; that happens three or four times a year. Rediscovering a species that's been missing for over a century is a much rarer event. However, on a recent trip to Luzon Island, Dr. Lawrence Heaney, from the Field Museum in Chicago, found the greater dwarf cloud rat, a species that was last described in 1898. Part of the difficulty in finding the rat relates to where it lives. This specimen was found high up in the forest canopy, where the trees are covered with moss and climbing is almost impossible. The finding fills an important gap in our understanding of the ecology of the Philippines and offers hope that this species is still abundant in the tops of the trees.
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Eating Monte Verde Greens
Medicinal Hut dig with Seaweed Cuds, courtesy T. Dillehay |
Archaeological sites can contain lots of different treasures, but it's rare to find one with plant material or meat preserves. Those kinds of organics just don't survive down the centuries. But at the site of Monte Verde in Chile, a strange combination of factors means researchers have been able to uncover organic materials going back 12,000 years. In the latest research to be published about the site, Dr. Tom Dillehay, from Vanderbilt University, has described 9 different species of seaweed that were being used as food or medicine. This is particularly remarkable, since the site is 15 km away from the closest salt water, where seaweed might be found. Dr. Dillehay thinks this means the residents were making regular trips to the ocean to collect the seaweed, suggesting they had a longstanding connection to the coast. This adds support to the hypothesis that humans first entered the Americas via the coastline.
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Dr. Dillehay's paper in Science MagazineDr. Dillehay's biography at VanderbiltAn overview of the Monte Verde siteThe Ferocious Summer
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In October 2001, Meredith Hooper, a writer based in London, joined a group of American researchers who traveled to the Antarctic Peninsula. That summer turned out to be disastrous for the Adelie penguins. Heavy snowstorms in the early summer, and rainstorms near the end, meant very few penguins were able to breed, and many of the chicks that were born were eaten by predators. Ms. Hooper documents the field season in detail, and shows how climate change, both on the peninsula and globally, are behind the penguin population collapse.
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Online Extras Cut from the Original Interview
Related Links
CBC's Rewind takes a look at space travel predictions since 1946. Listen to great clips from the CBC Radio Archives, with new commentary from Bob McDonald, about where space exploration should have taken us by now.
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If you missed our Google Question Hangout - no worries. Watch it now online and find out if time travel is possible.
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Ms. Hooper describes her encounter with a Giant Petrel Chick
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