where hypotheses come to die (madman101) wrote,
where hypotheses come to die
madman101

Scientific grab-bag

This week's, "Science Friday," was so chock-full of important subjects, I thought it would be well worth documenting it for historical purposes. The main page is HERE. It includes a bit about, yes, spinach that senses environmental changes and reports them to people via cell phone, yo. This is even more ground-breaking than it seems, because it is the very beginning of developments into quantum communication via PLANTS - (but this is a subject I can afford to sit on for a while). Another interesting thing: As with any new technology, there is a danger here. If you can use plants to talk via cellphones, you can also get them to set off bomms via cellphone. Finally, the show includes more about our friend, the jumpety spider!

A jumping spider. Credit: Gil Menda and the Hoy lab
Encountering a jumping spider might give some people a start, but researchers are interested in these agile arthropods, especially their ability to plan and execute complex behaviors. Scientists are studying how jumping spiders coordinate their eight eyes to track fast-moving prey, and how these earless animals can pick up noises from across a room.

Arachnologist Paul Shamble discusses the sensory systems of jumping spiders and how scientists go about measuring the small creatures’ neural activity. And ecologist Eric Olson discusses why these predators might enjoy a vegetarian snack now and again.

(Note: This was about the only NPR programme I have heard in the last few days which did not do an extensive bit almost-overtly supporting Hillary Clinton, or opposing Donald Trump. It really is offensive. They did the same thing to Bernie Sanders. So, I am not going to hide my head in the sand and pretend it is not happening to Trump, when it is. But more on this stuff soon enough, maybes).
Tags: all * consciousness, animals - insects - spiders, contraception / birth control, dancing chairs, food - spinach, health - alzheimers - amyloid beta, microb * microbiology, microb - crispr gene-editing, microb - dna editing, plants - communication, plants - research on, plants - secret life of plants, radio - npr/ pri - 'science friday', talking plants
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