Detecting Detrimental Change in Coral Reefs, Jumping Spiders hunt with image defocus, Grape seed extract kills head and neck cancer cells

By way of NASA and Landsat technology, Detecting Detrimental Change in Coral Reefs

Situated in shallow clear water, most coral reefs are visible to satellites that use passive remote sensing to observe Earth’s surface. But coral reefs are complex ecosystems with coincident coral species, sand, and water all reflecting light. Dustan found that currently orbiting satellites do not offer the spatial or spectral resolution needed to distinguish between them and specifically classify coral reef composition. So instead of attempting to classify the inherently complex coral ecosystem to monitor their health, Dustan has instead started to look for change—how overall reflectance for a geographic location varies over time.

Dustan uses a time series of Landsat data to calculate something called temporal texture¬—basically a map showing where change has occurred based on statistical analysis of reflectance information. While Dustan cannot diagnosis the type of change with temporal texture he can establish where serious changes have occurred. Coral communities have seasonal rhythms and periodicities, but larger, significant changes show up as statistical outliers in temporal texture maps and often correlate with reef decline.

The Landsat data confirm quantitative field study of coral health at Carysfort reef. Between the first field study in 1974 and over the next twenty-five years  coral had declined 92 percent. That decline is due to several factors environmental stress factors , including pollution, culminating with diseases that kill the weakened coral.

Dustan tested this work in the U.S. because he had a robust study site and because prior to 1999 coverage of reefs outside of the U.S. was spotty. With the Landsat 7 launch in 1999 a new global data acquisition strategy was established and for the first time the planet’s coral reefs were systematically and regularly imaged, greatly increasing our knowledge of reefs.

Carysfort Reef is located in the eastern portion of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, offshore of Key Largo. Credit: NOAA

Larger image. Carysfort is just to the west of where the map reads Atlantic Ocean.

Reef environments provide habitat for hundreds of fish species including the butterflyfish shown here in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Credit: Chris Huss.

Larger image.

 

Spiders Hunt Prey With Unique Vision Traits

Jumping spiders, which hunt by pouncing on their prey, gauge distances to their unsuspecting meals in a way that appears to be unique in the animal kingdom, a new study finds.

The superability boils down to seeing green, the researchers found.

There are several different visual systems that organisms use to accurately and reliably judge distance and depth. Humans, for example, have binocular stereovision. Because our eyes are spaced apart, they receive visual information from different angles, which our brains use to automatically triangulate distances. Other animals, such as insects, adjust the focal length of the lenses in their eyes, or move their heads side to side to create an effect called motion parallax — nearer objects will move across their field of vision more quickly than objects farther away.

However, jumping spiders (Hasarius adansoni) lack any kind of focal adjustment system, have eyes that are too close together for binocular stereovision and don’t appear to use motion parallax while hunting. So how are these creatures able to perceive depth?

Researchers in Japan have now discovered that the arachnids accurately sense distances by comparing a blurry version of an image with a clear one, a method called image defocus.

Jumping spiders have four eyes densely packed in a row: two large principal eyes and two small lateral eyes. The spider uses its lateral eyes to sense the motion of an object, such as a fly, which it then zeros in on using its principal eyes, Akihisa Terakita, a biologist at Osaka City University in Japan and lead author of the new study, explained….

Note the four little beads on the spider's head are its eyes

In one college lab we were divided up into small groups where our assignment consisted of building a terrarium of local plant and animal life. I caught a couple small spiders that were jumping around on the sandy shore of a local lake. In addition to packing the terrarium we were supposed to identify and write up as much as we could about every living thing in the little ecological worlds that now existed in our tanks. So to get a better look at the spiders we placed them in a covered culture dish so we could get a close look under a stereo microscope. Getting a good look at the eyes of our spiders was a fascinating discovery. Seeing pictures and video is great, but not quite up to the experience of seeing the spider’s unique anatomical features up close.

Grape seed extract kills head and neck cancer cells, leaves healthy cells unharmed

Nearly 12,000 people will die of head and neck cancer in the United States this year and worldwide cases will exceed half a million.

A study published this week in the journal Carcinogenesis shows that in both cell lines and mouse models, grape seed extract (GSE) kills head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cells, while leaving healthy cells unharmed.

“It’s a rather dramatic effect,” says Rajesh Agarwal, PhD, investigator at the University of Colorado Cancer Center and professor at the Skaggs School of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

It depends in large part, says Agarwal, on a healthy cell’s ability to wait out damage.

“Cancer cells are fast-growing cells,” Agarwal says. “Not only that, but they are necessarily fast growing. When conditions exist in which they can’t grow, they die.”

Grape seed extract creates these conditions that are unfavorable to growth. Specifically, the paper shows that grape seed extract both damages cancer cells’ DNA (via increased reactive oxygen species) and stops the pathways that allow repair (as seen by decreased levels of the DNA repair molecules Brca1 and Rad51 and DNA repair foci).

Fascinating news, but the usual caveat; let’s consult with our doctors before we go off on some self administered cancer treatment. Thus far they have only tested this treatment on cell lines and mice.

Peninsula cooter Pseudemys peninsularis is a species of freshwater turtle. native to the Florida peninsula. very attractive fresh water turtles. If they fell safe in a relatively undisturbed area they enjoy a nice bask in the sun. In an otherwise great data base, I could not find them in the Online Turtle Taxonomic Literature Database and PDF Library.

This week’s science question: Name the five basic functions of the human kidney in two to ten words each. Unless I forget I’ll post the answers Monday.

Mountain Cliff Fall wallpaper, Hawaii might be new breeding colony for short-tailed albatrosses, Media shows bias in XL pipeline coverage

Mountain Cliff Fall wallpaper

I just checked my archives and this blog is going to be six years old in March with over 1885 posts and over 2.3 million visitors and counting ( thanks for dropping by). That’s also a lot of wallpapers. As much as I like doing them I’ve decided to scale back posting the wallpapers to Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I will still be posting pictures, graphs and plan to continue putting up more videos. So it’s not like there will not be plenty of nature and science eye candy to enjoy.

They’ve Done It Again: An Albatross Chick

To the delight of scientists, a pair of lovers returned to Hawaii this year for what might turn out to be an annual sojourn. The two birds are endangered short-tailed albatrosses, and for the second time in the species’ recorded history, they nested there, producing a chick on American soil.

Most short-tailed albatrosses breed on a volcanic island in Japan, and scientists hope they are seeing the beginning of a new breeding colony that could help ensure the species’ survival in the event of a catastrophic eruption.

A short-tailed albatross with its newborn chick. Photo- Pete Leary/U.S.F.W.S.A

It’s a little scary that a good-sized volcanic eruption could wipe out the short-tailed albatross (or Steller’s Albatross, Phoebastria albatrus) species. Until the turn of the 20th century there were millions of short-tailed albatrosses. A small population was rediscovered of about 40 individuals. While they are still not up to the millions yet, that small population discovered on a Japanese island has grown to 3,000 individuals. A precarious success story, but one conservationists can take pride in.

Amazon rainforest mapped in unprecedented detail

Scientists record Amazon’s structure and biodiversity by bouncing laser beams off forest 400,000 times per second.

“[It's] the critical information that’s missing for managing these systems, for conserving them and for developing policy to better utilise the Amazon basin as a resource, while still protecting what it has in terms of its biological diversity.”

As well as measuring how the forest ecosystem is responding to the 2010 Amazon drought – the worst ever recorded – the technology accurately monitors deforestation and degradation, and has revealed unexpectedly high levels of biodiversity in high forest on the Andean rim of the Amazon basin.

The data could prove critical to the United Nation’s Redd (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) initiative, which will be the biggest future source of funding to protect the planet’s tropical forest.

The programme is designed to compensate tropical countries for reducing deforestation and forest degradation.

The still photo just doesn’t do justice to the detail, but there is one at the link for those who might be interested.

Fluidi Electric scooter taxi

French designer Arthur Kenzo, focusing on a concept of a new electric scooter taxi called “Fluidi”, a name inspired by the fundamental idea of flow and safety at the base of the project. Arthur Kenzo, in collaboration with a team of five students, has developed with creativity, based on a model of scooter with cabin, this new mean of transport with futuristic shape and design, which due to its small size and an aluminum structure, allows quick and agile movements even in the chaotic city streets, with attention to the environment and reduced consumption. Small dimensions that don’t affect the interior space, in fact they allow you to carry, comfortably and safety, a passenger and all his luggage, functioning as taxi, or use the entire space available for the carriage of goods of various kinds.

An interesting addition to a new way of thinking about getting around in urban and highly congested suburban areas using a minimal amount of energy.

Sadly the media who are supposed to serve as unbiased watchdogs Has Not Given Equal Time to Those Opposing Keystone Pipeline

A Media Matters analysis shows that as a whole, news coverage of the Keystone XL pipeline between August 1 and December 31 favored pipeline proponents. Although the project would create few long-term employment opportunities, the pipeline was primarily portrayed as a jobs issue. Pro-pipeline voices were quoted more frequently than those opposed, and dubious industry estimates of job creation were uncritically repeated 5 times more often than they were questioned. Meanwhile, concerns about the State Department’s review process and potential environmental consequences were often overlooked, particularly by television outlets.

Pro-Pipeline Voices Were Quoted More Frequently

All But Two Major News Outlets Quoted More Pipeline Supporters Than Opponents. With the exceptions of USA Today and the Los Angeles Times, every news outlet included in this study quoted or hosted more people in favor of the pipeline than opposed.

BROADCAST: Among the broadcast networks, 79% of those quoted or interviewed were in favor of the pipeline. NBC and ABC did not quote anyone opposed.

CABLE: On Fox News, 66% of those quoted or hosted were in favor and 13% were opposed. CNN featured 54% in favor and only 14% opposed. MSNBC was the most balanced, with 38% in favor and 31% opposed.

PRINT: Of those quoted by the major newspapers, 45% were in favor of the pipeline and 31% were opposed. The New York Times was the most balanced, quoting 35% in favor and 27% opposed. The Wall Street Journal was the least balanced, with 52% in favor and 21% opposed.

Op-Eds/Editorials Supporting Keystone XL Outweighed Those Opposed. The editorial boards of the Washington Post, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal have come out in favor of the Keystone XL pipeline. Those three newspapers published 16 op-eds or editorials supporting the pipeline and only one opposed.

The media, by way of their bias toward the pipeline are doing a disservice to the public by perpetuating the myth that the XL will be a great job creator. Congress also has its biases, with Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) having invested in XL stocks.

For those that stop by here in the morning, enjoy some inspiration to get off to a positive start, Together We Can – Wildlife Music Video Celebrating the Biodiversity of Our World

Soldier Butterfly wallpaper, Saving our wetlands and biggest trees, The beauty and grace of the endangered West Indian Manatees of Florida

Soldier Butterfly wallpaper

 

No net loss of wetlands was government policy starting back in the days of George H.W. Bush. It sounds like a good policy or perhaps the best compromise. The goals were, “to balance wetland loss due to economic development with wetlands reclamation, mitigation, and restorations efforts, so that the total acreage of wetlands in the country does not decrease, but remains constant or increases.” The mitigation part has been less than successful. That part of the policy was go ahead build another strip mall, office park or sub-division but just create some lake-like wetlands somewhere to balance the new development. Ecologist have been saying for years that imitating nature is not easy and will likely fail. The U.S. has lost have its wetlands since the 1800s. Thus far we have generally failed to make any progress toward reversing that trend. A Century Later, Restored Wetlands Struggle to Recover

A wetland is a ground area that is saturated with water, be it fresh, brackish or salty, and includes everything from mangroves to marshes. These ecosystems hold more life per acre than other types of habitats, including forests and grasslands, and are often important fishery resources. Moreover, wetlands act as natural flood and erosion control, said David Moreno-Mateos, a wetlands researcher with the University of California at Berkeley.

But these ecosystems also hold value on the global scale, because they store carbon. “When you degrade a wetland, you put a lot of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere,” Moreno-Mateos told Livescience. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas with ties to global climate change.

The original research paper is here – Restoration of Ailing Wetlands by Oswald J. Schmitz, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University. They make the case that given the time and proper resources, and more time we could make some genuine progress,

It is widely held that humankind’s destructive tendencies when exploiting natural resources leads to irreparable harm to the environment. Yet, this thinking runs counter to evidence that many ecological systems damaged by severe natural environmental disturbances (e.g., hurricanes) can restore themselves via processes of natural recovery. The emerging field of restoration ecology is capitalizing on the natural restorative tendencies of ecological systems to build a science of repairing the harm inflicted by humans on natural environment. Evidence for this, for example, comes from a new meta-analysis of 124 studies that synthesizes recovery of impacted wetlands worldwide. While it may take up to two human generations to see full recovery, there is promise, given human will, to restore many damaged wetlands worldwide.

That sounds promising in terms of the science. Frequently restoration projects are given short shift. They might be lead by a land developer who did some reading on the subject, dug out some earth, filled it with water and hired a sub-contractor to throw in some plant life ( consulting biologists are sometimes hired, but much of what they advise is ignored). The banks of these new “lakes’ are often too steep. Thus it takes years of natural weathering and erosion before the shores are capable of supporting the kind of vegetation that would result as part of a wetlands natural succession. While reassuring that restoration can be there has to be a political and public will to make wetlands restoration a priority. Much of the public still sees wetlands as useless bogs and swamps. They do not see wetlands as important natural means of flood control, mediatosr of greenhouse gases or essential to biodiversity.

World’s giant trees are dying off rapidly, studies show

The biggest trees in the world, known as the true ecological kings of the jungle, are dying off rapidly as roads, farms and settlements fragment forests and they come under prolonged attack from severe droughts and new pests and diseases.

Long-term studies in Amazonia, Africa and central America show that while these botanical behemoths may have adapted successfully to centuries of storms, pests and short-term climatic extremes, they are counterintuitively more vulnerable than other trees to today’s threats.

“Fragmentation of the forests is now disproportionately affecting the big trees,” said William Laurance, a research professor at James Cook University in Cairns, Australia. “Not only do many more trees die near forest edges, but a higher proportion of the trees dying were the big trees.”

“Their tall stature and relatively thick, inflexible trunks, may make them especially prone to uprooting and breakage near forest edges where wind turbulence is increased,” said Laurance in this week’s New Scientist magazine.

Big trees may comprise less than 2% of the trees in any forest but they can contain 25% of the total biomass and are vital for the health of whole forests because they seed large areas.

Big trees in India are having a tough time establishing saplings because of an invasive shrub. Dutch elm disease killed off almost all the largest elms in Great Britain. The importation of foreign tress is also spreading new diseases because they are not properly checked or quarantined. As older trees die – whether in the U.S. or South America or parts of Asia, forests would release their stored carbon. This begins a vicious circle of further warming and forest shrinkage.

Image of Earth 1024×1024. By way of here The Highest Resolution Image of Earth Ever, you can download a 8000×8000 image.

This composite image uses a number of swaths of the Earth’s surface taken on January 4, 2012.

Photo courtesy of NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring

Obviously no one has a desktop that large. There are a few ways to go about making it a desktop. One is to open the 8000x image in your photo editor, make it as high as your desktop allows. Create a new blank file with an empty background. Take your color dropper and get the dark background from the earth image. Fill in the back of your new blank image with that color. Copy and paste the earth image on that background. They should match. If you can see the seams use a feathered brush to blur the edge. Another option is to make the whole image as wide as your desktop and crop off excess at the top or bottom to correct the height. Sometimes slicing a planet image showing the edge of the planet against space can be very dramatic.

Sirenia Shadows

Emerging from the shadows and effortlessly gliding through their domain, the mermaids take central stage in Crystal River. Become entranced with the beauty and grace of the endangered West Indian Manatees of Florida.

Turning mushrooms and used coffee grounds into green money, 46 new species discovered in Suriname,Flamingo Tongue on Gorgonian fan

Make a living, recycle waste and grow food. Two guys figured out that none of those things cancel each other out – Upcycling’s Upshot: How Urban Mushroom Farmers Turned Scavenging into a Business

In 2009, Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Velez were recent graduates of the University of California at Berkeley who had both been offered positions in consulting and investment banking. Yet both were stuck on an idea they came across in their business ethics class: Gourmet mushrooms grow and flourish in recycled coffee grounds; thus, waste from one industry could be fertile ground for another. Trash, if not treasure, could be a sustainable and cost-free raw material.

…Back To The Roots began including Peet’s coupons in its grow-your-own-mushroom kits; Peet’s sold the kits in its cafes. Products from the two companies are shelved side-by-side in Northern California Whole Foods stores. What started as a small-scale farm supplying local restaurants and a few groceries expanded to include the mushroom kits, which now sell at 1,000 retail centers nationally. Since its founding, Back To The Roots has repurposed 1 million pounds of coffee grounds. After one year, the company had revenue of a quarter-million dollars; last year, it increased that number to $1.4 million. The company forecasts $5 million in revenue this year.

ironically even in this case recycling and growing still left some waste. The leftover reused coffee grounds. After a successful appeal on Craigslist, where gardeners picked up the repurposed grounds to use as compost, Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Velez were inspired to take the next step. Create an all-natural, sustainable, soil enhancer, which they plan to sell as organic MycoRootBoost fertilizer, an alternative to the chemical based plant nutrient mixes like MiracleGro.

Crayola Katydid & Cowboy Frog Among 46 Newfound Jungle Species

A spiny armored catfish and a cowboy frog are among 46 species that may be new to science discovered in the South American country of Suriname, researchers now reveal.

The species were discovered in a scientific expedition into southwest Suriname, which holds one of the world’s last pristine tropical forests.

“Our team was privileged to explore one of the last remaining areas of vast, unroaded wilderness in the world,” said Trond Larsen, director of Conservation International’s Rapid Assessment Program. “As a scientist, it is thrilling to study these remote forests where countless new discoveries await, especially since we believe that protecting these landscapes while they remain pristine provides perhaps the greatest opportunity for maintaining globally important biodiversity and the ecosystems people depend upon for generations to come.”

Katydid (Copiphora longicauda) observed during Conservation International's Rapid Assessment Program in southwest Suriname in August and September 2010. Katydids are recognised by scientists as indicators of habitat disturbance for an ecosystem. Photograph: Trond Larsen/Conservation International

This seems to be the best selection of photographs of some of the new species - New species discovered in Suriname – in pictures. Of the 46 species there are 18 pictured along with some other photographs. I cannot even find all 46 at Conservation International’s website ….except for the photos in a pdf you can download here – called A Rapid Biological Assessment of the Kwamalasamutu region, Southwestern Suriname, August-September 2010 (PDF – 3.9 MB) . The pdf is very well done. Even the photos are very clear. And lastly they did a nice little video synopsis of the expedition, Kwamalasamutu, Suriname Expedition – Rapid Assessment Program (RAP), Conservation International (CI)  

Suriname is a small country in the north-eastern coast of South America.

New App Helps NASA Keep Track of Meteoroids.

Surprising but true: Every day, on average, more than 40 tons of meteoroids strike our planet.  Most are tiny specks of comet dust that disintegrate harmlessly high up in Earth’s atmosphere, producing a slow drizzle of meteors in the night sky.  Bigger chunks of asteroid and comet debris yield dozens of nightly fireballs around the globe. Some are large enough to pepper the ground with actual meteorites.

With so much “stuff” zeroing in on our planet, NASA could use some help keeping track of it all.

Enter the Meteor Counter–a new iPhone app designed to harness the power of citizen scientists to keep track of meteoroids.

These science/nature apps are great yet it is unfortunate that so many of them or made just for the iPhone and/or iPad. In addition to all the Android users ( which comprised 42% of the Smart phone market as of 2011) they also ignore small laptops running Windows or MAC.

Flamingo Tongue on Gorgonian fan. The scientific name of the sea snail making its way across the fan is Cyphoma gibbosum. The animal itself has a neat brightly colored body and the shell appears colored due to live mantle tissue which usually cover the shell. If the animal is removed or dies you have an attractive through relatively plain tan and white shell. The shells are common on some beaches. The snail is becoming rare because of over collection by divers and the deaths of coral communities.

How President Obama Plans to ‘Double Down’ on Clean Energy

Early in his state of the union speech, President Obama renewed his call of last year for investments in clean energy. Unbowed by the troubles with Solyndra, Obama said he would direct the defense department to throw its buying power behind clean energy supplies for the U.S. military.

…Early in his state of the union speech, President Obama renewed his call of last year for investments in clean energy. Unbowed by the troubles with Solyndra, Obama said he would direct the defense department to throw its buying power behind clean energy supplies for the U.S. military.

Having the military move toward using some percentage of alternative energy and associated technology will have a big impact on the green energy business. The Department of Defense burns $18 billion worth of oil a year, four fifths of the federal governments’ energy tab. The president’s announcement was not exactly news since the military started the fuel transition a year ago, it was more a national recommitment to those goals.

Rock on Beach wallpaper, Macroalgae-based biofuels goes commercial, Whales and dolphins found playing together

Rock on Beach wallpaper

Statoil, Bio Architecture Lab Team Up on Seaweed-to-Ethanol Project

In the race to develop better biofuels, no self-respecting oil company wants to be left behind. In recent years, we’ve seen Shell, Exxon, BP, and Chevron invest hundreds of millions in biofuel technology. Statoil, one of the world’s largest offshore oil and gas producers, has decided to get on board with a seaweed-to-ethanol project.

As part of a strategic partnership with startup Bio Architecture Lab, Statoil will fund research and development for BAL’s technology, which converts Norwegian seaweed (aka macro algae) into ethanol. Statoil will be responsible for managing seaweed aquafarming operations, and the two companies will work together to develop a demonstration facility in Norway. If all goes well, Statoil will begin large-scale commercialization in the country and elsewhere in Europe.

The first big steps towards commercialization of the seaweed to biofuels is big news. Though it is the science behind the new approach to producing biofuel that makes that step possible. Bio Architecture Lab’s technology is based on a breakthrough in a  genetically modified strain of Escherichia coli bacterium which digests the sugar in algae called alginate. I’m not sure that such a process can ever reach a scale that it replaces fossil fuels.  Norway already retails a biofuel-fossil fuel blend. This might be the kind of niche market that extends or supplements fossil fuels. In one study comparing petroleum based diesel against a diesel-biofuel blend CO2 emissions were cut by 78% using the blend.

Related - Science Magazine Showcases Groundbreaking Bio Architecture Lab Technology that Efficiently Converts Seaweed to Renewable Fuels and Chemicals( pdf) and The Bullseye Fuel: BAL and its macroalgae-based biofuels

Largest Solar Storm Since 2005 to Hit Earth Tuesday

Last night the sun unleashed a flash of radiation called a solar flare, along with a generous belch of ionized matter that is now racing toward Earth at thousands of kilometers a second.

Not the end of the world but that ionized matter could knock some communication satellites out of commission for a little while. Kind of like a brief blackout. If that does occur let’s hope it is brief anyway.

Some recent new federal standards limiting pollution that contains mercury from power plants was great for humans. The new standards should help wildlife as well – Mercury’s Harmful Reach Has Grown, Study Suggests

Methylmercury, the most toxic form of the heavy metal, was found to be widespread throughout the Northeast — not just in lakes and rivers, as had already been known, but also in forests, on mountaintops and in bogs and marshes that are home to birds long thought to be at minimal risk.

The new study found dangerously high levels of mercury in several Northeastern bird species, including rusty blackbirds, saltmarsh sparrows and wood thrushes. Previous studies have shown mercury’s effects on loons and other fish-eating waterfowl, as well as bald eagles, panthers and otters. In one study, zebra finches lost the ability to hit high notes in mating songs when mercury levels rose, affecting reproduction.

Children and birds are susceptible to detrimental health effects at about the same methylmercury concentrations as birds. So if the birds are suffering the effects of mercury pollution that should serve as a red light for human health as well.

Science Bulletins: Whales Give Dolphins a Lift

Many species interact in the wild, most often as predator and prey. But recent encounters between humpback whales and bottlenose dolphins reveal a playful side to interspecies interaction. In two different locations in Hawaii, scientists watched as dolphins “rode” the heads of whales: the whales lifted the dolphins up and out of the water, and then the dolphins slid back down. The two species seemed to cooperate in the activity, and neither displayed signs of aggression or distress. Whales and dolphins in Hawaiian waters often interact, but playful social activity such as this is extremely rare between species. The latest Bio Bulletin from the Museum’s Science Bulletins program presents the first recorded examples of this type of behavior. Visitors to AMNH may view the video in the Hall of Biodiversity until February 9, 2012.

Science Bulletins is a production of the National Center for Science Literacy, Education, and Technology (NCSLET), part of the Department of Education at the American Museum of Natural History. Find out more about Science Bulletins at http://www.amnh.org/sciencebulletins/.

A few blogs have discovered this video and many of them have noted the first comment, – the dolphin is like “we? both used to be land animals, isn’t that crazy? clearly we need to hang out.” It has long been known that whales and dolphins interact on occasion, this is one of those rare moments when two of those occasions were caught on film. Dolphins and Humpback whales are related, they both belong to the Order Cetacea.

This news just came in, Oldest dinosaur nests discovered in South Africa

Massospondylus nesting site – with fossilised eggs and tiny footprints – is 100m years older than any previously discovered

The embryonic skeleton of a Massospondylus dinosaur found in South Africa. Photograph AFPGetty Images

The nests belonged to Massospondylus, a six-meter tall (20′) ancestor of long-necked “sauropod” dinosaurs that lived 190m years ago.