Nature's Children

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Mark
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Nature's Children

Post by Mark » Fri Oct 07, 2005 1:48 pm

Here's a buzz ball cookery technique. The buzzing bee ball rachets up their little heat engines and bake/save the day. I was reading an account of this in the latest Science News magazine. The bees come within 5 degrees of dying but the hornet can't take the heat.
Mark

Japanese Bees Shake and Bake

A ferocious giant hornet is the bane of Japan’s bees. Introduced European bees are defenceless against the monsters; 30 hornets invading a hive can wipe out 30,000 bees in three hours. But Japan’s native bees employ a devastating counterattack. How? They cook it, according to Masato Ono and his colleagues at Tamagawa University. When one hornet finds a bee colony, it leaves a special scent, a pheromone to attract other hornets. But the bees also recognise the pheromone and summon defenders to the hive mouth. When a hornet approaches, about 500 bees engulf it, and with their rapidly vibrating bodies, create a hot seething ball of death. Thermograms show bees reaching temperatures of 118oF (48oC), lethal to the hornet but not the bees.

National Geographic, April 1996
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Mark
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re: Nature's Children

Post by Mark » Sat Oct 08, 2005 2:40 pm

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pezman
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re: Nature's Children

Post by pezman » Sat Oct 08, 2005 11:36 pm

I love that one!

Ironically, Monty Python's "Meaning of Life" opened with a scene where a glutton gorged until he exploded. Yes, there are no accidents!

Mark
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re: Nature's Children

Post by Mark » Sat Oct 08, 2005 11:47 pm

Yes, I saw that Python scene too, a mere wafer thin mint did the character in.
Mark
http://213.130.36.108/site/templates/is ... 12&issue=1
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Mark
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re: Nature's Children

Post by Mark » Sat Oct 08, 2005 11:49 pm

And now for something completely different. Nature's molecules experimenting as "they" do from time to time.
Mark
http://www.rotten.com/library/sideshow/siamese-twins/
http://www.rotten.com/library/sex/hermaphrodite/
http://www.sciencenews.org/pages/sn_edpik/ls_4.htm
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Mark
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re: Nature's Children

Post by Mark » Sun Oct 09, 2005 1:26 am

Animal dragster. I don't know why when I click on the link it puts me in the middle of the article, scroll up if you are transported to the middle. In that way you can read it from the start/get go.
Mark
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/ ... 4#continue
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Mark
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re: Nature's Children

Post by Mark » Sun Oct 09, 2005 3:13 am

Thanks for that tip Ben. Simple enough for even me to understand.
Mark
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Mark
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re: Nature's Children

Post by Mark » Sun Oct 09, 2005 11:53 pm

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Mark
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re: Nature's Children

Post by Mark » Mon Oct 10, 2005 4:11 am

I've been trying to find a sound bite of this frog but was unsuccessful. I read about him a few months ago and I would like to hear how he sounds.
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/frogs/f ... igbark.php
5 pictures.
http://worldwidefauna.com/catalog/popup ... =64&page=4
Another few.
http://www.scserp.com/images/BudgettsFrog002.JPG
http://www.animalpicturesarchive.com/vi ... &did=59697
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Mark
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re: Nature's Children

Post by Mark » Wed Oct 12, 2005 2:11 am

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Bruno Ogorelec
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re: Nature's Children

Post by Bruno Ogorelec » Wed Oct 12, 2005 8:48 am

My father once told me that some species of crab or crayfish or lobster use pinholes for light refraction instead of lenses. Do you know anything about that?

larry cottrill
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Re: re: Nature's Children

Post by larry cottrill » Wed Oct 12, 2005 2:20 pm

Bruno Ogorelec wrote:My father once told me that some species of crab or crayfish or lobster use pinholes for light refraction instead of lenses.
Actually, pinhole cameras and camera obscurae work because there is no refraction. The light passes through the pinhole in a straight line from source point to image point. The depth of field is virtually infinite (i.e. everything will appear "in focus" whether the source is near or far away).

If you have a large visual defect (such as severe nearsightedness) and are in a situation where your glasses have been left behind somewhere, you can make yourself a little pinhole in a piece of foil or cardboard and see quite clearly by looking through that (held up close to your eye). Of course, this will only be useful in fairly bright lighting.

L Cottrill

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Pinhole glasses

Post by pezman » Wed Oct 12, 2005 6:33 pm

You can also use pin-holes to see clearly underwater ...

Mark
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re: Nature's Children

Post by Mark » Thu Oct 13, 2005 3:06 am

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re: Nature's Children

Post by Mark » Thu Oct 13, 2005 4:28 am

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