(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Good News Roundup: Valentine's Day Edition 2024, A Love Song to the Universe [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-02-14 Welcome, welcome, welcome, fellow Gnusies to the Good News! We make it, we search for it, we bring it all here for your delectation. Here on this Valentine’s Day, we may or may not celebrate with candy hearts, flowers, and chocolate, but we can always tip our hats to the wonderfulness that is existence: learning about and celebrating the past, ourselves, the world around us and the great beyond of space, and all of it with an eye on a better future. x YouTube Video Who doesn’t like dinosaurs and their contemporaries? New Species of Pterosaur Discovered in Scotland Persisted 25 Million Years More Than Previously Thought The Isle of Skye isn’t known colloquially for paleontology, but during the Jurassic Era, it was a hotspot for pterosaurs, and a newly-described species of this flying reptile is surprising scientists. ... The animal now bears the genus name Ceoptera evansae: Ceoptera from the Scottish Gaelic word Cheò, meaning mist (a reference to the common Gaelic name for the Isle of Skye: Eilean a’ Cheò, or Isle of Mist), and the Latin word ptera, meaning wing. The species name is in honor of Professor Susan E. Evans, for her years of anatomical and palaeontological (sic) research, in particular on the Isle of Skye. This discovery shows that all principal Jurassic pterosaur clades evolved well before the end of the Early Jurassic, earlier than previously realized. Contrastingly, the discovery also shows that pterosaurs persisted into the latest years of the Jurassic, alongside avialans, the dinosaurs which eventually evolved into modern birds. “The time period that Ceoptera is from is one of the most important periods of pterosaur evolution, and is also one in which we have some of the fewest specimens, indicating its significance,” said lead author Dr. Liz Martin-Silverstone, a paleobiologist at the University of Bristol. I’ve read about puppies acting as eyes and/or ears for siblings, seen video of a wild corvid poking a hedgehog across the street so as not to be hit by a car, and other animals assisting one another for Reasons. How about penguins? Penguin Becomes ‘Guide Bird’ Companion For Zoo Pal Suffering with Cataracts: Waddle I do Without You? The animal helper named ‘Penguin’ has bonded with ‘Squid’ the three-year-old that suffers from cataracts, a debilitating condition that clouds the lens of the eye. Squid is often disoriented during busy feeding times and relies on Penguin’s “unwavering calmness”. Penguin has become Squid’s beacon, guiding her around the enclosure and acting as her ‘eyes’. … Senior Penguin Keeper, Natalie Marshall said of the inspiring duo, “We didn’t expect Penguin and Squid to form such a close bond, and it’s evident that Penguin’s resilience significantly influenced Squid’s self-assurance.” “Given that she has not known any different, Squid has adjusted without realizing, and we see in the way she walks (stooping forwards) and how she behaves around the other penguins (being taken by surprise if approached from a blind spot) that she compensates and is fully integrated into the colony.” If you build it remove the invasive species, they will come back? I’ve reported on island restoration project successes before — here’s another one! Endangered Seabirds Flourishing on Island for First Time in Decades as Invasive Rabbits Removed For the first time in over four decades, Peruvian diving petrels have four active natural nests on Chañaral Island after a dedicated conservation group cleared the island of a deadly invasive species. This unique Chilean ecosystem has seen a resurgence in its seabird population following the successful removal of rabbits in 2017—and last year, the partners announced the first seabird chick born on the island in over 40 years. The achievement is the result of a collaborative effort between Chile’s National Forestry Corporation (CONAF), Laboratorio de Ecología y Diversidad de Aves Marinas from the Universidad Católica del Norte, and one of the most serially successful wildlife organizations on Earth—Island Conservation. The team discovered four active natural nests, including two with chicks, one with an adult, and a fourth with a fledgling. This breakthrough offers great hope for the birds, known locally as ‘yuncos’, that were classified as ‘Endangered’ by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) just four years ago. In addition to the rabbit removal, Island Conservation scientists also implemented social attraction tools to encourage birds to return. This included solar-powered speakers that play petrel calls, a sign to passing individuals of high-quality nesting habitat nearby. Science. Medicine. Better futures for so many. Buck Institute Scientists Discover a Potential Way to Repair Synapses Damaged in Alzheimer’s Disease “While newly approved drugs for Alzheimer’s show some promise for slowing the memory-robbing disease, the current treatments fall far short of being effective at regaining memory. What is needed are more treatment options targeted to restore memory,” said Buck Assistant Professor Tara Tracy, PhD, the senior author of the study. The protein in question is called KIBRA, named because it is found in the kidney and the brain. Along with being produced in the kidney, Tracy and her team identified its presence throughout brain synapses, which are the connections between neurons that allow memories to be formed and recalled. They also found that KIBRA is deficient in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s and dementia. “We wondered how the lower levels of KIBRA affected signaling at the synapse, and whether understanding that mechanism better could yield some insight into how to repair the synapses damaged during the course of Alzheimer’s disease,” said Buck Staff Scientist ​​Grant Kauwe, Ph.D., co-first author of the study. “What we identified is a mechanism that could be targeted to repair synaptic function, and we are now trying to develop a therapy based on this work.” More at the link. This doesn’t do it justice. This is really cool. Dinosaur Evergreens Thought Extinct for 2Mil Years Discovered by Park Ranger–the Grove is the ‘Find of the Century’ The Wollemi pine evolved 91 million years ago and went extinct according to the fossil record 2 million years ago, but in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, a stand of 90 specimens were found high in the more remote peaks in 1994. For the past three decades, and in extreme secrecy, a team of specialists from the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) of Australia has been gradually planting small clumps of the Wollemi pine in other locations to help ensure it has every chance to see another 91 million years. It helps the story that the Wollemi doesn’t look much like any pine tree you’ve seen in the woods by your house. Sporting Granny Smith apple-green foliage that grows in a pattern similar to a fern, it has a covering of bark reminiscent of Coco-puffs. “Wollemi Pine seedlings and saplings grow less than one centimeter a year. They won’t mature until they can reach the rainforest canopy and access the sunlight above,” research scientist Berin Mackenzie told national news, adding that they grow extremely slowly. The level of security is startling for a tree. From the original stand of 90 trees, hundreds now grow across three translocation sites. Visits to the sites are very rare, and avoided in all but the most necessary occasions. Workers have to decontaminate themselves of any seeds and sanitize their bodies to ensure they don’t bring disease or invasive species that could threaten the trees. We’ve seen what the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone can do to improve and restore the ecosystem. Sea otters do it on the coast. All they ask is an all-you-can-eat crab buffet. Sea Otters Returned to a Degraded Coastline Ate Enough Crabs to Restore Balance and Cut Erosion by 90% In a groundbreaking study published this week in Nature, scientists revealed that the return of sea otters to their former habitat in a Central California estuary has slowed erosion of the area’s marsh banks by up to 90%. The resurgence of these charismatic marine mammals to the salt marshes of Elkhorn Slough in Monterey County sparks hope for improving coastal ecosystems and marks a significant ecological success story. “Restoring the otter population was achievable without significant effort, and as a result, we are now unlocking several decades of benefits from that one act of conservation,” said Christine Angelini, Ph.D., one of the study’s authors and director of the Center for Coastal Solutions at the University of Florida. At a time when rising sea levels, elevated fertilizer run-off, and stronger tidal currents should be causing the opposite effect, findings show that erosion has been slashed after reintroducing a top predator—the sea otter—whose insatiable appetite for plant-eating marsh crabs is making the difference. “It would cost tens of millions of dollars for humans to rebuild these creek banks and restore these marshes. The sea otters are stabilizing them for free, in exchange for an all-you-can-eat crab feast,” said senior author and marine conservation biology professor Brian Silliman, Ph.D. at Duke University. And because I can’t help but love crossing genres and barbershop comedy is so much fun… Sing us out. And have a wonderful, wonderful Valentine’s Day, whatever you may choose to do with it. 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