(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Overnight Science Digest: Nectar-eating wolves may be 1st known large carnivore pollinators [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-11-23 It’s always a good week when I can share upbeat stories about wolves! Here’s what’s in this week’s roundup. Two wolf stories first large carnivore species ever documented feeding on nectar another step forward in the remarkable comeback of wolves in California Plus other nature news a discovery that blurs the line between biology and technology honey bees reduce native bee abundance 1,023 km fence at the USA-Mexico border may hinder wildlife’s ability to reach climate refuges everytime we think we have something that’s like, `This is the thing that makes humans different,’ eventually we knock it down the sorts of intelligence humans most admire are more widespread among birds than expected a newly identified beetle symbiont is chemically invisible to leafcutter ant hosts Out of this world news first time for a zoomed-in photo of a star outside of the Milky Way galaxy dark energy — long thought to be constant — changes over time melting snow and ice reveals 280 million years-old footprints of reptiles and amphibians Various human-related stories other differences lurking in the shadow of our assumption that other people experience the world the same way we do scientists scramble to save climate data from Trump—again at least 24 previously impossible heatwaves have already struck around the world venting anger might sound like a good idea, but there's not a shred of scientific evidence to support catharsis theory Twitter and Bluesky explainer I included tweets announcing some of the news stories because the images and commentary adds to the story. For those shunning Twitter, I’ve also added the story’s headline with a link to the source if the tweet includes a link. When Bluesky becomes embeddable on Daily Kos, I’ll switch to that source where possible. I asked the DK Help Desk about this and was told they added my name to the list of requesters. For people wishing to expand their science follows on Bluesky, here is a Google doc of science starter packs for for mechanistic biologists. proper subheading format for screen readers Screen readers are a fantastic tool that helps people with limited vision, but the reader works best when a story is formatted properly. One big problem I see on DK is how we format subheadings. I’ve made this mistake and learned a better method in a tweet from Accessibility Awareness that is also available on disabled.social, a decentralized social network powered by Mastodon. When a subhead is in letters highlighted using the bold format icon the reader doesn’t recognize it as a header and treats it as part of the main text, which can give confusing information to the listener. For a screen reader to recognize the subheading, use the H3 or H4 editing icons in the DK story editor. Type the subheading as usual, highlight it, then click on H3 or H4. All subheadings in this story were formatted using H4, which changes text to all caps. The H3 format recognizes both upper and lower case letters. Sweet tooth: Ethiopian wolves seen feeding on nectar — Oxford biology x Ethiopian wolves have been seen feeding on nectar! 🐺 They are the first large carnivore documented doing this - and may be acting as pollinators too. New from @Arctic_paws @ClaudioSillero @WildCRU_Ox @UniofOxford 👇https://t.co/pFqSGsQH2k 📷 Danielle Rubens pic.twitter.com/TTD1Lb2Hsk — Oxford Biology (@OxfordBiology) November 21, 2024 For the first time, Ethiopian wolves have been documented feeding on the nectar of Ethiopian red hot poker flowers. This is the first large carnivore species ever to be documented feeding on nectar. In doing so, the wolves may act as pollinators – perhaps the first known plant-pollinator interaction involving a large carnivore. [...] Some individuals would visit as many as 30 blooms in a single trip, with multiple wolves from different packs exploiting this resource. There is also some evidence of social learning, with juveniles being brought to the flower fields along with adults. In doing so, the wolves’ muzzles become covered in pollen, which they could potentially transfer from flower to flower as they feed. This novel behaviour is perhaps the first known plant-pollinator interaction involving a large predator, as well as the only large meat-eating predator ever to be observed feeding on nectar. New ‘Diamond’ wolf pack discovered roaming 50 miles from Lake Tahoe — sf chronicle x A new pack of wolves has been confirmed in California’s Sierra Valley, a mountainous area about 50 miles north of Lake Tahoe in the vicinity of Plumas County, marking another step forward in the remarkable comeback of wolves. https://t.co/UFvi5ND4BN — San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) November 21, 2024 A new pack of wolves has been confirmed in California’s Sierra Valley, a mountainous area about 50 miles north of Lake Tahoe in the vicinity of Plumas County, marking another step forward in the remarkable comeback of wolves. State wildlife officials say the pack, named the Diamond Pack, consists of at least one adult male and one adult female. They have been traveling together for a minimum of six months and could soon mate and produce offspring, if they haven’t already, the wildlife officials said. It is the ninth pack living in California, alongside numerous lone wolves, officials say, and it’s the third new pack documented this year. Last month, an unnamed pack of four was reported in Lassen National Forest, and in the spring, the Antelope Pack, made up of at least two wolves, was confirmed in Sierra Valley, next to the Diamond Pack. Low-density migratory beekeeping induces intermediate disturbance effects on native bee communities in Tibetan Plateau alpine meadows — journal of insect science x New paper investigating the impact of migratory #beekeeping on native bees. We found that honey bees reduced native bee abundance but when moved the diversity of native bees increased compared to areas where honey bees were never present. @EntsocAmerica https://t.co/279F5QoPdT — Margarita Lopez-Uribe (@mmlopezu) November 20, 2024 Beekeeping activities represent a type of ecological disturbance when large numbers of honey bees are introduced to a landscape and interact with the local plant and pollinator community. In this study, we characterized the effect of immediate and long-term low-density migratory beekeeping on the diversity and abundance of native bees in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (China). We found that the presence of apiaries and the number of honey bees reduced native bee abundances in the local bee community, likely through displacement from floral resources. However, in locations where apiaries were previously kept for decades but are not currently present, native bee abundances recovered, and phylogenetic diversity increased; yet community relative abundances and dominant species were distinct from those that had never been stocked. USA-Mexico border wall impedes wildlife movement — frontiers in ecology and evolution x Big peer-reviewed study out today: "USA-Mexico border wall impedes wildlife movement." Researchers found an 86% reduction in wildlife crossings where walls were built & a 100% reduction crossings of large animals like mountain lions, deer & bears. READ: https://t.co/JrG6HL8T90 pic.twitter.com/NILtumy9US — Laiken Jordahl is on Bluesky now (@LaikenJordahl) November 21, 2024 Big peer-reviewed study out today: "USA-Mexico border wall impedes wildlife movement."Researchers found an 86% reduction in wildlife crossings where walls were built & a 100% reduction crossings of large animals like mountain lions, deer & bears. The presence of largely impermeable barriers along 1,023 km of the USA-Mexico border may hinder the ability of many species to reach climate refuges, thereby increasing their vulnerability to such changes For adult chimps, playing may be more important than previously thought — science news x New research is shedding light on the role of play in adult chimpanzees. https://t.co/opMWM7ALpA — Science News (@ScienceNews) November 22, 2024 You are never too old to play — a maxim that even adult chimpanzees seem to follow. Young chimpanzees are already known to get many benefits from playing. But it seems to also be more important among adult chimps than previously thought. A multiyear study of dozens of adult chimpanzees in Ivory Coast suggests that play helps adults reduce tension and boost cooperation among individuals, researchers report November 21 in Current Biology. “Every time we think we have something that’s like, ‘This is the thing that makes humans different,’ eventually we knock it down,” says Kris Sabbi, a primatologist at Harvard University who was not involved in the study. “We used to think that playing into adulthood was something that humans did and, as it turns out, it’s something that chimps do, too.” Rare Falkland Falcons Set New Standards For Avian Intelligence And Curiosity — ifl science x Vimeo Video Scientists challenging the problem-solving capacities of rare birds of prey on the Falkland Islands have found them astonishingly quick to learn when food is on offer – and remember those skills a year later. The finding supports Darwin’s assessment of the birds’ remarkable intelligence when he visited during the voyage of the Beagle, and also shows the sorts of intelligence we most admire are more widespread among birds than has previously been acknowledged. Nature’s first fiber optics could light the way to internet innovation — science news x Scientists have found that heart-shaped clams use fiber optic–like structures to channel sunlight through their shells in much the same way that telecommunications company use fiber optics to deliver high-speed internet connectivity into homes. https://t.co/DB1WS87jKp — Science News (@ScienceNews) November 19, 2024 In a discovery that blurs the line between biology and technology, scientists have found that heart-shaped clams use fiber optic–like structures to channel sunlight through their shells in much the same way that telecommunications company use fiber optics to deliver high-speed internet connectivity into homes. This innovation, a first known example of bundled fiber optics in a living creature, helps to explain how heart cockles (Corculum cardissa) — a marine bivalve found in shallow waters across the Indian and Pacific Oceans — harness sunlight to nourish symbiotic algae living within, while protecting them from harmful ultraviolet rays. In return, the algae provide the clams with sugars and other essential nutrients. x Welcoming a new leafcutter ant symbiont, Hamotus heidiae, into the world! H. heidiae is a pselaphine rove beetle myrmecophile from Peru. It undergoes its entire life cycle inside Acromyrmex nests, where it is chemically invisible to its host ants:https://t.co/BXCVD4B8BI pic.twitter.com/fnZG9KQhUq — Joe Parker (@Pselaphinae) November 11, 2024 Welcoming a new leafcutter ant symbiont, Hamotus heidiae, into the world! H. heidiae is a pselaphine rove beetle myrmecophile from Peru. It undergoes its entire life cycle inside Acromyrmex nests, where it is chemically invisible to its host ants This is the first close-up image of a star beyond our galaxy — science news x The first up-close image of an extragalactic star surprised the astronomers who took it. Here’s why. https://t.co/86GgaseI4n — Science News (@ScienceNews) November 22, 2024 For the first time, scientists have captured a zoomed-in photo of a star outside of our Milky Way galaxy. The image revealed surprising details about WOH G64, a giant star that is probably dying, researchers report November 21 in Astronomy & Astrophysics. The star, which is about 1,500 times the size of our sun, sits 160,000 light-years away from Earth. It lives inside the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy that orbits the Milky Way. Einstein’s gravity endures despite a dark energy puzzle — science news x The DESI project previously reported that dark energy — long thought to be constant — changes over time. A new analysis reaffirms that claim. https://t.co/s3Ulun6kR3 — Science News (@ScienceNews) November 22, 2024 Dark energy, the mysterious phenomenon that causes the expansion of the cosmos to accelerate, is widely thought to have had a constant density throughout the history of the universe. But dark energy may instead be waning, researchers from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, or DESI, collaboration report November 19 in a batch of papers posted to the project’s website and arXiv.org. The finding reaffirms an April report from the same team that had come to a similar conclusion (SN: 4/4/24). Simultaneously, the new analysis — a more thorough look at the same data used in the earlier report — confirms that the DESI data agree with general relativity, Albert Einstein’s theory of gravity, with no evidence for alternative, “modified gravity” theories. Hiker discovers first trace of entire prehistoric ecosystem in Italian Alps — the guardian Check out the photos at the source A hiker in the northern Italian Alps has stumbled across the first trace of what scientists believe to be an entire prehistoric ecosystem, including the well-preserved footprints of reptiles and amphibians, brought to light by the melting of snow and ice induced by the climate crisis. The discovery in the Valtellina Orobie mountain range in Lombardy dates back 280 million years to the Permian period, the age immediately prior to dinosaurs, scientists say. Scientists Scramble to Save Climate Data from Trump—Again — scientific american x Scientists Scramble to Save Climate Data from Trump—Again | Scientific American https://t.co/W9ucGBVyCp — Dr. David Shiffman 🦈 (@WhySharksMatter) November 22, 2024 Eight years ago, as the Trump administration was getting ready to take office for the first time, mathematician John Baez … a professor at the University of California, Riverside, was worried the information — everything from satellite data on global temperatures to ocean measurements of sea-level rise — might soon be destroyed. His effort, known as the Azimuth Climate Data Backup Project, archived at least 30 terabytes of federal climate data by the end of 2017 … But federal databases, containing vast stores of globally valuable climate information, remained largely intact through the end of Trump’s first term. Federal datasets may be in bigger trouble this time than they were under the first Trump administration, they say. And they’re preparing to begin their archiving efforts anew … They’re also working on ways to ensure that scientists can access and use the archived datasets if they do disappear from federal websites. [...] Project 2025 presidential transition project suggested that political appointees “will have to eradicate climate change references from absolutely everywhere.” How do we know that the climate crisis is to blame for extreme weather? — the guardian x "The good news is that the scientific techniques used to untangle that question – called climate attribution – are now well established. The bad news is what they reveal." Helpful explainer on how we know that oil, coal, & gas cause extreme weather: https://t.co/Vr3sypibQg — Yellow Dot Studios (@weareyellowdot) November 20, 2024 It is a crucial question: is the climate crisis to blame for the extreme weather disasters taking lives and destroying homes around the world. But it has not been an easy one to answer. How much is due to global heating, how much is just the severe weather that has always happened? The good news is that the scientific techniques used to untangle that question – called climate attribution – are now well established. The bad news is what they reveal: the studies show that the burning of fossil fuels has changed the climate so dramatically that heatwaves, floods and storms are now hitting communities with a severity and frequency never seen during the entire development of human civilisation. [...] The most striking findings are of extreme heatwaves that would have been impossible without global heating, because they have no historical precedent and do not happen in model simulations without the added heat from human-caused climate change. That is as close to saying global heating caused the heatwave as makes no difference. At least 24 previously impossible heatwaves have already struck around the world, from Europe to North America, Africa and east Asia. x For every 1°C of warming the atmosphere absorbs 7% more water. If you want to know what happens to that water, ask the people in Killeybegs, Donegal in Ireland 🇮🇪 who are suffering from it today. pic.twitter.com/JAP9ay0rXi — Andy #Rejoin #Climatejustice #NHS (@andycorneys) November 23, 2024 x A brain imaging study turns its eye on people with aphantasia. https://t.co/5hIVvvxsPQ — Science News (@ScienceNews) November 22, 2024 In a recent study, Luciani and colleagues explored the connections between the senses, in this case, hearing and seeing. In most of our brains, these two senses collaborate. Auditory information influences activity in brain areas that handle vision. But in people with aphantasia, this connection isn’t as strong, researchers report November 4 in Current Biology. The results also raise philosophical questions about all the different ways people make sense of the world (SN: 6/28/24). Aphantasia “exists in a realm of invisible differences between people that make our lived experiences unique, without us realizing,” Luciani says. “I find it fascinating that there may be other differences lurking in the shadow of us assuming other people experience the world like us.” Venting when angry seems sensible. Conventional wisdom suggests expressing anger can help us quell it, like releasing steam from a pressure cooker. But this common metaphor is misleading, according to a recent meta-analytic review. Researchers at Ohio State University analyzed 154 studies on anger, finding little evidence that venting helps. In some cases, it could increase anger … "Venting anger might sound like a good idea, but there's not a shred of scientific evidence to support catharsis theory." [...] The findings show the key to curbing anger is reducing physiological arousal, the authors say, from anger itself or from the otherwise beneficial physical activity it might inspire. "To reduce anger, it is better to engage in activities that decrease arousal levels," Bushman said. how Humans are addressing climate change x A day they will never forget pic.twitter.com/MZpK3AhWGS — NO CONTEXT HUMANS (@HumansNoContext) November 22, 2024 OVERNIGHT NEWS DIGEST PUBLISHES DAILY AT 9 PM (OR SO) PACIFIC TIME. SATURDAY EDITIONS FOCUS ON SCIENCE NEWS. OND EDITORS ARE SIDE POCKET (SUNDAY), MAGGIEJEAN (MONDAY), CHITOWN KEV (TUESDAY), JEREMYBLOOM (WEDNESDAY), EEFF (THURSDAY), ANNETTE BOARDMAN (FRIDAY), JCK (1ST SATURDAY), BÉSAME (4TH SATURDAY). NEXT SATURDAY A NEW EDITOR TAKES OVER THE 2ND, 3RD, AND 5TH SATURDAYS OF EACH MONTH — WELCOME DOOM&GLOOM [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/11/23/2287431/-Overnight-Science-Digest-Nectar-eating-wolves-may-be-1st-known-large-carnivore-pollinators?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/