Faux Poo | Deaf Mosquitoes | Octo Outfits

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Very excited to partner with Morning Brew this week! I’ve read their newsletter nearly every single day for the last 4+ years. It’s that good.

They even cover science on Sundays! See for yourself by clicking their logo up there 👆️ or the ad down below.

-Steve ☕️ 

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Faux Poo

Fake poop could save our planet. WhaleX’s synthetic whale feces replicate ecological boosts generated by true #2.

• Nutrient rich whale poop stimulates phytoplankton blooms

• Which absorb CO₂ and support food chains

• Blue whales pass up to ~53 gallons of poo per movement

Current testing drops droppings in biopods to measure growth and carbon capture, as well as control the fecal spread. WhaleX aims to offset the poo production loss caused by 20th century industrial whaling. TIL roughly ¾ of Earth’s surface is a whale toilet.

Smells like science

Deaf Mosquitoes

If you want less mosquitoes, improve their listening skills. Researchers found hearing to be a single point of failure for male mosquito mating.

• Male mosquitoes listen for female wingbeats to find a mate

• Mosquito hearing gene = trpVa

• Enhancing trpVa in sterile males could reduce populations

Genetically sterile and hearing-enhanced males would outcompete natural competition, so the females one and only mating attempt results in empty eggs. Offering an ethically complicated tool in the fight against diseases such as malaria, zika, and dengue fever.

Just don’t teach them sign language

Octo Outfits

Fitting in can be tough, especially if you’re an octopus. Changing color requires the same amount of energy used just to stay alive, while resting.

• Tiny muscles control chromatophores to change color

• Blue light triggered color change in skin samples

• Metabolic cost measured by change in O₂ consumption

This makes octo-camo-mode one of the animal kingdom’s most “expensive” adaptive traits, not even including the neural effort involved and energy cost of changing skin texture. Almost as difficult as changing out of sweatpants.

Octopuses always have matching socks

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Unnatural Selection

Last week: “Which long distance view is cooler?”

On a clear night with a full moon, if you look carefully, you can juuust about see how much the moon loves us. ❤️ 

st3v on site

Metabolic Matching

Turns out, deciding what to wear is a lot harder when you have to factor in metabolic cost.

Where’s st3v? I gave him today off while I recover from shingles. He’ll be back next week!

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