Iced Rhino | Tongue Hair | Beary Warm

A fin-tip dipped below the surface as soon as I saw it from my kayak. My heart stopped. I hadn’t thought about sharks in Savannah.

Fortunately it was a dolphin! 4 of them swam with me while I meandered their marshy harbor last weekend. A wonderful surprise I’ll remember forever.

—Steve 🐬 

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Iced Rhino

Future woolly rhinos may owe their existence to frozen food. Researchers sequenced the furry creature’s genome from a wolf stomach.

• 14k+ year-old wolf preserved in permafrost

• With a belly full of perfect woolly rhino hide

• Genome grants insight into rhino’s health near extinction

Their healthy genome diversity implies that woolly rhinos suffered a sudden population crash, since slow extinctions often involve inbreeding as numbers dwindle. The finding could lead to more frozen “biological capsule” studies as global warming melts their coffins.

What’s cooler than being cool? — ICE COLD

Tongue Hair

Hairy tongues are a luxury queen bees can’t afford. Providing new insight into why they don’t venture out as much as workers.

• Queen bee tongues have sparse, short hairs

• While workers sport thick, carpet-like tongues

• Both are specially evolved for their diets

Workers utilize their thousands of micro-hairs to slurp watery nectar. While their queens feast on thick royal jelly to fuel their leadership work with just hundreds of tongue hairs. This insight will better inform sustainable beekeeping going forward.

Ooo that’s why queens never visit Bee’s Knees! - Buzz about it

Beary Warm

Greasy polar bears are waaay ahead of most humans in winterization. Researchers identified how these snowy giants keep the ice off.

• Polar bear fur is coated in sebum

• Sebum = hydrophobic greasy coating

• Washing the hair removed sebum and allowed ice to stick

Polar bears use their fur to silently slide across ice, hunting seals at breathing holes. Something the Inuit people have long known and copied with fur-lined tools and clothing. But now you can say “sebum” and giggle, as a scientist.

Boots with the brrrrrr

st3v on site

Coffee Straws

Coffee straws are just the first step in turning Bee’s Knee’s Coffee into the all-inclusive one-stop-shop for all your hive’s needs! We already have a REAL-Intelligence bot, st3v!

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