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Pollen Heist | Ultra Sip | Team Octopus

Issue #181

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Every week is an opportunity to be grateful, but this week has a whole holiday about it. So we’re looking back at 3 stories I'm thankful for!

Pollen Heist

Some bees chomp down to get more pollen. Researchers observed bumble bees violently shaking after selectively biting buzz-pollinated flowers.

  • ~9% of plants are buzz-pollinated

  • Buzz-pollinated = pollen is concealed unless shaken loose

  • Biting + shaking releases more pollen than just shaking

Not all buzz-eligible landings were shaken, though researchers aren’t sure how bees decide. Future studies will help us better understand this behavior to track environmental impacts on pollination. Fine, I’ll stop biting the flowers.

Quick! (vote)

If you were a bee, which would you bite first?

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Check out last week’s results in “Unnatural Selection” below

Ultra Sip

Ultrasound is the key to instant cold brew coffee. Researchers developed a sound system that cuts brewing time down to just 3 minutes.

  • Normal cold brewing time = 12-24 hours

  • Ultrasonic process collapses acoustic bubbles

  • Creating micro-jets that extract coffee compounds

Trained sensory evaluators confirmed ultrasound-coffee is on par with traditional brews. Testing was done with an off-the-shelf espresso machine, meaning consumer-level quick cold brew could be coming soon. Let’s call it Ultra Brew!

Team Octopus

Octopuses use their many-arms to direct multi-species hunting parties. The cephalopods strategically decide when and where the group attacks.

  • Hunting groups include multiple fish species

  • Blue goatfish act as scouts, finding the best prey

  • Octopuses “punch” slackers and intruders

Result: fish get food hidden in crevices and octopuses save energy previously spent foraging. Future research will explore how octopuses utilize social cues on group hunts. Only a matter of time before they start running human businesses.

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Clickables

🦦 Otters holding hands while they sleep

🌱 Cucumbers shooting seeds 44 mph

Unnatural Selection

Last week: “Which poo do you think phytoplankton prefer?”

78% whale, 22% synthetic

Only one way to settle this: Cotton candy-flavored whale poop.

Make sure you vote up top for next week’s “Unnatural Selection”!

st3v on site

Ultra-Caffeinated

st3v and the bees make ultrasound coffee

st3v and the bees confirmed 38.8-kHz makes the best coffee. Fortunately they already worked great as a team!

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