Intelligent Life

1. Remember what I've been saying? Life is about turning up at odd corners: taking chance after chance after chance: probability is insurance against impossibility- this is the most basic law of the universe- widzieć: A mobile phone was lost in the seas off Taiwan, four days after which, it washed up in perfect condition in a beach 37 km away- and the phone was restored to the owner by the parkranger who found it- Reuters. Impossible? Yes. Improbable? Not.

2. So is this: A California man picked up a handful of old records at an antique shop, and shocked himself by learning that they had once belonged to his mother, who died in 1979- UPI

3. Survival tactics of lazy ants: Among all the parasitic ants, Formicoxenus nitidulus, the 'shining guest ant', is a formidable one- it tastes so bad, no ant will clamp its jaw over it- hence it walks about ant colonies with impunity- Not Exactly Rocket Science

4. When given a choice, a lemon shark will hang out with other lemon sharks, and then juvenile sharks would rather be in the company of other similarly sized lemon sharks than to be alone.- "Sharks Choose Friends Based on Two Key Qualities"- you would think this is not exactly rocket science, but wait, this is in Discovery News "Born Animal," which finds, not surprisingly, sharks are brainy.

5. The Ophiocordyceps unilateralis fungus infects Camponotus leonardi ants that live in tropical rainforest trees. Nothing surprising about that. But, once infected, the spore-possessed ant will climb down from its normal habitat and bite down, with what the authors call a "death grip" on a leaf and then die. And where they die, aye, there's the rub- '"The death grip occurred in very precise locations," the authors write'. And the why- "the fungus was transported via the zombie ant to its prime location". Read a real-life horror story at Scientific American- "Fungus Makes Zombie Ants Do All the Work"

6. Web Ecoist has a cute post- 20 Amazing Reptile and Amphibian Anomalies, where we find this, among other things:

7. Among animals, who has more intelligence? No doubts there, but it helps when you have data- "Study finds mammals, birds, fish are evolution's winners; crocodiles, alligators are losers."- Live Science

8. Freakish and Odd Creatures:

via Gamellama (more pictures of freaks there)

9. "People say, You can remove it and still live. But you have to be careful with that logic," he said. "You could remove your left leg and still live. But whenever a body part is moved or changed, there's a price to pay."- National Geographic News

Spleen (helps the heart) and Appendix (stores beneficial bacteria that help us digest food) are not really reduntant- it is just that we don't know where they come in.

10. And finally, what a long post!, a beautiful picture: "Insect Flight Patterns- Video composed of long-exposure photos of bugs buzzing around a streetlight" via  Kottke



flight patterns from Charlie McCarthy on Vimeo.

Be happy.