Posts tagged as wasps
Hopeless, Racist Wasps
"Individually, each wasp flew from the bottom of the T to the fork, where they could view an image on either side before picking one to touch. One of the two images delivered a mild and unpleasant shock. For each pair of images, wasps had 40 chances to learn which was a safer bet. When wasps were shown two distinct wasp faces, it only took about 10 trials before they learned to consistently choose the right one, the researchers report today in the journal Science. For the next 30 trials, they picked right about 75 to 80 percent of the time. The insects were eventually able to perform as well when shown two different black shapes on a white background, but it took them a lot longer. It wasn’t until close to the end of 40 trials that they were scoring right with the same success rate. When asked to distinguish between caterpillars, the wasps were hopeless." READ MORE
Sad Distant Planet Being Eaten By Its Own Sun!
The latest exciting space drama to come via the Hubble Telescope takes place 600 light years from earth in a constellation called Auriga. There, a huge planet called Wasp 12b is being eaten by its sun, the dwarf star Wasp 12. (The entities are so named not just because "wasp" is a such an awesome word, but for the British project, the Wide Area Search for Planets, through which they were discovered in 2008.) Apparently, the helpless planet is being drawn into tighter and tighter orbit. READ MORE
Jews Now Able To Drink Heavily, Repress Emotions
Nearly fifteen years after it was declared that Asians are the new Jews, Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court apparently means that Jews are the new WASPS. I'm not sure what it all signifies, but clearly there is an opportunity somewhere for an ethnic group with moxie and hustle to snap up the vacancy these two promotions have created. I'd suggest Italians, but, you know.
Brussels Sprouts Definitely Trying To Figure Out Way To Send Wasps To Lay Eggs Inside Humans That Will Eat Us From Within
"Plants are not static or silly. They respond to tactile cues, they recognize different wavelengths of light, they listen to chemical signals, they can even talk." That's Monika Hilker, of the Institute of Biology at the Free University of Berlin, to Natalie Angier in today's Science Times. Like Stevie Wonder, and Michael Pollan, Angier shows how plants demonstrate a sort of will to live that she thinks might give ethical vegetarians pause. (Which is really just kind of mean. Those people are already so hung-up. And the poor Jains.) But the interesting stuff is in the evidence. The "talking" Hilker cites takes the form of volatile chemicals released into the air as "cries for help" when a plant is being eaten. Say, by a caterpillar. Angier writes: "Such airborne alarm calls have been shown to attract both large predatory insects like dragon flies, which delight in caterpillar meat, and tiny parasitic insects, which can infect a caterpillar and destroy it from within." READ MORE
