In the latest edition of Marine Mammal Science a team from the University of Queensland published a paper outlining an explanation of the much observed and highly spectacular "breaching" behaviour. Thanks to @MJ_Coren for his article in Quartz. Paper: Evidence for the functions of surface-active behaviors in humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) As part of their social sound repertoire, migrating humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae)…
The good news: child mortality has fallen in every single country over the past few decades. 4 million fewer children died before their fifth birthday in 2015 than in the year 2000. The bad news: according to a detailed study published in The Lancet, despite remarkable progress in the improvement of child survival between 1990 and 2015, the Millennium Development Goal…
Consilience. The word of the day, Year, Decade or Epoch? I recently [briefly] participated in a planning session and debate [through my WhaleSongServices consultancy business ] with an ex-colleague and some of his senior/executive staff regarding particular public policy challenges for a Government Department in the near to medium term [5-10 years] and the broader strategic needs of their planning. We…
Seven miles deep... The project, which was funded by the NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, was designed to establish a baseline for ambient noise in the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean. Human-created noise has increased steadily in recent decades and getting these first recordings allows scientists in the future to determine if the noise levels are growing and…
There's nothing like evidenced-based public policy... News that the CSIRO plan to cut over 100 jobs from the agency’s climate science staff. Wide-spread opinion fears cuts to the CSIRO’s climate modelling and measuring research will breach Australia’s obligations under the recent Paris agreement and will result in huge costs to the economy. News reports here, here, here, here and here . Australia’s Climate Council has published…
Duke University [in the US] has announced that a first draft of the “tree of life” for the roughly 2.3 million named species of animals, plants, fungi and microbes -- from platypuses to puffballs -- has been released. A collaborative effort among eleven institutions, the tree depicts the relationships among living things as they diverged from one another over time,…
Teachers teaching misconceptions: a study of factors contributing to (US) high school biology students’ acquisition of biological evolution-related misconceptions Research has revealed that high school students matriculate to college holding misconceptions related to biological evolution. These misconceptions interfere with students’ abilities to grasp accurate scientific explanations and serve as fundamental barriers to understanding evolution. Because the scientific community regards evolution…
Science at its best. Stanford Professor Andrei Linde [known as the father of inflation] is given the news that his life's-work appears to be confirmed by the BICEP2 experiment based at the south-pole and his first reaction is.. "if it is true......" "do I believe just because it is beautiful?" http://youtu.be/ZlfIVEy_YOA Links Professor Andrei Linde Stanford News BICEP2 - Harvard…