The tecopa pupfish. The Javan tiger. The golden toad. The Pyrenean ibex. The West African black rhino. Just a handful of species that have gone extinct in the past 50 years. Many people consider “extinction” as a phenomenon that occurred millions of years ago when the dinosaurs died. As succinctly explained by Joe Hanson’s video for It’s OK To Be Smart, and detailed in Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction, we are currently living the next major mass extinction.

Let’s compare a few numbers:

There are an estimated 7.2 billion humans around the globe. Meanwhile, only about 300,000 chimpanzees remain in Africa. It’s been estimated that there are 25,000 polar bears worldwide, and less than 2,000 wild panda bears in China. As of this past December, only 5 northern white rhinos remain on Earth — all in captivity, unable to breed. Their survival rests in the science of artificial insemination technologies.

In addition to these more prominent, well-loved mammals, many other species of life are dying as well.  Nearly one-third of all known frog species are endangered or extinct. The Rafflesia species of southeast Asia produce the largest flowers on Earth, and are recognizable by their “rotting flesh” aroma — all threatened by deforestation and the inability to cultivate it. There are species we are just discovering, only to discover that they are already endangered, such as the Plectostoma snail species.

Poaching, deforestation, pollution, and climate change are the major factors contributing to the rapid decline in flora and fauna. All factors which are driven by human impact. But we are not an impending asteroid on a collision course set for Earth. We are a species gifted with intellect and compassion, who can choose to make a change for the better.

Go out and enjoy your nearby parks, zoos, or natural history museums, consider donating to research institutions, recycle your trash, ride your bike instead of driving your car — don’t believe that the problem is too big. It isn’t just up to climate scientists and policy makers, conservationist zoos and aquariums, or genetic breeding programs. We can all choose to make a difference.

 

 Featured image in public domain via the Nordisk familjebok/Wikimedia Commons

This weekend, I discovered that The Magic School Bus was available to stream on Netflix. I spent my Saturday morning snuggling in with my pajamas, two pups, a cup of tea, and a blanket of nostalgia as I watched a couple of episodes. I thought about “The Frizz” and Bill Nye the Science Guy, and how they were just as influential as my “real life” school teachers in shaping my love of science as a kid. I wondered what science programming is available for children nowadays. Is there anything that has the potential to become an educational classic like all the shows from my childhood?

One day about a year ago, we were channel surfing and stumbled upon a kids show with an adorable looking CG-animated Tyrannosaurus rex explaining to his Pteranodon friends that “a hypothesis is an idea you can test!” My interest was piqued.

Turns out that show was Dinosaur Train, a PBS series that explores the prehistoric creatures of the Mesozoic Era by way of time traveling train. Nothing stimulates a young child’s scientific imagination quite like dinosaurs. And I have no shame in divulging the fact that as childless adults, we found the show on Netflix and binge watched a few episodes.

A friend on Twitter also pointed me to Sid the Science Kid (the CGI predecessor to Dinosaur Train, both produced by The Jim Henson Company), which introduces basic scientific concepts and the scientific method of asking questions and making observations. She mentioned how the show uses age appropriate language, but doesn’t make it hard for an adult to listen to…in other words, age appropriateness without “dumbing down.” This is so important in science communication!

Google searches also revealed a show called SciGirls, which is aimed at 8-12 year old girls by featuring other preteen girls doing their own science and engineering projects. In a culture that still reinforces sexist/gender-specific marketing for boys and girls (see the “I’m too pretty for homework so my brother does it for me” T-shirt fiasco), I think this show is a great attempt at empowering young girls to get interested in STEM fields.

And for older kids, nothing makes science look cool like the explosive production on Mythbusters or the wonder-filled storytelling in Cosmos.

Perhaps there is hope for children’s science programming after all. None of these jump out at me as potential “classics,” but who knows what our perception of media will look like in 20 years. And of course, there is a whole new programming medium for the digital age, with a plethora of great science-related YouTube channels available 24/7. I’ll share some of my favorites in a future blog post.

From the magical glow of fireflies at night, to the mesmerizing orb of the deep sea angler fish designed to lure prey, most people are familiar with nature’s glowing creatures. This is due to a process called bioluminescence. These animals create their own light by producing a chemical called luciferin, which chemically reacts with oxygen to release energy in the form of light.

A similar process called biofluorescence occurs when one wavelength of light is absorbed, and then converted into a lower energy and higher wavelength, resulting in a different color of light. Recently, it was found that  more than 180 species of biofluorescent fish swimming in the waters. Fishes from the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, and the Solomon Islands were imaged and scanned for fluorescence using special LED light sources and filters, and the results presented a wide variety of patterns and colors.

Diversity of fluorescent patterns and colors in marine fishes. A, swell shark (Cephaloscyllium ventriosum); B, ray (Urobatis jamaicensis); C, sole (Soleichthys heterorhinos); D, flathead (Cociella hutchinsi); E, lizardfish (Synodus dermatogenys); F, frogfish (Antennarius maculatus); G, false stonefish (Scorpaenopsis diabolus); H, false moray eel (Kaupichthys brachychirus); I, false moray eel (Kaupichthys nuchalis); J, pipefish (Corythoichthys haematopterus); K, sand stargazer (Gillellus uranidea); L, goby (Eviota sp.); M, goby (Eviota atriventris); N, surgeonfish (Acanthurus coeruleus, larval); O, threadfin bream (Scolopsis bilineata). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0083259.g001

In deep sea waters, red, yellow, orange, and green light gets filtered out, leaving only the wavelength of light that we perceive as blue light. Using biofluorescence, these fish species absorb the blue light, and convert it back to a lower energy of light, thus re-emmiting the red, yellow, orange, and green colors seen above.

Scientists are currently studying this broad diversity of biofluorescence to determine it’s evolutionary advantages and adaptations to marine life. One hypothesis is that the variations of color and patterns may be used to attract a mate, similar to the way a male peacock will flash his patterned feathers at a female. Another possibility is that different colors and patterns are suited for camouflage within biofluorescent coral reefs. There have also been studies about using biofluorescence as a type of “hidden communication” between the species; they flash their light to one another to signal that a predator is nearby. This silent communication is possible because the light emitted is at a wavelength that the predator itself can’t see.

While most of us will never get to see these beautiful creatures for ourselves, we can close our eyes and envision ourselves swimming in the dark surrounded by glowing flashes of reds, yellows, and greens – nature’s version of a dance rave in your imagination!