Frog Light ?

The Daily Dozen feature on National Geographic, edited by photo editor Susan Welchman, is a treasure trove of neat “Your Shots” photos submitted by the magazine’s readers (a selection of which will actually appear on the magazine itself – talk about awesome!).

I particularly like this one, submitted by James Snyder who wrote:

This is a Cuban tree frog on a tree in my backyard in southern Florida. How and why he ate this light is a mystery. It should be noted that at the time I was taking this photo, I thought this frog was dead having cooked himself from the inside. I’m happy to say I was wrong. After a few shots he adjusted his position. So after I was finished shooting him, I pulled the light out of his mouth and he was fine. Actually, I might be crazy but I don’t think he was very happy when I took his light away.

Monkeys Teach

Macaque monkeys in Lopburi, Thailand, were observed apparently teaching their young how to floss. These particular monkeys used human hair from visitors to the shrine. Because the visitors view the monkeys as divine servants, they allow them to pluck their hair.

Japanese researchers, led by Nobuo Masataka of the University at Kyoto, focused on 7 female Macaque’s each with one year old infants:

“I was surprised because teaching techniques on using tools properly to a third party are said to be an activity carried out only by humans,” he said.

The study focused on the observation of seven female long-tailed macaques and interaction with their off spring at a colony of monkeys near Bangkok in Thailand.

The practice of teeth flossing doubled and became significantly more elaborate when they were in the presence of infant monkeys, suggesting that they were attempting to teach the technique to the young.

“The study is still at the hypothesis stage,” said Professor Masataka.

“We would like to shift our focus to the baby monkeys to check whether the mothers’ actions are effectively helping them learn how to clean their teeth.”

Chicks Knows Math!

They may be just 3 or 4 days old, but chicks can already do simple arithmetic. Inspired by experiments with human babies, Rosa Rugani of the University of Trento Center for Mind/Brain Science in Italy and colleagues decided to test chick’s mathematic abilities:

… Rugani and her colleagues worked out tests based on adding objects to and taking them away from little piles behind screens. With no special math coaching, the chicks did a decent job of keeping track of object shifts representing such problems as 4 – 2 = 2 and 1 + 2 = 3, she and her colleagues report online March 31 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

“This is the first demonstration of adding and subtracting in young animals” other than humans, Rugani says. Other animals, including some primates and dogs, have demonstrated numerical powers as adults.

Frog Surgery to Repair Shattered Leg

After being dug up from hibernation by a burrowing dog, thereby shattering his leg, “Brullie” the frog underwent surgery and was fitted with a tiny steel rod to repair his broken lower leg bone.

Doting owner Anne Mearns, 62, said: ‘People think I’m mad to care so much about a frog but I couldn’t bear to see him in so much pain.

‘Frogs are famous for their legs, so the thought of Brullie being left lame broke my heart. I knew without surgery he would never move again, so I to rushed to the vet and begged him to operate.

The vet was more used to saving cats and dogs and couldn’t understand why I was so worried about a frog, but he eventually agreed.

Hidden Face

German researchers have used the latest scanning technology to reveal a second face underneath one of Egypt’s most famous artistical pieces. Though the inner stone carving indicates that the outer layer was only modestly changed, it does bring into question what the motives were of the original sculptors.

The differences between the faces, though slight – creases at the corners of the mouth, a bump on the nose of the stone version – suggest to Huppertz that someone expressly ordered the adjustments between stone and stucco when royal sculptors immortalized the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten 3,300 years ago.

Flights to Mars!

Continuing today’s special theme: Expedia has announced affordable trips to mars. It’s now cheaper to vacation on Mars than to visit Las Vegas!

That’s right! Expedia has dropped all booking fees—including fees on flights to Mars. Right now you can save over $3 trillion on a Mars vacation—and in this economy, you can’t afford NOT to go!

Tauntaun Sleeping Bag

This high-quality sleeping bag looks just like a Tauntaun, complete with saddle, internal intestines and glowing lightsaber zipper pull. Now when your kids tell you their favorite Star Wars movie is “Attack of the Clones” you can nestle the wee-ones snug in simulated Tauntaun fur while regaling them with the amazing tale of “Empire Strikes Back”.

Use the glowing lightsaber zipper pull on the Tauntaun sleeping bag to illustrate how Han Solo saved Luke Skywalker from certain death in the freezing climate of Hoth by slitting open the belly of a dead Tauntaun and placing Luke inside the stinking (but warm) carcass. If your kids don’t change their tune on which Star Wars film is the greatest ever, you can do your best Jar Jar impression until they repent.