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The Social Life of Forests - The New York Times

“Where some scientists see a big cooperative collective, I see reciprocal exploitation,” said Toby Kiers, a professor of evolutionary biology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. “Both parties may benefit, but they also constantly struggle to maximize their individual payoff.” Kiers is one of several scientists whose recent studies have found that plants and symbiotic fungi reward and punish each other with what are essentially trade deals and embargoes, and that mycorrhizal networks can increase conflict among plants. In some experiments, fungi have withheld nutrients from stingy plants and strategically diverted phosphorous to resource-poor areas where they can demand high fees from desperate plants.

The Social Life of Forests - The New York Times

In some of her earliest and most famous experiments, Simard planted mixed groups of young Douglas fir and paper birch trees in forest plots and covered the trees with individual plastic bags. In each plot, she injected the bags surrounding one tree species with radioactive carbon dioxide and the bags covering the other species with a stable carbon isotope — a variant of carbon with an unusual number of neutrons. The trees absorbed the unique forms of carbon through their leaves. Later, she pulverized the trees and analyzed their chemistry to see if any carbon had passed from species to species underground. It had. In the summer, when the smaller Douglas fir trees were generally shaded, carbon mostly flowed from birch to fir. In the fall, when evergreen Douglas fir was still growing and deciduous birch was losing its leaves, the net flow reversed. As her earlier observations of failing Douglas fir had suggested, the two species appeared to depend on each other.

Green money rather than green spaces?

The mechanisms underlying this association "could be related to better opportunities provided by green spaces to perform physical activity as well as a decrease in exposure to air pollution," explains Carmen de Keijzer, ISGlobal researcher and first author of the study. The association observed was higher for women than for men. "Women tend to spend more time in their residential neighbourhood, which could explain this gender difference," adds the researcher. "The study found more health benefits in those areas with higher tree coverage, which provides a basis for investigating the types of vegetation that impact positively on our health," says Payam Dadvand, ISGlobal researcher and last author of the study.

Sunflowers found to share nutrient-rich soil with others of their kind

In the first study, the researchers placed isolated sunflower plants near a rich food source and watched how it behaved. As expected, the plant sent more roots into the area, allowing it to consume more nutrients. But they also found that when they placed two sunflower plants an equal distance from the same food source, both sent fewer roots than they would have were they alone. This was a clear sign that the plants were not only aware of the presence of the other, but were working together to allow both of them to gain the greatest benefit. In another experiment, the researchers placed sunflower plants at different distances from the rich soil patch and found that the sunflower nearest the soil patch sent out just as many new roots as if it were isolated. In other experiments, the researchers planted multiple plants at different distances from the nutrient-rich patch to see how they would respond. They report that plants that were growing with a neighbor actually decreased root length in such shared patches—and they did not increase them when they were close to very high-quality soil areas. The researchers conclude that sunflowers work together to gain the most benefit from the soil for themselves and for those around them.

Opinion: The Free Solo Documentary Addressed Some Uncomfortable Truths, But Ignored Others - Climbing Magazine

The filmmakers do a good job of questioning Honnold leading up to the ascent, which is why it's so jarring when they stop. After Honnold tops out, the ambiguity disappears and it becomes a wild celebration of an athletic achievement, complete with triumphant guitar riffs. It’s as though the filmmakers believe that since Honnold succeeded, it was a good idea all along, and we were wrong to ever doubt him; victory silences scrutiny.

Light pollution may cause insomnia in older adults: Artificial, outdoor light exposure at night is significantly associated with hypnotic drug prescription -- ScienceDaily

Results show that increasing nighttime levels of artificial, outdoor light exposure, stratified by quartile, were associated with an increased prevalence of hypnotic prescriptions and daily dose intake. Furthermore, older adults exposed to higher levels of artificial, outdoor light at night were more likely to use hypnotic drugs for longer periods or higher daily dosages. "This study observed a significant association between the intensity of outdoor, artificial, nighttime lighting and the prevalence of insomnia as indicated by hypnotic agent prescriptions for older adults in South Korea," said Kyoung-bok Min, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at Seoul National University College of Medicine in South Korea. "Our results are supportive data that outdoor, artificial, nighttime light could be linked to sleep deprivation among those while inside the house."

Could consciousness all come down to the way things vibrate?

The central thesis of our approach is this: the particular linkages that allow for large-scale consciousness – like those humans and other mammals enjoy – result from a shared resonance among many smaller constituents. The speed of the resonant waves that are present is the limiting factor that determines the size of each conscious entity in each moment. As a particular shared resonance expands to more and more constituents, the new conscious entity that results from this resonance and combination grows larger and more complex. So the shared resonance in a human brain that achieves gamma synchrony, for example, includes a far larger number of neurons and neuronal connections than is the case for beta or theta rhythms alone. What about larger inter-organism resonance like the cloud of fireflies with their little lights flashing in sync? Researchers think their bioluminescent resonance arises due to internal biological oscillators that automatically result in each firefly syncing up with its neighbors.

Crossing the Grand Canyon on Foot | Ultrarunning History

The first known double crossing hike occured in 1891. Dan Hogan (1871-1935) and Henry Ward went down the rough miner’s trail, crossed the river and made their way up Bright Angel Canyon to the North Rim. They then returned by the same route. Cameron charged a toll of one dollar to use the trail, plus fees for drinking water and to use outhouses at Indian Garden. By 1903 traveling down to the river and back in one day either by foot or by horse was possible. By 1905 it was estimated that Cameron was making $7,500 per year in toll fees.

Why "Wilder" Nature Is Better for Your Health | Outside Online

In addition, visitors to the park and wilderness area had increased levels of joy; and visitors to the wilderness area were the only ones to have a significant decrease in cortisol levels. That’s consistent with the “levels of nature” hypothesis, much like another recent study that saw greater improvements in insulin sensitivity and oxidative stress in Korean women who spent a half-day in a “wild forest” compared to a “tended forest.”

Pando, the Trembling Giant – Richfield, Utah - Atlas Obscura

Spanning 107 acres and weighing 6,615 tons, Pando was once thought to be the world’s largest organism (now usurped by thousand-acre fungal mats in Oregon), and is almost certainly the most massive. In terms of other superlatives, the more optimistic estimates of Pando’s age have it as over one million years old, which would easily make it one of the world’s oldest living organisms.

Nature programs could put a spring in your step: New study shows that watching films set in a natural environment boosts body image -- ScienceDaily

This new study found that similar, immediate improvements in body appreciation could be achieved by watching a film depicting a natural environment. The film showing city streets had no effect, either positive or negative, on participants' body appreciation. Professor Swami said: "There are a number of possible explanations for our results, including the idea that natural environments promote 'soft fascination', which is a state of cognitive quiet that fosters self-kindness and helps individuals have a more compassionate view of their body. Views of rivers and trees are also devoid of any reminders of materialism, and so allows the viewer respite from thoughts of consumption and image. "However, more work still needs to be done to fully understand exactly how exposure to natural environments promotes improvements in body image, as well as how our findings here translate to how people view nature films outside the laboratory. For example, if we watch Springwatch on the sofa whilst at the same time checking our Twitter feed, it's possible the natural scenes might not have the same immersive effect.

Green is good for you

In one study, for instance, he asked participants to complete a 40-minute sequence of stroop and binary classification tasks designed to exhaust their directed attention capacity. After the attentionally fatiguing tasks, the randomly assigned participants spent 40 minutes walking in a local nature preserve, walking in an urban area, or sitting quietly while reading magazines and listening to music. After this period, those who had walked in the nature preserve performed better than the other participants on a standard proofreading task. They also reported more positive emotions and less anger. "These are not spectacular natural environments or horribly oppressive urban environments," says Hartig, an associate professor of applied psychology at the Institute for Housing and Urban Research at Uppsala University in Gävle, Sweden. "We try to represent typical local conditions, using what's available to people in the way of places they can enter if they're feeling stressed and want some relief."

Doses of Neighborhood Nature: The Benefits for Mental Health of Living with Nature | BioScience | Oxford Academic

This growing problem has, at least in part, been attributed to the increasing disconnect between people and the natural world that is resulting from more urbanized, sedentary lifestyles (the “extinction of experience”; Miller 2005, Soga and Gaston 2015). This is supported by research that shows interactions with nature promote psychological restoration (Kaplan 1995), improved mood (Hartig et al. 2003, Barton and Pretty 2010, Roe and Aspinall 2011), improved attention (Hartig et al. 2003, Ottosson and Grahn 2005) and reduced stress and anxiety (Ulrich et al. 1991, Grahn and Stigsdotter 2003, Hartig et al. 2003, Maas et al. 2009).

McCartney's backstage setup

Paul McCartney The Demands: All lamps must be halogen floor lamps with dimmer switch. Only animal free materials (cottons, denims, velour, etc.) Do not provide furniture made of any animal skin or print. Do not provide artificial versions of animal skin or print either. No leather seating is allowed in the black stretch limousine either. Arrange for a dry cleaner before arrival. 6 Full and leafy floor plants, but no trees. We want plants that are just as full on the bottom as the top such as palm, bamboo, peace lilies, etc. No tree trunks! $50.00 - One large arrangement of white Casablanca lilies with lots of foliage. $40.00 - One long stemmed arrangement of pale pink and white roses with lots of foliage. $35 One arrangement of freesia. It comes in various colors so please mix them up. Freesia is a favorite. 20 dozen clean towels outside of the production office

How Trees Calm Us Down

an additional ten trees on a given block corresponded to a one-per-cent increase in how healthy nearby residents felt. “To get an equivalent increase with money, you’d have to give each household in that neighborhood ten thousand dollars—or make people seven years younger,” Berman told me.

Nature melts the brain (in a good way!)

In a 2012 study, for example, Strayer found that backpackers were 50 percent more creative after they had spent four days out on the trail. They were given several tests of creative thinking—for example, they were presented with a set of words (for example: blue, cake, cottage) and asked to figure out the unifying word (cheese). Upon their return, the hikers performed twice as well on the tests. “People were actually solving the problems more creatively after they had unplugged in nature,” he says.

German Forest Ranger Finds That Trees Have Social Networks, Too

trees in the forest are social beings. They can count, learn and remember; nurse sick neighbors; warn each other of danger by sending electrical signals across a fungal network known as the “Wood Wide Web”; and, for reasons unknown, keep the ancient stumps of long-felled companions alive for centuries by feeding them a sugar solution through their roots.

We all heard a lot about Shamu growing up

In 1965, the first-ever orca show at SeaWorld San Diego was performed by a whale named Shamu. When Shamu was stolen from her family in the ocean, a hunter named Ted Griffin killed her mom right in front of her. Ted’s partner, Don Goldsberry, went on to hurt and kill many more orcas after Shamu’s mom.

Fluid immortality, a poem by Robert Krulwich

When the storm passes, you'd think the water would calm, settle and return to a quiet equilibrium, but the energy, oddly, doesn't dissipate. The storm has become a wave that now lives in a patch of sea, moving along with no need for a push from above. It is, says Pretor-Pinney, what scientists call a "free wave," no longer driven by wind (those are "forced waves"). Now it is a moving bit of history, an old sea storm moving on, free to roam. It has become a "swell."
So how do you attach a sensor to a bee? + Put them in a refrigerator. The cold induces a coma-like state long enough for the sensor to be attached to their backs with adhesive. The procedure takes a couple of minutes, and the bees then wake up and return to their hives. “The sensors appear to have no impact on the bee’s ability to fly and carry out its normal duties,” de Souza said.
dolphins use these whistles in the same way as humans use names: they voice their own whistles to identify themselves to others, and they mimic others’ whistles to call to them.