See the fluorescing tail feathers of a male emperor bird-of-paradise

Birds-of-paradise are known for their bright colours and courtship displays. Now, it turns out that many species also have body parts that fluoresce

Image courtesy of American Museum of Natural History

Joel Kontinen

”This striking plume of yellow is the fluorescing tail feathers of a male emperor bird-of-paradise (Paradisaea guilielmi). Birds-of-paradise are known for their bright colours and courtship displays. Now, it turns out that many species also fluoresce – absorbing light and re-emitting it at lower-energy wavelengths. Fluorescent patches are found in body parts used during courtship, like tail feathers and bills.”

When God  make the birds, He formed some of them beautiful, as can be said in this instance.

Source:

See the fluorescing tail feathers of a male emperor bird-of-paradise | New Scientist

12 February 2025 

How a moth uses an optical illusion to disguise itself as a leaf

 The fruit-sucking moth bears an uncanny resemblance to a leaf

Image courtesy of  Bridgette Gower.

Joel Kontinen

“A moth found in northern Australia and South-East Asia has an astonishing camouflage trick: it creates an optical illusion to look like a three-dimensional leaf, complete with a raised midrib, when it is actually smooth.

“If I gave you a specimen now, you wouldn’t believe it was flat,” says Jennifer Kelley at the University of Western Australia in Perth. “When we showed it to people, they were very confused by it. It really does not look flat.”

The smooth wings of fruit-sucking moths appear to be ridged like a leaf – but the resemblance is created by nanostructures that reflect light in an unusual way.

The fruit-sucking moth (Eudocima aurantia) resembles a leaf to fool predators, especially birds, into thinking it isn’t food. Although it was first described in 1877, until now this likeness was thought to be caused by pigments and the shape of its body.

In fact, the moth uses extremely sophisticated physics to give the impression it is a leaf, says Kelley.

This cannot be the result of evolution. This strategy is the result of intelligence design that God has provided for this species.

Source:

 James Woodford 2025 How a moth uses an optical illusion to disguise itself as a leaf | New Scientist 12 February

 

 

Distant exoplanet may be the most volcanic world ever found

 

Illustration of the volcanic exoplanet L 98-59 b. Image courtesy of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Joel Kontinen

The more we know about exoplanets, the mysterious they become.  Now a planet with a large volcanic  world has just ben found.

“An alien world with a seemingly sulphur-filled atmosphere may be the most volcanic planet astronomers have ever spotted.

We have never directly detected volcanic activity outside our solar system, in part because current telescopes aren’t powerful enough to take images of exoplanets’ surfaces. We might be able to spot alien volcanoes by measuring the gases they pump into a planet’s atmosphere, but this is also at the very limit of what current telescopes can do – there have been tantalising hints of atmospheres on rocky surface.”

Source:

 Alex Wilkins  2025 Distant exoplanet may be the most volcanic world ever found | New Scientist 10 February 

Humpback whale songs have patterns that resemble human language

 

Image courtesy of Tony Wu/Nature Picture Library/Alamy

Joel Kontinen 

“Humpbackwhale songs have statistical patterns in their structure that are remarkably similar to those seen in human language. While this doesn’t mean the songs convey complex meanings like our sentences do, it hints that whales may learn their songs in a similar way to how human infants start to understand language.

Only male humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) sing, and the behaviour is thought to be important for attracting mates. The songs are constantly evolving, with new elements appearing and spreading through the population until the old song is completely replaced with a new one.

“We think it’s a little bit like a standardised test, where everybody’s got to do the same task but you can make changes and embellishments to show that you’re better at the task than everybody else,” says Jenny Allen at Griffith University in Gold Coast, Australia.

Instead of trying to find meaning in the songs, Allen and her colleagues were looking for innate structural patterns that may be similar to those seen in human language. They analysed eight years of whale songs recorded around New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean.”

But humpback whales are not deriving a proto language that people could use. They are animals with created ways to tell their message.

Source:

James Woodford 2025 Humpback whale songs have patterns that resemble human language | New Scientist 6 February

 

 

Spiders can run just as fast after two of their legs drop off

 
 Image courtesy of Didier Descouens - CC BY-SA 3.0.

Joel Kontinen

When spiders self-amputate two of their legs, they quickly adjust their running gait so they can return to full speed

Spiders can run as fast after two of their legs are cut off.

“Spiders can reach their top running speeds again soon after self-amputating a limb – a trick that could inspire robots that can move more effectively when they are damaged.

When threatened by a predator, spiders can detach their legs in a process called autotomy – up to 40 per cent of wild spiders have missing legs as a result. Their legs fully grow back when they moult, which can be e within one to two months for juveniles.“

This is a way of making the spiders regrow their limbs, brought about intelligent design.  

Source:

James Woodford 2025 Spiders can run just as fast after two of their legs drop off | New Scientist 4 February 

 

Omega-3 supplements seem to slow down biological ageing

 

Joel Kontinen

Taking a daily omega-3 supplement appears to slow down the rate of biological ageing by three months – and even more so if you also take vitamin D and exercise.

How can Omega-3 capsules slow down ageing in older people?

Here is what New Scientist says of the formula:

“Daily Omega-3 supplement seems to slow biological ageing in older people, particularly if combined with vitamin D and exercise.

We already knew that Omega-3’s – “good” fats found in seeds, nuts and some fish – can boost our immunity, heart health and brain function.

They have also been linked to changes in “epigenetic” markers, chemical tags on DNA that alter the activity of genes and, in turn, how cells behave. This suggests that omega-3s reduce the pace of biological ageing, often defined as a measure of how quickly someone’s body is deteriorating compared with the general population’s.

To explore this further, Heike Bischoff-Ferrari at the University of Zurich and her colleagues split 777 people in Switzerland, aged 70 to 91, into eight groups. They also wanted to find out how Omega-3 may work alongside vitamin D supplements and exercise.

“Omega-3 plays on multiple pathways of ageing, such as being anti-inflammatory. Similarly, vitamin D and exercise have multiple benefits,” says Bischoff-Ferrari. “We thought, if you play on each of these differential pathways, do you get an additive benefit?”

Some of the participants were already taking these supplements or doing strength training at the supplements, says Bischoff-Ferrari, so they were allowed to continue.

Yes, we know that exercise, the sun (the source of vitamin D) and Omega-3 will slow down our ageing.

Source:

Carissa Wong 2025 Omega-3 supplements seem to slow down biological ageing | New Scientist 3 February

 

 

'Gossiping neighbors': Plants didn't evolve to be kind to each other, study finds

Image courtesy of Loreto Oyarte Galvez

Joel Kontinen

Plants are not friendly to each other, a new study claims.

“Rather than helping each other out when they're attacked, plants may have to eavesdrop on each other to know when to launch their own defences.”

A new study says that” rather than warning each other of impending doom, plants may be better off hiding signs of distress from each other, or even lying about danger that isn't there.”

This might have to do with evolution, in which the species or individuals who has the best genes always wins. It may relate to the plants defence mechanism so that it will not say which is the greatest danger, so that herbivores or insects will find the plant unpalatable.

Source:

Jess Thomson 2025 'Gossiping neighbors': Plants didn't evolve to be kind to each other, study finds | Live Science 31 January