In the past few years we’ve learned a lot about how plants communicate with each other. The first such communication to be discovered was through volatile organic compounds that plants secrete in order to notify each other of predators. This is known as hormonal sentience.
Recent studies show that ducks may be capable of abstract thinking. Scientists have reached this conclusion after hatching about a hundred ducklings and playing shape games with them while they were imprisoned in an enclosure.
The fact that we’re the dominant species on this planet certainly has its perks. I suppose it would also be just fine if a race of curious aliens starts taking our babies away and make them crawl after floating spheres and cubes in order to examine how their curiosity develops.
Bacteria resistant to last-resort antibiotics are slowly but surely spreading through our world. After almost a century of heavy antibiotic use, many bacteria have started to develop resistance to our methods of treatment. The result could be disastrous. Even routine surgery and minor infections could become life-threatening.
In the past few weeks the news has been abuzz with several stories coming from zoos around the world. These articles tend to attract quite a few readers it seems, mostly because people seem to think it’s kinda cute when animals prove us they’re smart, or that they can take initiative in a given situation.
We’ve known for many years that several species of animals get drunk by eating fermented fruits. In 2013, biologists have made yet another surprising discovery. Groups of dolphins get high by chewing on puffer fish. After obtaining a sufficient amount of perception-altering neurotoxin from the creature, they pass it to another dolphin in the group.
Another month, another revelation about the intelligence of other beings sharing the ride here with us, on Earth. Especially during the past couple of decades, our understanding of the various creatures inhabiting this planet has advanced formidably, not only as a result of technological advancement but also due to our maturing as a species.
We’re starting to awaken to the fact that we should perhaps take more care of our ecosystem and the beautiful planet we live on. With this step forward, comes a perpetually-renewing interest in other forms of life.
