New research looked into a pet characteristic that helps dogs communicate with people better. It turns out that our furry friends learned to make certain facial expressions to convey a message to humans.

Dogs Are Activating Facial Muscles in Response to Human Attention

On Thursday, a team of researchers at the University’s Dog Cognition Centre reported some intriguing findings in the journal Scientific Reports. This paper is the first of its kind that attests dogs are acting differently when humans are watching them.

Scientists observed dogs’ reaction when they were getting some really tasty treats when no human was around. The conclusion was that even though they are excited, dogs don’t react with happy expressions if no person is in the same room with them. However, they do move their facial muscles in response to human attention.

Dog cognition expert Dr. Juliane Kaminski is the lead author of the study. She claimed that their findings underline the existence of a newly discovered way through which dogs communicate with humans.

“We can now be confident that the production of facial expressions made by dogs are dependent on the attention state of their audience and are not just a result of dogs being excited.”

Dog’s Extensive Range of Facial Expressions Help Them Connect with Humans

The experiment involved 24 dogs of different breeds with ages between one and 12. All of them were pets with their own family of humans.

The first stage consisted of placing a person three feet away from a dog. While the human was going through a series of reactions, researchers measured dog’s facial expressions with DogFACS. This is a coding system that records facial changes in connection to muscle movement.

The second stage involved isolating dogs with only some delicious treats with them. As stated above, their range of expressions was highly smaller than when they were in the presence of people.

On the other hand, the study needs more efforts to understand what the source of this behavior is. Is it a hardwired response that dogs are born with after 30,000 years of living with humans? Or can dogs understand people’s state of mind?

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A new study found that a species of herbivore dinosaurs used to consume shelled animals.

Some of the largest dinosaur species known to have roamed Earth were also herbivores, in most cases, vegetarians. However, a new study found that at least some of these herbivore dinosaurs did not seem to have a problem with consuming crustaceans or shelled animals, as well.

Crustaceans, a Food Source Even for Herbivore Dinosaurs

This latest discovery comes from a team of researchers from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science studying the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. According to them, the ancestors of modern-day crustaceans such as lobsters, shrimps, and crabs, were rich sources of calcium and proteins.

The study team reported finding crustacean shells in more than ten corpolite samples, which are basically fossilized bodily waste. The samples were collected from three distinct stratigraphic layers, ones spread over 13 miles of the national monument.

Because of this, the researchers tend to believe that the shelled animals were not mistakenly swallowed, but more like consumed by herbivore dinosaurs.

An analysis of the corpolite samples indicates that these most likely come from a sort of duck-billed dinosaurs known as hadrosaurs. Although the samples consist mainly of “jumbled fragments of rotting wood”, they also revealed “thick bits and pieces of fossilized shells”.

As the team points out, this also seems to indicate that ancestors of crustaceans were living in coniferous, decaying wood.

“From what we know about dinosaurs, this was a totally unexpected behavior. It was such a surprising discovery we wondered what the motivation could have been,” explains Karen Chin.

She is the Museum of Natural History at the University of Colorado, Boulder’s curator of paleontology. Chin and her colleagues theorize that the consumption of shelled animals might possibly have been linked to the reproductive activities of these herbivore dinosaurs.

The modern-day descendants of dinosaurs, birds, were noted to increase their calcium and protein intake during the breeding season to increase their reproduction rates. This seems to strengthen the scientists’ theory. The team also pointed out that it would be hard to clearly prove intent when discussing feeding habits, in this case.

A paper with the current study findings is available in the journal Scientific Reports.

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NASA scientists working on Juno mission had the chance to examine the planet Jupiter up close. In their analyses, they observed unusually large amounts of energy spinning within the polar regions of the planet forming Earth-like auroras. However, scientists didn’t expect to find a different origin to this spectacular phenomenon.

Juno Mission Helped Scientists Understand that Auroras on Jupiter Are Different from Those on Earth

Barry Mauk and his team collected numerous data on Jupiter. They used instruments based on energetic-pattern detectors and ultraviolet spectrographs to record various aspects about this far-away gas giant. The team at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory noticed how powerful electric potentials coupled with the magnetic field.

The results are electrons at the Jovian atmosphere that move at 400,000 electron volts. This speed is up to 30 times higher than those of the largest auroras scientists ever observed on Earth.

Northern Europe, Alaska, and Canada host the spectacular auroras at only several thousands of volts. Nonetheless, scientists were aware that Jupiter’s auroras are among the most powerful such natural events in the solar system. However, the mysterious piece of the puzzle here is that Jupiter’s potentials are not leading to the largest auroras as it happens on Earth.

Cracking The Origin of Jupiter Auroras Will Lead to Groundbreaking Advancements in Planetary Physics

Mauk is sure that cracking the identity of these powerful energetic particles would help them better understand the radiation belts that embrace the planet. So far, the Juno mission encountered several issues due to encounteres with these areas.

On top of that, this body of knowledge can improve spacecraft and astronaut protection when it comes to challenging space environments. The comparison between Jupiter and Earth will also break new ground in planetary physics.

Juno spacecraft has been floating around the gas giant since 2016. It will continue to collect data and learn more about its origins, atmosphere, and structure. On top of that, scientists have not finished yet deciphering recent data. Thanks to them, NASA can better understand how auroras act under different sources of influence.
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Since the 19th century, plant geographers have been marveling at the luxurious collection of leaf sizes and types that Mother Earth created. Over time, they noticed that plants get longer leaves when they are closer to the equator. On the other hand, these parts of plants tend to shrink when the latitude increases. A new study might hold the answers to what exactly triggers such a phenomenon. The findings suggest that the rich patterns depend on various climatic factors.

The Differences in Leaf Sizes Depend on the Combination of Irradiance, Moisture, and Temperature

Ian Wright of Macquarie University in New South Wales published a new scientific paper in journal Science regarding the leaves of plants across the world. Wright together with his colleagues analyzed a collection of 7,670 species coming from 682 regions of the world.

Their collected data suggested that certain climatic agents dictate the shape of a leaf. The most important agent is the difference between nighttime and daytime leaf-to-air temperatures. As a consequence, the plethora of leaf sizes was created by different mixtures between moisture, irradiance, and temperature.

The various shapes of leaves were created to withstand the risks of chilling and overheating at nighttime and daytime respectively. As a consequence, hot and humid locations are giving birth to plant species with large leaves. On the other hand, the cold and arid climates at high latitudes and elevations are encouraging vegetation to develop short parts.

The Paper Has Also Discovered a New Hint to the Existence of Global Warming

Large leaves come in thicker sizes which develop slower heat exchanges with the air. In other words, they trigger bigger differences in leaf-to-air temperatures. The high temperatures and irradiation make plants to be in higher need for water deposits. Therefore, they create generous leaf sizes.

The paper has also delivered new hints at the impact of global warming on the environment. As the temperatures are getting higher over time, several reports pointed out that the average size of leaves started to increase. This indicates that their environments are getting hotter.
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