A report on the Covid-19 pandemic as of 18:00 GMT on Sunday, 29 March 2020.
Author: ishinobu
Disease and pollution have long been linked in people’s minds. The word “malaria” means “bad air” in Italian.
An organism’s habitat is the range of environmental conditions which are tolerable. Whereas organisms which adapt to specific niches are specialists, generalists have more tolerance.
Vampire bats must feed on fresh blood at least once every 3 days or face starvation. Fortunately, friends share.
In a world beset with global problems, nations are acting selfishly, thereby accelerating humanity’s demise. Immigration illustrates.
Flocks of foraging forest birds are typically a mixture of species. Flocks’ fluid structure illustrate how comity works.
The world is not as it seems – both a spiritual statement and what can be said looking at commonly used global maps.
A warming world spells more frequent and more intense wildfires. Animals play a part in engendering the spread of a blaze or tamping it down.
That humans are uniquely intelligent is a long-held sentiment. Instead, in thinking themselves a superior species, people are uniquely stupid.
Learning a foreign language often involves enunciating phonemes not found in the native tongue. Mispronunciation is common, and the mind’s bias helps not a whit.
Curiosity is the wellspring of knowledge.
Covid-19 has become a pandemic. The world economy is getting sick.
Wars bring societies together. Plagues pull them apart.
Though it’s not healthy food, Americans love steaks and burgers and consume lots of dairy. Their taste for beef and milk is draining the water supply.
Virus may lack the machinery to replicate themselves, but they do direct their assembly. Their craftsmanship is exquisite.
Many orb weaver spiders sport lemony coats: a seemingly odd color choice, except that yellow attracts lunch.
Burying beetles have complex parental care practices. Both parents provide diligent nurturing; though, as in birds and humans, females take the lead.
Pandas are pudgy, short-legged bears. Yet cubs clamber up trees. They do so with using their head.
Many animals panic when they perceive an emergency; not termites.
Many moths sport luxurious scale pelts which make them look like fuzzy butterflies. The fuzz evolved as acoustic camouflage.
Pathogenic bacteria live by the motto espoused by German philosopher Fredrich Nietzsche (1844-1900): “what does not kill me makes me stronger.”
Cellulose is the most abundant organic compound on Earth, having gained that distinction from being the substance by which plants propel themselves skyward.
Many people are creatures of their minds. The mind seeks to feed off the energy of the soul that it has captivated. One way the mind does this is through thrills. Slot machines illustrate.
The Great War was grinding to an end. Nearly 20 million were dead over the past 4 years. Then a new killer arrived.
The term animal comes from the Latin animalis, meaning “having breath.” But not all animals breathe.