What’s the fittest fitness for the oldest old?
By Lola Butcher Even for 60ish youngsters, researchers reaffirm that exercise is essential. But just walking won’t cut it — break out the weights and go for strength training too. Read more
Mistletoes in a warming world
By Nicola Jones Can the famous parasitic plants help animals to survive climate change, or will they be killed off by extreme weather? Read more
From the archives
Human migration has homogenized flora and fauna, spreading some species far and wide and wiping out others. Bees exemplify these changes: European honeybees have gone global, and native pollinators are hurting. For bioGraphic, Ashley Braun reports on efforts in California by scientists — and some farmers — to assess the health of the state’s pollinators and bring back more natives such as pollinating syrphid flies. Unimpressed by dipterans? Learn more about this underappreciated insect order from our story.
The essential fly
By Stephanie Pain Think before you swat: The much-maligned fly could be the key to ensuring future supplies of many of the world’s favorite foods Read more
What we are reading
O Christmas tree
Getting a real tree for Christmas is a tradition in many families, but is it bad for the environment? Maybe, maybe not. For BBC Future, Jocelyn Timperley investigates the surprisingly nuanced answer. On the one hand, tree farms often use pesticides and fertilizers, but on the other hand, research suggests the farms can provide needed habitat for birds. Timperley explores carbon footprints, the afterlives of old trees and even the idea of the tree as a kind of cultural ambassador for nature in her quest to learn more about this iconic symbol of the season.
Tabled for discussion
The Periodic Table of Elements that’s familiar to most of us had its origins in one published by Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869. Mendeleev’s version, with a mere 63 elements, was incomplete, but given that the structure of atoms was still unknown, his insights were remarkable. That doesn’t mean today’s chemists agree on the best way to depict and relate the (now) 118 building blocks of matter, reports Philip Ball for Pioneer Works. Do chemical characteristics trump quantum qualities of electron clouds? Where is it best to stash those pesky and seemingly redundant lanthanides and actinides? Even hydrogen, Ball writes, “has always been awkward.”
Rethinking Alzheimer’s
For decades, the reigning theory on the cause of Alzheimer’s is that plaques of amyloid protein build up in nerve cells, killing them. But despite dozens of drug trials that cost billions of dollars, targeting amyloid hasn’t yielded significant therapies. In recent years, scientists have had to face the idea that plaques may be “smoke, not the fire,” as one scientist put it in an article by Yasemin Saplakoglu for Quanta Magazine. Saplakoglu covers the history of the disease; new discoveries and accusations of fraud shaking up the field; and other research avenues that scientists are exploring. (Learn more about one theory from our story.)
Art & science
CREDIT: THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS, WITH ILLUSTRATIONS / PUBLIC DOMAIN
Hair-raising
Hares and jackrabbits (genus Lepus, technically not the same as regular rabbits) have long been considered herbivores — they munch on a variety of greens in summer and chow down on twigs, bark and even spruce needles in winter. But recent research suggests that when food is scarce, the animals may channel Monty Python’s killer bunny. A few years ago, snowshoe hares were caught on camera eating carcasses of Canada lynx, loons, snowshoe hares and, strangely, grouse feathers
Such unusual scavenging by plant-eaters may provide a much-needed protein hit and is probably more common than appreciated, the research team noted. The snowshoe or “varying” hare shown above was based on one caught in autumn in Maine; it’s in between its brown summer coat and classic winter white. The drawing is one of a handful of images in the 1830 “The cabinet of natural history and American rural sports, with illustrations.” Peruse the other featured animals at the Biodiversity Heritage Library’s Flickr page.
