Olympic Games, Serial Killers, and Australian Green and Golden Bell Frog

Outriders Magazine #325

Animals and Emotions: Macaque Mimicry and Cannibalistic Female Frogs

Researchers from the University of Newcastle have observed the first case of cannibalism in Australian green and golden bell frogs. According to experts, when a female tree frog is unsatisfied with a male's love song, she may eat him. The female of this species is a particularly dangerous predator for the male because her sense of hearing is perfectly tuned to the male's mating calls. Based on the volume of his calls, she can tell whether the male is better suited for mating or eating.

Analysing the lives of 66 rhesus macaques, scientists from Nottingham Trent University found that social bonds were stronger and more even in groups where the dominant male was more expressive. Monkeys with expressive facial expressions were better leaders and had a more tolerant leadership style, and the variety of facial expressions helped them communicate better. In this way, they made their intentions clear and reduced uncertainty in the group. The expressions included lip smacking, nose wrinkling, jaw-dropping, eyebrow-raising, and ear flattening.

How do mammals decide where to live? Using data from more than 6,500 camera traps in the United States, researchers at North Carolina State University mapped the populations of 25 animal species. They determined that climate, not human activity, is the main factor in deciding where animals choose to live. The presence of large population centres and agriculture also significantly affects animals' choices of where to live.

How to Protect Art? The US Library of Congress and the Museum of Natural History

The U.S. Library of Congress houses over 175 million works, including books, art, e-books, ancient scrolls, T.V. shows, and video games. The collection ranges from ancient clay tablets to modern digital information, such as 3D digitised artefacts and patents. In addition to physical media, the library also holds about 184 petabytes of digital information, equivalent to 39 million data DVDs. Some notable artefacts include 2,000-year-old clay tablets from Mesopotamia and 18th-century Iranian prayer scrolls made from gazelle skins.

The Natural History Museum in London has recently opened new urban gardens - the Nature Discovery Garden and the Evolution Garden. These gardens showcase the changing natural world and aim to support urban nature, research, and education. The museum's main attraction is the skeleton of a diplodocus dinosaur named Fern. This £25 million project is set to become one of the world's most intensively studied urban nature sites.

The art market is experiencing a crisis, with only one in five artists exhibiting in a museum and global art auctions down 27% in 2023 compared to 2022. Female artists and artists of colour face even greater barriers, with female-identifying artists and Black artists in the U.S. accounting for just 5.3% of all art sales from 2008 to 2022, according to the Burns-Halperin report.

Europe’s First Lab-Generated Meat and Naga Jolokia Pepper

The UK is the first European country to approve the sale of lab-grown meat. It's a pet product called Meatly, a cell-cultured chicken. Pet lovers are increasingly faced with the dilemma of whether to feed their pets meat from animals or other sources. A study by the University of Winchester found that 50% of pet owners surveyed would feed their pets meat from a lab. Another study suggests that the pet food industry similarly impacts the climate of the Philippines, the world’s 13th most populous country.

Ultra-processed foods, scientifically linked to poor health, such as by increasing the risk of obesity and heart disease, make up two-thirds of the calories consumed daily by British children aged 11 to 18. They are more likely to be consumed by white young people and those from poor backgrounds. Ultra-processed foods include ice cream, processed meat, crisps, mass-produced bread, breakfast cereals, biscuits, and fizzy drinks. The study was conducted by the University of Cambridge and the University of Bristol.

A dozen or so Japanese schoolchildren were hospitalized after eating spicy Naga Jolokia ‘curry chips R 18+’, intended for people aged 18 and over. In 2007, the Guinness Book of Records recognized Naga Jolokia as the world’s hottest chilli pepper. Spicy snacks have recently gained popularity, often as a result of social media challenges. For example, Denmark recently recalled Korean ramen noodles with a high concentration of chilli extract in the broth mixture.

Green Urban Transformation: “Digital Twins” and the eVTOL System

The infrastructure digital twins by Bentley Systems have played a significant role in transforming the infrastructure of several European cities to be more sustainable. These digital twins represent various city assets, including roads, power grids, water and sewage systems, buildings, and cities. By integrating real-time data with digital models, these infrastructure digital twins offer city leaders and other users a comprehensive representation of the city's assets and systems. As a result, this initiative has facilitated the modernization of London’s Victorian sewage system, Helsinki’s heating system, Kozani’s water and sewage system, and Liège’s water tower in Belgium.

In California, companies are working on developing electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, which are similar to modern drones but designed to carry passengers. This mode of commuting is intended to provide a faster, quieter, and more efficient alternative to ground transportation by operating in the sky. One of the leading manufacturers of eVTOL aircraft, San Jose-based Archer Aviation, has entered a contract with Southwest Airlines to create a plan for an air taxi service at California airports. The Archer Midnight, a four-passenger electric plane, aims to reduce airport commutes from 60 to 90 minutes to flights from 10 to 20 minutes. Additionally, the company plans to establish a network of air taxi stops connecting with 14 California airports served by Southwest Airlines.

Paris Olympics: Opening, History, Culture, and Controversy

"The Paris Olympics are not just about sports; they are also about presenting a new French identity to the world," writes Philippe Auclair, a correspondent for the Guardian. Despite being considered "ungovernable," France managed to stage an audacious opening ceremony that received criticism from some church leaders and conservative politicians for allegedly mocking Christianity. This controversy was sparked by the alleged resemblance of part of the performance to the biblical scene from Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper."

Experts suggest that the ceremony drew inspiration from a 17th-century depiction of the gods of Olympus, titled "The Feast of the Gods," by Dutch artist Jan van Bijlert. The Magnin Museum in Dijon, France, highlighted this and invited people to "come and admire" the painting. However, museum experts emphasise that the root cause of the misunderstandings is the Protestant Reformation, which rejected Catholic art and destroyed many of its works.

The opening ceremony of the Paris Games featured a mysterious, masked, and hooded figure walking through Paris with the Olympic torch. It also depicted key figures of French history and culture. The Sortiparis.com portal provides a comprehensive explanation of the individual elements of this ceremony.

Climate Change: Turbulence, Longer Days, and Europe in Danger

The climate crisis is causing significant changes in the Earth's atmosphere, leading to weaker jet streams and increased turbulence during passenger flights. This turbulence, often invisible and undetectable by conventional radar, is becoming more frequent due to global warming. Clear-air turbulence, which has become more common over the United States and the North Atlantic Ocean, has increased by 55% from 1979 to 2020.

In addition to affecting air travel, the climate crisis also impacts the Earth's spin and daily rotation. Melting ice from Greenland and Antarctica is adding to the oceans' mass, causing the planet to slow down its spin. Consequently, days are getting longer by milliseconds due to these changes. The influence of the climate crisis on the length of days is reported to be more significant than the effect of the Moon.

Furthermore, extreme weather events like storms, heatwaves, and floods, intensified by climate change, have caused between 85,000 and 145,000 deaths in Europe over the last 40 years, with more than 85% of these deaths attributed to heat-related causes. These events have also resulted in economic losses totalling around half a trillion euros in Europe. It's worth noting that Europe is experiencing the most rapid warming among all continents, leading to increased storm intensity and rising sea levels across most of its territory, except for the northern part of the Baltic Sea.

Games: History, Fascination, Gambling, and Science

Why are we drawn to solving puzzles, playing games and taking on different personas? Games and fun activities are deeply ingrained in human evolution, serving as a fundamental behaviour that helps us comprehend our surroundings and ourselves and aids in socialisation. Play is not exclusive to humans; it is observed in various mammals, some birds, reptiles, fish, and even insects. Neurobiologists find it challenging to study play behaviour as it is difficult to suppress. For instance, even if the entire cerebral cortex of a rat, a structure believed to be responsible for higher intelligence, is surgically removed, the rat will continue to play.

Playing has a long history, dating back to ancient times. For instance, games such as Egyptian senet and mekheb (from 3000 BC), the royal game of Ur in Mesopotamia (from 2600 BC), hounds and jackals in Asia (from 2000 BC), Greek pente grammai (from 600 BC), and Chinese go (from 500 BC) have been enjoyed throughout the ages and continue to be adapted and played in modern times.

Currently, the gaming industry rivals all other forms of entertainment in size. Scientists attribute the universal popularity of games to the brain's inclination to construct models of the world to anticipate events, and games, by nature, are built on uncertainty. The unpredictability within games captivates us because it introduces missing information within the brain's world model. It is akin to the satisfaction of solving a challenging crossword puzzle. ;)

Serial Killers: Science, a Kenyan Mystery, and a New TV Series

A Kenyan court has granted a 30-day detention to a man suspected of murdering and dismembering women before throwing them into a flooded quarry. Authorities say the suspect has confessed to killing 42 women since 2022, including his wife. There have been concerns that the crimes could also be linked to the kidnappings and arrests of young people during recent anti-government protests. The bodies of the victims were found just 100 metres from a police headquarters, and the arrests came just three days after they were discovered.

FBI pioneer Ann Burgess developed groundbreaking methods for investigating and tracking those obsessed with killing, which are the subject of a new documentary series, Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer. The film explores how Burgess and her unit identified, tracked and interrogated dozens of notorious killers and how she proved effective in the male-dominated world of the FBI. She currently works at Boston College and researches murdered and missing Native American women.

Serial homicide is the rarest form of homicide. By definition, an individual must kill at least three people they did not previously know, with a cooling-off period between murders. Studies of serial killers are dominated by individualised analysis of the perpetrators’ biographies and the causes of their behaviour. Serial homicide is closely tied to a broader social and historical context. It is also a contemporary phenomenon due to relatively recent social and cultural conditions.