Curio Cabinet

When it comes to engineering, there are always new uses for old standbys. Putting ice in your drink is a pretty rudimentary way to keep cool when it’s hot out, but Manhattan is putting a new twist on it by using ice to cool an entire building. Most modern air conditioners are a double-edged sword because, while they keep people comfortable and safe from extreme heat, they also consume a lot of electricity. As average global temperatures continue to rise, that puts more and more strain on city’s power grids, especially during peak daytime hours. The cooling system at New York City’s iconic Eleven Madison building is different. It does most of its work at night, when the city’s energy grid isn’t nearly as taxed.
 
Created by Trane Technologies, the system is called an ice battery. Every night, it uses electricity to freeze water into around 500,000 pounds of ice. During the day, the ice is used to cool the air being pushed through the building’s vents. Since electricity costs more to produce during peak hours, the system can lower energy bills by as much as 40 percent. The ice battery also drastically reduces the overall amount of energy used to cool the building, which is good news for the grid and the environment as a whole. If more buildings adopt ice batteries in the near future, it could reduce the need for more power plants to be built, even as the climate continues to warm. That’s less land and fewer resources that will have to be devoted to cooling buildings.
 
Of course, it still takes quite a bit of electricity to freeze ice, even at night. Research is already underway to see if chilled but unfrozen water might be a viable alternative. If enough buildings and homes are able to use such thermal energy storage systems to replace traditional HVAC systems, the environmental impact would be enormous, even though the new systems aren’t entirely carbon neutral. A step in the right direction is always better than a step back.

 
[Image description: A piece of clear ice with a jagged edge on top.] Credit & copyright: Dāvis Mosāns from Salaspils, Latvia. Flickr, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

What's the matter, cat got your head? Burmese pythons and other invasive species have been wreaking havoc in the Florida everglades for years, but it seems the local wildlife is starting to fight back. Burmese pythons are a particularly big problem in Florida. The snakes have no natural predators once fully grown, and they are prolific at multiplying. State officials have tried everything to get rid of the reptilian invaders, including declaring open season on the snakes and rewarding hunters for every one they bring in, but it seems that nothing can wipe them out completely. Meanwhile, pythons are capable of eating anything that can fit inside their surprisingly stretchy jaws, including other, native predators like alligators. For years, scientists have been keeping a keen eye on the state’s python population, and part of that includes strapping radio trackers on male pythons during breeding season. The males lead researchers to nests, so that eggs and female pythons can be removed.
 
Yet, when scientists rolled up to the location of one of these radio-tracked pythons recently, they didn't find a cozy love nest. Instead, they found the snake’s decapitated body, which weighed a whopping 52 pounds. After setting up a trail camera near the corpse, they found the culprit—a common bobcat happily munching away on the remains. This marks the first time that a bobcat has been known to take down a python, and it's all the more shocking considering the python's size. While bobcats have never been known to hunt and eat pythons, the snakes have been found with bobcat claws still inside them. This led scientists to believe that bobcats were unable to defend themselves against the snakes. On paper, it's obvious why—adult bobcats weigh around 30 to 40 pounds, while Burmese pythons can weigh around 200 pounds. Maybe nature has simply had enough, or maybe this cat was just particularly skilled at punching (or clawing) above its weight.

 
[Image description: A bobcat in tall grass from the chest up.] Credit & copyright: National Park Services, Asset ID: 8859334f-c426-41db-9049-96e7d5dd5779. Public domain: Full Granting Rights.

These flies are about to get buzzed…for the greater good. According to a paper published in The Journal of Neuroscience, researchers at the University of Utah have genetically modified fruit flies so that they can become addicted to cocaine. It sounds shocking, but there's a good reason for it: the researchers are trying to figure out which genes are most responsible for addiction risk in humans. These genetically-modified flies will be exposed to cocaine and given the ability to self-administer, and the researchers hope to use the model of addiction disorder in fruit flies to uncover the biological foundations behind addiction in general. Getting flies to accept cocaine, however, was no mean feat. Insects like flies are naturally averse to cocaine since it is a plant toxin, and flies detect toxins through taste receptors on their legs. Researchers had to find a way to disable those receptors so that they would accept sugarwater laced with cocaine instead of flying away. Once that hurdle was overcome, the flies took readily to the narcotic, and they reacted in much the same way humans do. As lead author Adrian Rothenfluh confirmed, "At low doses, they start running around, just like people. At very high doses, they get incapacitated, which is also true in people." While the method sounds a little odd, the research might prove invaluable to the millions of people who suffer from addiction. Cocaine is considered highly addictive, with 15 percent of those who try it becoming addicted within 10 years. If only human beings could be so naturally averse to what hurts them!

[Image description: A fruit fly with red eyes under a microscope.] Credit & copyright: Asmawati24, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
 

What is that extremely angry peeping noise? If you’re in the desert, it might just be the last creature you’d expect to see: a frog. Rain frogs, so named because they’re most active when it rains, can survive in some of the harshest environments on Earth, despite their small size and the fact that they’re amphibians, which normally require constant access to water. These little frogs have also become famous online for their angry-looking faces and adorable squeaking.
 
There are more than 200 species of rain frogs, the most famous of which is the desert rain frog, native to Namibia and South Africa. Not only do these frogs live in a much different environment than most frogs, they also look very different. Rain frogs lack the powerful back legs and large feet that allow most other frogs to jump. Their legs are small and thin, while their bodies are large and round, which makes their movements slow and somewhat awkward. They’re small, with a maximum length of just six inches. Their skin, which is smooth and delicate, secretes a sticky substance that causes sand to stick all over their bodies. This sandy coating not only camouflages the frogs, it also helps protect them from the harsh sun.
 
Of course, desert rain frogs prefer not to go out in the sun at all. They're most active during periods of heavy rain, which are few and far between in the desert. When it isn’t raining, desert rain frogs prefer to stay in their burrows, which can reach as deep as eight inches under the sand. When they must leave their burrows during dry times, they prefer to do so at night. Their nocturnal lifestyle helps ensure that their smooth skin isn’t damaged by the intense desert sun. Under the cover of darkness, it’s safer for the frogs to hunt for termites, their most important food source. With their large mouths, desert rain frogs will also scoop up any other insects that wander their way, including beetles and grubs.
 
As for their famous squeaking, as cute as it may seem to us, the frog’s call is actually a war cry of sorts. The squeaking can intimidate predators like snakes or birds of prey. It can also be used to alert other rain frogs to their location. While desert rain frogs are normally solitary, during mating season, male rain frogs squeak loudly to attract females. Imagine a world where an adorable squeak was the height of masculinity.

 
[Image description: A rain frog with brown stripes standing tall with its front raised off the ground.] Credit & copyright: Marius Burger, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

You know things are bad when one natural disaster is just the beginning. A village in Switzerland has been left devastated after a landslide, and it could be the first of many to come. On May 19, the small village of Blatten was evacuated after geologists warned of impending danger. Blatten, home to 300 residents, is located in an alpine valley overlooked by glaciers. According to the geologists, one of those glaciers was coming apart rapidly. Indeed, in just a matter of days, the Birch glacier completely disintegrated, sending chunks of ice and rock down the valley. Most of the village was destroyed directly by the landslide, and the rest was flooded soon after.
 
Landslides can happen for all sorts of reasons like heavy rain, snowmelt, and erosion, but this one was caused entirely by the glacier's collapse. In turn, the glacier’s destruction was brought on by climate change, and similar catastrophes may await other alpine communities. In fact, another village, Brienz, was evacuated in 2023 as a precaution, and residents have only been allowed to return on a limited basis. Back in 2017, another village called Bondo was devastated by a similar landslide which claimed 8 lives. While most of the residents of Blatten were able to make their way to safety with just one individual unaccounted for, it may be too soon to breathe a sigh of relief. The debris from the landslide could still cause flooding, further devastating the area. Scientists estimate that all of Switzerland's glaciers will disappear by the end of the century; but they're unlikely to go quietly—and that's the optimistic outlook. More and more climate experts are beginning to believe that the glacial thaw will only accelerate in coming years. The term "glacial pace" might need to be redefined.

 
[Image description: A red train traveling between mountains in Switzerland.] Credit & copyright: Wikimedia Commons, Sikander Iqbal (Siqbal). This work has been released into the public domain by its author, Siqbal, at the English Wikipedia project. This applies worldwide.