Curio Cabinet / Daily Curio

These dinosaurs might have been impressive to look at, but their table manners were awful. While most animals have to chew their food thoroughly, it seems that wasn’t the case for sauropods, some of the largest dinosaurs ever to walk the Earth. Based on a recently discovered fossil, scientists now believe that sauropods hardly chewed their food at all.
 
Sauropods were members of Sauropoda, a clade of enormous, long-necked, vegetarian dinosaurs. Yet, for a long time, scientists didn’t know many specifics about sauropod diets. Paleontologists made the assumption that they ate plants based on two factors: they had flat teeth, which are good for processing plant matter, and sauropods were huge, meaning that there was no feasible way for them to have depended on anything other than plants, much like large herbivores today. Besides, their gigantic bodies, long necks, and long tails would have made them clumsy hunters. Now, not only do we have confirmation that sauropods ate plants, we know quite a bit about how they did it.
 
Researchers discovered a cololite—fossilized intestinal contents—that belonged to Diamantinasaurus matildae, a species of sauropod that lived around 100 million years ago. By performing a CT scan on the cololite, they found that the remains were composed entirely of plant matter. The leaves of the fern-like plant were largely intact, suggesting that the sauropod barely chewed them before swallowing. This means that sauropods were probably bulk feeders, ingesting as much plant matter as possible and relying on the natural fermentation process inside their digestive systems to break down their food. It’s a more extreme version of what many herbivores do today. Cows and other ruminants rely on fermentation to digest their food, and they also spend much of their time ruminating, which means they regurgitate their food to chew it again. You really needed a strong stomach to live in the Cretaceous period.

 
[Image description: A black-and-white illustration of a long-necked sauropod dinosaur.] Credit & copyright: Pearson Scott Foresman, Wikimedia Commons. This work has been released into the public domain by its author, Pearson Scott Foresman. This applies worldwide.

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.

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.

Its communications are regular, but its location is awfully unusual. A newly-discovered cosmic object has astronomers puzzled, but finding out its identity might reveal new insights about the universe. Back in 2022, scientists coined the term long-period transient (LPT) for cosmic objects that emit light pulses on a regular basis. Since then, 10 more LPTs have been discovered, including ASKAP J1832- 0911, perhaps the most unusual among them. Recently discovered by a team of astronomers from Curtin University working at the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), ASKAP J1832- 0911 appears to be emitting both radio waves, and x-rays every 44 minutes for two minutes at a time. The team studying the cosmic object discovered this phenomenon by happenstance while using NASA's Chandra X-ray telescope. Unlike ASKAP, which surveys a large swath of the sky at a time, Chandra only looks at a small portion. As luck would have it, Chandra just happened to be pointed at ASKAP J1832- 0911 at the right time when it was emitting its x-rays. For now, astronomers aren't sure just what this oddity is. According to the team of researchers, the object might be a magnestar, which is the core of a dead star known for its powerful magnetic fields. Another possibility is that it's a white dwarf, or a white dwarf and another type of object paired as a binary star system. Yet, the team admits that even these possibilities don't account for the unusual behavior of ASKAP J1832- 0911. As the lead researcher, Andy Wang, put it, "This discovery could indicate a new type of physics or new models of stellar evolution." In space, not knowing something is sometimes more exciting than having all the answers.

 
[Image description: A starry night sky with a line of dark trees below.] Credit & copyright: tommy haugsveen, Pexels

The birds, they are a-changin’. New research shows that hummingbird feeders are not only helping hummingbirds expand their range, but driving them to evolve as well. Millions of Americans enjoy leaving out feeders full of sugar water for hummingbirds, simply to catch a glimpse of the tiny, colorful creatures. Such feeders became popular after WWII, though they've been around even longer. Homemade feeders and instructions on how to make them existed for decades before a patent was filed for a mass-produced version in 1947. In the western U.S., Anna's hummingbirds (Calypte anna) have been able to greatly expand their range thanks to the charity of their admirers. More specifically, they've been able to go further north, out of their usual Southern California range. Part of their expansion has to do with the eucalyptus trees that were planted throughout California in the 19th century, but the feeders are mostly responsible.
 
There's also something subtler going on with the SoCal natives thanks to those feeders. Their beaks have been changing over the last few generations, probably to be more efficient at drawing the nectar from feeders as opposed to flowers. According to researchers, Anna's hummingbirds’ beaks have been getting longer and more tapered, showing that the feeders have become more than a supplementary source of sustenance for the birds—they’re now central to their diet. The birds are even prioritizing manmade feeders over flowers in some areas. Researchers believe that hummingbirds have come to prefer them since the feeders are practically inexhaustible sources of “nectar” compared to flowers. Birds may even be competing for who gets to stay at them the longest. Those flitting balls of feathers are ready to throw down for some good sugar water.

 
[Image description: A blue hummingbird sipping at a red feeder.] Credit & copyright: Someguy1221, Wikimedia Commons. This work has been released into the public domain by its author, Someguy1221. This applies worldwide.

Where there's smoke, there's fire; and where there's green, there's bound to be lava. At least, that's what scientists are beginning to believe after looking at satellite images of trees growing near volcanoes. As destructive as volcanic eruptions can be, there's never been a reliable way to predict them. That's a huge problem for the many communities around the world that live around active volcanoes. Sure, not all eruptions are cataclysmic events filled with pyroclastic blasts, but lava is dangerous no matter how you look at it. Until now, scientists have been able to gauge the risk of a volcanic eruption happening by measuring seismic waves and even the rise of the ground level around a volcano, but such data can't show exactly when the eruption will occur. Yet, there may be hope of accurately forecasting eruptions in the future.
 
For a long time, scientists have noticed that trees near volcanoes get greener before eruptions. Apparently, as magma builds up under the Earth's crust, it creates pressure underground that forces carbon dioxide to rise through the surface, which in turn feeds the trees and helps them grow. It seems simple enough, then, to measure the increase in carbon dioxide levels, but even the amount that comes up through the ground to jazz up the greenery isn't easily measurable with existing equipment. Compared to the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the amount that comes up is too small. However, using satellite images provided by NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2, volcanologists are figuring out how to measure these carbon dioxide changes indirectly by tracking the surrounding vegetation instead. The process still requires more data to get a better understanding of the correlation between volcanoes and changes in the plants around them, and it won't help with volcanoes that are located in environments without vegetation, but it might one day help protect the 10 percent of the world's population who live near active volcanos. Until then, may cooler eruptions prevail.

 
[Image description: A cluster of oak leaves against a green background.] Credit & copyright: W.carter, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

Nothing's worse than having your fate up in the air when you’re up in the air. A passenger aircraft belonging to the German airline Lufthansa recently reached its destination safely despite neither pilot being at the controls for a time, and it was all thanks to the plane’s autopilot system. Autopilot is a tremendous help to modern day pilots, but it wasn’t always as reliable as it is today.
 
Last year, a Lufthansa plane carrying 199 passengers from Frankfurt, Germany, to Seville, Spain, encountered a potential disaster. While the captain was away from the flight deck, the first officer became unconscious. When the captain attempted to return to the cockpit, he found himself locked out without any response from his colleague. Fortunately, the first officer regained consciousness within a matter of minutes, but for a time—however brief—no human pilot was at the controls of the plane. The incident has only recently been publicly revealed by the airline after an investigation took place.
 
In the early days of aviation, such a situation would have certainly led to tragedy. Older aircraft required the constant and meticulous attention of their pilots, who had to make minute adjustments to keep their planes aloft. The first autopilot system was invented by Lawrence Sperry, whose gyroscopic automatic pilot (nicknamed "George") automatically kept planes in balance. The first digital autopilot systems were developed in the 1970s in response to data showing that most crashes occurred due to human error. Today, autopilot systems are usually integrated into a plane's flight management system, and most of the small adjustments are taken care of by onboard computers. Contrary to popular belief, autopilot systems can't fully control a plane over the entire course of its journey. Pilots fully control aircraft during takeoff and landing, which are the most difficult parts of most flights. They also maintain communication with ground crews so that they can change course in case of emergencies, stay clear of other aircraft, and let airports know exactly when they’ll be landing. Autopilots mainly maintain a plane’s course and altitude, including in emergencies. It’s a life-saving invention for sure, but most people would probably still prefer that their pilot be conscious.

 
[Image description: A blue sky with a single, white cloud.] Credit & copyright: Dinkum, Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons Zero, Public Domain Dedication.

Orange you glad they’ve solved this kitty mystery? After years of puzzlement, scientists now know what gives ginger cats their distinct orange coloration, and why so many orange cats are male. Owners of orange cats have long posited that there’s something special about them. They tend to have sillier, more laid-back personalities than average cats, and that temperament has earned them devoted followers. Among them is Professor Hiroyuki Sasaki, a geneticist at Kyushu University in Japan who crowdfunded his effort to unravel the secret behind the cats' unique fur. Scientists knew that there had to be a unique genetic link between their fur color and their sex, since orange cats are overwhelmingly male just as calico cats are overwhelmingly female. Sasaki and his colleagues raised around $70,000 to perform their research, mostly from fellow cat lovers. Their efforts paid off, and the culprit was identified: the ARHGAP36 gene, or rather, a mutation in the X chromosome that deleted a section of it in some cats. The ARHGAP36 gene is responsible for pheomelanin, the type of melanin responsible for red, orange, and yellow pigments in mammals, as opposed to eumelanin, which controls brown to black pigment. In cats with the mutation, the ARHGAP36 gene goes haywire, producing much more than it normally would. That it only occurs in the X chromosome also explains the skewed sex ratio. Since male cats only have one X chromosome, the mutation goes uncorrected. Meanwhile, female cats require the mutation to exist in both of their two X chromosomes. If only one is affected, they end up as calicos. But there might be more to the gene than meets the eye. The ARHGAP36 gene might also play a role in orange cats’ personalities. The gene is responsible for other functions in the brain and hormonal glands, so it’s possible that it produces unique inclinations and behaviors. Now if only we knew why we love cats even when they’re indifferent to us.

 
[Image description: An orange tabby cat lying on gray carpet.] Credit & copyright: Brian Adler, Wikimedia Commons.

When it comes to the end date of the universe, what's a few orders of magnitude? Scientists at Radboud University in Nijmegen, Netherlands, have found that the universe might end much earlier than expected—but it's still a very, very long way away.
 
Estimating the universe’s remaining days might seem like an unfathomably impossible task, but physicists have come up with a few ways to figure it out. One method involves calculating how long it takes for stars to die. Larger stars collapse in on themselves, cause supernovas, and become black holes. Smaller stars will leave a nebula when they die, as well as a hot, dense core called a white dwarf. Most stars in the universe will become white dwarves in about 17 trillion years, but the story doesn't end there. Both white dwarves and black holes decay over time, and they do so at an astronomically glacial pace. Their decay releases Hawking radiation, named after the late astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, who first predicted the process.
 
Hawking only ever posited that black holes would decay in this way, but the scientists at Radboud University believe that white dwarves can also decay similarly. Since white dwarves were believed to linger on much longer, it was believed that it would take around 10 to the power of 1,100 years for the last remaining stars to die out for good. However, if they decay similarly to black holes, that number comes way down. That's not to say that it will happen anytime soon. It will still be another 10 to the power of 78 years, or one quinvigintillion years. By then, there certainly won't be anyone left to say, "Lights out!"

 
[Image description: A starry sky above a line of dark trees] Credit & copyright: tommy haugsveen, Pexels