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Nature Live

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In his book titled ‘What is Life?', British-born scientist JBS Haldane wrote:

‘The creator would appear as endowed with a passion for stars, on the one hand, and for beetles on the other’.

 

Beetle collection.jpg

An example of the beetle collections at the Museum.


Haldane was referring to the numerous nature of the coleopteran, or beetles as they are more commonly known. This order consists of more species than any other group. In fact, beetles make up around 40% of the total insects described. The Museum itself boasts an amazing collection of over 10 million species, meticulously stored in 22 thousand draws. This collection is constantly evolving and expanding.

 

Zambia

 

Nature Live took the opportunity to learn more about the entomologists' latest adventure – a trip to Zambia. Entomologist Lydia Smith spoke to the Nature Live team about their findings.


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The  landscape in Zambia.

 

Lydia spent 6 weeks travelling around Zambia collecting samples. Zambia has very varied terrain which provides plenty of scope for a diverse community of beetles and other organisms. The Museum's team worked closely with local guides to navigate the hostile environments. Lydia explained that their help was invaluable, she described them as ‘extremely helpful and excitable people’.

 

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Lydia with members of the Museum team and local guides.

 

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The team vehicle surrounded by dense vegetation.


Being in Zambia, the team was constantly surrounded an incredible array of wildlife, some of which interfered with their sampling. Hyenas and civet cats were both suspected of disturbing the insect traps.

 

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An elephant caught on film by a camera trap.

 

Camera traps caught glimpses of a variety of species, from elephants to elephant shrews. One day Lydia recalls picking up a beetle and receiving quite a shock – the beetle's backend exploded in her hand!  She had encountered a beetle she had only previously read about, the elusive ‘Bombardier beetle’. As a defence mechanism, this particular type of ground beetle ejects a chemical spray from the tip of their abdomen,  accompanied by a loud popping sound.


Field techniques

 

During the expedition, a number of techniques were used in order to obtain samples. Light traps were used at dusk to attract insects onto a large sheet or tent like structure where they could then be collected. This type of trap can be extremely effective at gaining samples of nocturnal species.

 

The team often used pitfall traps, which consist of a plastic cup that is submerged in the soil and partially filled with a preservative. An attractant is then suspended above the traps to draw insects towards the area. Dung or carrion is typically used. The dung is collected from local ungulates – or, in more remote areas, the dung is supplied by the researchers themselves!

 

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Dung and carrion are used to lure insects into these pitfall traps.

 

Mid-flight traps consist of a piece of Perspex suspended in the air and below the Perspex, a number of colourful trays that contain a small amount of water.

Perspex trap.jpgMid-flight traps in action

 

Another method involves beating branches and collecting the falling samples on a modified umbrella to capture tree-dwelling species. A pooter is then used to collect the samples from the umbrella.


Lydia explained the critical nature of the permits that allowed the team to bring samples back into the country. Samples, usually suspended in alcohol for preservation, are drained ready for transportation. They are then flown back. Upon hearing this, a younger member of the Nature Live audience curiously enquired…


‘Do the beetles sit next to you on the flight?’


Sadly invertebrates are not permitted in the cabin and are relegated to the hold. Once back at the Museum, the samples are refreshed with a new batch of alcohol and then the sorting process begins.


Back at the Museum


After a six week trip the team will spend up to six months processing all of their findings. While Lydia’s team is only particularly interested in beetles, they process the entire selection and divide the other insects into orders. These insects are then sent to their respective experts for further classification.

 

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A tiger beetle from the subfamily Cicindelinae, collected by Lydia Smith and the rest of the team.

 

From this particular expedition, the team have identified a number of new species, including wasps and rove beetles. The total number of new species is difficult to define as a rigorous procedure is followed, involving a number of different specialists before a final decision is made. Often insects are named after the region in which they are found, which helps to highlight the importance of the region and increase the likeliness that this area will be protected in the future.


Beetlemania was yet another superb insight into work at the Museum and in the field. If you are interested in beetles and would like to chat to an expert, there will be a number of the collections displayed at the Museum's upcoming event Science Uncovered on the 26 September.

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Fascinating giants that roamed four continents from circa 700,000 to 4,000 years ago: woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) have been the subject of countless conversations here at the Museum in recent months. So Nature Live thought they would go with the flow by tackling the question of just 'Why did the mammoths go extinct?' Prof Adrian Lister, an expert in vertebrate palaeobiology, led this Nature Live and presented the two main arguments.

 

Climate problems?

 

The first argument Adrian presented was the climate change theory: that mammoths used to rely on grasses as their primary food source, and were exclusively vegetarians. These grasses produced a meadow-like landscape, which was a hugely rich and high quality food source for the mammoths.

At the end of the last ice age, around 14,000 years ago, a warming climate caused forest habitat to spread north and gradallly replace grasslands that the mammoths relied on for food.

 

During the last ice age, these grass meadows expanded across the northern hemisphere, expanding the mammoths' geographic range. These grass meadows were above the tree line, as the grasses could successfully survive in lower temperatures than trees. Here fascinating video footage lit up the Attenborough Studio's big screens, showing the growth and change of distribution of these meadow grasslands across the last ice age.

 

Mammoth heard 1.jpg

Woolly mammoths roamed the earth between ca. 700,000 to 4,000 years ago, before they were driven to extinction.

 

Adrian then described the range of specialist adaptations that woolly mammoths used to survive in this extreme habitat. The most obvious of these was the thick hair which insulated them from the harshly cold weather conditions. It turns out that mammoths actually had two types of hair: a very fine hair close to the skin trapping and warming the air for insulation, and a coarser hair on the outside to help shield them from cold wind and rain. In addition to these adaptations, woolly mammoths also had a thick layer of fat underneath their skin to further insulate them.

 

To the audience's amazement at this point a true sample of woolly mammoth hair was put underneath the visualiser in the Studio. The hair was thousands of years old yet fully intact, but this was only the start. Adrian then stepped forward to pick up a whole mammoth lower jaw, illustrating how it would swing back and forth when chewing.

 

Holding this in his hands in front of the live audience visually demonstrated just how large the teeth of a mammoth were, and the large size of the surface area required for chewing tough plant material like grass. Adrian made it clear that studying mammoth teeth gives researchers a much clearer idea of what they ate. With this increased understanding of what mammoths ate, researchers can better pinpoint factors that could have eventually led to their extinction.

 

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A woolly mammoth lower jaw like the one presented during the Nature Live by Adrian Lister, demonstrating their huge teeth used for grinding plant matter.

 

Frozen mammoths have even been discovered with food content still inside their stomachs or intestines, their 'last supper', as it were. Studying these remains of partially digested plant matter taken from inside a preserved woolly mammoth has proven that they certainly did eat grass as a food source.

 

Knowing for sure that mammoths ate grass supports the climate change theory of habitat change, as the grass plains began to contract at the end of the last ice age around 14,000 years ago. This was because the earth's climate was warming, and forest habitat was spreading north so gradually displacing the grasslands that mammoths relied on for their food.

 

Adrian explained how, by using radiocarbon dating, we can age mammoth remains very accurately, and this has now been used to age and plot every mammoth fossil ever found. This in turn means that scientists like him can identify and mark the change in woolly mammoth distribution over time. This crucial extinction timeline can then be matched against the known changes in reduced grass cover and the increased spread of forest growth up into the woolly mammoth's natural range.

 

When scientists compare the changing distribution of woolly mammoths to the changing distribution of their grasslands, they match. This suggests that the spread of the forest upwards into the higher latitudes would have pushed the woolly mammoths north. So it was this change in vegetation from grassland to forest that was a major contributing factor, ultimately leading to the mammoth's extinction.

 

Lone mammoth.jpg

As the woolly mammoths' range contracted they became extinct. Studying them now could help prevent future mammal extinctions.

 

At this point Adrian then put forward a second theory, saying that "nothing in science is ever that simple." This second theory is that early humans could themselves have been responsible for driving the woolly mammoths to extinction. 

 

Hunted to extinction?

 

Evidence for the 'people theory' is that the period of time that woolly mammoth numbers were declining also coincided with a rapid increase in the numbers of people. There have been skeleton remains of mammoths found which show damage from a flint tool splintered off in the bone. In the studio, images of this were brought up on the screen, clearly showing a human-crafted spearhead lodged within a mammoth bone. This is evidence that early humans did at least occasionally hunt mammoths as large game, either as a source of food, or for materials to build shelter.

 

spear head.jpg

Flint spear heads have been found splintered-off within mammoth fossils proving that they were occasionally hunted by early humans.

 

As this Nature Live approached its end, Adrian explained that both of these theories could in fact have worked together at the same time to conspire against the woolly mammoth, thus driving it to extinction. The change in the climate driving forests to spread north would have forced the woolly mammoth into very restricted habitat patches, making them a heavily endangered species; this, combined with hunting by humans could have dealt the final blow to the woolly mammoths, sending them to the icy grave of extinction.

 

The event did end on a more positive note when Adrian explained that the woolly mammoths' death was not in vain. Studying and understanding the reasons why large mammals like mammoths went extinct could help scientists like Adrian prevent the extinction of other large mammals in future. And research on mammoths is now being used to help try and protect African elephants (Loxodonta africana) from following their footsteps.

 

Watch Adrian summarise the theories behind the extinction in the Museum's film from the Mammoths: Ice Age Giants exhibition, which closes on 7 September:

 

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Intelligent, colour-changing, deep-water creatures that possess a beak as well as thousands of 'mini claws' and suckers on each tentacle... Not to mention different species going by the names of Giant and Colossal Squids... Cephalopods certainly made for interesting viewing in a specimen-packed Nature Live here in the Attenborough studio. Dr Jon Ablett showed us around these fascinating creatures one tentacle at a time in this aptly named 'Tentacle Tales' Nature Live.

 

As the audience strolled into the studio there were some dazzled-looking faces before the event had even started, due to the sheer array of pickled creatures and cephalopod limbs on display. However, when the lights dimmed all attention turned to Jon as he kicked off the event by describing the colour changing capabilities of cephalopods.

 

He explained that the biology behind cephalopod colour changing is far more advanced than that of the chameleon, the reptile often thought of as the master of colour change (e.g. we often say 'they demonstrated a chameleon-like ability to adapt to their surroundings'). Chameleons use differing levels of hormones in their blood stream to trigger their colour change. However, using the blood stream to achieve this means that the speed of the change is limited by the rate of blood flow around the body.

 

octopus skin change.jpg

The blue ringed octopus which uses its nervous system to trigger skin colour changes.

 

Cephalopods, on the other hand, trigger their colour changes via their nervous system, which is a far more rapid method of transmitting signals across the body. At this point a video showed exactly how music with a heavy baseline can trigger a cephalopod skin sample to change colour to the beat, as the nerve endings are stimulated.

 

Following on from this, Jon drew the audience's attention to what it was in the large jars in front of them. In these jars were the remains of squid arms and tentacles. When these specimens were removed it was clear exactly what the difference between a cephalopod arm and tentacle actually is. Cephalopod arms have suckers down their entire length, while the tentacles only have suckers at their tip.

 

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Sharp ring-lined suckers found on the arms (n.b. not tentacles) of some cephalopods.

 

The range of different types of suckers that cephalopods possess was highlighted through these specimens. It was clear that some cephalopods have arms covered with many round suckers that are also lined with sharp teeth like projections. Others, such as the colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) have even more vicious looking ones, each wielding a single large claw projection rising out from their centre that can also rotated.

 

Having these impressive adaptations allows the cephalopods to not only grab onto but also hold onto their prey when subduing them. For these reasons, coupled with the strength of cephalopod limbs, it is clear why many researchers choose to wear chainmail, akin to that worn my mediaeval knights, for protection when diving with these animals, just in case things do take a nasty turn.

 

claw centre tentacle.jpg

Suckers with claw projections that colossal squid use to not only grab onto but also to hold onto their prey when subduing them.

© British Antarctic Survey

 

As this Nature Live drew to a close one of the Museum's true gems of the deep sea stored in the tank room was brought up on the big screen. Archie the giant squid (Architeuthis dux), who was accidentally caught in a fishing net off the coast of the Falkland Islands, is a fully intact specimen over 8 metres in length from tip to tentacle. Archie really put into perspective just how giant, a giant squid really can be.

 

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Archie the giant squid, who can be seen up close and personal during one of the Museum's free Spirit Collection Tours.

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Parasites: the name sends a shiver down the spine of many and makes the hairs rise on the back of my own neck, which is exactly why parasites made for a fascinating subject for a Nature Live here at the Museum. Ranging from human-flesh-eating ones, to those that live happily inside the stomach of a live rhino, Zoë Adams one of the Museum's passionate entomologists presented just how she became so 'attached' to studying parasites.

 

The event started by defining a parasite as a species that lives off or within another organism (the host), but at that organism's expense. With the audience then giving estimates on how many different types of parasites there are in the world, the answer was that up to one third of all life on earth could be technically classed as a parasite.

 

This then led onto the question, 'is there likely to be a living parasite present right here, right now inside the Attenborough Studio?' A question to which multiple audience members turned to each other with rather concerned looks on their faces. In truth it was revealed that there would almost certainly be a parasite present in the studio, because many of our own eye lashes and eyebrow hairs are home to the humble but harmless follicle mite (Demodex folliculorum). The follicle mite feeds off the sebum that our skin secretes in order to stay supple, and at least one in every three people is predicted to be a host to them.

 

Follicle mite.jpg

The follicle mite (Demodex folliculorum) that lives in the eyebrows of many people

 

The talk then proceeded with some rather nasty looking images displayed on screen, showing a botfly larva parasitising a human host. However, what Zoë went on to highlight was that this particular human host was none other than her own boss, who had become home to one of these blood hungry larval creatures while on a field trip in Bolivia! One of the images showed how a botfly larva obtains oxygen by using a small breathing tube which pokes out of the surface of the skin. The botfly larva eventually had to be surgically removed.

 

Botfly breathing tube.jpg

Botfly larva, showing the breathing tube that it uses while buried under the skin of its host

 

With this newfound knowledge, and an audience suddenly more likely to think twice before booking there next holiday to exotic climes, the Nature Live moved onto other, more familiar, wild mammals that suffer from parasites... a personal favourite parasite of Zoë's being the rhinoceros stomach botfly (Gyrostigma rhinocerontis).

 

Zoë expertly explained how these parasites have a very interesting lifecycle which relies on the rhinoceros being a creature of habit, choosing to respond to the call of nature and deposit their dung in the same places each time throughout their natural range. This particular botfly larva chooses to house itself within the stomach of rhinos as it is warm and safely away from natural predators. Once the rhino has 'done its business' the larva pupates in the faeces now outside of the rhino, where it can emerge and wait for another rhino host to do the same.

 

After another rhino has visited and deposited another stomach botfly larva in the same pile of dung, the botflies are able to emerge from pupation and mate, creating a new generation which can then repeat the lifecycle. This unique life cycle of the rhinoceros botfly is only made possible by the rhino using these same areas for defecation, just like humans repeatedly use the same locations for their own business (i.e. public toilets).

 

rhino bot fly two.jpg

An adult rhinoceros stomach botfly (Gyrostigma rhinocerontis), whose larvae happily reside within the stomach of a living rhino as part of its lifecycle

 

By the end of the Nature Live, the audience was certainly left feeling slightly baffled by the sheer numbers and range of different life strategies that parasites have evolved to occupy their niche in the natural world. Though, one hopes, they also left with a new found respect for the amazing and effective strategies that parasites use to live their lives.

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With our satellite dish at the ready, the sun shining and half a dozen Museum scientists raring to go, last weekend's Nature Live events went down a storm!

Camera action.JPG

 

Linking back to the studio from the harbour in Lyme Regis, we brought the annual Fossil Festival to South Kensington. For visitors who were unable to visit the south coast in person, we revealed why Lyme Regis is THE place to go fossil hunting and showed our audiences some of the weird and wonderful specimens that can be found there.

 

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Museum curator Zoe Hughes reveals an Ammonite, found in the local area.

 

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Does this count as Big Pond dipping?

 

Sunday's events brought us up to date with the organisms that call our seashore home. I was out first thing trying my luck with my bucket and net. I think I was the oldest 'rock-pooler' on the beach!  Unfortunately, I didn't manage to find very much, except for lots of seaweed ... but this proved to be far more interesting than I had first thought!

 

Museum scientist Lucy Robinson explained that there are many different species of seaweed to be found along our coastline, varying in colour, shape and size. She also explained the various ways seaweeds and their extracts can be used - in toothpaste, ice-cream, fertilizer and cosmetics (to name but a few).

 

And of course, some types of seaweed can be eaten - such as sea lettuce. Lucy and I decided to give it a go ... our conclusion, it's very salty and a bit crunchy (but I think that may have been sand!)  To find out more about seaweed and how to identify them, visit our Big Seaweed Search pages.

 

Its all about the icecream.JPG

Yum!

 

Lyme Regis is a great place to visit at any time of the year. If you're interested in fossil hunting, look out for the many guided walks that are on offer throughout the year, giving you the opportunity to explore the beaches with a local palaeontologist who knows what to look out for and who can tell you more about the fossils that are found there.

 

And if you'd like to experience the Fossil Festival for yourselves, put this date in your diaries: Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 May 2014. If this year is anything to go by, it will be another great weekend!

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Having arrived in Lyme Regis yesterday, greeted by sunshine and sweet salty sea air, we have been exploring the seashore and getting our bearings today.

 

Lyme Regis.JPG

Lyme Regis

 

No visit to Lyme is complete without a trip to the beach to go fossil hunting!  Keeping an eye on the tides, we headed out first thing this morning to try our luck.  Museum scientist Ed Baker is a regualr visitor to the Jurassic Coast and showed us what to look for.  Rounded rocks can sometimes contain beautiful fossils...but need to be cracked open to reveal the animal or plant within.  This requires a special geological hammer (ordinary ones can shatter if used!) and a touch of experience/skill (cracking the rock open at the right angle is important).  Fortunately Ed has both of these things and showed us how it was done....

 

Rocks are hit on the edge with the blunt end of the hammer.JPG

Rounded rocks are hit along the edge using the blunt end of the hammer


Ammonite fossil inside broken rock.JPG

Several ammonites are revealed within the rock

 

But you can also find fossils without the need for hammers.  By looking carefully and sifting through the rocks on the beach, you never know what you might find.  Ammonite fossils are pretty common and vertebrae and other bones from fossil marine reptiles can be found by the keen eyed.

 

With our pockets bulging with our dicoveries and faces glowing from the sun and sea air, we headed back into town to start setting up the satellite equipment for this weekend's live links.  If you can't make it down to Lyme Regis, why not join our museum scientists in the Attenborough Studio at the Museum as we link to you live from the festival....

 

 

You can also follow us on Twitter @NatureLive

 

For more information about the Fossil Festival, visit www.fossilfestival.com

 

Setting up the satellite equipment.JPG

Honorary member of the team Ed Baker helps Media Techs Tony and Eddie set up our satellite equipment

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The sun is shining, the bank holiday weekend is approaching, what better time to head down to the coast? But this is no regular seaside jaunt because this weekend Nature Live is joining scientists from the Museum, Plymouth University, the British Antarctic Survey and the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton to name but a few (! ) for the annual Fossil Festival in Lyme Regis. It's free, open to all and crammed full of exciting events and activities. 

 

Lyme Regis copy.jpg

The coast at Lyme Regis

 

 

Nature Live will be linking live, via satellite, back to the studio in South Kensington, reporting on all the comings and goings at the festival, new fossil discoveries along the coast of Lyme Regis and where's the best place in town for a decent ice-cream (extensive sampling will be taking place throughout the weekend!)

 

Icecreams Nat and Rosie.jpg

A seagull stole Natalie's (centre) ice-cream shortly after this photo was taken at Lyme Regis last year!

 

So, if you're free this bank holiday weekend, come and join us in Lyme Regis - more details about the festival can be found here - or join us in the Museum for the following events:

 

 

You can also follow us on Twitter @NatureLive

 

Now, it's time to track down some ammonites ...

 

Hunting copy.jpg

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Phew, it's been a busy few weeks at the Museum!  With snow outside and schools on holiday, everyone was keen to visit the Museum and to mark the Easter holidays we decided to programme some suitably festive Nature Live events ... my favourite being Eggs-tinct! If you weren't able to see it in person, here are a few highlights:

 

dino+egg (Custom).JPG

 

No egg event at the Museum is complete without reference to dinosaurs and Museum curator Lorna Steel brought along this beauty! A REAL dinosaur egg!

 

Equally, no egg event would be complete without the largest egg in the world ...

 

big+egg (Custom).JPG

 

No, this isn't some clever perspective, camera trickery - this really is the size of the largest kind of egg in the world (with Lorna's average sized hand above). This one belongs to an extinct Elephant Bird, a species that once lived in Madagascar. These birds were huge - at 3 m tall they were far larger than today's Ostriches - and consequently laid very, very big eggs. EGGs-traordinary!

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Remember, Jurassic Park? Twenty years ago it hit cinema screens across the world and entertained millions with the storyline of bringing dinosaurs back from extinction ... but it’s just a story, right?

Dino 1.jpg

The answer 20 years later is "Maybe". This Friday we’re going to be discussing the possibility of de-extinction: bringing extinct species of plant and animal back from the dead. What was once sci-fi may soon be reality. But are we ready? Have we considered the implications and ethics of this developing science?

 

In 2000, the Pyrenean ibex, a species of wild mountain goat, was officially declared extinct. Once common throughout northern Spain and the French Pyrenees, it had been extensively hunted to extinction. But in 2009, with DNA taken from previously collected skin samples, scientists resurrected the species through cloning. 

 

Ibex.jpg

However, the cloned animal only survived for 7 minutes and died from breathing difficulties. Was it wrong to try to bring it back? Or could emerging scientific techniques be the answer to the current extinction crisis?

 

If a polar bear cub can generate an increased revenue of five million euros in one year for a German Zoo, imagine how much publicity and money a baby mammoth could generate. While this may seem exploitative, could de-extincting a mammoth result in the conservation of endangered species? Could the mammoth act as a flagship species for the development of new technologies?

 

Mammoth 1.jpg

We’ll be asking these and other important questions at this After Hours discussion event during Friday’s Lates, and there should be plenty of food for thought. Do join us if you can but if you can't, I’ll post again next week and give you an insider’s view on the points that were raised and the topics discussed.

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Can humans go extinct? This was the question that we asked the audience at the last evening discussion event on 25 January. Louise Humphrey, a palaeontologist here at the Natural History Museum, started the debate by pointing out that human extinction has already happened. Homo sapiens may have been around for 200,000 years but all other species in the genus Homo are now extinct.

Homo heidelbergensis.jpg

Skull of an Homo heidelbergensis, an extinct human species.

 

Anders Sandberg from the Future of Humanity Institute told us that there are more scientific papers about dung beetle sex than human extinction. He suggested that our brains are not well equipped to think about our own extinction, “One life lost is a tragedy, one million lives lost is a statistic, seven million is impossible to comprehend”. Perhaps we are underestimating the risk of our own extinction and should be doing more research into how we could prevent it, after all the dodo didn’t see it coming.

dodo.jpgCould humanity go the way of the dodo?

 

“What is special about us as a species?” asked Mark Thomas, Professor of Evolutionary Genetics at UCL. He argues that it is our reliance on cumulative culture that defines us, not our large brains or creativity. Maintaining certain skills is dependent upon a threshold population size and it is only when skills are maintained that they can be enhanced. If the human population were to decline below this threshold, we would lose those skills. This prompted questions about data storage with reference to the recent news that researchers have successfully stored information in DNA. Anders commented that storing data is only worthwhile if someone can access it. If the human population fell significantly and some technology was lost then future generations are more likely to be able to access books than computers.

 

origin of species.jpg

Are books the best way to store information for future generations?

 

The discussion moved from human extinction to the future of humanity, could technological advancements save us or contribute to our extinction? Anders warned that technology gives more power to less people and it is becoming easier for a small group of people to cause huge damage to the human species, and our planet. Mark pointed out that if the human population suddenly declined then we would be left with small communities of people who know how to use technology and not how to survive.

 

The evening concluded with thoughts about where the human species might be in the future. Would we be extinct and, if we were to survive, what might future humans look like? The speakers agreed that if we do survive, we will have evolved significantly. At some point in the future the human species will have changed enough for our descendants to look back and see us as a different species.

 

This discussion was part of a series of events that we will be running alongside the new exhibition Extinction: Not the end of the world? Next month we will be Bringing Back the Dead, join an expert panel to discuss the benefits, risk and ethics of bringing back extinct species such as the mammoth and the Neandertal. Join the debate on 22 February.

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Last week, Nature Live caught up with Museum scientist Dan Carpenter who has just returned from the wilds of Borneo!  I was lucky enough to join him for the last two weeks of his trip in the state of Sabah (in the North East of Borneo) and was blown away by the size and beauty of the rainforests there.

 

P1000799.JPG

The trees in Borneo are massive and often have buttress roots.

Dan and his team were using similar methods to those they've used previously in the New Forest, and were trying to find out more about the diversity of invertebrate species living in the rainforests of Borneo. 

 

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A large earthworm found in the rainforest

To carry out their work, Dan and the team used a variety of collecting methods, including pitfall traps and something called a SLAM trap - which looks a bit like a tent hanging up in the trees!

 

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A SLAM trap hanging up in the trees

 

In last week's Nature Live event, Dan explained how all these different collecting methods worked and what it was like to spend six weeks living in the rainforest. 

 

To find out more, catch up with Dan's blog or read my blog about the work being carried out by Dan and other Museum scientists in Borneo (including Holger and Pat, who study lichens) and see some great film footage of the wildlife we encountered.

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Would you go on a one-way trip to Mars? That’s the question I asked our audience at our last evening discussion event “Should we go to Mars?” and about a third of our 100+ audience said they’d like to go. Although I suspect many changed their minds once they heard from our four expert speakers and discussed the reality of such a mission, including poo storage and having babies in reduced gravity.

 

One speaker who particularly sparked off the debate was Arno Wielders from Mars One, a Dutch company which aims to establish a colony on Mars in 2023 paid for by reality TV broadcasting. His ambitious project, a bit like Big Brother in space, really got everyone thinking about what life would be like on the red planet. Particularly since there is no plan to bring the people back to planet Earth. One young visitor asked what would happen if the first trip to send people ends in disaster. Well, according to Arno, they will still send a second trip since there will always be people hoping and willing to go!

 

Picture6.jpg

   The proposed Mars One colony, complete with biomes, rovers and food huts. I'd like the biome out on the right...

 

This raised plenty of questions about the type of person suited to such a mission, which Iya Whiteley a psychologist who has worked with the European Space Agency on astronaut training programmes tried to answer. Normally space missions require people who are good at taking orders and working harmoniously with each other. But on a one-way mission to another planet, being constantly under the gaze of millions of people a very different type of person is likely to want to go. Their motivations for doing so would have to be carefully examined.

 

Rebekah Higgitt, a science historian, made the great point that previous one-way missions from history, such as Scott’s last expedition, had no selection process but they also had no viewers either. When we read Scott’s diaries today they still have a huge impact on us as we imagine his last hours. What would it be like seeing and hearing members of this crew perish over a live internet stream or on TV millions of kilometres away in space?

 

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   Robert Falcon Scott and his party during his last ill-fated expedition to the South Pole.

 

Not to mention the danger that Mars itself would face from having humans walk upon its surface. We still don’t know whether there is microbial life on Mars or not, and missions to find out aren’t scheduled until 2016. If Mars One arrives and we don’t know enough about the Martian environment, we could end up contaminating the planet and any life living upon it.

 

Perhaps we are still decades away from a manned mission to Mars succeeding. And who knows exactly what form it will take when we do. But Joe Michalski, a Mars geologist working here at the Museum, thinks that we are destined to go to Mars one day. He says, there may be no scientific reason to go but it is inevitable that we will strive for it one way or another. It is human nature to explore.

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On Monday 22nd October, six Italian scientists and an ex-government official were sentenced to six years in prison for allegedly giving 'false reassuances' to the public. It is claimed this statement resulted in the deaths of over 300 people in a 6.3 magnitude earthquake that devastated L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy, 2009.

 

One of the great things about Nature Live and our daytime programme is that when an exciting piece of news hits, we can respond immediately. By end of play that day, I was narrowing down the heavyweight scientific authorities on the subject of natural disasters and risk management. Through our network of contributing scientists I came across Professor David Alexander from University College London, an expert in disaster risk and response. Not only had he worked with all the scientists in question but had family roots in Italy and exceptional knowledge of the Italian judicial system. We met and developed the event for the Friday.

 

The event ran to a packed audience, as broad as any you could find in London on a typical day. When questioned by the audience on whether the case highlighted a failure of science or communication he cited both as contributors. 'Arrogance and irresponsibility was at the heart of the advice they'd offered'. His first hand knowledge of the appeal system in Italy, however, led him to believe the scientists would avoid serving these prison sentences. He elaborated too, on how the failure was also in the authorities lack of sufficient infrastrucure to support those injured or homeless from the effects of the earthquake, a sobering conclusion to why perhaps this reassurance was also made.

 

On a lighter note, did he use animal behaviour to study seismic activity? 'Yes!' He said enthusiastically. 'I've consulted some interesting toad data in my time!'

 

Thanks to Musuem Scientific Associate Brian Rosen, for contacting us to provide this image from his time in L'Aquila, seven months after the earthquake.

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Recently we were joined by American filmmaker and writer Erin Espelie who was in London to show her film True Life Adventure at BFI London Film Festival. We hosted the second ever screening of the film in Nature Live.

 

True Life Adventure highlights the communities of insects found in and around freshwater streams, from stone fly larvae emerging from the water to spiders hoping to catch a meal in their web. Erin filmed the footage in less than two hours in an area of just 3.25 square feet on a single day in June, reminding us of the diversity of life that can be found on our doorstep.

 

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A still from Erin's film. Woodlice shelter under a rock.

 

Erin was joined by David Urry who works in the Angela Marmont Centre at the museum. He had been for a pond dip that morning and brought along the creatures that he found. Even in October the pond is teeming with life, from tiny water fleas to small snails to long leeches.

 

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Even in October there is lots of life in the Wildlife Garden pond. The small red creatures are water fleas or daphnia.

 

Most of the animals in the pond are in a constant battle to survive. David talked us through some of the adventures that the animals in the pond undergo every day such as the fearsome damselfly nymphs which prey on aquatic organisms using their extendable jaws. Damselflies are similar to dragonflies and live as nymphs in ponds or streams for most of their lives, shedding their skin when it becomes too tight as they grow.

 

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Large red damselfly in the museum's Wildlife Garden. Photographed by Derek Adams.

 

After about a year (but it can be longer) the damselfly nymph climbs out of the water and clings to a leaf or twig. Its body dries and after an hour or so its skin begins to crack and the adult damselfly wriggles out complete with fully-formed wings. The adult damselfly only survives for a few weeks and in this time it attempts to find a mate and avoid being eaten.

 

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Children getting a closer look at pondlife after the event.

 

David brought along some OPAL Water Survey packs so that the audience could explore the life in their local pond or stream. By taking part in the OPAL water survey you can help scientists learn more about the water quality of our lakes and ponds.

 

If you weren’t able to attend the event you can download a pack here.

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The Bure

 

It is an early Thursday morning and I am on the banks of The Bure in Norfolk. Three Environment Agency staff are sweeping across a windy stretch of river; two with electro-fishing rods, another pushing a boat behind them. Sometimes they sing (despite their waders the water is cold and spirits need to be kept high) and every few seconds a quick flick of a hand net transfers a momentarily knocked out fish into a bucket on the boat - these fish will be passed to us and on the bank we will weigh, measure and ‘gut-flush’ certain fish before all are returned to the river alive and well.

 

I am with Murray Thompson, a PhD student at the Natural History Museum studying the effect of woody debris on life in rivers. He tells me that last year; they only pulled 31 trout out of this particular stretch of river compared to 56 this year, a sign that in the Bure, trout are prospering from the presence of trees. Also included in the haul were: 11 stone loach, 3 three-spined stickleback, 1 roach and, rather wonderfully, 1 eel. Murray wants to find out whether recreating natural tree-fall in rivers creates better environments for the various levels of life in a river, something that ultimately benefits top predators like the trout.

 

Many of the rivers he works on have been straightened and had any woody debris removed. All of the rivers are fished and although potential hook snags like fallen trees are an obstacle for fishermen, Murray hopes that by showing that mixed and complex environments ultimately benefit the fish, those who own the rivers (and the rites to fish on them) will be more inclined to leave rivers in a more natural state.

 

‘Gut-flushing’ a trout

 

It is important to know what the fish in a river are eating and to do this without killing them we ‘gut-flushed’ a few of each species sampled:

 

After being measured and weighed the fish to be gut-flushed are placed in a bucket of river water to which we add a few drops of sedative. In just a few minutes the fish are subdued at which point they can be ‘gut-flushed’. River water is gently pumped into the stomach of the fish and the contents of the stomach are regurgitated. These stomach contents are then collected in carefully labeled test tubes to be brought back to the museum and analyzed in the lab. The 'gut-flushed' fish is then placed in a bucket with aerated river water and after just a few minutes will be fit for release back into the river.

 

This process is repeated at various sites along the river; some have natural pieces of woody debris - namely fallen trees not yet removed, some have nothing and some are sites to which Murray has carefully added woody debris or fallen trees. This process is also repeated in another 4 rivers in an attempt to find common trends within the vast array of ecological variability encountered across the country. The results from these different sites will hopefully provide Murray with evidence for the effectiveness of ‘Re-wilding Britain’s rivers’.

 

Thanks to National Trust Head Warden Dave Brady for devising the restorations, Murray Thompson, Charlie Hanison, Jon Clarke, Tom Howard, and Nick Beardmore from the Environment Agency.

 

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