Thorny devils, rattlesnakes, kangaroo rats and more have developed smart ways for surviving in water-scarce(缺水的) environments.

Thorny devils

In Australian deserts live some animals known as thorny devils. These animals specialize in eating ants, which are also where they get their water.

But when ants are scarce, or conditions are even drier than normal, they have a backup. All they have to do is to kick the sand up onto their backs and let the network of tiny canals(沟渠) on their skins to catch small amounts of water and guide the liquid directly to their mouth.

Namib desert beetles

An ocean away in southwestern Africa, the Namib desert beetles pull off a similar trick. They use their backs as a cooler to catch water trapped in the morning fog. As the droplets grow in size, they run down the insects’ backs toward their mouths.

Desert rattlesnakes

Desert rattlesnakes of the western US are able to live on just one hearty meal a year. But without a drink of water now and then, the snakes would dry up and breathe their last in a few days.

So how do they survive way up in the Rocky Mountains, where water is scarce? Easy. They turn their bodies into bowls in the evening to collect the dew(露水). With their cold bodies flattened into a bowl, the dew gathers on their skin.

Kangaroo rats

These pocket-size animals in the US Midwest plains never drink water. They spend 75 percent of their time in underground holes to avoid the heat in the desert. They survive on a diet of dry grass seeds, which they first bury underground. Because the underground soil is wetter than the surface soil, stored seeds may absorb as much as 30 percent more water than ones above ground. So when the rats eat their seeds, they get both food and water.

“She got a beautiful eye, walk in a line, smile with her type; She knows all about life, never ask why, driving everyone crazy, crazy...” Everyone is surprised that this original song, She, which has so far topped more than 10 million views on the Internet was produced by a 15-year-old girl in only 30 minutes.

Zhang Yuxuan is better known as Vicky Xuanxuan on social media. “I have never thought the song She would be so popular,” Zhang, a middle school student at an arts school, majoring in violin, said. “A melody (旋律) suddenly jumped out of my head when I was having a math class. I quickly wrote a few words and melody on my notebook, and after class, I rushed home and took less than half an hour to finish it,” Zhang added. She has become one of the most popular music bloggers on the platform and has attracted 42, 6 00 followers.

Zhang fell in love with English songs when she was a primary student. She registered on the Internet when she was 13 years old and in 2019, she posted her first original song December Composer. “So far, I have produced 26 songs and there are dozens of songs that have not been released,” she said. She also invited Allie Sherlock, a famous Irish teen singer and online celebrity, with 4.47 million fans, to sing Dance Monkey together, which also helped her earn a lot of fans.

After being so popular, Zhang felt a bit of stressed and she cares more about the quality of her work. She has received many invitations to music and variety shows but she has wisely (明智地) refused them. She said she still needs to put study first and only spends her time off to produce music. Zhang said her dream is to go to one of the world’s top music schools like the Berklee College of Music in Boston. “I still have a lot to learn including my main subjects like English skills and composition. I hope I can become a songwriter and work with the musicians I like,” she said.

Migration (迁徙) ecologist Sissel Sjöberg had long wondered how tiny birds like the great reed warbler (大苇莺) can make it across long expanses of water or desert on their migrations. Though just half the weight of a golf ball, they fly 7, 000 kilometers between Northern Europe and sub-Saharan Africa twice a year. Now, a new study may have the answer: These nighttime birds fly well into the day — and at heights of up to 6, 000 meters, three times as high as they normally fly.

More than 4, 000 species of birds migrate across long distances each year. It’s challenging to equip small songbirds with the tracking devices that make such research possible. To see whether she could change that, Sjöberg joined the lab of Lund University Dennis Hasselquist. The pair turned to great reed warblers, relatively large songbirds that summer at a lake near Lund University. Scientists there have monitored the species’ breeding (繁殖) and behavior for 40 years.

To track the warblers, Sjöberg, Hasselquist, and colleagues equipped them with small backpacks that can monitor their journeys. As expected, the migrants usually spent their nights flying and rested during the day. But most birds that hit a water or desert crossing near dawn kept going as the sun rose, climbing high into the sky. Some birds flew higher than 6,000 meters. That’s not quite as high as the 8,000 meters geese hit, but it’s still a tall order, Sjöberg says. “We have never even imagined that songbirds regularly would fly this high.”

Such altitudes can be stressful. At 6,000 meters, oxygen isn’t enough and the temperature is below freezing. Somehow the birds are able to cope. “The ease at which they fly that high is unbelievable,” Sjöberg says.

Breakfast may just be the most important meal of the day, but finding time to search for something to eat in the morning can be a real challenge. In fact, you may skip the trouble altogether, especially if you’re trying to limit your daily calorie intake. However, the result may be worrying, in more ways than one.

Claire Anspach, RD, explained that eating a balanced breakfast not only starts your metabolism (新陈代谢), but also provides calories your body needs in order to be focused and productive. So, how many calories should you be eating each morning? It depends on a number of factors (因素), including your age and activity level. As for breakfast, “it’s hard to say exactly how much one person should eat, but on average, a well-balanced meal should be around 400 to 500 calories,” Anspach said, adding that breakfast is typically one of the biggest meals of the day.

Aminta Bullard, a registered dietitian and weight-loss coach, said something similar like that “calories are not one size fits all”. Bullard noted that people who exercise in the morning may need to add 300 calories to their pre- or post-workout breakfast to help fuel the body. The same can be said for professional athletes, as well as those who have jobs that require a lot of walking, standing, or other forms of movement.

Whatever your calorie requirements, Bullard recommends choosing a breakfast that contains protein (蛋白质) and fiber. “High protein and high fiber keep you energized and satisfied,” Bullard said. That’s opposed to foods that are high in sugar, like donuts, which she said can leave you “feeling sluggish” and cause you to reach for a snack. So, if you find that you’re always desiring a second breakfast, you might want to reevaluate what you’re eating for the first.