【推荐2】When thinking about ancient and mysterious animals, dinosaurs may first come to mind. But a new study shows octopuses (章鱼) appeared on Earth before the era of dinosaurs.

Scientists have found an ancestor of octopuses — a 330-million-year-old fossil (化石) unearthed in Montana, United States. The research concluded the ancient creature lived millions of years earlier than previously believed.

Apart from the impressive age, the octopus is also one of the oddest creatures in existence. Their mouths are in their armpits (腋窝); they have three hearts; they have blue blood. And the grace? I mean, who has grace like this?” Sy Montgomery, a German-born naturalist, told CBS News.

Of all the octopus’ oddities, perhaps the most extraordinary one is that the octopus has one large central brain, and eight mini-brains, one in each arm. As a result, the arms can solve the problem of how to open a shellfish while their owners are busy doing something else, like checking out a cave for more edible goodies (可食用的东西), according to Smithsonian magazine.

The ancient creature is also well-known for its disguises. The octopus can change its shape, colors, patterns, even the texture (纹理) of its skin. It can transform itself to look like seaweed in just the blink of an eye. This ability is called dynamic camouflage (动态伪装).

“I would argue that dynamic camouflage is a form of intelligence,” Roger Hanlon, a top octopus researcher said in a TED Talk.

The camouflage may look like a reflex (本能反应), but it’s not. It doesn’t just happen instinctively. They actually think and decide how to best camouflage themselves. “This is a decision-making process,” Hanlon said. “They’re not only taking into account the surroundings for camouflage, but also an approaching threat. And they’re calculating all the time about what they’re going to do next.”

【推荐3】PORTLAND, Maine — The number of whales entangled (缠住) in fishing gears (装备) has declined recently, but the entanglements remain a critical threat to rare species, the federal government said in a report released Tuesday.

There were 60 confirmed cases of large whales entangled in gear in the U.S. in 2020, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday. That was a 25% decline from the previous year and a lower figure than the 13-year average.

Every coastal region except Alaska saw a decrease in whale entanglements, NOAA said. It will take more research to determine the cause of the decline in entanglements, and it’s possible that the COVID-19 pandemic’s disruption of both fishing activities and data reporting could have played a role. It’s also possible that factors unrelated to the pandemic could have played a role, as some regions have reported large-scale environmental changes, like marine heat waves, which may also be affecting large whale entanglement rates and reporting.

More than half the entangled whales were humpback whales, which are popular with whale watchers and have a relatively stable worldwide population. However, four of the whales were North Atlantic right whales, which have a population decline due to recent years of high death rate and poor reproduction. The right whales give birth off Florida and Georgia and migrate north to the waters off New England and Canada to feed. Scientists and conservationists have sounded alarms in recent years that warming waters seem to be causing the whales to swim away from protected areas of ocean in search of food.

“The current level of entanglements is more than whales can stand”, said Kristen, an agent of a conservation group. The group and others have pushed for tighter restrictions on commercial fishing to prevent the whales from entanglement. These reports show far too many endangered whales are caught in fishing gear, particularly because reported entanglements are just the tip of an iceberg,” Kristen said.

【推荐2】It’s the common bedtime practice every parent is worried about—being asked to read the same book numerous times.

But while the constant repetition might be extremely boring for mums or dads, it is the best way for toddlers (学步的小孩) to learn new words, according to research.

The findings suggest parents are wasting money by spending a fortune on huge book collections in the hope that they will inspire their little ones.

Instead, a small selection of favourites such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar or The Gruffalo will achieve far more.

Dr Jessica Horst of the University of Sussex’s WORD Lab and her colleagues conducted an experiment to check how quickly three-year-old kids could recognize and recall six new words.

The children were visited three times in a week at their homes. One group heard the same story three times back-to-back each time and another was read three different stories. All had the same amount of new words.

When researchers returned a week later, they found the children who heard the same story over and over again bad typically learned 3.6 of the new words. Those that were exposed to a variety of stories remembered only 2.6.

They also said the children in the “repetition” group learned at a faster rate than those in the “variety” group. The findings back previous research by Dr. Horst that pointed to the benefits of familiarity.

She has already introduced the technique to her 19-month-old son, “I read the same books to him. Sometimes, every single day he wants the same books,” she said, “We are showing that less is more. Obviously, the more times you read to a child, the more books you have will help them. But you don’t need to go crazy and buy every single Thomas the Tank Engine book. Reading the same books over and over again helps.” Previous studies have found parents spend just 49 minutes doing things with their children each day. One in three doesn’t read to their children before putting them to bed at night. Yet 30 minutes of one-on-one literacy (识字) sessions can improve reading age by nearly two years in less than five months.

【推荐3】Our love of the natural world is partially baked into our genes, a study carried out by researchers from the University of Queensland and the National University of Singapore suggests. Using data collected by Twins UK, the most detailed and extensive twin study ever carried out, the team compared the genetic heritability (遗传可能性) of two types of trait—how strongly a person feels connected to nature, and the amount of time they spend in nature. They found that identical twins, who share almost all of their genes, were more similar to each other than the twins who share around half of their genes in their appreciation of nature.

This genetic influence was present in between 34 per cent for frequency of garden visits and 48 per cent for public nature space visits, they say. “I’m truly surprised by what we have found,” said study co-author Prof Richard Fuller, of the University of Queensland. “This means there may be genetic differences among people’s connection with natural environments and how they experience them. Our results help to explain why some people have a stronger desire than others to be in nature.” Previous studies have shown that the environment in which people are raised and live in, be it urban or rural, influences how strongly they desire to be among nature or seek outdoor experiences, with those in more rural areas having a closer relationship with nature. However, this is the first study to suggest that genetics plays a role in how strongly we feel a connection to nature.

As more and more people living in urban areas are reporting lower levels of happiness, and are at a higher risk of mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety, the study highlights the importance of bringing people closer to nature, the researchers say, “Spending a little time at home in the garden can be a great way to experience some nature.” said lead author of the study Dr Chia-Chen Chang, of the National University of Singapore. “Increasing accessibility to nature for urban residents through projects such as shared gardens will be hugely beneficial and will play an important part in improving people’s wellbeing overall.”