A Modest Proposal

Microtubule RM/Freepik/NanoBana

They're everywhere. Plants, fungi, insects, animals and ... of course, us. Question, why is everything alive able to cope with reality? From one celled organisms to whales and trees, they all function without a problem Why, Microtubuels. Only now is Penrose and Hammeroff's Orch-Or theory finally being discovered to be true because the tech now has the prerequisite fine granularity to tease out the secrets
of a 25nm entity, something 1/4000th the diameter of a human hair.

Orchestrated objective reduction (Orch OR) is a controversial theory postulating that consciousness originates at the quantum level inside neurons (rather than being a product of neural connections). The mechanism is held to be a quantum process called objective reduction that is orchestrated by cellular structures called microtubules. It is proposed that the theory may answer the hard problem of consciousness and provide a mechanism for free will.[1] The hypothesis was put forward in the 1990s by physicist Roger Penrose and anesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff; it combines molecular biology, neuroscience, pharmacology, philosophy, quantum information theory, and quantum gravity.[2][3]

Electrons have mass, photons do not. Pushing electrons through silicon generates heat, lots of it.
Pushing photons through glass does not. Think fiber optics to see why these facts ring true.

Question, why is silicon still being used to push electrons through a chip, thus generating heat and requiring cooling while pushing photons through glass does not.

Also, moving electrons through a chip is slow, moving photons is fast, very fast.

Adding fuel to the fire. Current data centers are silicon based. When expanded to 200,000 entities to enable Chat to respond to a question like, What is the best way to make an apple pie? while requiring gas turbines or nuclear reactors to power the system while at the same time, needing rivers to keep the center from doing a China Syndrome type event at the same time becomes a rather significant problem to deal with, does it not? And ... we haven't addressed maintenance costs of replacing server units when they die or with the obsolescence factor of the enterprise in question because tech never sleeps. 

Why not do glass and imitate microtubules as a possibility as physics don't lie. Researchers now are seeing microtubules as an integrated analog/digital system as light, in free space, is analog and the shell, as depicted in the screen shot above, is digital as seen by the presence of the 2 differing tublins shown in the pix. Based on external input from reality every life form encounters and has to react to in order to survive, the light and the tube exchange information in concert with how life lives on planet earth so... why not do a test using glass and fabricating artificial microtubules to see if this proposal works because the physics of this construct are well known and building this as a proof of concept is doable because the hardware is there if one has the curiosity and drive to put together something that may work just like the way nature has worked for over 2 billion years.

2nd question, why are quantum computers chilled down to near absolute 0 while paramecium, without a brain but with micrortubuels, are able to navigate the world at a level far beyond that of Willow or Heron with the amount of power needed to power the paramecium being almost too small to measure. What's even better is the fact the design of AI and QC, using glass, light and the artificial microtubule can become an integrated system, able to run
without eating the world. 

A diagram of Paramecium caudatum

Glass waveguide - RM/Freepik/NanoBana

Thinking fiber optic here but in grander fashion. Something worth pursuing is it not?

Remember, the theories behind AI and QCs are correct, it's the plumbing needing to be changed.
Think Edison's DC vs Tesla's AC as example. :)

To be continued.

Tarantulas have smarts. :)

Rick West

Tarantula's are so cool. I've always wanted one but the wife says no way. Females live for as long as 30 years and their bite, as painful as it is, is not lethal. Seems they have smarts and innate spatial sense as well.

Researchers have witnessed several cases of spatial orientation in tarantulas – indicating that they may be capable of learning and memory.

They studied nine cases of the movement and hunting behaviour of arboreal (tree-dwelling) and fossorial (subterranean) tarantulas across North and South America, producing rare field-based observations of the creatures.

On two occasions, the arboreal Aviculariinae tarantulas repeatedly left their retreats to hunt at more favourable areas up to two metres away – particularly at locations near artificial light sources that attracted more flying insects.

Species that usually live in burrows within lowland floodplain areas also demonstrated unusual climbing behaviour. They scaled trees at heights of up to 12 metres, with the researchers concluding that they may have been foraging in the tree canopy.

While this has been previously observed to occur in the floodplain’s rainy season to avoid flooding, this behaviour was recorded during the dry season.

Gooty tarantula Poecilotheria metallica, Blue Tarantula - Getty Images

The key for these guys is to avoid, if in the southwest, the Tarantula Hawk,
a formidable hunter of tarantulas without question. 

Pepsis grossa, alongside a golden paper wasp for scale

Intense without question. Once in a great while, the spider wins. :)

Just Bugs :)

Insects never disappoint. From honey and bumble bees to orange beetles living only on milkweed,
the relentless progression of life never ceases to amaze.

Unlike anything seen before ...

Model of Mirasaura grauvogeli. Credit: Tobias Wilhelm

Seems about 247 million years ago, a small lizard sported a display for the ages, something unseen until now, a discovery changing the notion of how reptiles actually looked like back in the day. 

Body coverings like hair and feathers have played a vital role throughout evolutionary history. They provided insulation that supported warm-bloodedness and served functions such as courtship, display, predator deterrence, and, in the case of feathers, flight.

These coverings are defined by their extended and intricate skin projections, which are markedly different from the simpler, flatter scales found on reptiles. Until now, such complex outgrowths had only been identified as hair in mammals and as feathers in birds, dinosaurs, and pterosaurs.

In a recent study published in the journal Nature, an international team of researchers led by paleontologists Dr. Stephan Spiekman and Prof Dr. Rainer Schoch from the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, Germany, describes a newly discovered tree-dwelling reptile from the early Middle Triassic.

The species, named Mirasaura grauvogeli—meaning “Grauvogel’s Wonder Reptile”—lived approximately 247 million years ago. It featured a dorsal crest lined with previously unknown, structurally complex skin appendages that show some resemblance to feathers. These features were likely used for visual communication within the species.

This discovery demonstrates that elaborate skin structures were not exclusive to birds and their close relatives, but may have existed earlier in reptile evolution. The find challenges existing assumptions and calls for a reassessment of how complex body coverings evolved in ancient reptiles.

Reconstruction and illustration of Mirasaura in its natural forested environment, hunting insects.
Credit: Gabriel Ugueto

Nowhere to go ...

Daniel Janzen has been monitoring insects since the 1970s in Costa Rica’s Guanacaste conservation area. He says he has seen biodiversity crash even in pristine environments.
Photograph: P Greenfield/Guardian

Oh where have the insects gone?, a question more and more people are asking while the collapse of these creatures continues unabated due to pollution, environmental degradation, habitat loss and chemicals, a situation becoming increasingly dire as we speak. Back in the day, yours truly had to clean off the windshield of a beloved VW Camper Bus nearly every 15 minutes due to the flying hordes of insects one encountered in the 70's but no more. As per George Carlin, the earth will survive, us, well, that's another story.

A new point in history has been reached, entomologists say, as climate-led species’ collapse moves up the food chain even in supposedly protected regions free of pesticides

Crumbling populations

The declines witnessed by Janzen – and described by others around the world – are part of what some ecologists call a “new era” of ecological collapse, where rapid extinctions occur in regions that have little direct contact with people.

Reports of falling insect numbers around the world are not new. International reviews have estimated annual losses globally of between 1% and 2.5% of total biomass every year.

Widespread use of pesticides and fertilisers, light and chemical pollution, loss of habitat and the growth of industrial agriculture have all carved into their numbers. Often, these were deaths of proximity: insects are sensitive creatures, and any nearby source of pollution can send their populations crumbling.

But what Janzen and Hallwachs are witnessing is a part of a newer phenomenon: the catastrophic collapse of insect populations in supposedly protected regions of forest. “In the parts of Costa Rica that are heavily hit by pesticides, the insects are completely wiped out,” Hallwachs says.

“But what we see here in the preserved areas – that as far as we can tell, are free of even these destructive insecticides and pesticides – even here, the insect numbers are going down horrifyingly dramatically,” she says.

Long-term data for insect populations – particularly less charismatic species – is still patchy, but Janzen and Hallwachs join a number of scientists that have recorded huge die-offs of insects in nature reserves around the world.

They include in Germany, where flying insects across 63 insect reserves dropped 75% in less than 30 years; the US, where beetle numbers dropped 83% in 45 years; and Puerto Rico, where insect biomass dropped up to 60-fold since the 1970s. These declines are occurring in ecosystems that are otherwise protected from direct human influence.

Now a rare sight

Venom

As much as I like Venom and his buddy Eddie Brock, this blurb isn't about this dynamic duo but rather about biological venom and the benefits it has for mankind as nature never disappoints if one looks hard enough
to learn why.

lIllustration by Armando Veve

There are two opposite paths to achievement in science. The first is straightforward: Identify a problem and set about solving it. The second is rather unscientific-sounding and perhaps more faith-based: Study in obscurity and hope serendipity strikes.

For one researcher, the start point was the Gila Monster.

Gila Monster | Evolutionary splitting of the genus Heloderma into species (Reiserer et al)[6]

Gila monsters — sluggish, thick-tailed ground dwellers — are native to southern Arizona and northern Mexico. They have blunt noses and bumpy black skin with tan, pink or orange squiggles. They spend 95 percent of their lives underground. Like their cousins to the south, Mexican beaded lizards, they are one of the very few lizard species that produces venom, which they excrete from mouth glands into grooves in their serrated teeth.

Something's afoot.

One of the scientists there, an endocrinologist named John Eng, was impressed by Raufman’s work with the Gila monster. He was especially intrigued by its glacial metabolism — the lizard can survive on fewer than a handful of meals per year. Eng and Raufman paired up, screened the venom again and found molecules Raufman had not observed before. They called these molecules exendin-3 and -4.

Eng recognized the exendins as a potential diabetes therapy. He had patients with the condition who needed to calibrate their insulin injections carefully to avoid both hyper- and hypoglycemia. Exendin-4, on the other hand, resembled a human hormone called GLP-1, which works as a natural insulin manager in people without diabetes. When we eat, the small intestine releases GLP-1, prompting the pancreas to produce more insulin only when blood-sugar levels get too high. The molecule also slows digestion and makes us feel full. Scientists suspected that injections of GLP-1 would be a much easier and safer diabetes treatment than insulin, except for one crucial problem: The hormone lasts only a few minutes in the bloodstream before it breaks down. But the Gila monster analogue, Eng and Raufman were surprised to note, lasts for hours.

Fast forward a few years ...

Under the brand name Byetta, exenatide was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes in 2005.

Patients who took Byetta and other exendin- and GLP-1-inspired drugs also experienced substantial weight loss, trials revealed, but pharmaceutical companies were slow to realize how useful that side effect could be. Once they did, and had improved their formulations, the consequences transformed society: Ozempic and Wegovy, followed by Mounjaro and Zepbound, became blockbuster drugs for treating diabetes and spurring weight loss. What’s more, many of them appear to have additional beneficial impacts that researchers are only beginning to understand. Some seem to be protective against kidney and heart disease and may reduce inflammation in the brain that is linked to the development of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. You might say that the Gila monster — this shy, subterranean reptile — harbored a blueprint all along for medicines that may be among the most consequential health advances of our time.

Venom delivery systems have been around for a very long time. :)

Venom is generally considered distinct from poison. Whereas poison is passive — a substance, like a laundry-detergent pod or berries from a black nightshade plant, that can be lethal if ingested — venom must be actively administered by an animal, often via fangs, teeth or barbs, usually to capture prey or defend against predators. Nature has engineered this capacity surprisingly often. There are at least 1,250 species of venomous catfish alone, each with its own venom formula. Venomous creatures include insects, spiders, corals, mollusks, snakes, lizards and a few mammals (platypuses, shrews). Many of them, such as marine species, are difficult to observe in their natural habitats, and so we know next to nothing about how and why they use their toxins.

Cone snails, may have the most sophisticated venom in the world.

In closing ...

But in the venoms of creatures that researchers have been able to examine more closely, two features stand out that hint at their significant medical potential. They are incredibly potent and fast-acting — necessary qualities if they are to aid the survival prospects of the creatures deploying them. They can be produced in advance and stored for long periods at ambient temperatures (in the animals’ glands). They are composed of hundreds — or sometimes thousands — of molecules that often serve multiple purposes, making venoms “essentially ecological Swiss Army Knives,” as a 2019 review in the journal Toxins put it. And a majority of those molecules are peptides and proteins honed over millions of years to target other animals in the host’s ecosystem, including plenty of creatures whose biology overlaps that of humans.

Read the long NYTimes piece in its entirety. You'll learn a lot. I know I have. :)

X Marks the Spot

Had fun putting this video together by including different types of footage from drone clips to weather events with asides to insects, music and sculpture.  Enjoy.

Being a good neighbor ... :)

A frog and a tarantula make good housemates. Credit: Francesco Tomasinelli and Emanuel Biggi

Tarantulas are cool. Big, hairy and pretty awesome without question but it seems they're good neigbors as well as seen by the pix above. I had numerous pets as a kid but never the big T. Now being a senior, I would love to have one but the upkeep would be steep and my wife would never allow it so this Physorg piece must suffice for now. :)

The research reported for the first time an association between tarantulas and snakes, whip spiders, and harvestmen, and also reported over 60 new cases of partnerships between tarantulas and amphibians from ten different countries.

According to the researchers, the interaction, or even cohabitation, between the tarantulas and other species is often mutually beneficial.

"Apparently, the frogs and toads that live within the retreats of tarantulas benefit from the shelter and protection against their predators. In turn, they feed on insects that could be harmful to the spider, its eggs, and its juveniles. It seems that tarantulas might not be as scary and threatening as their reputation suggests," says researcher and the first author of the study Alireza Zamani from the University of Turku, Finland.

I rest my case. :)

Night Sounds

The night is the best time to hear sounds, whether it be insects tying ther best to survive another night or intense winds issuing forth whenever a fast moving high pressure system makes its presence known. This, plus full moons to illuminate the environment at large, completes the picture as to why nature never disappoints. :)

The age of extinction ... is here.

Image Credit: Living Planet Index

Do you remember when your windshield required constant cleaning caused by insects meeting their maker at speed, usually taking on a lime green color as your view of the road became increasingly compromised. Well, I do but not now as in the year 2024, yours truly's windshield remains virgin territory, showing yet again, the age of extinction is upon us thanks to climate change, the 900 lb gorilla promising to change how mankind lives on planet earth in ways differing from any other kind of disaster encountered thus far as said changes are happening in real time, a most disquieting circumstance entirely of our own making.

The Living Planet Report 2022 is a comprehensive study of trends in global biodiversity and the health of the planet. This flagship WWF publication reveals an average decline of 69% in species populations since 1970. While conservation efforts are helping, urgent action is required if we are to reverse nature loss.

To whit

“The staggering rate of decline is a severe warning that the rich biodiversity that sustains all life on our planet is in crisis, putting every species at risk — including us.”

“Across the world, and in the UK, nature is on its knees and our leaders are risking catastrophic consequences for people, planet and our economy by failing to act. We are hurtling towards a hotter planet where nature — and with it, our food, our homes and livelihoods — will be unable to survive without urgent action now to save our climate.”

Download the full report Here.

As we all know, nothing of real consequence is being done as man needs a catastrophe in order to really make change happen. As stated in BRT a while ago, the potential for a true catastrophe centers on India as that nation lies in the epicenter of a wet bulb future.

India experiences temperature/humidity indices in excess of the numbers seen above which means ...

As George Carlin says, it's not the earth's that's in trouble, we are.

Misalignment ...

Black Eyed Susan

Yours truly takes pictures and videos when walking in woods and fields as my loyal readers know.  While walking, one readily sees the adverse impact of GW ranging from the early blooming of flowers to the dearth of insects needed to pollinate the flowers in question. Other slights include the slow dying of unhealthy trees along with the early arrival of birds, which often proves problematic when the food sources for said birds are not available due to the specter of climate change. The frightening aspect about this is the fact it's just the beginning in terms of what GW means for the continued existence of mankind as nature cannot adapt fast enough to this catastrophe of our own making.

Humans may welcome the chance to put away our coats early. But off-schedule springs can have devastating ecological impacts, from pollinators missing the flowers they usually visit to an increase in conflicts between humans and animals as hibernations are cut short. “A really early spring can lead to all sorts of unexpected problems,” says Morgan Tingley, an ornithologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. The situation will only worsen as climate change makes warmer winters and earlier spring conditions ever more likely. “The issue is when really early springs don’t just become the exception; they become the rule. And that is what we are seeing with climate change in general,” Tingley says. “The extreme has become the typical.  That’s when we start to see stronger, really negative impacts.”

On the other end of the spectrum, not all flowers will bloom early; some tie their efflorescence to the amount and quality of sunlight they receive. But those that do so can mismatch with pollinators that emerge ahead of schedule as a result of warm weather. If the primary flowers they rely on haven’t bloomed, there won’t be anything for them to eat. “I heard some anecdotal accounts ... of dead bees being witnessed on the ground,” says Theresa Crimmins, director of the USA National Phenology Network. Some biologists speculate that warm temperatures might have lured the bees out of their winter rest and that they then starved without the right flowers being open.

A welcomed pit stop :)

A new Predator ... for real

The scariest movie, IMHO, was Alien, a masterpiece on how to scare the living crap out of you. Interestingly, the alien had a pharyngeal inner jaw, like that of the Moray Eel, able to shoot out and kill it's intended prey with exquisite efficiency. Seems there's a tiny predator able to harpoon its prey by launching its head and drawing the victim in via a contractible neck membrane prior to tearing the prey item apart in milliseconds, something never seen until now.

The most recent natural phenomenon brought to light by microcinematography is both wonder and horror and involves one of humanity’s greatest foes: the mosquito.

Videos released with a paper published Tuesday in the Annals of the Entomological Society of America reveal the terrifying anatomies used by mosquito larvae to feed on other insects. The researchers found that two mosquito species in their larval stage caught prey by shooting their heads away from their bodies like harpoons, mouths open, and reeling in their victims with a thin neck membrane. The whole process occurs in a fraction of a second, and was unobserved until now.

Theatrical release poster by Philip Gips

Not just insects ...

 Populations of sea lion pups have dropped 64% in Australia. Matthew Dickstein / Getty Images

It's not just insects ... it's all wildlife as the 6th extinction goes primetime in the year of our lord 2022. The acceleration of GW is not only terrifying, its inevitable as phase transitions are never linear as seen by when a pond freezes over as the day before, said pond is 50% ice free. Nothing of significance is being done to reduce fossil fuel burning as it takes a catastrophe of momental proportions for man to change. For yours truly, a wet bulb event in India, as articulated in The Ministry of the Future, works but one fears it will well before 2050 given just how fast GW is accelerating thanks, in large part, to the loss of albedo in the arctic. 

The percentage of diffusely reflected sunlight relative to various surface conditions

“Today we face the double, interlinked emergencies of human-induced climate change and the loss of biodiversity, threatening the well-being of current and future generations.”

So begins the executive summary of the Living Planet Report 2022. Released every two years by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the study examines global biodiversity and the health of the planet. The latest report reveals an average 69% drop in world vertebrate species in less than 50 years.

We can make a difference but it must happen now.

But there have been some promising discoveries with species that have been recovering.

The population of loggerhead turtle nests grew by 500% on the coast of Chrysochou Bay in Cyprus from 1999 to 2015. Credit conservation efforts that include relocating nests and using cages to protect others from predators. 

Conservation measures have also helped mountain gorillas. In the Virunga Mountains along the northern border of Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Uganda, populations of mountain gorillas increased to 604 animals, up from 480 gorillas in 2010.

Author Kim Stanley Robinson

Flower Power

May is the prettiest month of the year in CT with flowers everywhere both wild and cultivated, take your pick. Sadly, however, is the fact there are far fewer insects to grace the flowers in question.  Enjoy.

Early Spring

Early Spring's the time earth wakes up. Flowers start to bloom, insects make their presence known, birdsong permeates the air and frogs begin their annual mating dance the moment water warms to the right temperature.

Insect Apocalypse ... looms

Scientists have found a clear link between extreme land use and 

the climate crisis in pushing insect species toward collapse. 

While Americans are the leaders in not worrying about climate change, the rest of the world is not, especially when considering how rapidly the 6th great extinction event, known as the Anthropocene, is gathering speed with one focal point being the ongoing insect collapse happening 24/7 as we speak.

Extreme land use combined with warming temperatures are pushing insect ecosystems toward collapse in some parts of the world, scientists reported Wednesday.

The study, published in the journal Nature, identified for the first time a clear and alarming link between the climate crisis and high-intensity agriculture and showed that, in places where those impacts are particularly high, insect abundance has already dropped by nearly 50%, while the number of species has been slashed by 27%.

These findings raise huge concerns, according to Charlotte Outhwaite, the lead author on the study and researcher at the University College London, given the important role of insects in local ecosystems, pollination and food production, and noted that losing insects could threaten human health and food security.

"Three quarters of our crops depend on insect pollinators," Dave Goulson, a professor of biology at the University of Sussex in the UK, previously told CNN. "Crops will begin to fail. We won't have things like strawberries.

"We can't feed 7.5 billion people without insects."

This can change if we want it to.

However, the report says we can all act as first responders and take relatively simple steps to help reverse what the report describes as a "catastrophic decline in the abundance and diversity of insects."

"Insects live in our parks and gardens. Gardeners can really make a difference," he said.

He said habitat loss was the biggest culprit in declining insect populations globally, but pesticide use in farming and climate change were also contributing.

• Mow your lawn less frequently and allow part of it to flower. View weeds such as dandelions -- which are great for bees -- as wildflowers and let them grow.
• Grow plants that attract pollinators like bees and butterflies, such as lavender, catmint and buddleia.
• Make a bug hotel or provide a log or brush pile. These attract humble insects and invertebrates like woodlice, which recycle nutrients and act as food for birds and small mammals.
• Dig a pond and watch as it attracts dragonflies, pond skaters and whirligig beetles.
• Urge local authorities to plant native trees that flower on streets and parks and plant wildflowers in road medians.
• Avoid using pesticides and encourage authorities to do the same.

Pterosaurs!!!

Artist reconstruction of Tupandactylus imperator. Credit: Bob Nicholls (CC BY)

Of all the animals yours truly would like to see, Pterosaurs top the list. Exotic, mysterious and above all else, spectacularly weird, these ancient flyers top the list in terms of what wonderful mischief nature can come up with to beguile us humans to the max.

Long before the first birds flapped and fluttered, pterosaurs took to the skies. These leathery-winged reptiles, their bodies coated with wispy filaments paleontologists call pycnofibers, were the first vertebrates to truly fly. Now experts are beginning to think pterosaurs and birds had more in common than previously assumed: An exquisitely preserved fossil from Brazil not only hints that pterosaurs’ peculiar filaments may have been true feathers but also suggests that this plumage could possibly have been as riotously colored as that of any modern toucan or tanager.

If both pterosaurs and dinosaurs had feathers, and if those feathers had variable shades for visual communication, then either those traits evolved independently in each branch or they go back to the common ancestors of both groups—reptiles that lived early in the Triassic Period more than 243 million years ago. “We feel that the common structure in dinosaurs and pterosaurs reflects shared ancestry,” McNamara says. Likewise, the findings add support to the hypothesis that some kind of feather or feather precursor was present among these Triassic reptiles, hinting that many more pterosaurs and dinosaurs wore feathery body coverings than paleontologists expected. Pêgas points out that no skin impressions, feathers or other body coverings from Triassic dinosaurs and pterosaurs have yet been found to test this hypothesis. Paleontologists are only just beginning to uncover the deep history of colorful fluff and fuzz, a line of inquiry that will have experts digging into the earliest days of the Age of Reptiles. 

From the tiny to the huge, weird is their middle name.  :)

Reconstruction of one of the studied short-tailed pterosaurs. 

Credit: Yuan Zhang, Nature Ecology & Evolution

Even experts often resort to the word “bizarre” when describing pterosaurs, the winged dragons that ruled the skies for more than 160 million years. This is especially true of the group of short-tailed pterosaurs called anurognathids, which used to dart and bob through Mesozoic era forests like bats, hawking for insects.

Credit: Chase Stone

The Mesozoic era, which spanned the time from 251 million to 66 million years ago, is often referred to as the age of dinosaurs. But although dinosaurs reigned supreme on land back then, they did not rule the air. Instead the skies were the dominion of an entirely different group of beasts: the pterosaurs.

Pterosaurs were the first vertebrate creatures to evolve powered flight and conquer the air—long before birds took wing. They prevailed for more than 160 million years before vanishing along with the nonbird dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period, around 66 million years ago. In that time, they evolved some of the most extreme anatomical adaptations of any animal, living or extinct. The smallest of these aerial predators was the size of a sparrow. The largest had a wingspan that rivaled that of an F-16 fighter jet. Many possessed heads larger than their bodies, making them, in essence, flying jaws of death. Pterosaurs patrolled every ocean and continent on Earth. No animal in the Mesozoic would have been safe from their gaze.

Adaptations of these amazing flyers to their environment goes beyond imagination.

Skeletal reconstruction of a quadrupedally launching Pteranodon longiceps

Mark P. Witton1, Michael B. Habib

Pterosaurs were the first flying vertebrates and ruled the skies of the Mesozoic era. These flying arcosaurs appeared in the Triassic period and evolved during the Jurassic and Cretacic periods to highly-adapted forms. This infographic shows some of the most remarkable adaptations of pterosaur anatomy and physiology, including the anatomy of the wing or the structure and histology of the patagium (the pterosaur wing membrane), among others, depicted in Pteranodon, one of the most well-known groups of cretacean pterosaurs and an outstanding example of the degree of specialization acquired by pterosaurs.

Addendum. The strangest of them all were the Azhdarchid pterosaurs  With wingspans up to 40 feet, as tall as a giraffe and weighing close to 500 lbs, they were the true terrors of the skies without question.

The Maastrichtian, Transylvanian giant azhdarchid pterosaur Hatzegopteryx sp. preys on the rhabdodontid iguanodontian Zalmoxes. Because large predatory theropods are unknown on Late Cretaceous Haţeg Island, giant azhdarchids may have played a key role as terrestrial predators in this community.

azhdarchid pterosaur  Hatzegopteryx (A-B, holotype in light grey and referred elements in dark grey) compared with Arambourgiana (C) and Quetzalcoatlus sp. (D-E)

Size comparison of Hatzegopteryx (red) with Pelagornis sandersi (orange) and royal albatross (green)

The wingspan of the latter had been estimated at 11 to 12 metres (36 to 39 ft) in 1981;

Wonderful mischief indeed.

Just 5 seconds ...

Natural light, like that of the Blood Moon, makes one think in terms of the enormous impact light of all type has on animal behavior.

To whit ...

In the world's darkest oceans, turning on a light has profound effects, SHIFTING ENTIRE ECOSYSTEMS WITHIN A MATTER OF SECONDS — and not for the better.

How animals behave in the deep sea depends on their environment, and these creatures like it dark. A new study shows that light pollution from ships may disrupt ecosystems below the ocean surface as much as 200 meters deep.

The artificial light fundamentally alters how fish and zooplankton living at these depths behave.

That means research ships which emit light could throw off their own samples, calling any scientific knowledge we claim about these deep, dark oceans into question.

Natural light also plays a part as seen by the Black Swift 

and it's connect to full moons. 

An international research team led by Lund University in Sweden has managed to study the flight behaviour of the mysterious black swift. They found, among other things, that the black swift rises to extreme heights during a full moon, seemingly catching insects in the moonlight. And, during a lunar eclipse, the birds simultaneously lost altitude. The results are published in Current Biology.

Them Changes - (Buddy Miles/Jimi Hendrix)