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Scientists have figured out that today’s 4,500 species of cockroaches probably shared a common ancestor in the Triassic period. They’ve been evolving for 235 million years! In order to spread all over the Earth, they just had to sit and wait. When the supercontinent, Pangea, split into today’s continents, cockroaches drifted to world domination.
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Callie Schenker in Missouri came home to a surprising sight. A dog was sitting on her pony! Her one-eyed pony, Cricket, gave Callie a side glance then trotted away with her neighbor’s corgi on its back. I guess even dogs want a pet pony!
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Today is National Make A Friend Day. It’s fun to make new friends, but it can be hard to meet someone new when you’re shy. You’re in luck, because it’s also National Peppermint Patty Day! Offering candy to someone is a great conversation starter, especially when it’s a chocolate covered mint!
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Zoo Miami welcomed boy and girl baby zebras, but they weren’t twins. Two Grevey’s zebras gave birth on the same day! The endangered species is native to Kenya and Ethiopia. They are larger than other zebra species and have thin stripes that stop before reaching the belly. The foals are jumping and running already!
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February 16th is the Chinese New Year, which begins the Year of the Dog. The 12 year cycles are based on the Chinese zodiac. Legends say the Jade Emperor held a race to pick the zodiac animals. The rat won, followed by the ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig!
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Scientists have been studying a lake in the sea in the Gulf of Mexico. The brine pool at the bottom of the sea is five times saltier than the surrounding waters. The toxic habitat contains deadly concentrations of hydrogen sulfide and methane, giving it the nickname, “Hot Tub of Despair.”
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NASA’s New Horizons probe is hurtling through space at 700,000 miles a day into the Kuiper Belt, where Pluto and many icy objects orbit the sun. The probe sent the most distant photographs ever of the Wishing Well, a group of stars 1,300 light years away. The probe is 3.79 billion miles from Earth. Far out!
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Today is National Umbrella Day and National Cream Cheese Brownie Day. I wish it would rain delicious cream cheese brownies so I could use my bumbershoot, another name for umbrellas in the 19th century. James Smith and Sons is a London umbrella shop open since 1830. Umbrellas were invented more than 4000 years ago!
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The Hyundai Pavilion at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea is the blackest building ever. It is coated with Vantablack, a pigment that absorbs 99.96% of all visible light. Architect Asif Khan designed it to feel like you’re looking into deep space. Inside, it’s glossy white with an interactive water installation.
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Humans can perceive three dimensions because each eye sees a slightly different view and our brains combine them. Praying mantises are the only invertebrates that can see in 3D, also called stereopsis. Researchers gave them teeny tiny 3D glasses and showed them 3D movies to study their depth perception!
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