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SPONSORED BY  | | | | October 4, 2024: Why Everest is so tall, land animals that can detect electric fields, and how to prevent an asteroid from striking Earth. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | • Toxic pollutant leaks from factories are common during flooding events like Hurricane Helene. But nearby residents rarely know about the risks. | 5 min read | | | Caterpillar species Tyria jacobaeae. Nigel Cattlin/Alamy Stock Photo | | | Ecologists measured the electrostatic charge of caterpillars and a frequent predator, the common wasp. The team programmed electrodes to emit the same electrical frequency as a wasp's wingbeat and held the electrodes close to three species of caterpillars. All three responded with defensive behavior (curling up or bravely trying to swat the electrode away). The researchers determined the caterpillars detect these electrical fields with bristly fibers that cover their bodies and vibrate from an electrical stimulus.
Why this matters: Aquatic animals are well known to display electroreception (the ability to detect electric fields), but this is the first predator-prey electroreception interaction recorded on land.
What the experts say: Such a sensory power in terrestrial animals is going to be used "in combination with other senses like hearing, like vision, basically to just provide an even more reliable sensory picture of whether a predator is there and where it is," says study co-author Sam J. England, a sensory ecologist at the Natural History Museum, Berlin. | | | Geologists modeled the flow of the river Arun that runs through the highest peaks of the Himalayas. Their results suggest that around 89,000 years ago, an early version of the river ran a different course, and eroded the mountains until it merged with a second river on a more northerly course. The power of the two rivers together carved a steep gorge, carrying away tremendous amounts of sediment. Geologists call this process "river piracy." Why this is interesting: As the forceful new river removed mass, the Earth's crust rebounded in response, bobbing slowly upward. The researchers estimate that this "isostatic rebound" added between 15 and 50 meters (16 to 164 feet) to the height of Mount Everest.
What the experts say: The Arun river runs through a dramatic gorge with near-vertical sides compared with nearby rivers, which aligns with a (geologically) recent event. "It could have been quite a dramatic event," says Matt Fox, a geologist at University College London. "It might have happened during a time of flooding." | | | SPONSORED CONTENT BY BIOFUTURE | Reimagine the Future of Healthcare at BioFuture, Oct. 28-30 in NYC | Join us October 28-30 in NYC at BioFuture where industry innovators, investors, and visionaries gather to assess and shape the future of healthcare! Discover therapeutic breakthroughs, cutting-edge technologies and participate in discussions around rapidly evolving fields of biopharma, digital medicine, big data, AI, TechBio, and more. Learn more. | | | • Sickle cell disease currently affects more than 7 million people worldwide, and yet receives far less attention (and funding) than much less common conditions. "We urgently need a global initiative to advance research and clinical trials for sickle cell patients, particularly in low-income settings," writes Ambroise Wonkam, director of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's department of genetic medicine. | 6 min read | | | Can you solve this week's science quiz? In the mood for more games? Find today's Spellements here. This week, readers spotted the following science words in the puzzles: Rosemary found "ununennium," and Garry from Westborough, Mass., found "palps." Impressive! | | | MOST-READ STORIES OF THE WEEK | | | • Evidence of 'Negative Time' Found in Quantum Physics Experiment | 5 min read | | | • Science-Fiction Books Scientific American's Staff Love | 20 min read | | | • Why Appalachia Flooded So Severely from Helene's Remnants | 4 min read | | | Brian Brettschneider. Data: Prism Climate Group | | | • Brian Brettschneider, a climate scientist with the National Weather Service, mapped September's rainfall, ranked out of all Septembers since 1895. Brettschneider posted on X: "September was a month of precipitation extremes. Catastrophic flooding in parts of the Southeast, and exceptional dryness in the northern Plains and Great Lakes." | | | • Our Milky Way galaxy is part of a local group of 50 or so other galaxies, which are all part of an even bigger structure called the local Supercluster. Astronomers discovered years ago that the local supercluster is but one lobe of a much larger supercluster, a collection of 100,000 large galaxies stretching across 400 million light-years which astronomers named Laniakea—Hawaiian for "immeasurable heaven." No matter how big our problems feel, it's sometimes nice to remember that we live on an infinitesimal speck of dust in the cosmic ocean. | 12 min read | | | For a truly terrifying illustration of just how high Mount Everest is, I recommend Jon Krakauer's first-hand account of climbing to the summit, Into Thin Air. With each step into higher altitude, he and his companion climbers experience debilitating symptoms of hypoxia, altitude sickness, frostbite and hypothermia. Some suffer far worse. We fragile humans have evolved to thrive much closer to Earth's surface. | Enjoy your weekend and email me anytime with thoughts and feedback: newsletters@sciam.com. See you Monday! | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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