![]() We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.” My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. “Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. Last month, The Christian Science Monitor reported the discovery of several new species of “miniature” frogs, whose tiny bodies may have evolved in response to a limited food supply.Ībout a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”: While the threats facing frogs are well documented, scientists keep identifying new strategies they may have for adapting and thriving in a wide range of environments. ![]() “Fluorescence would be potentially very useful in a noisy environment and in a habitat with dense foliage, as it would make individuals brighter,” she continued. Bibiana Rojas, an ecologist at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland, told Chemistry World that “it would be interesting to investigate if has a role in species recognition, or whether it facilitates the formation of couples.” What purpose could these molecules serve? Scientists are now gearing up to answer that question. Lopes, a chemist at Brazil’s University of São Paulo, told Nature that these molecules are unique among known fluorescent animals. “We couldn’t believe it,” another team member, herpetologist Julián Faivovich, told Nature.Ĭommunity Why Boston’s wealthy Back Bay said yes, in our backyardįurther investigation found that three molecules – hyloin-L1, hyloin-L2 and hyloin-G1 – were responsible for the phenomenon. The frogs contain a chemical called biliverdin, which has been known to bond to proteins and help some insects fluoresce red.īut the frog, known as Hypsiboas punctatus to scientists, instead glowed green under the researchers’ blacklight. When the researchers set out to investigate the polka dot tree frog’s pigment, they thought they might find red fluorescence. Scientists had seen this phenomenon at work in sharks, sea turtles, and other species, but never in amphibians. ![]() Unlike bioluminescent animals, like fireflies and anglerfish, which generate their own light, fluorescent animals absorb light and re-emit it at a longer wavelength. “We were not expecting this bio-fluorescence,” study co-author Norberto Peporine Lopes told Chemistry World. They see their finding as a major step forward for our understanding of amphibians. In a study published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of Argentinian and Brazilian researchers attribute this phenomenon, known as fluorescence, to compounds secreted by the frog’s skin and lymph glands. But under a fluorescent light, it glows bright green, with 18 percent of a full moon’s light. At first glance, the South American polka dot tree frog gives off a pale, brownish-green hue.
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