Insects Show Chivalry

They may not hold doors open or spread cloaks on mud puddles, but male insects have better manners than one might think, according to research conducted by scientists at the University of Exeter. The team studied wild field crickets in Spain over two full breeding cycles, from “first date” to parenthood.  

They observed that male crickets made no effort to isolate their mates to prevent them from breeding with competitors, as was previously believed. They also showed a willingness to risk their lives to protect their mates from predators, for example, waiting for the female to escape into a burrow before running from hungry birds. The researchers noted that males were killed by predators much more often than females were and that females usually survived such attacks.

“Rather than being bullied by their mates,” one scientist said, “it seems that females are in fact being protected. We could even describe males as ‘chivalrous.’”

Mysteries of the Universe Confound

Science can explain the origins of the universe and the secrets of the atom (and even smaller particles), but it cannot explain everything. Here are a few mysteries even the brightest scientists do not fully understand:

• Sleep. Scientists do not fully agree on why animals (including humans) need to sleep. While it may be connected to the brain’s need to refresh itself, plants go into a dormant state that’s similar to sleep and plants don’t have brains. Then there’s the fact that some people get by on two to four hours of sleep a night without any negative impact.

• Planets. Pluto may or may not be a planet, but a lot of real estate in our solar system is uncharted. The sector between the sun and its closest planet, Mercury, is too bright for astronomers to see and the outer edges of the solar system are too dark. Whether or not Pluto is a planet, there may be more planets beyond it that we haven’t yet found.

• Ice. Why is ice slippery? It just is and various theories developed to explain why we slip and slide on frozen water all have problems. The answer may have something to do with the tendency of ice to melt slightly when pressure is put on it, but tests haven’t confirmed that any melting effect is sufficient to decrease friction.

Furthermore, science has no current explanation for the success of Justin Bieber, but that’s probably just a matter of time.