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2 weeks ago | 
nature.com | Ariana Remmel
The average human cell contains roughly 10,000 different proteins. Existing as several to millions of copies in each cell, proteins mediate all manner of tasks, including chemical transformations, communication and intracellular trafficking. To execute these crucial functions, each protein must cosy up with designated partners, says Emma Lundberg, a bioengineer at Stanford University in California.
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1 month ago | 
audubon.org | Ariana Remmel
Audubon MagazineSpring 2025Birding Advice Casual or competitive, stationary birding events provide a refreshingly different outdoor experience. Group trips are a great way for birders to enjoy nature together. While guided walks are the go-to outing for many event organizers, why not let the birds come to you? A bird sit is an outing in which participants observe birds together from a single location—often supplemented by snacks and socializing.
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1 month ago | 
audubon.org | Ariana Remmel
On a warm afternoon in Chicago’s McKinley Park, Em De Blas was guiding a group of birders when they spotted a Downy Woodpecker “going ham” on a tree. In both English and Spanish, De Blas invited everyone to spend some time just watching the beautiful bird do its thing. The year before, De Blas had recognized that bilingual outings could welcome more people into the local birding community but worried that they didn’t know enough about birds to lead them.
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1 month ago | 
birdnote.org | Ariana Remmel
BirdNote®Beautiful and Beneficial Gardening for BirdsWritten by Ariana RemmelThis is BirdNote. A bird feeder is a lovely addition to any yard, attracting beauties like this Rose-breasted Grosbeak: [Rose-breasted Grosbeak song, ML 84866]But buying enough birdseed to keep all those birds satisfied can run up a big bill. Homegrown National Park® co-founder Douglas Tallamy says that growing native plants in your garden can provide a balanced diet for birds.
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Nov 8, 2024 | 
birdnote.org | Rainforest Alliance |Gregg Thompson |Ariana Remmel
Every year, hundreds of bird species migrate between North and South America. Some species likely evolved from ancestors that moved north in search of new breeding habitats: the “southern home” hypothesis. But others may have extended their winter ranges south: the “northern home” hypothesis. Many birds have likely gained and lost the ability to migrate multiple times over the course of evolution. And it’s still happening today. BirdNote®Which Came First: North- or South-bound Migration?
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Oct 3, 2024 | 
science.org | Ariana Remmel
Some of the world’s greatest gardeners are mere millimeters long. The leafcutter ants of the Americas, for example, slice off chunks of leaves, haul them back to their nests, and feed the fresh greens to fungi, which the ants carefully tend in special climate-controlled chambers within their colonies. Just as humans can’t eat the hay we feed livestock, the ants can’t eat the leaves—only the fungi that flourish on them.
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Oct 3, 2024 | 
birdnote.org | Ariana Remmel
Some migratory songbirds such as European Robins have special light-sensitive proteins called cryptochromes in their eyes. New research suggests how the cryptochromes could alter their behavior in the presence of magnetic fields, giving birds a visual cue for north and south. Other birds can navigate with the help of a mineral called magnetite in their beaks. BirdNote®Can Birds “See” Magnetic Fields? Written by Ariana RemmelThis is BirdNote.
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Oct 3, 2024 | 
science.org | Sarah Crespi |David Grimm |Ariana Remmel
Berlinerinheart/Shutterstock First up this week, Online News Editor David Grimm joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about how cats think about their own bodies. Do cats think of themselves as a liquid, as much the internet appears to believe? New experiments suggest they may—but only in one dimension. Next, freelance producer Ariana Remmel is joined by Ted Schultz, a research entomologist at the Smithsonian Institution, to discuss the evolution of ant-fungus farming. It turns out, ants and fungus...
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Sep 30, 2024 | 
nature.com | Ariana Remmel
As a doctoral student in the early 2000s, Melina Fan was at an impasse. She was investigating proteins involved in diabetes and obesity and needed to verify that around 20 proteins she’d identified in the literature would behave reproducibly in her experiments. Researchers coax cells into making proteins they don’t normally express using DNA tools called plasmids. She wrote to each study author asking them to send a sample of their published plasmid for her own research.
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Sep 20, 2024 | 
birdnote.org | Rainforest Alliance |Gregg Thompson |Ariana Remmel
At the end of summer, the once-bright feathers of a male American Goldfinch look ragged. Growing new flight feathers in a process called molting makes him more vulnerable to predators. Before migrating to wintering grounds, many songbirds stop at a secondary location to undergo the indignities of molting. It’s called molt migration. The places birds go to molt could be important targets for conservation efforts. BirdNote®Molt MigrationWritten by Ariana RemmelThis is BirdNote.
