After a brief blip of a break (try saying that 5x quickly, hah)--  I'm back with some fun google facts this month! I'll be sharing a longer email next weekend with some more creative updates, life updates, and plans moving forwards. For now- enjoy the newsletter below! 

 

 

A review: “Wonder” emails cater to the curious inner child within us all. Based off of a weekly series I used to do on my instagram called “Stuff I googled this week”, I'm excited to bring it to your inbox every month so we can all learn some new fun facts. 🤓

 

What I learned: 
1.) Because they flap more than they soar, flying at night prevent overheating (all that flapping takes effort!)
 

2.) Their V-shaped flight formation is designed to reduce effort. The only goose that is exerting 100% effort is the one at the tip of the V. Per this site: 

“When that goose flaps its wings, it causes a certain turbulence of the air that’s following the wing. The next goose in line benefits from this swirling air, and doesn’t need to apply 100% of its wingpower. The next goose, again benefits from that one, and so on down the line. Flying in formation this way adds 71% more distance that they can fly than when flying alone!”

 

What does this have to do with nighttime flying? At night when the Earth has cooled down, there are fewer vertical thermals rising from the ground (thermals are caused by how much heat is absorbed based on the surface of the earth). While thermals are great for soaring birds like eagles, they aren't so great for geese who have places to go! 

 

3.) Flying at night means fewer predators like falcons. See this dramatic video (CW: The goose doesn't make it out alive 😬) 
 

What I learned:  Just like the rest of our body, the lines in our hands (aka palmar creases) are not meant to be symmetrical-- though palm readers may have more to say about them. 

Which led me to a follow up question- what are the lines for? 

Answer: When you clench your hand, palm lines provide an avenue for the hand's skin to fold without bunching up and making it difficult to grab onto items. That may also be why there are strong creases where the bones in the fingers and thumb meet. (Source)

 

Why I googled: I was served this video on Youtube and then fell into a hole of looking up pictures of cuttlefish camouflaged in a room of grids or stripes. 

 

What I learned: So many things!

 

1.) Cuttlefish use specialized skin cells and expand/ contract these cells (chromatophores) to change the look of their skin as needed. Chromatophores contain an elastic sack of pigment and each cell is attached to muscles that are controlled by motor neurons in the brain. When activated, the muscles contract, expanding the chromatophore and displaying the pigment. When the muscles relax, the elastic pigment sack shrinks back, and the underlying skin is revealed.  (Source) 

 

2.) Cuttlefish innately know 3 possible colour patterns-- uniform, mottled, disruptive. They pick from one of these three main patterns and then adjust as needed to get the camouflage result desired. (Source)

 

3.) They don't just change colour! They also change texture to help them blend in seamlessly. (Source) 

 

Why I googled: I recently read about the Petrified Forest in Arizona, also known as the Rainbow forest and was fascinated at how wood could turn into stone. 

 

What I learned: Per this source:

 

Over time, after a piece of wood has been buried under ground (in an environment with little to no oxygen), minerals can slowly become deposited in the tree’s cells. These minerals harden and turn into a stone mould as the organic material around them dies away. The petrified wood can take on various colours depending on the types of minerals which were present during the petrification process.

 

As for how long it takes? Just a breezy 5000-10,000 years. 

 

Did you enjoy this?

Did you learn something new?

 I'd love to hear about it.

 

Hit the reply button and let's chat❣️