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Snakes react to danger by hissing, striking out or… cartwheeling! A scientist from University Malaysia Sabah observed this strange behavior in dwarf reed snakes, native to Southeast Asia. Snakes can roll down hills when scared, but the difference with this movement is that the dwarf reed snake actively launches its body into the air.
Good news for us sedentary workers! Research by Kyoto University and the University of California, Los Angeles suggests that walking 8000 steps daily just on the weekend can help keep us healthy. “There is no need to feel pressured to walk every day,” said Kosuke Inoue, who was assistant professor at Kyoto University at the time of the research.
Bad news for arachnophobes but good news for conservationists, Hunan Normal University researchers have identified 3 ancient species of spider that ambush their prey from tube-shaped lairs. They belong to a suborder of spiders that diverged in prehistoric times and still retain features from the “first spiders” seen on Earth.
Monkeys can be fooled by slight-of-hand magic but only if they have hands like us! Scientists from the National University of Singapore found that only monkeys with opposable thumbs were fooled by these tricks but not those without. This may be because monkeys that have opposable thumbs predict the hand movements that would happen normally and are thus surprised when the trick is pulled.
Healthy sleeping patterns seem to decrease the risk of developing asthma according to research by Shandong University. The researchers used a database of almost 500 000 people to see this correlation between sleep and asthma. Participants with a poor sleep pattern were 55% more likely to be diagnosed with the disease.
