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Carnegie Museum of Natural History

One of the Four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh

Nature 360

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Math In Nature? It All Adds Up!

For all of its breathtaking beauty and seemingly spontaneous happenings, there are also some surprisingly consistent patterns in nature that math can help us understand. These patterns literally shape nature and the world around us. Let’s a take a closer look at some of these phenomena and how they work.

The Fibonacci Sequence

photo of spiral shell

What do the numbers 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233 have in common? At first glance, it’s just a jumble of numbers, right? But there’s a distinct pattern within. Starting with 0 and 1, you add those numbers together. What does it equal? 1! Then add 1 and 1 to get 2, then 2 and 3 to get 5 and so on. This sequence can be found in the spirals of shells, the shape of a pine cone and even in the family trees of certain animals. Can you add to the sequence mentioned in the first line of this paragraph? What comes after 233? See how far you can go!

photo of bottom of pine cone

Don’t Be Stumped By That Tree

You can tell how old a tree is by counting the rings. Each one changes in shade from light to dark and is separated by a distinct dark circle. The lighter area is wood that grew faster in the spring in summer. The dark parts represent the slowed growth in the winter and fall. Knowing how old the tree is benefits scientists in numerous ways, including the study of climate change. Those rings hold secrets to the weather patterns of each year and by studying each ring, scientists can get a detailed look at how climate changed during the tree’s lifetime.

Math Is Out Of This World

That’s right, math’s reach goes way beyond earth. Our solar system is actually a Fibonacci spiral. One of the coolest events in the galaxy, a solar eclipse, can be explained by math. The eclipse happens when the moon blocks the view of the sun from earth. But how can this happen when the sun is 400 times larger than the moon? The moon is about 400 times closer to the sun, creating the perfect angle for an incredible occurrence.

Fun Fact

While rounded shapes are common in nature, so are shapes with angles. One of the most common is the hexagon. Honeycombs, snowflakes, and the eyes of some insects are just a few examples of the hexagon appearing in nature.

image of Dippy logo without a tail

Help Create Dippy’s Fabulous Fibonacci Tail!

You have probably noticed that Dippy has a sense for fashion. In addition to that iconic scarf collection, not to mention all of those trendy hats, Dippy is looking to expand his fashion sense. Dippy is pretty tired of that whip-like tail and wants to try on something new. Since we just learned about the Fibonacci sequence, we’ll need you to create a stylish new tail. Use the template below to draw a Fibonacci spiral tail and then decorate any way you like. With a parent’s permission, tag Dippy on social media (@Dippy_the_Dino) to show them the awesomeness you created!

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Nature in Sidewalk Cracks

When you hear the word “nature,” what scenes do you think of? Mountains, streams, and forests? Cities are probably not the first places that come to mind. Living in Pittsburgh, you might notice buildings and roads at first glance, but what happens when you start looking a little closer? Try searching for nature in unexpected places and you’ll see that nature has the power to survive in and transform spaces all around you.

Growing in Strange Places

Nature is most likely crawling past you while you’re walking on the sidewalk. Most sidewalks and roads have cracks where small amounts of soil form and different plants can begin to flourish. Shallow cracks will house things like mosses while larger cracks favor small weeds or flowering plants. Anything growing in a sidewalk crack or groove must adapt to harsh environmental conditions like heat and lack of nutrients.

Some people have even gone as far to purposefully grow plants or herbs in their sidewalk cracks. With replacement concrete being expensive, some homeowners have grown herbs like thyme or mint so when someone walks by the scent is released. Although this may expand the sidewalk cracks further, it’s a fun way to incorporate nature in your urban life.

Exploring Sidewalk Cracks

Pat Howe, coordinator of the Natural History Interpreter program at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, shared photos of plants growing in unusual places right in her neighborhood. She was able to find moss growing on rocks and inside of a sidewalk crack, garlic mustard growing between stairs, and grass beginning to sprout on a manhole cover.

If you’re having trouble identifying what you found, iNaturalist is a great tool for learning the names of some things we see daily but don’t know much about. Download the app, snap a photo, and let other users identify your findings for you! If you share your photos on iNaturalist between April 24 and April 27, 2020 you’ll be a part of the global City Nature Challenge!

What can you find in different cracks around you? The next time you’re walking down the street, take a closer look at your sidewalk and see what you can find! We’d love to see your findings. Email them to us at nature360@carnegiemnh.org or tag us on social media @CarnegieMNH.

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Bugging Out…and Coming Back

From the first blooms of spring through the end of summer, insects (and many other things we often call bugs), are plentiful. They make their presence known at all hours by buzzing along during the day and chirping throughout the night. But where were they all winter? There is no one answer and that is what makes it so fascinating! Let’s take a closer look at where the insects we are seeing now have been hiding.

Flying South for the Winter

When we think of migration, we usually attribute it to birds. However, insects are known to migrate as well. Generations of monarch butterflies from the United States and Canada fly south to Mexico and roost in mountain forests. Different species of dragonflies also migrate. In the US and Canada, adults of migrating species leave for Mexico in the early fall and return in the early spring. What’s really amazing is that the young larvae stick around in our winter creeks and rivers, and hatch into adults in the spring.  

The Next Generation

The end of fall can mean the end of a life cycle for many insects. To keep their species going, they lay eggs in the fall that either survive the cold as larvae or hatch in the spring. This is known as overwintering. Young woolly bear caterpillars find shelter in the cover of decaying leaves and logs or under rocks. Those praying mantises you see in the spring and summer? They hatched from eggs that survived the winter. Mayfly nymphs live in the water, even under ice, and are known to feed and grow all winter.

Yawn…See Ya in the Spring

That’s right, some insects even hibernate. Honey bees will group together in their hive and keep each other warm by slowly flapping their wings to generate heat. Certain arthropods like isopods can even produce a kind of antifreeze known as glycerol that keeps them from freezing. Now that spring is here, it’s the perfect opportunity to observe flowers in a garden, park or street and see what insects visit. You can also note these in the iNaturalist app during the City Nature Challenge.

A Buggy Challenge

How many photos of insects can you take and share on the free iNaturalist app during the 2020 City Nature Challenge, April 24-27.

Let’s Play Bug Bingo!

Get three in a row and you win! Head outside and cross off each insect (or other type of arthropod) that you see, in the order in which you spot it. Give yourself a bonus point each time you snap a picture and upload it to the iNaturalist app (with your parents’ permission!) during the City Nature Challenge that takes place April 24-27! Have socially distant fun with family and friends to see who can get bingo and then collect the most bonus points.

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Make Your Own Thermometer

What’s the first thing you do before going to bed or upon waking up in the morning? For many people, it’s checking the weather. This simple activity sets the tone for the rest of your day. It will determine the outfit you wear, whether you walk or ride the bus and so much more. It can be as easy as checking an app or watching the morning news, but where’s the fun and excitement in that? With a little effort, you can make your very own thermometer that will provide an up-to-the-minute indoor or outdoor temperature, depending on where you leave it.

What You’ll Need

·        A 20 ounce plastic soda bottle

·        A small funnel

·        Water

·        Rubbing alcohol

·        Food coloring

·        Straw

·        Modeling clay

·        Permanent marker

·        Bowl of hot (but not boiling!) water

·        Bowl of ice

Directions

Fill your bottle halfway with 5 ounces (a little more than half a cup or about 150 ml) of water and an equal amount of rubbing alcohol.

Add a few drops of food coloring to the mixture. About 1-3 drops should do the trick!

Now drop your straw into the bottle, but don’t let it rest on the bottom. Doing so will block the mixture from entering the straw. Leave a little bit of room so that the straw can fill. Wrap the modeling clay around the opening at the top of the bottle to create a seal. Do not cover the top opening of the straw. Try and keep the straw centered inside the bottle.

It’s time to calibrate your temperatures. You can use the store-bought thermometer for this. Start at room temperature and look for the highest point of the liquid in your straw. Mark that spot’s temperature on the bottle. Then set the bottle in a bowl of hot (but not boiling!) water and mark that temperature. Lastly, set the bottle in a bowl of ice and wait two minutes. Mark that temperature on your bottle.

Now you have cold, moderate and warm temperatures on the bottle. When you wake up tomorrow morning, use your new thermometer to see what the temperature is like!

So how does this work? 

Well, the warmer temperatures cause the liquids to expand. This forces the liquid up the straw, the same way that mercury moves in a thermometer you would buy at the store. In colder temperatures, the opposite happens and the liquid contracts and slides back down the straw.

Fun Fact

The first medical thermometer was invented by Sir Thomas Allbutt in 1867. It could take a person’s temperature in about five minutes. Do you think you could wait that long?

Learn more with Nature Lab. 

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Centipede or Millipede? What’s the Difference?

Quick, what was that? It scuttled by in a flash, but you caught a few defining characteristics. It had many legs and a long, segmented, wiggling body. You know you’ve seen one before. Was it a centipede or a millipede?

A few unique characteristics help define which of our many-legged friends is which.

centipede specimen

What’s the difference?

Both centipedes and millipedes are made up of segments that link together to form one, long body. With this body form in common, it might be hard to tell the difference between the two at first glance. Here are a few tips to spot the differences:

  • Millipedes have two sets of legs per segment positioned directly under their body. Centipedes have one set of legs per segment positioned on the side of their body.
  • Centipedes mostly eat insects after killing them with their venom. Millipedes feast on decomposing plants.
  • If looking from the side, centipedes have a flatter body while millipedes are more rounded.
  • They respond to threats in different ways. A millipede will coil up and release a smelly secretion. Centipedes can bite (which is typically harmless to humans) and run away quickly.
drawing of a millipede
drawing of a centipede

It’s all in the “family”

These two also have enough in common to make them “cousins” in the animal kingdom.

  • Scientists have grouped them together because of their similar segmented bodies.
  • Both have poor or non-existent vision and rely on other senses, like the feel of vibrations.
  • They prefer to live in dark environments, which is why you may have seen them in an unlit corner of your basement.
  • The longest species of each measure about six inches in length.

Say no to “Nope!”

Of course, they may not be the most pleasant creatures to some folks. There is, however, plenty to observe and you’ll find they really are quite fascinating! At the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Curatorial Assistant Catherine Giles and Collection Assistant Vanessa Verdecia study these animals and many more in the Section of Invertebrate Zoology. Scientists like them across the world could use your help!

There are not many known studies of centipedes or millipedes, even though they are incredibly common and span the globe. Catherine said she would urge people not to say “Nope!” when it comes to centipedes and millipedes. Instead, we should be curious. Studies need to be done in the field with live specimens (ecology) and in labs or offices classifying specimens (taxonomy).

There are more than 3,000 known and an estimated 8,000 species of centipedes. There are upwards of 7,000 known and 80,000 estimated species of millipedes. Millipedes can be found in moist forest areas, while centipedes prefer dry environments. Try and find examples of both species. Take a closer look. Do you notice the differences outlined here? What about the similarities? If you were to study these creatures, would you prefer to be on the scene or in the lab? There’s no wrong answer as long as you don’t say, “Nope!”

Curatorial Assistant Catherine Giles and Collection Assistant Vanessa Verdecia with a box of specimens

Fun Fact

“Milli” is a latin prefix for 1,000 and “centi” is for 100.  Don’t assume that’s exactly how many legs each has on its entire body, though!

Some species of millipedes can have as many as 750 legs. Centipedes can have more than 350 legs.

Learn more in Nature Lab!

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Glowing Mushrooms and Pokémon

Nature’s Nightlights

Have you ever walked through the woods at night and noticed a small glowing object near the base of the trees? That’s bioluminescence happening in mushrooms – the creation and emission of light by organisms. Glow-in-the-dark fungi aren’t just something you’ll see in the woods. If you’ve seen the new Detective Pikachu movie, you may have encountered another species of glowing mushrooms!

The radiant glow of bitter oyster mushrooms were used to mark trails prior to electricity!

What We Know About The Glow

By now, you’ve probably got some questions, like how does the glowing occur? And why? Well, the greenish light emitted from the mushrooms is the result of a release of energy from a chemical reaction. Research has shown that when the oxyluciferin in the mushroom releases its oxygen molecule, then it’s time to get lit. Only about 80 species of fungi are known to glow. Perhaps these funny fungi are drawing the attention of insects or animals that feed on the mushroom to disperse its spores, like the way a sweet-smelling flower attracts insects for the same reason.

These mushrooms are as plain as Clark Kent until they give off a super glow at night.

Glowing Mushrooms From Different Worlds

If you’re having trouble finding glowing mushrooms in the woods, have no fear, Detective Pikachu is here! The new movie shows off different types of Pokémon, including the Morelull. The Morelull is a Pokémon that resembles a mushroom with its stem-like body and three sprouting mushroom caps on its head. At night, the Morelull can make its spores glow with glittering sparks just like glowing mushrooms around you.

glowing mushroom-like Pokemon
A Morelull resembling a glowing mushroom appears in the wild during the Detective Pikachu movie trailer.

Fun Fact – Hypnotizing Spores

You can find Morelull in the Detective Pikachu trailer! When the trainers come across a herd of Bulbasaur, look for a few Morelull fluttering around them.

Detective Pikachu screenshot of Morelull

It’s Time For An Adventure!

Now it’s time for you to find glowing mushrooms near you. If you’re stumped on where to find nature’s nightlights, well, look for a stump! They are known to surround the bases of dead trees or wrap themselves around dead branches.

Popular glowing mushrooms:

-Luminescent Panellus

-Honey Mushroom

-Bleeding Fairy Helmet

-Jack-o-Lantern

Western Pennsylvania is home to several varieties. They can be found in backyards, along trails and in our parks such as:

-Powdermill Nature Preserve

-Beechwood Nature Reserve

-Frick Park

-Hartwood Acres

-Salamander Park

While you’re out looking for mushrooms, keep your eyes open for fireflies! Fireflies use luciferins, light emitting compounds, like mushrooms to glow.

glowing mushroom
A Jack-o’-Lantern Mushroom glows under the moonlight at Beechwood Nature Reserve.

 

The same Jack-o’-Lantern Mushroom in the daylight.

 

Can You Find The Words Relating to Mushrooms?

Learn more in Nature Lab!