Spotting New Species

The yellow area of the map shows the Greater Mekong region of Southeast Asia.

Jim McMahon

Phuket dragon

Montri Sumontha/ World Wildlife Fund

Rainbow-headed snake

Alexandre Teynie/World Wildlife Fund

Wooly-headed bat

Nguyen Truong Son/World Wildlife Fund

FEBRUARY 28, 2017

Spotting New Species

Scientists recently discovered dozens of new plants and animals in Southeast Asia.

BY THE EDITORS OF SCHOLASTIC NEWS EDITION 5/6

Deep in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia, there may be thousands of species waiting to be discovered. Each year, researchers from around the world travel to the Greater Mekong region hoping to find an unknown type of animal or plant. According to a recent report from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), 2015 was an especially successful year. Explorers discovered 163 new species in the region.

The Greater Mekong region includes all or parts of six countries (see map). The area is known for its rich biodiversity (the variety of plants and animals that live in a region). Scientists have discovered more than 2,000 new plant and animal species there since 1997.

One of these scientists is Olivier Pauwels from the Royal Belgium Institute of Natural Sciences. He and his team explored the jungles of Phuket (poo-ket) Island in Thailand in 2015. There, they discovered a new lizard, nicknamed the Phuket dragon.

“Seeing this little dragon at night in the middle of the jungle was just magic,” Pauwels says. “We immediately realized we were dealing with a new species.”

Despite the discoveries, it’s not all good news for the region. An increase in construction projects has destroyed the habitats of many species. Poachers also pose a threat to wildlife in the region.

Pauwels says it’s important to find and document new species because they can’t be protected if we don’t know they exist.

“There will be many more cool species for kids to discover, as long as we protect the forests and waters that they call home,” Pauwels says.

Would you want to explore remote jungles to find new species of plants and animals? Why or why not?

Knitting for a Cause

In response to cold weather, volunteers are using a traditional craft, knitting, to make enormous garments for elephants in India.

Roger Allen/SilverHub

Jim McMahon

Even with volunteers working in teams, it takes a month to complete a single elephant-sized sweater.

Roger Allen/SilverHub

FEBRUARY 22, 2017

Knitting for a Cause

Volunteers make sweaters for elephants in India.

BY ALEXANDRA FRANKLIN | FOR SCHOLASTIC ART

It isn’t often that zookeepers call on craftspeople for help. But cold weather at the Wildlife SOS Elephant Conservation and Care Center in northern India was putting elephants at risk. So the center’s staff joined forces with locals to find a creative way to keep the animals warm. Now the elephants are stepping out in style, thanks to volunteers who harnessed their crafting talents to knit enormous sweaters to protect the animals.

RESCUING GIANTS

Wildlife SOS is a conservation group that has been taking action against animal cruelty and saving wildlife in distress since 1995. Their Elephant Conservation and Care Center is dedicated to rescuing the gentle giants from abuse and exploitation in circuses, illegal trafficking, and other circumstances where they have been neglected or treated with extreme cruelty. There are currently 20 elephants living at the center, and the staff hopes to take in 50 more of the creatures this year.

A TALL ORDER

Because most of the elephants housed at the center are recovering from injuries or are elderly and weak, they are particularly vulnerable to cold temperatures. When staff reported near-freezing nighttime temperatures this winter, volunteers from surrounding villages began knitting and crocheting enormous sweaters to keep the elephants warm. The monumental sweaters, which are large enough to cover the elephants’ backs, bellies, and legs, are vibrant and cheerful.

Making the sweaters is a big undertaking—each one takes approximately four weeks to create, with volunteers working together on the massive garments. The knitters incorporate traditional stitches using thick yarn. Centered on a common, compassionate goal, the project helps foster a sense of community in all who participate.

How does helping the elephants help everyone?

Hot Shot

People on a tour boat watch as lava pours from the Kilauea volcano into the Pacific Ocean in January.

Warren Fintz/Eppix Adventures Photography

Jim McMahon

Gases rise from a vent on Kilauea’s eastern side in 2014.

USGS

MARCH 15, 2017

Hot Shot

In Hawaii, lava has been gushing like a waterfall into the ocean since December.

BY TRICIA CULLIGAN

Hawaii is home to one of the world’s most active volcanoes, Kilauea (kee-lah-WAY-ah). The volcano has been erupting nonstop for more than 35 years. Lava from Kilauea usually pours slowly into the Pacific Ocean, creating a fiery show. But recently, a much more dramatic show started.

“Lava began gushing out of the tube opening like water gushes from the end of a fire hose,” says Janet Babb. She’s a scientist at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

Lava is still bursting from a huge hole on the side of a cliff on Kilauea. This rare event is known as a fire hose flow. As the lava slams into the ocean, it creates an explosion of steam and rock.

NO END IN SIGHT

Kilauea is located on what is known as Hawaii’s Big Island. (The island’s official name is Hawaii, the same as the state.) Lava from the volcano can cause destruction when it flows into nearby towns. But it also creates land, making the island bigger. When lava reaches the ocean, it cools and hardens into a type of rock called basalt.

Last May, a new vent, or hole, opened on Kilauea. As lava from the vent flowed over land, the air cooled the top layer. That lava crusted over to form a tube. In July, lava from that tube began oozing into the sea. It eventually hardened into an unstable (likely to fall, move, or sway) landmass called a lava delta. The delta grew to be about the size of 20 football fields. On New Year’s Eve, it collapsed, along with a huge section of the sea cliff near the delta. That exposed much more of the underground tube. Millions of gallons of lava began to rocket into the sea.

Babb says there’s no telling when the fire hose flow will end. These events usually last a day or two. But as Scholastic News went to press, this one had been gushing for nearly two months.

Visitors from around the world have flocked to Hawaii to see the fiery flow. But park officials won’t let anyone get within a half-mile of it. Babb warns that the superhot steam and flying rocks are dangerous.

“Lava flows are beautiful but must be respected for the hazards associated with them,” she explains.

How do you think the lava flow affects the people of Hawaii?

Coral Reefs Face Extinction

Scientists are scrambling to stop the destruction of coral reefs around the world

XL CATLIN SEAVIEW SURVEY/THE OCEAN AGENCY/AP

This coral photographed in March 2016, in New Caledonia, a French territory in the South Pacific, has been bleached white as a result of heat stress.

Half of the world’s coral reefs have died in the last 30 years. Now scientists are racing to ensure that the rest survive.

The threat to coral reefs “isn’t something that’s going to happen 100 years from now. We’re losing them right now,” Julia Baum told the Associated Press. She is a marine biologist at the University of Victoria, in British Columbia, Canada. “We’re losing them really quickly, much more quickly than I think any of us ever could have imagined.”

Even if global warming were to stop right now, scientists predict that more than 90% of corals will die by 2050. If no major steps are taken to address the issue, the reefs may be headed for total extinction.

Why Reefs Matter

VICTOR BONITO/REEF EXPLORER FIJI/THE OCEAN AGENCY/AP

A snorkeler swims above bleached-white coral in the waters of Fiji, a nation in the South Pacific made up of hundreds of islands, in March 2016.

The planet’s health depends on the survival of coral reefs. They are often described as underwater rainforests, because they are ecosystems that provide habitats for one in four of all marine species. In addition, the reefs serve as barriers that protect coastlines from the full force of powerful storms.

Corals are used in medical research for cures to diseases, including cancer, arthritis, and viral infections. They are key to local economies, as well, since the reefs attract tourists, the fishing industry, and other businesses, bringing in billions of dollars of revenue.

“To lose coral reefs is to fundamentally undermine the health of a very large proportion of the human race,” Ruth Gates, director of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, said.

Corals are invertebrates, or animals that lack a backbone. They live mostly in tropical waters. The corals release a substance called calcium carbonate, which forms protective skeletons around them. The skeletons grow and take on vivid colors. This is the result of the corals’ symbiotic, or mutually beneficial, relationship, with algae that live in their tissues and give them energy.

But corals are particularly sensitive to changes in temperature. A rise of just 1 to 2 degrees Celsius (1.8 to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) can force the corals to drive out the algae. Then the corals’ skeletons turn white in a process called “bleaching.” Corals can survive in these higher temperatures only for a few months.

Feeling the Heat

The problem for the reefs increased dramatically during a recent extended El Niño weather phenomenon. During El Niño, a warming of the central Pacific Ocean interacts with the atmosphere, causing a change in weather across the globe. In 2015-2016, the longer El Niño warmed the Pacific near the equator, which led to the most widespread bleaching of coral reefs ever recorded. This bleaching event continues to plague the world’s reefs.

In the Indian Ocean, near the islands of the Maldives, about 73% of the coral reefs suffered bleaching between March and May 2016, according to the country’s Marine Research Center. Areas in the central Pacific were hit the hardest—about 90% of the reef was destroyed in the waters of the Republic of Kiribati.

To make matters worse, scientists are expecting another wave of warmer ocean temperatures starting next month. The conditions may not be as severe as they were last year. But Mark Eaken, coordinator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Watch, said that the higher temperatures could stress “reefs that are still hurting from the last two years.”

And the problem is not just global warming. The reefs have also been affected by pollution, coastal development, and overfishing.

Rescue Efforts

Scientists remain hopeful that it’s not too late to save the reefs, and some are moving ahead on experiments to accomplish that goal.

Gates, for example, is trying to “train” corals to get used to rising temperatures by exposing them to survivable levels of heat stress. She hopes that the corals will “somehow fix [the experience] in their memory” so they can endure similar stress in the future.

“It’s probably time that we start thinking outside the box,” she said. “It’s sort of a no-win game if we do nothing.”

Click the link below to see why coral reefs are dying.

Coral Bleaching Video

Is there anything we can do to help save these habitats?

Pathways to Mars

Engineer and former astronaut Buzz Aldrin wants to be remembered for more than landing

on the moon. He wants his legacy to include paving the way for humans to live on Mars, and he has a plan.

In Buzz Aldrin: Cycling Pathways to Mars, viewers will get to meet Aldrin’s 3D hologram, travel with him to the moon, and learn his plan for humans to live on Mars. The special VR project was produced by LIFE VR, TIME, and technology company 8i. Watch the 360 trailer above or get the full experience on Steam and Viveport for the HTC Vive. The VR trailer, above, is also available in the LIFE VR app for iOS and Android.

Click below to view the video on plans for humans to live on mars.

Plans to Live on Mars

Do you think that this is a possibility in the future? Why or why not?