Gizmorama - April 7, 2014

Good Morning,

Today, this shall be answered - Why and how did the zebra get its stripes?

Learn about this interesting story and more from the scientific community in today's issue.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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* Mars and Earth move closer together this month *
Spring is here, love is in the air, and Mars and Earth are getting a little closer this time of year. For the next two weeks, the two neighborly planets will continue to converge -- the distance between them shrinking roughly 186 miles every minute. By the time the convergence ends, Mars and Earth will have moved 57 million miles closer together. Such a distance may seem a pittance in the vast expanses of outer space, but it makes a difference for sky gazers, as Mars will be brilliantly visible, ten times brighter than the brightest star. Astronomers call the occurrence "opposition of Mars," as the Red Planet and our sun will appear on opposite sides of the sky -- Mars rising in the east as the sun sets in the west. The phenomenon, which only happens every 26 months, puts Mars at its highest point around midnight, when the night sky is darkest and planet watching is at its best. Earthlings will be at their closest to Mars on April 14. Remarkably, a full lunar eclipse is expected the following night. On both nights -- weather permitting -- viewers should be able to glimpse a bright red planet and a glowing red moon. (UPI)


* Science explains why zebras have stripes *
Why and how did the zebra get its stripes? It's a question that's confounded evolutionary biologists for decades. But now a team of researchers at the University of California, Davis, believe they've systematically solved the puzzle. In a study published today in the online journal Nature Communications, scientists have proffered the horseflies and tsetse flies -- and their painful bites -- the main evolutionary drivers of zebra stripes. Since the days of Charles Darwin and The Origin of Species, scientists have put forward a range of explanations for the stripes: they offer camouflage, visually confuse large predators, help deflect heat, play a social function, and protect against flies. To test these ideas, researchers compared the geographical range of zebras with factors relevant to the various theories: climate, presence of dangerous predators, breeding grounds for flies, etc. In doing so, they ruled out all but one hypothesis -- that the stripes ward off flies. "No one knew why zebras have such striking coloration," said Tim Caro, a professor of wildlife biology at UC Davis. "But solving evolutionary conundrums increases our knowledge of the natural world and may spark greater commitment to conserving it." But why do flies avoid stripes? Caro says they'll need to do more research to figure that out. (UPI)

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