The Daily R-r-r-ibbit

Dogs have a nose for research

Celie's nose has taken her down the rabbit hole. January 2, 2010 [Photo credit: Cathie Bird]

I heard a report on NPR this morning about wildlife researchers who use dogs to locate nests of Western Pond Turtles -- yet another example of interspecies cooperation:

Dogs encounter the world nose-first, so their world is probably very different from our own. We tend to perceive smells in very coarse black and white. There are good odors and bad odors and then a large category of odors we just can't detect.

But for dogs, everything has a scent, and all scent is information. Smells that would make us retch are just interesting to a dog. Overlaid on the visual landscape is the incredibly detailed terrain of smells. Luckily for humans, dogs are one of the few species willing to share their world with humans.

Celie's nose-down trot -- this is the most common view I have of her on our daily walks through the holler. October 20, 2010 [Photo credit: Cathie Bird]

Celie's nose takes her to a point of great interest. January 1, 2010 [Photo credit: Cathie Bird]

The article has a great graphic on the science of dog noses...see it and read more at NPR.

 

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AstroWatch: Major Fireball Explodes Over the Southeastern US

Found an interesting link today to this report from Astronomy and Space News:

A fabulously bright fireball lit up the sky over the southeastern U.S. around 2:27 a.m. CDT Aug. 28. "The fireball reached a peak apparent magnitude of -16, about 20 times brighter than a Full Moon, and cast shadows on the ground. This indicates that the meteoroid had a mass of more than 110 kg (240 lbs) and was up to a meter in diameter. It hit the top of Earth's atmosphere traveling 25 km/s (56,000 mph)." lead researcher Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office said.

The American Meteor Society (AMS) received 5 reports for this event, the closest to the holler being in Hixson, Tennessee (near Soddy Daisy and Chickamauga Lake northeast of Chattanooga). You can see report summaries and an interactive map at the AMS report page.

Here's a groundtack map published at spaceweather.com:

Groundtrack map, spaceweather.com

Later in the evening of August 28th, AMS received nine reports of another fireball in the Great Lakes region. On August 29th, five people in Oregon reported seeing a fireball to AMS.

Here's a video of the meteor that was captured from a camera in space:

 

NASA Meteoroid Environment Office webpage

Everything You Need to Know: Perseid Meteor Shower

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