The Last, But Not Least Of Starry Scholastic Month! 

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Video: Bat’s tongue baffles researchers

by Hanae Armitage

Most nectar-feeding animals evolve special quirks (mainly of the tongue) that optimize their eating habits. 

But for the groove-tongued bat (Lonchophylla robusta), evolution has dealt a bit of a strange hand. Instead of lapping up or siphoning liquid as other mammals do, this bat hovers over its food source and dips its long, slender tongue into the nectar, keeping contact the entire time it drinks. 

Researchers filmed the bat with a high-speed video camera to try to decipher the special tongue mechanism, and watched as the fluid flowed upward along the bat’s tongue, against gravity, and into its mouth. 

Today, researchers report in Science Advances that the conveyor belt–like mechanism may actually allow these bats to feed more efficiently from certain types of flowers…

(read more: Science/AAAS)

name one difference between birds and children

Submitted by @asapscience

Science is so amazing, but it’s being de-funded around the world. We hope to make a difference with this video:

Your sharing is greatly appreciated.

Chasing Storms at 17,500mph

Flying 250 miles above the Earth aboard the International Space Station has given me the unique vantage point from which to view our planet. Spending a year in space has given me the unique opportunity to see a wide range of spectacular storm systems in space and on Earth. 

The recent blizzard was remarkably visible from space. I took several photos of the first big storm system on Earth of year 2016 as it moved across the East Coast, Chicago and Washington D.C. Since my time here on the space station began in March 2015, I’ve been able to capture an array of storms on Earth and in space, ranging from hurricanes and dust storms to solar storms and most recently a rare thunder snowstorm.

Blizzard 2016

Hurricane Patricia 2015

Hurricane Joaquin 2015

Dust Storm in the Red Sea 2015

Dust Storm of Gobi Desert 2015

Aurora Solar Storm 2015

Aurora Solar Storm 2016

Thunderstorm over Italy 2015

Lightning and Aurora 2016

Rare Thunder Snowstorm 2016

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I feel ya

Galileo became the first spacecraft to orbit Jupiter on December 7, 1995. For years it gathered incredible images and data. As Galileo began to malfunction and lose power, NASA decided to destroy it intentionally, avoiding the possible transfer of Earth bacteria onto any of Jupiter’s moons via an accidental collision. The probe slammed into Jupiter on September 21, 2003 traveling more than 100,000 miles per hour.

The Solar System