This collection of images of six different creatures, including insects and carnivorous vertebrates, illustrates the wide range of mouth types that exist within the animal kingdom.
In this visually dazzling talk, Jonathan Drori shows the extraordinary ways flowering plants -- over a quarter million species -- have evolved to attract insects to spread their pollen: growing 'landing-strips' to guide the insects in, shining in ultraviolet, building elaborate traps, and even mimicking other insects in heat. Jonathan Drori commissioned the BBC's very first websites, one highlight in a long career devoted to online culture and educational media -- and understanding how we learn. A quiz, thought provoking question, and links for further study are provided to create a lesson around the 14-minute video. Educators may use the platform to easily "Flip" or create their own lesson for use with their students of any age or level.
Bees develop and mature in cells in a beehive. Bees also use these cells to store honey for the winter months when nectar is scarce and plants and flowers aren't blooming.
Optimal means the best, but organisms often solve multiple problems so any one problem is not solved best. An optimal function is produced for sugar ingestion rates versus sucrose concentration through butterfly proboscides and pipets by humans. A choice experiment is performed using probing by a butterfly proboscis toward one of two concentrations of sucrose. A non-optimal system is then studied: cylindrical container designs by businesses where surface area (cost) is least when height equals diameter. A frequency distribution of height/radius is constructed for recycled cans, and costs for variation are quantified from changes in surface area from the optimum. Cost variation for sugar intake rates is then measured from the function shape and related to nectar concentration variation.
