Saman Herath

23/02/2026

23/02/2026

Frogs have a remarkable ability to absorb oxygen and water directly through their skin, a process known as cutaneous respiration. Their skin is thin, moist, and richly supplied with blood vessels, allowing oxygen to diffuse straight into the bloodstream. This adaptation is especially important when frogs are underwater or hibernating, where lung breathing is limited or inactive. The constant moisture on their skin helps dissolve oxygen, making gas exchange more efficient. Through this unique system, frogs can survive in both aquatic and terrestrial environments with extraordinary flexibility.

23/02/2026

Squirrels play a surprisingly significant role in forest regeneration through a behavior known as scatter-hoarding. In autumn, when nuts, acorns, seeds, and other high-calorie foods become abundant, many species—especially gray squirrels, red squirrels, fox squirrels, and chipmunks—collect far more than they can eat immediately.

They bury these items individually in shallow caches across wide areas, often hundreds or thousands of nuts per squirrel, to store food for winter when fresh resources are scarce. Because the caches are scattered and numerous, squirrels rely on spatial memory, landmarks, and sometimes smell to relocate them later.

However, they forget the precise location of many—estimates suggest 20–74% of buried nuts remain unrecovered, depending on species, habitat, and winter severity. Forgotten caches often contain viable seeds or nuts with intact embryos capable of germination.

When spring arrives, buried acorns, hazelnuts, walnuts, beechnuts, and pine seeds sprout in locations far from the parent tree. This dispersal reduces competition with the mother plant and spreads genetic material across the landscape.

In oak-dominated forests of North America and Europe, squirrels are considered a primary agent of natural oak regeneration; studies show that squirrel-planted seedlings often outnumber those from wind or gravity dispersal. In some regions, forgotten caches account for a substantial portion of new tree establishment.

This accidental planting benefits both the ecosystem and the squirrels indirectly: thriving forests produce more future nut crops. Over centuries, the process has shaped woodland composition, helping maintain diverse, resilient tree populations.

Thus, what begins as a selfish food-storage strategy inadvertently becomes one of nature’s most effective reforestation mechanisms.

23/02/2026

14/02/2026

13/02/2026

Beneath one of the coldest landscapes on Earth lies a hidden treasure that could reshape the future.

Greenland—the planet’s largest island—contains enormous untapped reserves of minerals, rare earth elements, oil, and natural gas locked beneath vast ice sheets. As climate change gradually exposes new terrain, global interest in these resources is rapidly growing, bringing both economic opportunity and serious environmental questions.

What happens in Greenland may influence energy security, geopolitics, and the balance between progress and preservation. In this frozen frontier, the choices humanity makes could define how responsibly we use the planet’s last great reserves.

13/02/2026

Scientists suggest that if humans were to go extinct, octopuses stand out as one of the strongest candidates to eventually evolve into the next intelligent, civilization-building species. This idea, prominently advanced by Oxford University zoologist Tim Coulson, stems from the cephalopods' extraordinary traits that set them apart from other animals.

Octopuses already display remarkable intelligence, including the ability to solve complex problems, use tools (such as coconut shells for shelter), and manipulate objects with precision thanks to their eight dexterous arms.

Their distributed nervous system—two-thirds of neurons in the arms—enables sophisticated, almost independent control of each limb, supporting advanced behaviors like camouflage, escape artistry, and even short-term social interactions through color changes for communication.

Unlike primates, which might struggle in a post-human world due to shared vulnerabilities, octopuses inhabit diverse marine environments, from coastal shallows to deep oceans, giving some species better odds of survival and diversification over evolutionary time.

While birds or insects may possess certain smarts, they often lack the fine motor skills needed to construct tools or technologies essential for civilization. Octopuses' curiosity, adaptability, and problem-solving prowess position them uniquely.

In a world free from human hunting or habitat destruction, selective pressures could favor longer lifespans, increased sociality for knowledge transmission, and perhaps even aquatic infrastructure or tool-based cultures.

Of course, major hurdles remain: their typically short lives (one to five years) and solitary nature currently limit cultural accumulation across generations. Yet, given millions of years, evolutionary changes could overcome these barriers, potentially leading to underwater societies rivaling human achievements in ingenuity and complexity.

13/02/2026

Bats have a unique ability to hang upside down while sleeping, a feat that requires no muscle energy. This is due to a special tendon-locking mechanism in their feet. When a bat grasps a surface, the tendons in its legs automatically tighten, securing its grip without any conscious effort. This locking mechanism allows bats to rest in a hanging position for long periods, conserving energy while they sleep. This adaptation is crucial for their survival, as it enables them to roost in high, safe locations without expending unnecessary energy.

13/02/2026

There is a giant depression in the ocean where gravity fails.

It is known as the Indian Ocean Geoid Low, and it covers more than one million square miles (three million square kilometers) of the seafloor.

In this specific region, the ocean surface actually dips down by over 328 feet (100 meters). This is not caused by a whirlpool or a literal hole in the water, but by a significant drop in the Earth's gravitational pull. For decades, researchers struggled to explain why this empty space exists, but a study published by researchers at the Indian Institute of Science has finally uncovered the ancient secret hidden 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) beneath the crust.

To understand the gravity hole, you have to look at the Earth as a lumpy ball rather than a perfect sphere. Gravity changes depending on the density of the material beneath the surface. If there is more mass, gravity is stronger. If there is less mass, gravity is weaker. Scientists used supercomputer simulations to trace the history of the region back 140 million years. They found that the gravity hole is being caused by a giant plume of low density molten rock rising from deep within the mantle. But the most fascinating part is what triggered that plume in the first place : the death of an ancient ocean.

As the Indian tectonic plate moved north and collided with Asia, it pushed the floor of a prehistoric sea called the Tethys Ocean deep into the Earth. These cold, dense slabs of the old ocean floor sank all the way down to the boundary between the mantle and the core. As they hit this hot boundary, they pushed up massive blobs of hot, buoyant material known as African Blobs.

These plumes of light rock rose to the surface directly under the Indian Ocean, creating a region with significantly less mass than its surroundings. This lack of mass is exactly what causes the gravity to weaken and the ocean to sag into a giant depression.

Read the study:
"How the Indian Ocean Geoid Low Was Formed." AGU, 2024

13/02/2026

SCHOOLS IN SWEDEN ARE SHIFTING AWAY FROM SCREENS AND RETURNING TO TRADITIONAL LEARNING METHODS, bringing back printed textbooks and handwritten assignments. After years of heavy digital integration in classrooms, educators are now reassessing whether constant screen use truly benefits students.

Studies have suggested that reading from physical books can improve comprehension and memory retention compared to digital screens. Teachers have also raised concerns about distractions, reduced attention spans, and eye strain linked to excessive device use. By reintroducing pen-and-paper learning, Swedish schools aim to strengthen focus, deep reading skills, and foundational literacy.

The move reflects a broader global conversation about finding the right balance between technology and traditional education. While digital tools offer flexibility and innovation, many educators now believe that core learning skills may still be best built the old-fashioned way.

13/02/2026

H**p presents a compelling, more sustainable alternative to traditional wood pulp for paper production due to its superior growth characteristics, resource efficiency, and environmental benefits.

Industrial h**p reaches full maturity in just 3–4 months (90–140 days), enabling one or sometimes two harvests per year in suitable climates, whereas pulpwood trees—such as pine, eucalyptus, or aspen—typically require 7–20 years for fast-growing plantations or up to 80 years for slower species before harvest.

When averaged over these long cycles, the annual fiber yield per acre from trees is substantially lower than what h**p delivers in a single season. A well-managed acre of h**p can produce 4–10 tons of dry stalk biomass annually, with a high proportion convertible to pulp.

This output often matches or exceeds the equivalent paper yield from four acres of trees across their entire multi-decade rotation. H**p’s stalks contain 65–85% cellulose—the main building block of paper—far surpassing the 30–50% found in most commercial tree species.

Its lower lignin content (15–25% versus 20–35% in trees) further simplifies pulping, often requiring milder chemicals, less bleaching, reduced energy, and fewer pollutants during processing.

These advantages translate to dramatically reduced land requirements for the same paper volume, easing pressure on forests and helping curb deforestation. H**p also enriches soil through deep root systems, suppresses weeds naturally, and thrives with minimal pesticides or irrigation in many regions. By enabling rapid, high-yield cycles on marginal or rotational land, h**p could support a circular, low-impact pulp industry while maintaining or increasing output.

Though adoption remains limited by processing infrastructure, regulatory barriers in some areas, and established supply chains, h**p’s biological and ecological profile positions it as a genuinely greener, high-capacity feedstock capable of transforming paper manufacturing for a more sustainable future.

13/02/2026

Squirrels plant thousands of new trees each year through a behavior called scatter hoarding.
They bury nuts like acorns and walnuts across wide areas to store food for later.
Many of these buried nuts are never recovered and remain safely underground.
Over time, the forgotten seeds germinate and grow into new trees.
In this way, squirrels play a vital role in natural forest regeneration.