Environmental News

From this week's Science:

https://www.science.org/content/article/flood-chinese-graduate-students-stem-was-boon-u-s-students

Excerpt: “What’s really cool about this study is that it documents, for the first time, how the Chinese government, in growing higher education at home, also contributed in a significant way to the growth of U.S. graduate education, especially at the master’s level in STEM,”

It may be unlikely that people wish to discuss foreign countries' educational policies here. But if so, the gaokao exam is quite e thing.

 

Some species of cuckoos are nest parasites including these:

How parasitic cuckoos lay host-matching eggs while remaining a single species

It means they lay eggs in other birds' nests. Eggs hatch and substitute parents do the baby feeding to no benefit of their own. Different bird species eggshells have different color patterns. European cuckoos lay color-matched eggs to that species. Wow moment for me.

Mrs. Cuckoo could see that other bird from a distance and 'know' it, fair enough. But that isn't egg coloration. Or, could visit the nest with authentic eggs there. Either way, decorating eggs prior to laying seems rather amazing.

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European cuckoos are modeled into eponymous clocks to announce the hour. It's my understanding that they got this role for being (and calling) common and widespread in Euro forests. Sneaky parents though.