• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Earth Wise

A look at our changing environment.

Hide Search
You are here: Home / Archives for foxes

foxes

Polar Bears and Tires | Earth Wise

January 12, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Researchers turn to polar bear paws to find better traction

There is lots of interest in traction.  People want to find better ways to move across wet and frozen surfaces safely.   This applies to both the shoes on our feet and the tires on our cars. 

Researchers at the University of Akron along with colleagues at Syracuse University and at Bridgestone, the tire company, have been studying how many arctic animals can walk and run across the ice without slipping and falling.  Their research focused on the paws of polar bears.

Previous studies discovered that polar bears have papillae – little bumps on the pads of their feet – that provide improved traction on snow.  The new research also looked at the paws of other species of bear – brown bears and black bears – and found that these others also have papillae on their paw pads, but that those of polar bears are as much as 50% taller.  These taller bumps give the pads a 30-50% increase in frictional shear stress.

The research may lead to various applications. For example, snow tires typically have deeper treads, but the polar bear study may lead to some new designs that would improve traction.  People who do high-altitude climbing are interested in the research as are companies that deliver goods in bad weather.  Anyone who has to be out and about in bad weather would like to get a better grip.

There are various other animals with traction-improving adaptations that are probably worth studying.  These include dogs, wolves, foxes, and mountain goats.  The same researchers at Akron have also studied other animals with unique abilities to deal with challenging surfaces including geckos, spiders, and mussels.  The natural world is filled with examples of creatures who can easily function in environments that we humans find very challenging.

**********

Web Links

UA researchers’ focus on tire traction leads to investigation of polar bear paws

Photo, posted March 2, 2008, courtesy of Sam Weng via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Assisting Evolution | Earth Wise

March 11, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

As the climate changes, choosing what species to protect is becoming more difficult

As plants and animals around the world grapple with climate change, invasive species, disease, and other threats, conservationists grapple with the issue of what it means to protect what is natural and how far to go to prevent extinctions.

Australia is where many of these issues have risen to the forefront.  Imported mammals – particularly cats and foxes – have decimated many of Australia’s indigenous marsupials.  Much of the focus for decades has been on killing off the invaders and cordoning off protected animals.  In recent years, however, there have been efforts to expose prey animals to limited numbers of predators to develop prey populations that are better equipped to survive among predators.  Getting rid of all the predators is not realistic.  Saving species may require helping them to adapt.

On the Great Barrier Reef, where half its coral populations have perished because of rising water temperatures, scientists are breeding corals that are more heat tolerant.  They are even considering the use of gene editing technology to “assist evolution” in developing corals that can survive in a changing world.

At SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, New York, researchers have produced a genetically modified American chestnut tree that is resistant to chestnut blight, the fungal pathogen that killed off nearly every chestnut tree in North America in the early 20th century.

The idea of conservation is to protect what is natural in our world.  However, at a time when there are unprecedented threats to so many species, the distinction between what is natural and what is artificial may no longer provide a sound guide to what should be done to protect life on earth.

**********

Web Links

Assisting Evolution: How Far Should We Go to Help Species Adapt?

Photo, posted November, 2000, courtesy of Bernard Dupont via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Primary Sidebar

Recent Episodes

  • Energy From Rice Straw | Earth Wise
  • California Flooding | Earth Wise
  • The Race For EV Batteries | Earth Wise
  • Turning Carbon Into Stone | Earth Wise
  • Tracking Global Forest Changes | Earth Wise

WAMC Northeast Public Radio

WAMC/Northeast Public Radio is a regional public radio network serving parts of seven northeastern states (more...)

Copyright © 2023 ·