How much can a small brain shrink? 😊
Will the brains swell again if we were to turn off city lights at night? 😊
Light pollution is also one of the terms of art of propaganda & demagoguery! The history of (often unfounded) complaints about night time light pollution is decades long and voluminous!
A case of alarmism and hysteria? Probably!
Of course, this study was picked up by the leftist The Guardian and other leftist leaning outlets! In this case, it was spread by the famous Royal Society!
"Light pollution is shrinking the brains of city-dwelling spiders in ways that could affect their ability to climb and hunt, according to new research.
The study published in the journal Biology Letters found exposing juvenile garden orb weaving spiders to light pollution reduced their brain development, particularly in an area used for vision. ..."
From the abstract:
"Artificial light at night (ALAN) is an increasingly pervasive pollutant that alters animal behaviour and physiology, with cascading impacts on development and survival. Recent evidence links exposure to ALAN with neural damage, potentially due to its action on melatonin synthesis, a powerful antioxidant. However, these data are scarce and taxonomically limited. Here, we used micro-CT to test the effects of short-term ALAN exposure on brain volumes in the Australian garden orb-weaving spider (Hortophora biapicata), a species commonly found in urban areas and, specifically, around street lights. We found that short-term ALAN exposure was linked to reductions in the volumes of brain structures in the primary eye visual pathway, potentially as a consequence of oxidative stress or plastic shifts in neural investment. Although the effects of ALAN were subtle, they provided new insights into potential mechanisms underpinning the behavioural and physiological impacts of ALAN in this important urban predator."
Credits: The Royal Society: Public Newsletter
Figure 1. Schematic for the central nervous system (dorsal view) of H. biapicata.
No comments:
Post a Comment