How Can Birds Sleep While They're Flying

Sleeping while flying overseas in an airplane
isnt exactly an amazing physical feat. But sleeping while physically flying over
an ocean? Frigate birds do it. Because brains! Hey frequent fliers, Trace with you on DNews
today. Frigate birds have an impressive six-foot
wingspan but their feathers arent waterproof so they cant rest on water, and yet they
spend most of their lives at sea.

The exception is when they breed; they do
that on land. So if they can't land on water, and only come
to land to breed how does this non-waterproof bird stay aloft over the ocean for weeks at
a time? It all comes down to their brains! Most of us probably think of birds as flying
around during the day and resting at night like we do. But frigate birds? Uh-uh. Earlier this year, a team from the Max Planck
Institute for Ornithology in Germany tracked the birds brain activity by fitting them
with small devices able to measure electroencephalographic (or EEG's / brainwaves) changes, including
slow wave sleep and rapid eye movement sleep.

Data was gathered over 10 days while the birds
flew more than 3,000km, and it revealed amazing behaviour. During the day the birds stayed awake, looking
for fish or other birds to harass and steal food from; theyre kinda jerks, but when
you cant land on water that's kinda how you gotta live. Then, at night, their brains did something
super neat. Frigate birds, like humans, have one brain
divided into two hemispheres, but it turns out frigates can shut down and rest only one
hemisphere at a time, engaging it in short-term stages of slow-wave sleep.

In other words, they sleep with one eye open
-- while flying. The birds typically circle upward on air currents
in the direction of their open eye, which is the one connected to the awake hemisphere. The researchers think they do this to watch
where theyre going and so they dont run into other birds. Incredible as this is, frigates are not the
only animal that sleeps with half its brain awake at a time.

Its an unusual sleep pattern called "unihemispheric
slow-wave sleep." Behaviourally, sleep is a period of rest in
a species-specific posture. Physiologically, its a state characterised
by specific eye movements, muscle tonation, and cortical rhythms. In unihemispheric slow-wave sleep, only half
of the cerebral cortex, the gray matter that covers both hemispheres of the brain, displays
the characteristic patterns of sleep, while the other half shows neural activity of a
waking state. During this time the brain cant get into
full REM sleep; it can only fall into shallower, slow-wave oscillation sleep.

Unihemispheric slow-wave sleep is how dolphins
can rest without drowning or being killed. A dolphin will shut down one hemisphere of
its brain, leaving the other half of the brain to monitor breathing function and keeping
that eye open to monitor its environment (the left eye will be closed when the right half
of the brain sleeps, and vice versa). Its also something a lot of birds do, like
mallard ducks -- keeping one eye open to watch for predators while the rest. So this method of getting some shut-eye isnt
exactly unheard of.

But in the study of frigate birds, the researchers
found something even more amazing. Apparently, frigate birds also occasionally
shut down both hemispheres of their brain at once and somehow dont drop out of the
sky like a hot rock. They dont do this for long; only a few
seconds at a time, and all told, between the half-brain sleep and occasional full-brain
sleep, they only get about 42 minutes of shut eye a day when theyre at sea. Humans prefer to rest the whole brain at once,
but amazingly in certain situations, we can also do it a hemisphere at a time too.

In humans, unihemispheric slow-wave sleep
is associated with the first night effect, also known as your inability to get a good
nights sleep in a new location. It's not a full separation between brain hemispheres;
rather, its described as an asymmetry. One hemisphere is more active and vigilant,
monitoring the environment for unfamiliar sounds in the new surroundings. So next time you have a bad night in a new
environment like a hotel or a new apartment, think of how cool it is that your brain is
tapping into the same evolutionary advantage that birds and dolphins use.

Even though youll be too tired to be amazed. Maybe. So have you guys experienced this first
night effect? And speaking of weird ways of sleeping in
the air, what about insects? Do insects sleep? Julian has the answer in this video right
here. Have you guys experienced this first night
effect? Let us know in the comments, make sure subscribe
to you get more DNews and thanks for watching..

How Birds Get Oxygen Inside Their Eggs

Look inside this incubator. These eggs were laid 21 days ago and this one is just about to hatch. If you listen you can hear the chick pecking at the inside of its shell. Soon it will break through and take its first breath of fresh air.

It's a dramatic moment, that first breath - one shared by so many creatures - including ... Us. But hold on, think about this:
When you were in the womb you got oxygen from  your mother
through your umbilical cord. But for the last 21 days this chick has been
cut off from its mother - sealed inside an egg.

So how does it get oxygen? An egg seems like a perfectly self-contained system. The yolk and the white contain all the nutrients you need to build a baby chick. As with a human baby,
all this construction requires oxygen and that's the one thing that isn't stored
inside the egg. So where does it come from? Well take a look at this.

When you magnify an egg's shell a thousand times you can see the calcium carbonate crystals
that make up the shell and here and there -- tiny holes. One thousandth of an inch across. And these tiny holes let outside air filter in. So oxygen can pass through the shell but the
chick growing inside doesn't have working lungs yet.

How does it get that oxygen into its bloodstream? Well, a few days after an egg is laid something amazing happens. When you hold a fertilized egg up in front
of a bright light, you can see it: a delicate network of blood vessels that grows
out of the embryo's abdomen and presses up against a membrane
just inside the shell. Oxygen from the air comes in through the tiny
holes in the shell then diffuses into the embryo's blood. And the growing chick gets rid of carbon dioxide
at the same time.

It all looks remarkably similar to your early
days in the womb There was a yolk sac, at least at first, and a network of blood vessels growing out from the place where your belly button now is. But instead of pressing up against the edge of a shell your blood vessels reached the wall of the womb where they joined with an outer membrane to
form the placenta. In the placenta, oxygen from your mother diffused
into your bloodstream. It really is an exact mirror of what's going
on in the eggs of birds and reptiles.

While all this is happening, lungs are developing. We humans don't fill those lungs with air
until after we're born. But chicks get a head start. That's because the whole time oxygen is coming
in through the shell.

Moisture is slowly evaporating out. That creates an empty space that gradually
fills with air. A day or so before the chick is ready to hatch, it starts to move. It punctures that air pocket and fills its lungs.

It then has just enough oxygen to battle out of the egg and take its first breath of fresh air. This is Skunk Bear, NPR's science show Please subscribe to our channel and check out our other videos!.

Home & Lawn Pest ControlHow to Scare Away Birds With Old CDs

Hi I'm Jim Harmon, California Pest Management.
You got pigeon problems around your house or birds coming around, and they're running
around and you want to scare them out of your garden. Well having birds typically is not
a problem, most people like that. But pigeons and some of these nastier birds, you want
to keep them away. Well this may be a good use for your old CDs.

Take your CD and any
type of twine, string, normally I like to use something with color so I can see it,
but if you don't want to and you're worried about having some twine that's not going to
last, use fishing line, monofilament line works great on this. All we're going to do
is take about a foot to two feet of string, loop it through the CD, tie it off, I actually
go three half knots. Now we're ready to hang it. As this twirls it picks up the sunlight
and creates a little bit of an illusion of a prism, flashing a little light off of it,
birds don't like that.

Especially in the wind this will keep moving around, they don't like
that, it irritates them, it freaks them out and it scares them, because it also is a random
movement. Now mind you, the birds will get use to it, especially with pigeons. Now when
you're ready to hang these cut the length of twine at different lengths, that way they'll
hang at different levels. And you can also put two on the same, or three or four, depending
on how long an area you need to cover.

Just remember you're going to want to watch out
so you don't hit these with yourself. Okay, now we put our CDs up. Now for an average
awning, for example in our backyard here, I want the birds to stay out from underneath
so I don't get bird poop all over my picnic table. Well I'll be hanging these all over
the perimeter, usually every 5 to 6 feet, that should be more than enough, on a nice
bright sunny day with a little bit of wind, they're going to be twirling around making
all kinds of visual deterrence for these birds.

If you have them in your garden you can hang
these actually around your property and it will deter the birds from going onto the property
to a certain degree..

Understanding The Main Components Of Fish Cleaning Tables And The Different Types Of Tables Available

Understanding The Main Components Of Fish Cleaning Tables And The Different Types Of Tables Available

Parts Of Fish Cleaning Tables

Cleaning tables are creating an quintessential element of fishing considerations to do. This is as it adds the fisherman a residence to blank the grab in a convenient and hygienic course of in order that the fish will remain emblem new unless lastly instruction. All of these you've got gotten won you've got gotten won engaged in this recreation know by now how messy it will best possible potentially additionally even when additionally be. There are some of types of detoxing tables which have additional than extra than a few components and designs. These differ from the components used on the fish detoxing desk height to the full design of the constitution. In as a swap a tough deallots all types of detoxing desk you are extra potentially to paste with out that it in larger phase is composed of of a body, slicing board and sink.

Types Of Cleaning Tables Available
Stainless metallic fish detoxing desk

Stainless metallic fish detoxing desk are appeared as among the substantial this form of lot exact kind exhibits types of detoxing tables plausible beneficial across the market and additionally persons who find themselves the this form of lot exact kind in general used. Due to the nature of considerations to take a have a look at this can even best possible potentially be conducted on the detoxing desk, the strategy of disinfection plays a rewarding feature. In this representation the fish detoxing desk height and varying regions of the detoxing station that gets dirty are tons additional truthful to disinfect thinking of the apparent straight forward task that the components itself is non-porous and does now now not have any crack in contrast to varying components a dead ringer for wooden. In addition it for bound is incredibly durable and as a result terrific for tense guides a dead ringer for this.
Portable fish detoxing desk

Very in general the go for upon for a detoxing station is for bound authorised on the a kind of hand the force to match a detoxing station characteristically on board a present is potent owing to take on constraints. In such an tournament having a transportable fish detoxing desk is the premier answer. There are some of compact kinds that consist of a tabletop offering a hinge. This makes the desk foldable and stored in even the tightest spaces. It additionally affords users the power of the use of the desk on the vessel moreover to to be good outfitted to take it to shore and use or retailer when required.
Dock fish detoxing station

Many stick with out making an investment in a detoxing station a artwork arduous. In such an tournament to triumph over any tense occasions confronted, there additionally is the peerlessly varying of the use of a dock fish detoxing station that is an generic function plausible for any one that necessities to follow the station for detoxing fish. They in general come with working water assets and waste disposal guides that make detoxing up afterwards hugely convenient.

Author Bio :

Jerome Julian is writing approximately marine models and fish detoxing stations according to his working ride with a boating models guests in West Palm Beach.

Author's Bio: 

Jerome Julian is writing approximately marine models and fish detoxing stations according to his working ride with a boating models guests in West Palm Beach.