Beetle larvae are the first animal known to imitate the scent of a flower. Plus, a proposal for a new north-star number for climate progress and why Greenland is a unique hotspot for research.
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The research vessel Tarajoq is the biggest research investment by Greenland’s government to date.Credit: Alex Rivest
In November, the theme of Greenland Science Week was ‘All Eyes on Greenland’ — a particularly resonant title in the wake of threats by US President Donald Trump to somehow acquire the island, which is also known as Kalaallit Nunaat. The event highlighted that the autonomous territory is a hotbed of globally important scientific research. It is a centre for climate-change studies, a hub of geological and minerals research and a unique place for genetic and biomedical research.
Nature | 8 min read
Larvae of the European blister beetle (Meloe proscarabaeus) mimic the scent of flowers to find a ride to their next meal. The larvae produce floral-smelling compounds to lure bees, then hitchhike back to the bees’ nest and eat the eggs they find there. This trickery is the first known example of an animal imitating the scent of a flower. “This was totally unexpected for us,” says biochemist and study co-author Tobias Köllner. “We saw the chromatogram and thought, ‘This is a flower, not an insect.’”
Science | 5 min read
Reference: bioRxiv preprint (not peer reviewed)
The amount of microplastic particles in the atmosphere might be lower than some studies have suggested, possibly even by several orders of magnitude. Researchers fed estimated global microplastics emissions into a computer simulation of how the atmosphere transports pollutants. They found that the predicted amounts didn’t match those reported in studies that directly measured microplastics concentrations in 283 locations worldwide. The findings shouldn’t be used to dismiss the problem of atmospheric microplastics, says environmental scientist and study co-author Ioanna Evangelou. But they do suggest a need to standardize the measurements of microplastics globally, she says.
Nature | 5 min read
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