Histiophryne psychedelica is new species of fish that appears to bounce on the ocean floor like a rubber ball. Live Science says the carnivorous frogfish has eyes like ours as well as a fleshy chin and cheeks. More articles about the fish can be found at The Guardian, Science Daily, USA Today and Seattle Times.
Bonnie, an orangutan at the National Zoo, has learned how to whistle. She is the first orangutan ever to be documented making the sound. You can read more about Bonnie here.
KFMB meteorologist Shawn Styles reports on a rare find off the Gulf of Mexico, as a photographer named Sandra Critelli who was able to capture the migration of thousands of rare cow-nosed rays. These are some amazing photos. Take a look:
This was the video of the rescue of a koala named "Sam." A firefighter found Sam moving gingerly on her scorched paws. Sam is now recovering at a wildlife shelter with other rescued animals.
Sadly, this koala was one of the lucky ones. Millions of animals are reported to have been killed in Austrlia's worst-ever wildfires.
The BBC reports that report in the International Journal of Astrobiology estimates the number of intelligent civilizations in our galaxy is somewhere between 361 and 38,000. The researchers think there are at least 361 intelligent civizations but there could be as many as 38,000.
The current research estimates that there are at least 361 intelligent civilisations in our Galaxy and possibly as many as 38,000.
The work is reported in the International Journal of Astrobiology.
Even with the higher of the two estimates, however, it is not very likely that contact could be established with alien worlds.
While researchers often come up with overall estimates of the likelihood of intelligent life in the universe, it is a process fraught with guesswork; recent guesses put the number anywhere between a million and less than one.
"It's a process of quantifying our ignorance," said Duncan Forgan, the University of Edinburgh researcher who carried out the work.
It's quite a wide range. It may not be very easy to identify intelligent life because it could be very different from human life. The head of the research team, Duncan Forgan, said, "Even if alien life forms do exist, we may not necessarily be able to make contact with them, and we have no idea what form they would take."
