Growing With Science Blog

The mystery seeds from last week were indeed from figs, as alert readers Heather and Shannon correctly surmised.

The seeds are from a dried fruit of the common fig, Ficus carica.

Figs are sweet and eaten both fresh and dried. They are used in cooking and baking, such as the fig cookies I mentioned. Figs are nutritious, being high in calcium and fiber.

Common fig trees are frost sensitive, so they grow in warmer climates. Figs grow here in Arizona. California is known for its commercial fig production.

The common fig is easy to recognize because leaves are deeply lobed.

The cultivars of figs that are eaten fresh can self-pollinate, and thus produce fruit without help of pollinators.

The cultivars of trees used to produce dried figs, however, require tiny wasps for successful pollination and fruit production. In what is probably one of the most complex forms of pollination in the world, the fig wasps ( Blastophaga psenes) develop within a swollen structure that resembles a fruit, but which actually contains the fig flower. The emerging female wasps pick up pollen (while still inside), crawl out off a hole dug by the male wasps, and then fly on to another fig to pollinate it. This from wasps so tiny and fragile that a slight breeze could blow them away. Cool!

The creeping fig vine from Asia, Ficus pumila, will also grow in Arizona. Recently ours has started to produce these fruit-like structures. The creeping fig is pollinated by another fig wasp, Blastophaga pumilae. I understand it is possible to make a jelly from these figs.

The Nature program has a show about a related fig tree from Kenya. It is called the sycamore fig, Ficus sycomorus. It is also pollinated by tiny wasps. Here’s the beginning part, which actually captures some of the wasps in action.

Figs are definitely interesting plants.

For more extensive information about figs and fig wasps, see:

Fig information from South Africa

Are you using any figs for cooking this holiday season? Do you have any favorite fig recipes?

Mystery Seed of the Week fans: Mystery Seed will resume next Tuesday.

Last week we took a look at the  Cybils nominations in the nonfiction picture book category. Today let’s take a look a what is new in 2010 for older kids.

Selected Science and Nature Books – From Nonfiction Middle Grade/Young Adult Category
(The titles are linked to take you to Amazon for more information)

	Candy Bomber: The Story of the Berlin Airlift's Chocolate Pilot By Michael O. Tunnell My Review Related Activity
	Adventure Beneath the Sea: Living in an Underwater Science Station By Kenneth Mallory
	Basher Chemistry: Getting a Big Reaction By Simon Basher My Review Activity
	Frozen Secrets: Antarctica Revealed (Exceptional Social Studies Titles for Intermediate Grades) By Sally M. Walker My Review
	Great Migrations: Whales, Wildebeests, Butterflies, Elephants, and Other Amazing Animals on the Move By Elizabeth Carney My Review
	Here There Be Monsters: The Legendary Kraken and the Giant Squid By HP Newquist
	Hot X: Algebra Exposed By Danica McKellar My Review
	Inside Hurricanes By Mary Kay Carson My Review Activity
	Journey into the Deep: Discovering New Ocean Creatures (Junior Library Guild Selection) By Rebecca L. Johnson My Review
	Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World's Strangest Parrot (Scientists in the Field Series) By Sy Montgomery and Photographs by Nic Bishop My review
	Nature Science Experiments: What's Hopping in a Dust Bunny? (Mad Science) By Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen
	Planet Hunter, Geoff Marcy and the Search for Other Earths By Vicki Oransky Wittenstein My Review Related Activity
	Project Seahorse (Scientists in the Field Series) By Pamela S. Turner
	Prowling the Seas: Exploring the Hidden World of Ocean Predators By Pamela S. Turner
	The Bat Scientists (Scientists in the Field) (Scientists in the Field Series) By Mary Kay Carson My review
	The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe By Loree Griffin Burns My Review Activity
	The Salmon Bears: Giants of the Great Bear Rainforest By Ian McAllister
	The Secret Life of a Snowflake: An Up-Close Look at the Art and Science of Snowflakes By Kenneth Libbrecht
	This Is Rocket Science: True Stories of the Risk-taking Scientists who Figure Out Ways to Explore Beyond Earth By Gloria Skurzynski

I was interested to see how many of these I had reviewed already.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them?

I was also wondering if you find these lists useful, because they do take a surprisingly long time to prepare. Do you have any suggestions for improving them?

After years of living in the Sonoran desert, I finally got a photograph of a clown beetle, Eleodes species, standing on its head.

These shiny black beetles are common in the Southwest. They are called a number of different names, such as desert stink beetles, clown beetles, pinacate beetles, and headstanding beetles.

Why would a beetle stand on its head? Why is it called a stink beetle?

It stands on its head probably for two reasons. Eleodes beetles are the skunks of the insect world. They can spray nasty chemicals from their rear, the tip of their abdomen. By assuming the posture, like a head standing spotted skunk, they are warning predators that they are about to spray. If the predator continues to advance, they are in position to do the most amount of damage with their spray.

The business end of an Eleodes beetle.

You might also notice the hard wing covers, or elytra. They are fused shut and the beetles are not able to fly.

What do they eat? The adults scavenge plant and animal debris. The larvae are a type of wireworm. They live mostly underground and feed on plant material. The adults also stay underground during the heat of the day.

In an effort to show you the spotted skunk doing its head stand for comparison, I found this video from the BBC.  It shows a spotted skunk against an urban backdrop, with dancers mimicking its motions. Note:  At one point the one of the actors is spraying graffiti and seems to spray the skunk. It is a statement about spraying chemicals, and the result of film editing, but it might be disturbing to small children. Also, this video has a pop-up ad.

It is pretty amazing how both the beetle and the spotted skunk have similar behaviors.

Have you ever seen a beetle or a spotted skunk standing on their heads? Or maybe I shoud say hand standing?