The Science of Christmas

THE SCIENCE OF CHRISTMAS

by Tangstar Science T’was the day before Christmas break and all through the school, No one was very attentive, especially the pupils. creatures,(meaning xbyevena xxxxbyplants anda xxxfungi, can glow! The secret behind their glow is called bioluminescence. The The books were already packed away, word bios- comes from the Greek word for “living” and -luminescence comes from the Latin word lumen with 10 minutes to spare, meaning “light”. Organisms create living light in In the hopes that the teacher several ways, but the main way is through producing a light-emitting pigment called luciferin. When this would let them out early, pigment is oxidized (meaning it has some electrons but they all knew t’was rare. removed from it) by an enzyme called luciferase, luciferin will release light. The most familiar The children were day-dreaming of bioluminescent organism is probably the firefly. This creature has a light organ in its abdomen where the toboggan rides on top of a sled. bioluminescence occurs. Some species glow both in While visions of presents and hot the larval stage as well as in the adult stage. There are several reasons why this is useful. Fireflies contain chocolate danced in their heads. a distasteful chemical that turns predators away. The glow signals to predators that they should avoid But before the bell rang, eating the fireflies. As well, the speed and pattern of the flashing male firefly’s abdomen attracts females. the teacher had one final thing to say. It’s been shown that many females prefer males that “Don’t forget to read your can flash faster. Before modern Science of Christmas Article lighting was available, coal miners used to capture fireflies in glass before you go out and play”. jars and use them as a lighting sources in the dark conditions of the coal mine.

(1) You might have once heard a teacher say that (3) How could Rudolf have developed his own “science is everywhere!” It’s true. Even Christmas bioluminescence? We know that reindeer (also called time is full of fascinating science. We’ll look into some caribou) live in the Arctic tundra. They like to eat of the most interesting Christmas science in this mainly a type of lichen called reindeer moss. A lichen article. What is the science behind Rudolf’s glowing is a curious two-part creature. It is composed of red nose? Could Rudolf be a girl? Why are Santa’s photosynthetic bacteria that live within the filaments elves so short? Why is Santa’s hair so white? How of fungi. Though we don’t does Santa stay undetected as he delivers his know of any bioluminescent presents? As, well, what you will discover about the lichen, there are over 70 humble turkey will be sure to surprise you. These species of bioluminescent topics will all be explored in this article. Hopefully you fungi, some of which are found are curled up someplace warm with a cup of hot in North America. It is possible cocoa. Sit a spell and read on to learn more. that Rudolf is the only reindeer to have found his own secret (2) See that Nose Glow! Rudolf is Santa’s main patch of lichen that contains bio- reindeer and he’s famous for his glowing red nose. Of luminescent fungi. The glow created course this makes Rudolf special but he is not the only by this type of fungi is called “foxfire”. glowing creature in the world. In fact, many Rudolf has potentially eaten enough ssdfsddfasdf © Tangstar Science of this type of lichen to make his nose glow. But why (7) Do such small people naturally exist among us? A does his nose glow red instead of green (which is the condition called dwarfism leaves people with short color of many lichen)? It’s the blood vessels in his stature. People who are under 4 feet 10 inches tall nose. If you put a flashlight up to your fingers in a are considered dwarves. Dwarfism can be caused by dark room you will see that the light moving through factors which prevent bones from growing to their your flesh glows red as it goes through your blood common length. vessels. Now you know how his nose could glow! (8) Dwarfism is a condition caused by abnormal (4) The Real Story of Rudolfina Besides the mystery genetics or other medical conditions that stunt behind Rudolf’s nose, there’s also some question growth. However, can there be people who are about Rudolf’s biological sex. We have always actually just normally small in size? In 2003, scientists assumed that Rudolf was a boy, but what if Rudolf is discovered the skeleton of a small human that they actually Rudolfina! Most people point to Rudolf’s nicknamed “the Hobbit” in a cave on a small island antlers as proof that he’s a boy, however, reindeer are called Flores, in Indonesia. Later, testing and analysis the only species where the females also grow antlers. would reveal that this small skeleton belonged to an Unlike horns, which are body parts that grow through extinct type of human called Homo floresienis. The an entire lifetime, antlers are structures that are remains were of a 30 year old female who was 3.5 seasonal and fall off and regrow every year. Both feet tall (1m) and roughly weighing 55lb (25kg) when males and females shed and regrow new antlers alive. The scientists named her LB1 and called her Flo. annually. Males grow their antlers to fight each other Further studies revealed that she did not suffer from for mating territory and access to females. Once the any diseases that would have stunted her growth. In mating season is finished in early December, males fact, Flo was not strange for her species at all. On have no more use for their antlers and they get shed average, Homo floresienis adults were under 4 feet at that time because antlers take a lot of energy for tall. The fossil records show that Homo floresienis their bodies to maintain. The females, however, keep probably evolved from Homo erectus that came to the their antlers all through the winter and early spring to island over a million years ago. Homo erectus is an fight each other for food so that they can ensure ancestor of Homo sapiens and was roughly around the adequate nutrition for their growing babies. It’s not same size as modern humans. One hypothesis as to until spring time, when food becomes more plentiful, why Homo floresienis is so small is that after arriving that the females shed their antlers. Due to the timing to Flores, Homo erectus began to rapidly evolve into a of when antlers are shed, there is no way that any smaller form due to a process called insular dwarfism. reindeer with antlers during Christmas could be a boy. (9) Insular dwarfism is seen in situations where large (5) So there you have it! Rudolf is a female reindeer animals become smaller over generations if they are that has found a delicious secret patch of isolated to areas that have limited food resources. bioluminescent lichen. Of course, she’ll keep this to Islands, like Flores, which are food resource poor, are herself so that she’ll be the only one with a “foxfire” prime examples of this. When food is scarce, this is a nose. disadvantage to larger members of a population because there isn’t enough food to maintain the (6) Size Does Matter Besides his reindeer, Santa also optimum health of a large-sized body. Smaller surrounds himself with elves. Technically, elves are individuals in the population will find it easier to small supernatural human-like creatures that maintain better health because they don’t need to originate from Germanic mythology and folklore. find as much food. They will be the ones to survive and pass on their genes for small stature to the next generation. Over time, these conditions favor the evolution of smaller and smaller body sizes.

(10) There are plenty of modern day examples. One example is the island fox found on the Channel Islands of California. Island foxes weigh between 2 to 6 lbs while their mainland relatives, the grey foxes, weigh between 8 to 15 lbs.

(11) Could Santa have become the beneficiary of insular dwarfism? Perhaps many years ago, Santa invited people to work for him making toys. Due to the limited resources in the North Pole, the people got smaller and smaller throughout the generations until they became so small we began to call them elves.

(12) What Nice Hair You Have Santa Santa is easily recognizable because of his red suit, big belly and flowing white hair and beard. Have you ever wondered why Santa’s hair (or anybody’s hair for that matter) is white?

(13) Hair color is produced by cells found in the with an increased application of bleach does the follicles of the hair shaft. These cells are called pheomelanin break down leaving the hair without any melanocytes which produce a pigment called melanin pigment. Now that the hair is colorless, it can be which gives hair its color. Melanocytes inject the treated with whatever color the client wants. melanin into the hair shaft as the hair is being created to give hair color. Melanin also happens to be the (16) So what has happened to Santa’s hair? Well, pigment that produces the diversity of skin colors of Santa is old, and as you get older, your melanocytes the different racial and ethnic groups around the stop producing as much melanin. Scientists have world. The more melanin you have, the darker your identified what they call a “melanogenic clock” which skin or hair will be. regulates hair pigmentation with age. The melanogenic clock slows with age and is also affected (14) In the case of hair, melanin comes in two main by factors like genes, nutrition, disease and ethnicity. forms. There’s eumelanin, which is a dark pigment, On average, most Caucasians will start getting their and then there’s pheomelanin, which is a reddish first white hairs in their mid-thirties, Asians in their pigment. If you have very dark hair, you have a lot of late-thirties and people of African heritage in their eumelanin. If you have blonde hair then you have mid-forties. We can make a guess that Santa began very little eumelanin, but some eumelanin still needs going white in his thirties and as he got older, his to be present to give your hair a golden color. If you melanocytes produced less and less melanin until no also have some pheomelanin, you will begin to get a more was produced. Santa is over 1700 years old so reddish hue to your hair. This will produce red hair, it’s no wonder that his hair is completely white! strawberry blonde hair, auburn hair and all the other red-toned hair shades in between. Many people with (17) Now You See Santa, Now You Don’t If Santa dark hair also have pheomelanin, but it is masked by has been delivering presents to kids for so many the darker eumelanin. years, how come most little boys and girls never see him? Can Santa become invisible whenever he (15) The dark eumelanin is not as stable as wants? Are there other organisms that can do this? pheomelanin over time and tends to break down faster. This is why all Egyptian mummies have been (18) The ability to look like you’ve disappeared is used found with red hair. This isn’t because all ancient by many creatures through the use of camouflage. Egyptians were red-heads; it’s because the eumelanin Camouflage happens when an organism has a body in their hair has broken down leaving behind the color and texture that mimics the surroundings of its xxxxxx longer lasting reddish pheomelanin. environment. This helps the camouflaged organism xxxxxxx This is also why when dark hide from its predators. A predator can also be xxxxxx hair is initially bleached camouflaged to help it hide from its prey so that it can xx it turns orange. The sneak up on it. Camouflage is very effective at making xxxx eumelanin is the organisms “disappear” or seem invisible. On the next xxxx first pigment page there is a photo of a stick insect in a tree branch. xxxxx destroyed by the See if you can pick out the stick insect from its xxx bleach, leaving the surroundings. There’s also a photo of an owl xxx more stubborn pheo- camouflaged in a tree. Can you spot her in the melanin behind. Only texture of the bark? xxx © Tangstar Science stick insect chromatophores

(21) Cephalopods can do this because of their specialized skin. Their skin is covered with chromatophores which are pigment containing sacs. owl These pigments come in various colors like yellow, red, black, brown, blue and white. Some even have iridescent pigments which are ones that reflect light. The size of the chromatophores can be controlled by tiny muscles attached to the sacs. When these muscles contract, they pull on the sacs to expand them, which increases the visibility of the pigment in the sac. When the muscles relax, the sac shrinks and the pigment within almost disappears into a tiny dot. This is how cephalopods control which colours are displayed on their skin. For example, chromatophores containing red pigment are called erythrophores and ones containing yellow pigment are called (19) Now some of you might be thinking, sure, xanthophores. If the muscles around the camouflage is great, but Santa doesn’t just stand erythrophores contract, these sacs will expand and against one type of background all the time. Santa the skin will look more red. If at the same time, the moves around and would have to constantly change muscles around the xanthophores relax, these sacs his colour and texture to hide from the eyes of will shrink and the skin will look less yellow. This children as he delivers presents all around the world. comes in very handy if the cephalopod moves from an Are there any animals that can change their area with yellow coral to an area with red coral. This camouflage to match any background they are near? change in color happens almost instantly. There are indeed! Cephalopods can control which part of their skin becomes more or less of any color this way. (20) Instead of taking inspiration from stick insects or owls, Santa probably achieves crypsis (which is the (22) Cephalopod skin can also change texture due to ability to avoid detection and observation) through another skin feature. They have specialized organs in following the example set by cephalopods. their skin called skin papillae which can cause the Cephalopods include marine creatures like squid, surface of their skin to project forward and form cuttlefish and octopuses which are all capable of different textures that match their background. This altering their color and texture to match whatever allows them to take on the texture of sand, corals and background they happen to be in front. other reef structures in which they might be hiding. Cephalopdsthis through cuttlefish papillae produce skin texture

© Tangstar Science (23) It is possible that Santa has developed recommended daily caloric intake of 2000 calories. In technology that mimics the chromatophores and the reality, all of this over-eating is what causes papillae of cephalopods to allow himself, his reindeers sleepiness, but how? and his sleigh to stay undetected by little boys and girls during his Christmas night journey around the (27) One simple reason is because digesting all those globe. calories takes a lot of energy. The body has to redirect blood flow from other parts of the body, (24) Welcome the Amazing Turkey! Often we don’t including the brain, to the digestive system to deal give much thought to the animals we eat. During with all that food. Less blood flow means less oxygen Christmas dinner, one of the most consumed animals and nutrients available to keep the brain alert. This is the turkey and it’s high time we stop overlooking creates a post-meal sleepiness. The larger the meal, this interesting bird and learn some science about the the greater this effect. turkey. (28) Another factor contributing to the after Christmas dinner fatigue does involve tryptophan. When a lot of carbohydrates are consumed, it causes the body to produce insulin. Insulin is a hormone created by your pancreas to take glucose out of the blood and transport it into cells where the glucose can be used. Carbohydrates in any meal turns into glucose which causes a spike in insulin production. Insulin also happens to aid in removing amino acids from the blood, except that insulin is not effective at removing tryptophan. So when a meal containing tryptophan is (25) First, let’s address the most paired with one containing a lot of carbohydrates, it common mistaken fact about the turkey. After causes a spike in insulin which leaves a large Christmas dinner, many people feel tired, and turkey proportion of tryptophan in the blood without a lot of meat is often blamed for this sleepy effect. Some other competing amino acids to slow down its people would even go so far as to add a bit of transport into the brain. In the brain, the tryptophan scientific evidence to this by saying that turkey meat cranks up melatonin production and makes the brain contains an amino acid called tryptophan. Tryptophan sleepy. So does turkey make you tired? Yes, but only helps with the production of serotonin which gets because it’s a protein source often eaten with an over converted into melatonin in the brain. Melatonin is a abundance of carbohydrates. hormone which aids in promoting sleepiness. Is this science true? Yes it is, however, it’s not the entire (29) Some people don’t like turkey meat because story. they think it’s dry, especially the white breast meat, which a turkey has a lot of. Some picky eaters think (26) Almost all meat contains tryptophan in the same only the rarer dark meat (found in the thigh and legs) proportions, so beef, chicken and pork could produce is worth eating. What makes turkey meat white or the same effect. In fact, gram for gram, cheddar dark? It’s actually the turkey’s blood. Muscle that cheese actually contains more tryptophan than turkey works really hard requires a large blood supply to feed meat, but no one ever blames macaroni and cheese it. Turkey blood contains a reddish pigment called for their snooze on the couch. So why is turkey often myoglobin which binds to oxygen and transports it to singled out as being more soporific (meaning sleep hard working muscles. When domestic turkeys are inducing) than other foods? It actually has to do with raised for food, they are overfed so that they become the holiday atmosphere when turkey is most likely very fat. Their heaviness makes them unable to fly so consumed. Thanksgiving and Christmas is when their breast muscles, which power their wings, are not turkey consumption is at its highest and these events used for flight. Since the turkey breast muscles are are also celebrations when a lot of alcohol and not used for much, they don’t need a large blood carbohydrates are consumed. Alcohol is a muscle supply. This means the breast muscles stay white due relaxant as well as a sedative which will make you to lack of myoglobin. So this thanksgiving, if you want drowsy. As well, people often can’t resist the a turkey that everyone will enjoy, what is your temptation of all that delicious stuffing, potatoes, solution? Instead of buying your typical domesticated yams and cranberry sauce and help themselves to turkey from the supermarket, go get yourself a wild seconds or even thirds. The average adult packs away turkey. They aren’t overfed so they can and do fly! a whopping 3000 calories in their single Christmas Of course, this makes their breast meat darker and dinner which is much more than the average tastier. recommended da © Tangstar Science