The baobab tree looks almost alien in the modern environment, and no wonder, considering these plants first emerged around 200 million years ago when dinosaurs were making their debut. Hailing from the genus Adansonia, they have captivated humans for thousands of years, with records of Homo sapiens’ appreciation for baobab trees dating back 2,300 years to the ancient Egyptians.The baobab treeThere are eight distinct species of baobab tree that can be found in Australia, across Africa, southwest Asia, and Madagascar. One theory as to why they can be found in such a wide range of places is because they existed before the supercontinent Pangea split up – that’s how old they are. All but A. digitata are threatened to some degree, with A. perrieri being critically endangered, which got scientists eager to better understand their genetics in order to safeguard their future. They conducted chromosomal-level genome assemblies for all eight baobab trees to uncover the evolutionary history of the Adansonia genus, including its origin, diversification, and the instances of baobab tree hybrids popping up. It revealed that the species’ niches were shaped by the temperature, altitude, and amount of rainfall of the geographic locations they ended up in. Their distribution has seen them develop different flowering times, which has been a key reproductive barrier, but that didn’t stop hybridization events from occurring among baobabs in Madagascar – a place that’s likely the origin of baobab trees based on gene flow patterns between the plants found here and other species. Unlike cavities formed by wood being taken away, the false cavities of baobab trees are thought to be the natural result of stems growing in a ring-like loop fusing together.Image credit: © 2015 Patrut et al., PLoS ONE (CC BY 4.0)The baobab tree’s unique way of growing is thought to contribute to its incredible longevity, as a radiocarbon investigation concluded that some of the oldest and largest trees develop natural empty spaces between fused stems called false cavities. These girthy trunks can hold a lot of water for surviving the dry season, and the spaces are so big that humans can pose for a photo or even set up a wine bar inside them.As for how long they can live, trees radiocarbon dated along the Lebombo Eco Trail had ages of around 1,400 years, while some estimate they could live to be as old as 3,000 years. When the time finally comes for the baobab to kick the proverbial bucket, they rot from the inside and collapse.The queen of the baobab treesThe giant baobab tree Adansonia grandidieri is known locally as "renala", which is Malagasy for “mother of the forest”. Such trees line the Avenue of the Baobabs, which can be found between Morondava and Belon'i Tsiribihina in the Menabe region of Madagascar.This variety of baobab tree can grow to dizzying heights of 25 to 30 meters (82 to 98 feet), but while some are tall and slim, some resemble "overweight dwarves" with trunks wider than they are tall. They also demonstrate why baobab trees are known as “upside down trees," as their broad and bare trunks look as if they should be buried underground, like a giant tuber. Meanwhile, the wiggly branches at the top of the tree look like roots – especially when the leaves are shed during the dry season and the baobab looks like it’s waving its roots in the air (like it just don’t care).Without their leaves, the baobab tree looks upside down with its roots in the air.Image credit: Gavinevans via wikimedia commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)Baobab tree fruitBaobab tree fruit is known as monkey bread and the Ethiopian sour gourd, and it’s a whopper. It can grow to be around a foot long with a woody exterior and squishy pulp-like center. According to Michigan State University, the flavor of baobab tree fruit has been compared to a combination of grapefruit, pear, and vanilla. Baobab tree fruit is prepared by being left to dehydrate under the heat of the Sun, becoming a powder that can be used in drinks, ice cream, and baked goods.The fruit of baobab trees has become a big industry in recent years, as there are several companies eager to buy them, harvest the fruit powder for the food industry, and crush up the seeds to extract oil. The oil is coveted by the cosmetics industry, while the bark is good for making rope, and the fruit is rich in vitamin C.The peculiar flowers of baobab trees are pollinated by nocturnal creatures like insects and bats.Image credit: Daolauong Kamkhom/Shutterstock.comBaobab tree pollinatorsOf course, the baobab tree fruit would be nothing without pollinators. Despite being hermaphrodites, research has shown that baobab trees can’t produce fruits without pollen from another tree, and when they unleash their large pendulous flowers at night, the pollinators only have until the following morning to get in there and do their job.Baobab tree nectar lures in a range of pollinators, but in southern Africa, it’s predominantly insects like the hawk moth, while elsewhere on the continent, bats are the key pollinators. By moving from tree to tree, these nocturnal critters can facilitate fruit production for baobab trees. Just goes to show that whether your might is in your height or girth, even Earth's giants can't get by without a helping hand from the little guys.

Taylor Swift and her fans (known as "Swifties") have triggered earthquake sensors once more, this time setting off British Geological Survey (BGS) equipment 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) from the concert venue.Swift is currently on tour in the UK, and played the Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh from June 7-9. Monitoring the seismic activity generated by the concert and dancing attendees, the BGS was able to find differences in activity depending on the song being played."BGS monitoring stations around Edinburgh recorded seismic activity generated by the concerts," they explained in a statement. "Each of the three evenings followed a similar seismographic pattern, with ‘…Ready For It?’ ‘Cruel Summer’ and ‘champagne problems’ resulting in the most significant seismic activity each night."       An earthquake-inducing song, apparently.Analyzing the data, the BGS found that the most enthusiastic dancing took place on Friday, though each concert created detectable seismic activity."The activity was mainly generated by fans dancing in time to the music and reached its peak at 160 beats per minute (bpm) during ‘…Ready For It?’, where the crowd was transmitting approximately 80 [kilowatts] of power (equivalent to around 10-16 car batteries)," the BGS added.The activity was not huge, causing 23.4 nanometers of movement on the Friday when activity peaked, and it is unlikely anyone outside the immediate vicinity would feel it. However, it is pretty cool that we can use seismic detectors to figure out which Taylor Swift songs fans danced the hardest to."It’s amazing that we’ve been able to measure the reaction of thousands of concert goers remotely through our data," Callum Harrison, BGS Seismologist, added. "The opportunity to explore a seismic activity created by a different kind of phenomenon has been a thrill. Clearly Scotland’s reputation for providing some of the most enthusiastic audiences remains well intact!"This isn't the first time Taylor Swift and fans have caused such a quake, with a previous concert in Seattle creating the equivalent of a 2.3 magnitude earthquake.

As Hannah Montana once wisely said: “Everybody makes mistakes, everybody has those days.” But for scientists studying the 508-million-year-old sea creature Pikaia gracilens, make that approximately 41,639 days, as it turns out they’ve likely been looking at it upside down since 1910.The first Pikaia fossils were discovered in the Burgess Shale fossil beds of Canada’s Yoho National Park by the American palaeontologist Charles Walcott in 1910. On average around 4 centimeters (1.6 inches) long, these ribbon-shaped creatures are believed to have appeared during the Cambrian explosion, the biggest burst of evolution in Earth’s history.What remained unclear was what exactly Pikaia was. Walcott classified it as a marine worm, or polychaete, but even he wasn’t that sure. “I am unable to place it within any of the families of the Polychaeta, owing to the absence of parapodia on the body segments back of the fifth,” he wrote in the paper describing his discovery.Researchers have since spent decades arguing over where the ancient sea creature fits in the tree of life, including if it’s a vertebrate ancestor – but palaeontologist Jakob Vinther and colleagues have now proposed those scientists have been going about things the wrong way. Quite literally, in fact; they’ve been looking at it upside down.It had previously been reported that Pikaia had a rod-like structure, dubbed the “dorsal organ” running along what was thought to be its back. But, as Vinther told the New York Times, high-resolution photographs had shown the presence of sediment from the seafloor within the organ. This, Vinther and colleagues suggest, provides “evidence for a gut canal”. Taking that and running with it, they flipped Pikaia horizontally and suddenly, what others had concluded was a blood vessel looked a lot more like a dorsal nerve cord. This thickened towards the head into a “bulb-like” region, similar to the tubular structures seen in modern-day creatures like lancelets and the embryos of vertebrates.The authors propose the findings are evidence that not only is Pikaia a chordate, but that it and fellow chordates, the vertebrates, are in fact descended from a group of alien-looking creatures called the vetulicolians.“They just looked like freaky beasts,” Vinther remarked to the New York Times.It’s likely to be a controversial proposal and one that doesn’t just flip Pikaia’s world upside down; humans are vertebrates, which would also make us descendants of these bizarre beasties.On the upside, it would give worms a bit of a break – now you can ask your partner if they’d still love you if you were a vetulicolian instead.The study is published in Current Biology.

Wednesday marked this year’s congressional baseball game, where Republicans and Democrats play a ball game against each other for charity. Two separate protests broke out before and during the game an attempt to get the game shut down.  Uniquely however, fans on both sides erupted in a “USA” chant. The first protest was a pro-Palestine protest where individuals, during the colors presentation before the game, unfurled flags and started screaming through their N-95s, yelling “Free Palestine!" as they were escorted out by Capitol Police.  Members of the crowd laughed and booed at the protestors as they were leaving and began the first round of the “USA” chants.    The next protest was in regard to the climate - as in, the weather.  The protestors, from the self-described “youth-led group” Climate Defiance, started their evening outside of the game. They were a small crew huddled up by the game entrance with signs insisting that the game, which was “Chevron-sponsored,” was “unconscionable.” After their scene from outside the stadium, those social justice warriors began their descent onto the field. Obviously they only came to virtue-signal, since they didn’t even make it through the second inning of the game. Related: Animal Rights Activists Vandalize Brand New Portrait of King Charles III Eight of them jumped onto the field wearing shirts that said “END FOSSIL FUELS.” Capitol Police tackled them almost immediately. Climate Defiance posted a video of the incident on X and noted, “Eight of us have been arrested for shutting down the Congressional Baseball Game. They are behind bars right now. Make no mistake: It’s the Members of Congress who should be locked up.” It was epic, but what was even more hilarious was when the rest of the crowd began a massive “USA” chant - again. Video footage posted by numerous attendees doesn’t fully encapsulate the volume of the chants, and you could feel the energy and patriotism from every bit of the stadium. Authorities were warned that there would likely be protestors at the game.  “Before the charity game, we were aware that some people planned to possibly protest. This was discussed during our planning meetings and put in our comprehensive action plan to ensure we had plenty of resources to swiftly respond,” Capitol Police said in a statement. After the game, police reported that "eight people are being charged with federal charges - Interference with a Member of the U.S. Capitol Police.” While I’m all for peaceful protests, this was not peaceful, nor was it beneficial or productive. But hey, it brought both sides together to shout and celebrate our great nation, so I guess we can’t count it as a complete loss. USA! USA! USA! Follow us on Twitter/X: Things That Need To Be Said: It's Time to End the Pro-Hamasholes Leftists hate America, and it's time to stop letting them promote their hate without repercussions. pic.twitter.com/wKXTL9628v — MRCTV (@mrctv) June 10, 2024

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A recent Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General report revealed that the Biden administration's department "needs to improve its screening and vetting of asylum seekers and noncitizens applying for admission into the United States."The June 7 report released the audit results of the DHS' vetting procedures for illegal immigrants released into the interior of the country. 'Varied and sometimes inconsistent inspection procedure.'"We conducted this audit to determine the effectiveness of DHS' technology, procedures, and coordination to screen and vet asylum seekers and noncitizens," the report read.The audit found that the DHS' procedures "were not fully effective to screen and vet noncitizens applying for admission into the United States or asylum seekers whose asylum applications were pending for an extended period."It noted that Customs and Border Protection cannot "access all Federal data necessary to enable complete screening and vetting" of illegal aliens. The report also revealed that CBP lacks the technology to conduct biometric matching at land ports of entry and has implemented "varied and sometimes inconsistent inspection procedures."During its investigation, the inspector general's office found that at three land ports of entry, Border Patrol officers "did not query all vehicle occupants in Simplified Arrival to identify criminal warrants, national security concerns, or border crossing history before admitting them into the country." According to the officers, management "frequently directed" them to "query only drivers to expedite processing," the report said.Additionally, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services failed to conduct "timely screenings of more than 400,000 affirmative asylum applicants who filed for asylum between October 2017 and March 2023." The department has also not implemented a "dedicated procedure or comprehensive technology solution to perform interim screening of asylum applicants whose cases were not adjudicated within the required 180-day timeframe," the report stated. As a result, USCIS may not identify illegal aliens "with derogatory information" who are already residing in the U.S.The inspector general report offered five recommendations, concluding that the DHS must address the outlined issues or it "will remain at risk of admitting dangerous persons into the country or enabling asylum seekers who may pose significant threats to public safety and national security to continue to reside in the United States." The DHS responded to the report, stating that it plans to implement an "automated biometric entry and exit system" for CBP's use. The department concurred with all of the inspector general's recommendations to improve vetting procedures. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Joe Rogan recently had comedian Tim Dillon on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” and one subject the duo broached was the 2024 election. “Trump will beat [Biden], I think, from jail,” Dillon speculated. “Yeah, 100%,” Rogan agreed. “But I don’t know if it’s real ... I don’t want to cry election fraud, but why would I imagine that they would manipulate everything openly except the election?” “Is it not possible that they haven’t gone off Joe Biden because there was some f***ery in the last election? Is it not possible to some degree that they have this rabid insistence on this clearly dementia-ridden guy because promises have been made, and there are people in positions of power that could speak?” Dillion asked. “It’s worth asking all of these questions,” says Dave Rubin. “Putting aside election fraud and everything else, why is the system running cover right now for a man we all know who has dementia, who the corruption around him stinks to high hell?” “Rogan does bring up an interesting point,” he continues. “If they lie about absolutely everything ... then why wouldn't they lie about [the election] too?” Want more from Dave Rubin? To enjoy more honest conversations, free speech, and big ideas with Dave Rubin, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

UFC fighter Sean Strickland posted a video of himself on X getting tortured by waterboard, expressing that he simply wanted to know what it felt like.Middleweight contender Strickland put his money where his mouth is and accepted a wager from ... seemingly himself when he posted the video and stated that since he was a kid he didn't think the form of torture could be "that bad."Waterboarding is defined by Cambridge Dictionary as a "form of torture ... in which a person is held facing upward while water is poured in large quantities over their face. This gives the person the feeling that they are drowning," with the idea that they are "unable to breathe and dying.""When I was a kid I thought 'I wanna know what water boarding feels like, it can't be that bad,'" Strickland wrote on X. "I can tell you it was one of the most f***ed up things I've experienced lol."Attached was a 12-second video of Strickland shirtless on a floor next to an oven. The arm of an unknown person used what seemed to be a garden hose nozzle to spray Strickland — who had a T-shirt over his head — in the face, with the fighter's hands confined in makeshift handcuffs.The would-be torturer ensured that he was spraying Strickland in the face and controlled his head with a hand around the 185-pound fighter's neck.Be advised that the video could be seen as disturbing and is age-restricted on X.Strickland stuck around on his account to answer a couple of fan questions after posting the video, the first of which came in just a minute after the footage was put online.'When you see these youtubers like Steven crowder doing it saying "it's [not] that bad" [it's] because you weren't.'"Sean why did you do this? This is tough," one viewer asked."You think 'I can just breathe lightly and take a big breath when the water stops' nope you are 100 percent drowning.........." Strickland replied.You think "I can just breathe lightly and take a big breath when the water stops" nope you are 100 percent drowning..........— Sean Strickland (@SStricklandMMA) June 12, 2024 "What if you just hold your breath for a minute?" another viewer asked."You're going to have to breathe at some point lol," Strickland answered.After another viewer stated that after the "cloth is wet you basically can't breathe through it without taking in water," Strickland called out YouTubers, specifically Steven Crowder, saying they clearly haven't been waterboarded properly."Yeah man.... no [matter what] you do you can't breathe.. it's f***ed... When you see these youtubers like Steven crowder doing it saying 'it's [not] that bad' [it's] because you weren't f**king water boarded lol."Yeah man.... no mater water you do you can't breathe.. it's fucked... When you see these youtubers like Steven crowder doing it saying "it's no that bad" because you weren't fucking water boarded lol— Sean Strickland (@SStricklandMMA) June 12, 2024 Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

In Episode 353 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore the Old Burying Ground in Essex, Massachusetts. Back in October of 1817, a ghoul snatched eight bodies from the local cemetery causing a huge stir in town. An investigation was launched with shocking results. But who done it? And why? BECOME A LEGENDARY PATRON: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends CREDITS: Produced and hosted by: Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger Edited by: Ray Auger Guest Voice Talent: Michael Legge Theme Music by: John Judd SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST FOR FREE: Apple Podcasts/iTunes | Spotify | Pandora | Amazon Podcasts | TuneIn | iHeartRadio JOIN OUR SUPER-SECRET: New England Legends Facebook Group