Animals might not be able to speak or master advanced language techniques, but they certainly have other ways of communicating. Whale song, wolf howls, frog cries — even the fast dance of the honeybee or the friendly waves of a dog’s tail — are among so many ways animals pass on information to each other and to other living things of the animal kingdom.

When it comes to hearing communication, not every member of a species is just alike. Animals in different places have often been sounding off in different dialects. For example, one study shows that blue whales produce different types of sounds depending on where they are from. Some bird species are the same way. And what about those birds that live on the border between territories (领地) of different songbirds? They are often able to communicate in a way accepted by each of their groups of neighbors.

Communication between different species can play important roles as well. One study shows that iguanas (鬣蜥蜴) do not communicate by making sound, but their well- developed ears help them hear well the warning calls of the flycatcher (a type of small bird). The two species have nothing in common except for the fact that they share a general habitat and enemies. So when an iguana hears a bird make a signal of danger for other birds, it probably knows to be watchful for arriving enemies, too.

However, as noise pollution has become a serious problem all across the globe, many animals are now under fire. Increased shipping traffic over the last century has greatly affected the spread of whale song around the ocean basin. Studies have found that songbirds, too, suffer from noisy city surroundings. Some species have had to change their singing styles, producing songs that sound louder, in order to be heard above the noise. Their new voices usually lead to stranger and somewhat worse styles of singing that female birds find decidedly less sexy.

Tardigrades, which are known as space bears, are able to survive for up to 30 years without food or water, and endure temperature extremes of up to 150 degrees Celsius, the deep sea and even the frozen space.

Researchers found that their astonishing abilities would protect them from disasters which would wipe out all life on Earth. In fact, the only forces capable of harming tardigrades, such as an exploding star or a deadly gamma ray burst, will not happen before our own Sun dies.

“Life on this planet can continue long after humans are gone,” said Dr. Rafael of the Department of Physics, tardiprades are as close to indestructible as it gets on Earth, but it is possible that there are other resilient (有承受力的) species examples elsewhere in the universe. In this context, there 1S a real case for looking for life on Mars and in other areas of the solar system in general, If tardigrades are earth’s most resilient species, who knows what else is out there.”

The micro animals living In water can live for up to 60 years, and grow to a maximum size of 0.5mm. The only real threat to their existence would be from a destructive event which would cause Earth’s oceans to boil away. But the scientists discovered that there are only a dozen known asteroids (小行星) and dwarf planets with enough mass to cause the oceans to boil if they struck the Earth and none are on a collision course with our planet. Smaller space rocks would not harm tardigrades.

Dr. David, Post-Doctoral Research Associate in the Department of Physics at Oxford University said: “To our surprise, we found that although large asteroid impacts would be disastrous for people, tardigrades could be unaffected. Therefore it seems that life, once it gets going, is hard to wipe out entirely. Huge numbers of species, or even entire genera may become extinct, but life as a whole will go on.”

In highlighting the resilience of life in general, the research broadens the scope of life beyond Earth, within and outside of this solar system.

Professor Abraham, chair of the Astronomy Department at Harvard University, said the research proved that life could survive in even the harshest environment. “Organisms with similar tolerances to radiation and temperature as tardigrades could survive long term below the surface in these condition.”

Our warming world may be impacting on where birds show up during the winter. Scientists have found that the resident communities’ birds that appear at eastern North America’s backyard bird feeders in winter have changed as temperatures have increased.

For the average birdwatcher, seeing cardinals (红衣凤头鸟), chipping sparrows or Carolina wrens visiting their backyard bird feeders is nothing out of the ordinary. But in this warming world, these and other warm-adapted species have greatly expanded their wintering range, a change that may have unforeseen consequences for North American ecosystems, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison wildlife biologists Benjamin Zuckerberg and Karine Prince.

In a newspaper published in the journal Global Change Biology, Zuckerberg and Prince analyzed more than two decades of data on 38 species of birds gathered by thousands of citizen scientists.

“Fifty years ago, cardinals were rare in the northeastern United States,” Zuckerberg explained in a press release. “Carolina wrens even more so.”

The scientists measured the changes over time in the abundance of 38 bird species at feeders in eastern North America. More specifically, they examined the influence of changes in the winter minimum temperature over a 22-year period on the flocks of birds that gathered at backyard feeding stations.

“We’ve been able to document (用文件证明) in past studies that species are shifting in response to the climate change,” Zuckerberg said. “This study documents changes in the (winter bird) community structure. If you have a species coining into a new area, it can change the composition of the community.”

And with climate models predicting temperatures to warm even more over the next century, milder winters with less snow could become the norm (标准), so we don’t even recognize the bird species in our backyards any more.