A: They’re frogs, a member of the Tree Frogs. Spring Peepers (Pseudacris crucifer) make a fearsome racket for an inch (2 - 3 cm) long animal. Their call is "a series of sharp, piercing, bird-like peeps about one per second or faster," says sound recorder Lang Elliott.

[J. Harding, Michigan State U] Spring peeper bellowing his call

They peep like a drum booms: a resonating cavity that amplifies sound. The Spring Peeper bellows his ‘peep’ using a sac under his chin. He closes his nose and mouth, squeezes his lungs, and blows up his sac. The squeezed air flows over the vocal cords and into a closed system of chambers, including his mouth. The sac beneath his chin balloons out and radiates the call from his vocal cords into the world.

The noise can be deafening close up as zillions of frogs let loose. In a spring evening and through the night, male frogs perch on sedges and grasses near a pond and sing for mates. Each defends a small bit of turf about 4 to 16 inches in diameter (10-40 cm). Females listen and choose. A female usually likes a fast-calling rate. Once decided, she swims nearby the chosen one’s territory and finally touches the male. He climbs onto her back and she swims underwater with the male clinging on. They glide around until she finds likely-looking submerged plants. There she deposits about 800 eggs in small groups while the male fertilizes them.

Further Surfing:

Scientific American: Frog communication by Peter Narins

Nature Sound Studio: the sound of Spring Peepers

University of Michigan: Spring Peepers photos and sounds

University of Connecticut: Spring Peeper

A: The dinosaurs roamed the land from 225 to 65 million years ago. During this time, different plants evolved and some, like seed ferns, also died out. Others—mosses, horse tails, ferns, conifers, cycads, magnolias—lasted, largely unchanged.

[Gary M. Stolz, US Fish and Wildlife Service] Towering conifers shaded dinosaurs... and they live on.

We still have conifers—the pines, larches, cedars, and firs. The biggest living being is a conifer: the giant redwood of California (330 feet tall, 100 m). The oldest being is the bristle-cone pine that clings to windswept mountains of southwestern deserts. They average 1000 years, a few exceed 4,000 years, before they die.

The triumphant conifers evolved 224 million years ago, shortly after the first dinosaur hatched.

Long before that, came the first land plant and it’s still around. Mosses edged from the sea onto lava strewn land, almost 500 million years ago, but were severely handicapped. They had no roots and still don’t. Next (400 million years ago) came a group of three plants with roots (club-mosses, horse tails, and ferns). Herds of long-necked sauropod dinosaurs grazed upon the ferns. The descendants of these plants thrive today without much change.

The club mosses and horse tails grew tall (100 feet, 30 m), in dense ranks. What an advantage these giant looming trees had—shading low-growing cousins. Bugs climbed trunks after lush leaves and spores. Some evolved flight—a major advance for the plants, too. Trees enticed flying insects to feed on their spores. Insects flew from tree to tree, carrying male sex cells to eggs housed in cones.

Seeds evolved next, about 225 million years ago. Conifers and cycad trees were among the first plants to produce seeds. Camarasaurs and brachiosaurs hacked into these early trees with blade-like teeth. They must have had steel-lined stomachs, too. Today, no mammal eats conifers because of their foul-tasting, toxic sap.

The conifers endured the ages with few changes; likewise the cycads.

Dinosaurs were still around 100 million years ago when the first flowering plants appeared, but probably they didn’t eat flowering plants. (We don’t know why not but it might have contributed to dinosaur demise. Flowering plants exploded over the land.) Magnolias flourish today much as they did when dinosaurs roamed.

Further Surfing:

Michael Knee, Ohio State U: Evolution of plants

Michigan State U: Plant biology—evolution

The ancient bristle-cone pine

Q: What is gelatin? Is it made from horses? ---Marisa, Dallas, TX

A: Yes and cows and pigs and ... Gelatin is a colorless or slightly yellow, transparent protein made by boiling animal hide, bones, and connective tissues (i.e., gristle). Manufacturers most commonly boil cow parts to make gelatin but any animal will do.

[Corel] Raspberry cherry gelatin

They grind the bones and other parts, soak in a strong base to soften them, pass them through stronger and stronger acid solutions until the bones no longer look like bones. They boil the mess for hours and raise an incredible stink. The gelatin floats to the top. They skim off the gelatin from the boiling pot and dry it into a powder. Adding sugar, flavorings, and artificial color transforms it into Jell-O.

Peter Cooper, a self-taught engineer got the first American patent for the manufacture of gelatin in 1845.

By the way, in 1981 a couple of Aussies (Paul Squires and Geoff Ross) created the world’s largest Jell-O—a 7,700 gallon-tank of jiggling pink delight.

Chef Andy: Jell-O pages

Jell-O Museum: Jell-O trivia

Martin Chaplin, South Bank U: Gelatin