Artificially Intelligent

If you regularly visit The Circular Journey, you know I'm pursuing a career as a science writer on SubStack. Science writing will not replace this blog--I will continue to do both. I will never abandon you, and I will not stop writing about my daily life--it's too amazing for that.

While reviewing research articles in preparation for the science writing project, I came across a fascinating fact of reptile biology that has eluded me for fifteen years. 

I was surprised to learn that chameleons have weatherproof tongues, a discovery made by researchers at the University of South Florida nearly fifteen years ago. I'm embarrassed to be so far behind in my knowledge of reptile biology!

If you're wondering, and why wouldn't you be, what it means to have a weatherproof tongue, I'll tell you. According to the researchers, the chameleon tongue does not move slowly in cold weather.

That's right. The tongue is a muscle, and muscles generally slow down at low temperatures. I didn't know that. I'm aware that I move more slowly when I'm cold, but I thought it happened because I simply don't want to move when cold. But, no! It's an evolutionary advantage, apparently.

being the maths nerd that I am, the article made me wonder just how cold is cold enough to slow a tongue. 

Being of scientific mind, I wonder how many other animals possess weatherproof tongues. Surely, there are many. The article should have included that information—I assume it didn't, but I only read the abstract, not the entire article.

Maybe I need to read the full paper because, now I think about it, why do chameleons need that special ability? Don't lizards live in warm climates? I may be more unaware of the lives of lizards than I imagined.

But let's focus on what I do know; my tongue is weatherproof, and I have a weatherproof mind. The old gray matter functions at its sharpest when the air is crisp enough to see your breath. I'm much like a rock troll in that regard.

You probably expect me, after reading about the researcher's discovery, to feel compelled to practice maths on it. You know me so well. I decided to write an equation (a simplified one) that could be used to determine how quickly a small animal might lose heat in freezing weather. My skills are rusty but here's what I came up with:

dT/dt = -k(T - T_a) - h(T - T_g)

After solving the formula for our recent freezing weather and uncharacteristic snowfall, I determined that in about twenty minutes, a squirrel sitting atop the fence in our backyard would be as cold as a penguin's belly button. I wonder if artificial intelligence would have done better?

Don't expect more posts like this one. I only wanted to provide a sample of what you'll find on my SubStack page. I'll announce when it goes live.

Until then, stay safe and warm. Winter is full of surprises this year. I wonder if artificial intelligence and large language models have anything to do with that?

Welcome to the brave new world of 2025. Thank you for being hee. Leave your questions or suggestions in the comments.