Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Wednesday 16 May 2018

Maine counting eagles, which recovered from brink in state

By PATRICK WHITTLE Biologists want to find out
Associated Press whether the eagle popula-
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — tion has increased, slowed
Maine wildlife officials are or stabilized, the wildlife
conducting the largest department said. They will
statewide survey of bald also use the results to “re-
eagles in the Pine Tree evaluate the future needs
State in five years. for monitoring of Maine’s
Maine Department of In- breeding eagle popula-
land Fisheries and Wildlife tion,” the department said
biologists and game war- in a statement.
den pilots are conducting Bald eagles underwent
the survey of the iconic heavy decline around the
bird. It nearly disappeared country in the early and
from Maine in the 1970s, middle 20th century, when
when there were only 39 they were harmed by pes-
pairs remaining. There were ticides, habitat loss and
more than 634 nesting pairs hunting. But federal pro-
in the state in 2013. tections followed, and they
Anecdotal evidence sug- are now considered one of
gests the eagles might America’s greatest conser-
have improved even more vation success stories. The
in the last five years, said In this May 10, 2012 file photo, A bald eagle takes flight on a rainy morning in Friendship, Maine. bird was removed from the
Susan Gallo, a wildlife biol- and loons overlap in broad going to be the end of State surveyors are check- endangered species list in
ogist with Maine Audubon. swaths of their range in loons because we have a ing on more than 1,800 2007.
Some defenders of an- the U.S. and Canada, and healthy eagle population.” sites, some of which were The Maine survey project is
other beloved Maine bird, while eagles do prey on Biologists started counting used as nests as long ago funded via the U.S. Fish and
the common loon, have loons, the two can coexist, Maine’s nesting eagle pairs as the 1960s. Generations Wildlife Service Wildlife Res-
expressed concern that she said. from a plane in March. They of bald eagles can use the toration Program, which
more eagles could be bad “They have to keep their hope to finish up with aerial same nesting territory over gets the money from an in-
for loons, but that is unlike- eyes on their chicks,” Gal- survey flights by the end of decades, the state wildlife dustry excise tax that is paid
ly, Gallo said. Bald eagles lo said. “It’s certainly not May, state officials said. department said. on hunting equipment.q

Singing the blues: Study of pop music finds rise in sadness

By MARK KENNEDY cessful songs in 1985 were tures mirror other studies
AP Entertainment Writer happy and all successful that have examined lyric
NEW YORK (AP) — A study songs in 2015 were sad. changes over the years.
of hundreds of thousands They were looking for aver- They have found the use
of popular songs over the age trends in the acoustic of positive emotions has
past three decades has properties of the music and declined and indicators of
found a downward sonic the moods describing the loneliness and social isola-
trend in happiness and an sounds. tion have increased.
increase in sadness, as the Some songs with a low “So it looks like, while the
chirpy band Wham! gave happiness index in 2014 overall mood is becom-
way to the moody Sam include “Stay With Me” by ing less happy, people
Smith. Sam Smith, “Whispers” by seem to want to forget it
For the report in the journal Passenger and “Unmissa- all and dance,” emailed
Royal Society Open Sci- ble” by Gorgon City. Some Komarova, who wrote the
ence, researchers at the from 1985 with a high hap- report with Myra Interiano,
University of California at piness index include “Glory Kamyar Kazemi, LijiaWang,
Irvine looked at 500,000 Days” by Bruce Springs- Jienian Yang and Zhaoxia
songs released in the UK teen, “Would I Lie to You?” Yu.
between 1985 and 2015, by the Eurythmics, and The researchers also found
and categorized them ac- “Freedom” by Wham! that the “maleness” of
cording to their mood. “The public seems to pre- songs — the frequency of
In this Nov. 2, 2017 file photo, musician Sam Smith poses for a “’Happiness’ is going fer happier songs, even male singers in popular mu-
portrait in New York to promote his album, “The Thrill of It All.” down, ‘brightness’ is going though more and more sic — has decreased over
down, ‘sadness’ is going unhappy songs are being the last 30 years. “Success-
up, and at the same time, released each year,” the ful songs are characterized
the songs are becoming researchers wrote. by a larger percentage of
more ‘danceable’ and They also found the most female artists compared to
more ‘party-like,’” co-au- successful genres of mu- all songs,” they write.
thor Natalia L. Komarova sic were dance and pop, That finding comes at a
told The Associated Press. as well as a “clear down- time when the music indus-
Of course, the researchers ward trend” in the success try is wrestling with the issue
emphasize that a gradual of rock, starting in the early of gender inequality, and
decrease in the average 2000s. men overwhelmingly domi-
“happiness” index does The overall mood shifts in nate the ranks of artists and
not mean that all suc- the songs’ musical fea- songwriters.q