Valerie Varnuska | Blogspot

   Valerie Varnuska is from the Westbury, NY community and enjoys excursions in nature in her free time. One aspect of this for Valerie Varnuska involves learning about the behavior of bats in the wild. A study published in Nature focuses on the repeated vocalizations young bats make, which help them develop the ability to make sounds they carry into adulthood. Led by a Berlin Museum of Natural History animal behavioral ecologist, the study involved recording more than 200 “babbling bouts” by greater sac-winged bats in Panama and Costa Rica. Ultrasonic equipment was employed to catch individual syllables contained within bat pups’ high-pitched squeals. Within this babble, researchers identified a majority of the 25 syllables that adult bats use for tasks such as seeking food through echolocation and navigating airspace, as well as for courtship. Despite significant differences in how humans use language and bats employ vocalizations, researchers linked the pups’ babble to the way hum

Valerie Varnuska from the Westbury, NY area, has a longstanding interest in the outdoors. One aspect of the natural world that Valerie Varnuska appreciates is the health benefits such explorations bring. In today’s urbanized, digitally connected world, access to natural experiences has diminished for many, with this lack of natural stimuli characterized as “nature-deficit-disorder.” Unfortunately, people are increasingly cut off from a vital aspect of personal development that has served societies well for millennia. This begins with childhood habits and experiences: a Psychology Today article reports that unstructured outside play has decreased by one-fourth since 1981. The effect is felt in attention deficits, obesity, emotional instability, and a diminished reliance on the full range of senses. Faced with such lost opportunities, the imperative of conserving nature is not simply about preserving biological diversity and clean air and water, but preserving something vital within ou