10 Wind Blowing Facts About Birds

10

Esther’s writing prompt: February 4 : Flying

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This is not a super fact post but a post featuring ten wind blowing facts about birds. Let me rephrase that, ten mind blowing facts about birds. Sorry for flying that pun in your face.

My super facts are true based on reputable sources, despite being surprising or disputed. A super fact is also important and educational, unlike typical trivia. I consider the last seven bird facts below to be trivia and therefore not super facts. However, I hope my ten bird facts will at least raise some eyebrows and be somewhat educational. I have listed the ten facts below and if you want to learn more about them you can read the rest of the post.

  • There are flying Turkeys
  • Birds are Dinosaurs
  • Wind power saves a lot more birds than it kills
  • Birds don’t pee
  • Birds can use Earth’s magnetic field to navigate
  • Some birds sleep while flying
  • Birds have hollow bones, but they’re super strong
  • Some birds use tools
  • Swifts can stay airborne for 10 months
  • Chickens can recognize up to 100 faces
A shoebill stork is a large gray-blue bird with a huge beak. | 10 Wind Blowing Facts About Birds
A shoebill stork standing at Ueno Zoo, Tokyo, five feet tall. Bob Owen, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

There are flying Turkeys

Domesticated Turkeys and Wild Turkeys are the same species, but Wild Turkeys can fly distances of more than a mile, sometimes at speeds of 55 miles per hour. I’ve seen it with my own eyes on turkey hunts. I’ve seen turkeys fly, flap their wings, take off and glide across the sky at the height of 30-50 feet. You can read more about it here and here. Below is a video showing wild Turkeys flying.

The photo shows a male turkey in the middle of flight. | 10 Wind Blowing Facts About Birds
Eastern Wild Turkey Meleagris gallopavo flying over the snow in Ottawa, Canada Stock Photo ID: 1358163995 by Jim Cumming.
My son is standing next to truck holding a dead turkey by the legs.
My son holding the wild turkey he shot.

Birds Are Dinosaurs

Birds are descendants of specialized maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs that survived the extinction event that killed most dinosaurs 66 million years ago. They evolved during the Jurassic period from two-legged, carnivorous, and often feathered dinosaurs, and are the only surviving lineage of this group. They have been classified as avian dinosaurs since the 1980’s. In other words, they are dinosaurs. Initially feathers evolved among dinosaurs for insulation, sexual display, and camouflage rather than flight.

A lot of dinosaurs had feathers, and some could fly. Dinosaurs with feathers include, for example, Velociraptor (it might have been able to fly), Deinonychus, Archaeopteryx (could fly), Microraptor (could fly), Rahonavis (could fly), Gallimimus, Ornithomimus, Yutyrannus huali, Psittacosaurus, Psittacosaurus, Sinosauropteryx, Psittacosaurus,  Sciurumimus, Kulindadromeus, Caudipteryx, and even young T-Rex and many others. We know dinosaurs had feathers based on fossil finds.

A Gallimimus dinosaur covered in hair and feathers.
Life restoration showing an adult with feathers, based on those known from the related Ornithomimus. Picture is from Wikipedia. PaleoNeolitic, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Remember the Velociraptors in the move Jurassic Park? In the movie they had scaly skin, but in reality, they had feathers. Also, the real velociraptors might have been able to fly. Wouldn’t that have made a better movie?

A colorful velociraptor covered in feather. It does not look like it could fly. | 10 Wind Blowing Facts About Birds
Velociraptor with feathers (well a little bit). Shutterstock Asset id: 2636534673 by Shutterstock AI Generator

Wind power saves a lot more birds than it kills

It may come as a surprise to some, but wind power is not a major cause of bird death. Wind farms are estimated to be responsible for losing less than 0.4 birds per gigawatt-hour (GWh) of electricity generated, compared to over 5 birds per GWh for fossil fueled power stations, see, for example this source. This means that replacing fossil fuels with wind power saves a lot more birds than wind power turbines take. In addition, cats, windows, cars, poison and powerlines are examples of things that kill a lot more birds than wind power does. Cats kill thousands of times more birds than wind power does, and this usually does not bother us. Note I love both dogs and cats.

It is difficult to make exact estimates of bird deaths but below are some interesting graphs from reputable sources, confirmed by many other studies and analysis, such as this overview from MIT and this analysis by Hannah Richie. The numbers aren’t the same, but they make the same point. You can read more about this here.

The graph shows that Wind Turbines kill 328,000 birds per year in the US, Electrocutions kill 6,250,000 birds, Collisions with powerlines kill 32,500,000 birds, Poison kills 72,000,000 birds, Vehicle collisions kill 214,500,000 birds, Collisions with glass kill 676,500,000 birds, and cats kill 1,850,700,000 birds per year in the US.
From Wikipedia: Universiteit van Nederland, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Bar graph showing cats killing an estimated 2,400 million birds per year, buildings killing an estimated 599 million birds per year, automobiles killing an estimated 200 million birds per year, pesticides killing an estimated 67 million birds per year, powerlines killing an estimated 28 million birds per year, communication towers killing an estimated 6.6 million birds per year, and wind turbines killing an estimated 1.2 million birds per year. | 10 Wind Blowing Facts About Birds
An alternative graph taken from Hannah Richie / Our World in Data, using alternative sources essentially showing the same thing. Sources: Loss et al. (2015), (2013), US Fish and Wildlife Service; Subramnayan et al. (2012), American Bird Conservancy (2021).

That does not mean we shouldn’t do our best to reduce bird deaths from wind power stations. However, don’t fall for the misinformation that is trying to paint it is a big problem specifically for wind power. It is good to keep in mind that there are powerful organizations, politicians and individuals who are intentionally spreading a lot of misinformation about wind power and other renewables in an effort discredit them. One example is the series Landman which repeatedly makes demonstrably false and pretty wild claims. Landman is fiction, of course, but it is presented so it appears to be facts to unsuspecting viewers.

Birds don’t pee

Birds don’t pee liquid like mammals. They excrete waste as a white, pasty uric acid mixed with solid feces through a single opening. This means that they excrete only one type of droppings. This conserves water and keeps them lightweight for flight.

Birds can use Earth’s magnetic field to navigate

Migratory birds navigate long distances by using Earth’s magnetic field, which acts like a built-in GPS-like compass to determine direction and position. They have light-sensitive proteins called cryptochromes in their eyes, which enable them to see magnetic fields, and they can detect field intensity using magnetic crystals (magnetite) in their beaks or inner-ear cells. This enables them to know direction, inclination and position. The detection of the magnetic field is very fine and is believed to involve quantum mechanical mechanisms. You can read more about how migrating birds use quantum effects to navigate here

Birds flying in an arrow formation in a sky with clouds and fuzzy sun.
Silhouette of birds flying in arrow formation at sunset sky. Shutterstock Asset id: 717932599 by Vaclav Volrab

Some birds sleep while flying

Many birds, especially long-distance migrants like Albatrosses, swifts and frigatebirds, sleep while flying by using one half of the brain at a time. They usually sleep while ascending at higher altitudes and just for one hour.

Tweety bird flying with eyes closed | 10 Wind Blowing Facts About Birds
A sleeping bird flying. Picture generated with the help of ChatGPT.

Birds have hollow bones—but they’re super strong

Birds have hollow bones. They are not necessarily lighter but they’re super strong. The structure is denser and reinforced with internal struts, kind of like aerospace engineering. The bones are full of spaces for air giving them a more efficient respiratory system and allowing them to take in oxygen while both inhaling and exhaling.

Some birds use tools

New Caledonian crows craft hooks from sticks to fish insects out of holes. They carve, nibble and peel the tip of the stick until it has a hook. Striated Herons drop larvae, worms, and insects on the water to attract prey. They sometimes break sticks into pieces to use as artificial bait to attract fish. Rooks, corvid bird, drop rocks into water to raise the water level so that they can reach prey. Carrion crows use traffic to crack hard-shelled nuts.

For example, they drop walnuts on busy roads, often at pedestrian crossings, and wait for cars to crush them, then retrieving the food during red lights. Egyptian Vultures pick up stones in their beaks and throw them at large, hard-shelled eggs to break them. There are many other examples.

Swifts can stay airborne for 10 months

Common swifts can stay airborne for up to 10 months without landing during their non-breeding migration. They eat, drink, sleep, and even mate while in flight, only landing to nest for two months in the summer.

A swift flying on a blue background. Photo taken from below. | 10 Wind Blowing Facts About Birds
White-rumped swift, Apus caffer, at Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve, Gauteng, South Africa. Derek Keats from Johannesburg, South Africa, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Chickens can recognize up to 100 faces

Chickens don’t just recognize other chickens; they also recognize human faces. Chickens remember positive or negative experiences with the faces they recognize and pass that information on to members of their flocks. Let’s think about that while we chew on our chicken nuggets.


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Scandinavian Folklore Guest Post on LatinosUSA Part 2

Robbie Cheadle posted the second part of my guest post on Scandinavian Folklore on LatinosUSA. LatinosUSA is an amazing and very interesting online magazine/blog featuring poetry, stories and all kinds of interesting content from around the world. She also included a kind review of my Leonberger book Le Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle, and I am very grateful for that.

All Life Have a Common Ancestor

Super fact 82 : All known cellular life descends from a single Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA). All animals, all plants, fungi, algae, green and red algae, kelp, phytoplankton, cyanobacteria, amoebas, amoebozoa, diatoms, stramenopiles, rhizaria, hacrobia, all eukaryote, all archaea, all bacteria, all the millions of species on Earth come from one single ancestor known as the Last Universal Common Ancestor – LUCA. Viruses are an exception, but viruses are not considered life.

This AI generated image shows a cell in an ocean and in the background, there are hundreds of other cells or possible life structures. | All Life Have a Common Ancestor
Last Universal Common Ancestor creation Shutterstock Asset id: 2666598705 by Shutterstock AI

LUCA, the Last Universal Common Ancestor, was not the first life form. It was preceded by earlier, simpler life forms that did not survive. LUCA was a single-celled, bacteria-like microorganism that existed roughly 4.2 billion years ago, or about 400 million years after planet Earth first formed. It was the final common ancestor for all currently living organisms. It thrived near hydrothermal vents as part of a larger microbial community before the three domains of life bacteria, archaea, and Eukarya diverged. This is a super fact because it is true, or at least highly probable, it is surprising and amazing and kind of important.

How Do We Know All Life Has a Common Ancestor ?

The answer is genome mining. By surveying nearly 2000 genomes of modern microbes we not only know that all life has a common ancestor (LUCA), that lived roughly 4.2 billion years ago, but we also know that it thrived near hydrothermal vents as part of a larger microbial community. This is analogous to another of my posts “Humans and Chimpanzees Have a Common Ancestor”. By sequencing human DNA and chimpanzee and bonobo DNA we know that humans and chimpanzees have a common ancestor. No fossils, or other information from the past is needed. DNA is a great tool for determining relationships between species and for finding information about past life, without the need of fossils.

To be more specific, the detailed biochemical similarity of all current life makes the existence of LUCA widely accepted by biochemists. There is a Universal Genetic Code, which means that nearly all living things use the same DNA/RNA-based genetic code to translate genetic information into proteins. There is a shared molecular machinery, for example, all life relies on ribosomes for protein synthesis, similar energy carriers like ATP, and the same 20 amino acids. All life uses the same mirror-image form of molecules, a signature of a single, common ancestry. In addition, there is a “core” set of 355 gene families present in both modern bacteria and archaea, which were likely inherited from LUCA. Finally, we have phylogenetic mapping, protein-sequence-based phylogenetic trees converge on a single root, indicating a common ancestry for all life. See the phylogenetic tree of life below.

The picture shows how the three domains of life bacteria, archaea, eukaryote, and the relationships between the different phylum in each domain leads back to LUCA.
User: Crion, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Below is another view of the diversification of life that focuses on the inventions made by life.

This tree of life picture shows a root representing a common ancestor and from it sprouts various inventions of life DNA, mitochondria, nuclei, chloroplasts, organs, hair, and much more.
The evolutionary tree of life showing diversification, branching and key characteristics of each branch. Shutterstock Asset id: 228953155 by Zern Liew

It should be noted that in addition to viruses there were likely other forms of life that existed alongside LUCA or before it. There was likely non-cellular life as well as cellular life that died out, RNA-based life, self-replicating nucleic acids, etc. It should also be noted that if some of the large viruses were to be reclassified as life, or a life form not based on LUCA were to be discovered then our “current LUCA” would no longer be LUCA, but just the ancestor of “almost all life”. That would still be amazing, just slightly less so.

The existence of LUCA brings up an interesting question. What would happen if we found DNA based life on another planet and its DNA showed that it also originated from LUCA ?

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Humans and Chimpanzees Have a Common Ancestor

Super fact 81 : Humans are not descended from chimpanzees, or monkeys, or any other primate living today. However, humans and chimpanzees share a common ancestor that lived roughly 5 to 7 million years ago. The two species evolved separately to become modern humans and chimpanzees. Humans and chimpanzees are closely related and share approximately 98.8% of their DNA. Studying the DNA, it is possible to determine how long ago this ancestor lived despite not having any fossils from this ancestor.

Chimpanzee genome sequencing and the sequencing of human DNA has led to the realization that human and chimpanzee DNA is very similar and that humans and chimpanzees share an ancestor. The fact that the great apes have 48 (24 pairs) chromosomes while humans have 46 (23 pairs) is not an issue. What happened was that the ancestral chromosomes corresponding to modern chimpanzee chromosomes 2A and 2B fused to create human chromosome 2. We can see that the genes in 2A and 2B line up with chromosome 2 and we can also see where the 2A and 2B merge in the human chromosome 2 (see picture below).

The picture is a graph that shows that gorillas, chimpanzees and humans share a common ancestor with orangutans. In turn bonobos, chimpanzees and humans share a common ancestor with gorillas and finally chimpanzees and bonobos share a common ancestor with humans. | Humans and Chimpanzees Have a Common Ancestor
Evolution of humans via phylogenetics and differentiation between humans, chimpanzees, and other primates. Shutterstock Asset id: 2448150743 by kanyanat wongsa

The graph above shows that gorillas, chimpanzees and humans share a common ancestor with orangutans. At the next level bonobos, chimpanzees and humans share a common ancestor with gorillas and finally chimpanzees and bonobos share a common ancestor with humans. We can deduct these things from DNA without needing fossils. We have found millions of fossils corresponding to more than 250,000 species. However, the best evidence for so called “macro evolution” and the best tool for determining relationships between species may not be the fossil record but DNA.

It should be noted that the terms “macro-evolution” and “micro-evolution” are terms that creationists like to use but that scientists do not like to use. Creationists like to say that microevolution is possible (it is observed) but not macroevolution. However, macroevolution is the result of repeated microevolution, so you cannot claim that microevolution is possible but not macroevolution. In addition, speciation is relative. An animal A may be able to successfully interbreed with an animal B, and that animal B may be able to successfully interbreed with an animal C, but animal A and C cannot interbreed.  The border between microevolution and macroevolution is fuzzy.

The fact that we can determine evolutionary ancestry by sequencing DNA of living creatures may come as a surprise to many people. In addition, we can also determine how long ago a common ancestor lived. It may also come as an additional surprise to many that we are not descended from the great apes but share a common ancestor. Super fact 81 is a super fact because we know it is true, it is surprising to many, and important to know.

Identifying a common ancestor using DNA Sequencing

Below is a very high-level image of human and chimpanzee chromosomes referred to as a Karyotype. A karyotype is a laboratory-produced image or visual profile of an individual’s complete set of chromosomes, arranged in pairs by size, shape, and number.

The pictures show the set of the human 46 chromosomes on the left and the set of the chimpanzee 48 chromosomes on the right. The chromosomes look very similar between the two species, except human chromosome 2 which is split into chromosome 2A and 2B in the chimpanzee.
Comparison between human and chimpanzee karyotypes isolated on background. Shutterstock Asset id: 2432966649 by kanyanat wongsa

Based on the similarity in transposons, or jumping genes, pseudo genes, and genes in general (all of the genome) we know that the closest related living animals to humans are chimpanzees and bonobos. You can read more about this in the book Relics of Eden by Daniel Fairbanks, a book I highly recommend. According to the author the latest and perhaps best evidence for evolution as well as the fact that humans and chimpanzees have a common ancestor comes from so called junk-DNA. DNA that is not currently used but contains scientifically informative remnants of our evolutionary ancestry trapped in our DNA. The author refers to these remnants as relics.

Hominini species

Another interesting fact derived from DNA research is that chimpanzees and humans are more closely related than chimpanzees than to the other great apes. Based on the genetic record chimpanzees are no longer classified as great apes but as Hominini together with humans. The fact that there are three Hominini species (homo sapies – us humans, chimpanzees and bonobos) could maybe be another super fact.

Homo skull changes of hominids from Wikipedia<>. SimplisticReps, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Speaking about hominini species, we have found more than 6,000 hominin fossils corresponding to dozens of species including Australopithecus, Paranthropus, Homo Habilis, Homo Erectus, Homo Heidelbergensis, Homo Neanderthalis, and Homo Sapiens. This link features a cool phylogenetic tree that includes Homo Sapiens (us), Neanderthals, as well as chimpanzees and bonobos.

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Conic Sections are the Shapes that Shape Our World

Super fact 80 : A conic section is a shape formed by slicing a cone with a plane. There are four such shapes, circle, ellipse, parabola, and hyperbola. The conic sections universally describe motion under gravity. The orbits of planets around their stars are circles or ellipses, comets fly around space in elliptical orbits, or parabolic or hyperbolic paths. Objects thrown up in the air follow parabolic paths. They are the basis for a huge amount of engineering applications.

Esther’s writing prompt: January 21 : Shapes

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Four cones each shown with a plane section forming a specific conic section. | Conic Sections are the Shapes that Shape Our World
Types of conic sections : circle , ellipse , parabola , hyperbola Shutterstock Asset id: 2377159367 by ProfDesigner

The four conic sections, circle, ellipse, parabola and hyperbola are fundamental and very useful shapes in mathematics, physics and engineering. Well, a circle is a special case of an ellipse, so it is really only three conic sections. The motion of the planets and other stellar objects are described by the conic shapes. Isaac Newton derived his law of gravitation from Kepler’s laws, which describe planetary orbits as ellipses.

The conic sections are all described by second degree equations (quadratic equations) and are in that sense the simplest shapes aside from points and lines. It is important to understand that there is an infinite amount of shapes that are almost conic sections and look like conic sections, but it is the exact mathematical properties of the four conic sections that make them so common in physics, mathematics, nature and engineering.

The picture shows a cone with four planes slicing the cone in four ways. The resulting shapes are circle (red), ellipse (green), parabola (blue), hyperbola (orange).
The black boundaries of the colored regions are conic sections. Not shown is the other half of the hyperbola, which is on the unshown other half of the double cone. by Magister Mathematicae, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18556148

It may not come as a surprise that the circle is a fundamental and important shape, but I believe that the fact that the other conic sections are also fundamental in mathematics, physics and engineering come as a surprise to people outside of the STEM fields. It is a true and an important fact regarding how our world works.

Conic Sections

As mentioned, the conic sections are fundamental shapes that appear in a lot of places in STEM. Below are a few examples.

Parabola

Math function parabola graphics illustration with a dark background. | Conic Sections are the Shapes that Shape Our World
Math function parabola. Shutterstock Asset id: 1628916337 by EleonoraDesigner

A parabola is formed when a plane cuts a cone, so the plane is parallel to a side of the cone. Parabolas are shapes that are roughly U-shaped and described by the equation y = x^2 or more generally by y = ax^2 + bx + c. Parabolas have a so called focus point. See the picture below. If you throw a ball, or any object, up in the air its trajectory will be a parabola (ignoring distortions caused by friction and wind). I should say the parabola you get in this case is upside down. The parabola is important when you design any kind of projectile.

U-shaped parabola with the focus shown. The pciture has an x-axis and a y-axis.
Part of a parabola (blue), with various features (other colours). The complete parabola has no endpoints. In this orientation, it extends infinitely to the left, right, and upward. Picture is from Wikipedia Melikamp, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Antennas shaped like parabolas (in 3D) will direct incoming radiation and waves towards their focus point. If the surface is reflective a light located at the focus point will reflect to create a straight beam. Parabolas are used for radio telescopes, satellite dishes, car headlights, flashlights, solar cookers, solar power plants, water fountains, suspension bridges, business modelling and thousands of engineering applications. Parabolas like circles and the other conic sections shape our modern world (pun intended).

A parabola dish with equipment located at the focus.
Würzburg-Riese radar built by Germany in WW2 had a 7.4 meter (24 foot) dish. From this page. Alan Wilson from Stilton, Peterborough, Cambs, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Ellipse and circle

As mentioned, a circle and an ellipse are conic sections formed by intersecting a plane with a cone. You get a circle when the cuts perpendicular to the cone’s axis (see pictures above) and an ellipse form when the plane intersects the cone at a slant but not slanted so much that it becomes a parabola or a hyperbola. An alternative for an ellipse is that the sum of the distances from any point on the curve to two fixed points (called the foci) is a constant. See the picture below. The two definitions are identical. For a circle the two foci are merged into one point at the center.

The picture shows an ellipse and its two foci points. From the foci points there are lines going to a point P on the ellipse. The length of the two lines are added together and is the sum “2a” no matter where on the ellipse the point P is located. | Conic Sections are the Shapes that Shape Our World
Ellipse: definition by sum of distances to foci. Ag2gaeh, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

There are a lot of real world examples of ellipses. Planets orbit the Sun in elliptical paths. The sun is in one of the foci points. The orbits of other stellar objects and satellites are also elliptical. Charged particles follow elliptical paths within magnetic fields.  Elliptical patterns are observed in the rotation of ocean currents, elliptical models and algorithms are used in medical imaging, computer science and encryption. Also whispering galleries.

Hyperbola

Comets and spacecraft that are not orbiting another body, in other words, they have enough speed to escape the gravitational pull and continue into deep space, will travel along a hyperbola. The boundary of a shockwave from a supersonic jet (a sonic boom) creates a hyperbolic curve on the ground as it moves. The intersection of two sets of concentric ripples in water makes a hyperbola. The light beam from a lamp or flashlight makes an ellipse or an hyperbola on a plane depending on the angle.

Newton’s Law of Gravitation

Johannes was an early 17th century German mathematician who derived three laws that describe how planetary bodies orbit the Sun using the observational data collected by the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. The three laws are the following:

  • Planets move in elliptical orbits with the Sun as a focus.
  • A planet covers the same area of space in the same amount of time no matter where it is in its orbit.
  • A planet’s orbital period is proportional to the size of its orbit (its semi-major axis).
Kepler’s three laws are illustrated in a diagram for two planets.
Illustration of Kepler’s laws with two planetary orbits.
The orbits are ellipses, with foci F1 and F2 for Planet 1, and F1 and F3 for Planet 2. The Sun is at F1.
The shaded areas A1 and A2 are equal and are swept out in equal times by Planet 1’s orbit.
The ratio of Planet 1’s orbit time to Planet 2’s is (a1/a2)^3/2
Hankwang, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

Later Isaac Netwon would use Kepler’s three laws to derive his law of gravity. Newton showed that an inverse-square force (gravity) directed toward the sun was necessary to explain the orbits.

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