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Categories: Engineering: Robotics Research, Offbeat: Plants and Animals

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Carnivorous dinosaurs might have evolved to take advantage of giant carcasses, according to a new study.

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A new study that combines genetic and molecular techniques helps solve the riddle of sea star (commonly called starfish) body plans, and how sea stars start life with bilateral body symmetry -- just like humans -- but grow up to be adults with fivefold 'pentaradial' symmetry.

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Researchers have made significant strides in biomaterial technology and rehabilitation medicine. They've developed a novel approach to healing muscle injury by employing 'injectable tissue prosthesis' in the form of conductive hydrogels and combining it with a robot-assisted rehabilitation system.

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Sunflowers famously turn their faces to follow the sun as it crosses the sky. But how do sunflowers 'see' the sun to follow it? Plant biologists show that they use a different, novel mechanism from that previously thought.

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New study finds some of the oldest animals in the world living in a place you wouldn't expect: fishes in the Arizona desert.

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Scientists have discovered a new species of mosasaur, large, carnivorous aquatic lizards that lived during the late Cretaceous. With 'transitional' traits that place it between two well-known mosasaurs, the new species is named after a sea serpent in Norse mythology, Jormungandr, and the small North Dakota city Walhalla near to where the fossil was found.

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To quickly and accurately characterize prospective materials for use in solar energy, researchers built an automated system to perform laboratory experiments and used machine learning to help analyze the data they recorded. Their goal is to identify semiconductor materials for use in photovoltaic solar energy, which are highly efficient and have low toxicity.

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Researchers have developed a souped-up telepresence robot that responds automatically and in real-time to a remote user's movements and gestures made in virtual reality.

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A computer scientist has developed an AI-ready architecture that is twice as powerful as comparable in-memory computing approaches. The researcher applies a new computational paradigm using special circuits known as ferroelectric field effect transistors (FeFETs). Within a few years, this could prove useful for generative AI, deep learning algorithms and robotic applications.

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Smart, stretchable and highly sensitive, a new soft sensor opens the door to a wide range of applications in robotics and prosthetics. When applied to the surface of a prosthetic arm or a robotic limb, the sensor skin provides touch sensitivity and dexterity, enabling tasks that can be difficult for machines such as picking up a piece of soft fruit. The sensor is also soft to the touch, like human skin, which helps make human interactions safer and more lifelike. 

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Researchers demonstrate a nanopore-based technique that can detect different variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The method was very effective in detecting the Omicron variant of the virus in the saliva of people with COVID-19.

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Scrape, cluck, lay eggs -- that's it? Anyone involved in chicken farming knows that the animals are capable of much more. Researchers have found evidence that roosters could recognize themselves in a mirror. Whether this is successful, however, depends on the experimental conditions -- a finding that points beyond the experiment with roosters and could also be of importance for other animal species.

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New research suggests that increasingly severe weather driven by climate change may push oceangoing seabirds to their limits.  

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A new study provides evidence that pigeons tackle some problems just as artificial intelligence would -- allowing them to solve difficult tasks that would vex humans.

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Recently discovered microfossils date back half a billion years. Resembling modern-day algae, they provide insight into early life in our oceans.

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A team has identified several factors to help answer a fundamental ecological question: why is there a ridiculous abundance of species some places on earth and a scarcity in others? What factors, exactly, drive animal diversity? They discovered that what an animal eats (and how that interacts with climate) shapes Earth's diversity.

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Scientists studied the genomes of 30 kingfisher species to try to identify the genes that allow kingfishers to dive headfirst into water without huring their brains. The researchers found that the diving birds have unusual mutations to the genes that produce tau: a protein that helps stabilize tiny structures in the brain, but which can build up in humans with traumatic brain injuries or Alzheimer's disease. The researchers suspect that these variations in the kingfishers' tau proteins might protect their brains when they dive.

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Primatologists are using genetic analysis to determine the geographic origin of ancient mummified baboons found in Egypt. The team finds evidence that the two legendary trading regions of Punt and Adulis may have been the same place separated by a thousand years of history.

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Researchers have proposed a new way of using quantum light to 'see' quantum sound. A new paper reveals the quantum-mechanical interplay between vibrations and particles of light, known as photons, in molecules. It is hoped that the discovery may help scientists better understand the interactions between light and matter on molecular scales. And it potentially paves the way for addressing fundamental questions about the importance of quantum effects in applications ranging from new quantum technologies to biological systems.

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What if your house plant could tell you your water isn't safe? Scientists are closer to realizing this vision, having successfully engineered a plant to turn beet red in the presence of a banned, toxic pesticide.