Showing 20 articles starting at article 241

< Previous 20 articles        Next 20 articles >

Categories: Offbeat: Plants and Animals, Physics: Optics

Return to the site home page

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Corals play an essential role in ocean ecosystems, and like many organisms, they are under threat from climate change and other human activities. To better protect coral, it's first necessary to understand them, in particular their reproductive life cycle, which only happens once a year. For the first time, researchers have produced a model for coral spawning, based on various environmental factors. They achieved this by tapping an often overlooked source of aquatic knowledge, an aquarium.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The toe tapping behavior of various amphibians has long attracted attention from researchers and pet owners. Despite being widely documented, the underlying functional role is poorly understood. In a new paper, researchers demonstrate that Dyeing poison frogs modulate their taps based on specific stimuli.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The African turquoise killifish lives in ephemeral ponds in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. To survive the annual dry season, the fish's embryos enter a state of extreme suspended animation or 'diapause' for approximately 8 months. Now, researchers have uncovered the mechanisms that enabled the killifish to evolve this extreme survival state.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An exceptionally rare fossilized porcupine skeleton discovered in Florida has allowed researchers to trace the evolutionary history for one of North America's rarest mammals.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Australian researchers have found evidence of the oldest known platypus and a new species, dubbed 'echidnapus', which has a platypus-like anatomy alongside features that more closely resemble an echidna.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Entomologists have solved the 250-year-old origin puzzle of the most prevalent indoor urban pest insect on the planet: the German cockroach. The team's research findings, representing the genomic analyses of over 280 specimens from 17 countries and six continents, show that this species evolved some 2,100 years ago from an outdoor-living species in Asia.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have developed a new technique to view living mammalian cells. The team used a powerful laser, called a soft X-ray free electron laser, to emit ultrafast pulses of illumination at the speed of femtoseconds, or quadrillionths of a second. With this they could capture images of carbon-based structures in living cells for the first time, before the soft X-ray radiation damaged them.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Many of today's quantum devices rely on collections of qubits, also called spins. These quantum bits have only two energy levels, the '0' and the '1'. However, spins in real devices also interact with light and vibrations known as bosons, greatly complicating calculations. Researchers now demonstrate a way to describe spin-boson systems and use this to efficiently configure quantum devices in a desired state.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Caterpillars respond defensively to electric fields similar to those emitted by their natural predators, scientists have found.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have fabricated a device no wider than a human hair that will help physicists investigate the fundamental nature of matter and light. Their findings could also support the development of more efficient lasers, which are used in fields ranging from medicine to manufacturing.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers introduce a polymer-based material with unique properties. This material allows sunlight to enter, maintains a more comfortable indoor climate without additional energy, and cleans itself like a lotus leaf. The new development could replace glass components in walls and roofs in the future.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Closing in on the theoretical maximum efficiency, devices for turning heat into electricity are edging closer to being practical for use on the grid, according to new research.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In an interdisciplinary study, researchers discovered that symbiotic bacteria communicate with legume plants through specific molecules and that this communication influences which bacteria grow near the plant roots. The findings provide insights into how plants and soil bacteria form beneficial partnerships for nutrient uptake and resilience. These results are a step towards understanding how communication between plants and soil bacteria can lead to specific beneficial associations providing plants with nutrients.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study shows that the use of psilocybin, a compound found in the widely known 'magic mushrooms,' initiates a pattern of hyperconnectivity in the brain linked to the ego-modifying effects and feelings of oceanic boundlessness. The findings help explain the so-called mystical experiences people report during the use of psychedelics and are pertinent to the psychotherapeutic applications of psychedelic drugs to treat psychiatric disorders such as depression.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

When it comes to the animal kingdom, bigger is better. Well, at least for proboscis monkeys, famously known for their long, large and droopy noses. Researchers have provided a world-first explanation for why male proboscis monkeys have larger and 'enhanced' nasal structures.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Ants who receive a caffeine-laced sugary reward become more efficient at navigating back to the reward's location compared to ants that only receive sugar. Caffeinated ants move toward the reward via a more direct path but do not increase their speed, suggesting that caffeine improved their ability to learn. The study was conducted on Argentine ants (Linepithema humile), a globally invasive species, and the researchers say that incorporating caffeine into ant baits could aid efforts to control the ants by improving bait uptake.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Members of the vertebrate group including anglerfishes are unique in possessing a characteristic known as sexual parasitism, in which males temporarily attach or permanently fuse with females to mate. Now, researchers show that sexual parasitism arose during a time of major global warming and rapid transition for anglerfishes from the ocean floor to the deep, open sea.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have made discoveries about light particles known as photons that could aid the quest for fusion energy.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers developed a way to help people with amputation or paralysis regain limb control. Their optogenetic technique could offer more precise control over muscle contraction, along with a dramatic decrease in muscle fatigue.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study demonstrates that kangaroos, wallabies and other Australian marsupials fear humans far more than any other predator.