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Categories: Offbeat: Plants and Animals, Physics: General

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Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: General Biology: Zoology Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Older males out-compete young males outside breeding pairs, bird study shows      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Young male blue tits are less successful in fathering offspring outside their breeding pair, not because of a lack of experience, but because they are outcompeted by older males, researchers report.

Physics: General Physics: Optics
Published

Photonic computation with sound waves      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Optical neural networks may provide the high-speed and large-capacity solution necessary to tackle challenging computing tasks. However, tapping their full potential will require further advances. One challenge is the reconfigurability of optical neural networks. A research team has now succeeded in laying the foundation for new reconfigurable neuromorphic building blocks by adding a new dimension to photonic machine learning: sound waves. The researchers use light to create temporary acoustic waves in an optical fiber. The sound waves generated in this way can for instance enable a recurrent functionality in a telecom optical fiber, which is essential to interpreting contextual information such as language.

Energy: Nuclear Physics: General
Published

Creating an island paradise in a fusion reactor      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In their ongoing quest to develop a range of methods for managing plasma so it can be used to generate electricity in a process known as fusion, researchers have shown how two old methods can be combined to provide greater flexibility.

Computer Science: Quantum Computers Physics: General Physics: Optics Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Crucial connection for 'quantum internet' made for the first time      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have produced, stored, and retrieved quantum information for the first time, a critical step in quantum networking.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Can animals count?      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have made a groundbreaking discovery regarding number sense in animals by confirming the existence of discrete number sense in rats, offering a crucial animal model for investigating the neural basis of numerical ability and disability in humans.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Developmental Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Biology: Molecular Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Unlocking the 'chain of worms'      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An international team of scientists has published a single-cell atlas for Pristina leidyi (Pristina), the water nymph worm, a segmented annelid with extraordinary regenerative abilities that has fascinated biologists for more than a century.

Anthropology: Early Humans Anthropology: General Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Zoology Ecology: Nature Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Evolution's recipe book: How 'copy paste' errors cooked up the animal kingdom      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A series of whole genome and gene duplication events that go back hundreds of millions of years have laid the foundations for tissue-specific gene expression, according to a new study. The 'copy-paste' errors allowed animals to keep one copy of their genome or genes for fundamental functions, while the second copy could be used as raw material for evolutionary innovation. Events like these, at varying degrees of scale, occurred constantly throughout the bilaterian evolutionary tree and enabled traits and behaviours as diverse as insect flight, octopus camouflage and human cognition.

Computer Science: Quantum Computers Energy: Technology Physics: General Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Quantum precision: A new kind of resistor      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have developed a method that can improve the performance of quantum resistance standards. It's based on a quantum phenomenon called Quantum Anomalous Hall effect.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Microbiology Biology: Zoology Ecology: Sea Life Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Even the simplest marine organisms tend to be individualistic      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Sport junkie or couch potato? Always on time or often late? The animal kingdom, too, is home to a range of personalities, each with its own lifestyle. Biologists report on a surprising discovery: even simple marine polychaete worms shape their day-to-day lives on the basis of highly individual rhythms. This diversity is of interest not just for the future of species and populations in a changing environment, but also for medicine.

Biology: General Biology: Zoology Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Leptanilla voldemort, a ghostly slender new ant species from the dark depths of the underground      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In the sun-scorched Pilbara region of north-western Australia, scientists have unearthed a mysterious creature from the shadows -- a new ant species called Leptanilla voldemort.

Computer Science: General Physics: General
Published

'Surprising' hidden activity of semiconductor material spotted by researchers      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New research suggests that materials commonly overlooked in computer chip design actually play an important role in information processing, a discovery which could lead to faster and more efficient electronics. Using advanced imaging techniques, an international team found that the material that a semiconductor chip device is built on, called the substrate, responds to changes in electricity much like the semiconductor on top of it.

Energy: Nuclear Energy: Technology Physics: General
Published

With inspiration from 'Tetris,' researchers develop a better radiation detector      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new detector system based on the game 'Tetris' could enable inexpensive, accurate radiation detectors for monitoring nuclear sites.

Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Zoology Ecology: Extinction Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Oxidant pollutant ozone removes mating barriers between fly species      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers show that ozone levels, such as those found in many places on hot summer days today, destroy the sex pheromones of fruit fly species. As a result, some natural mating boundaries maintained by species-specific pheromones no longer exist. The research team has shown in experiments that flies of different species mate when exposed to ozone and produce hybrid offspring. Since most of these offspring are unable to reproduce, the results could provide another explanation for the global decline of insects.

Computer Science: Quantum Computers Physics: General Physics: Optics Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Quantum breakthrough when light makes materials magnetic      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The potential of quantum technology is huge but is today largely limited to the extremely cold environments of laboratories. Now, researchers have succeeded in demonstrating for the very first time how laser light can induce quantum behavior at room temperature -- and make non-magnetic materials magnetic. The breakthrough is expected to pave the way for faster and more energy-efficient computers, information transfer and data storage.

Computer Science: Quantum Computers Physics: General Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

New method of measuring qubits promises ease of scalability in a microscopic package      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The path to quantum supremacy is made challenging by the issues associated with scaling up the number of qubits. One key problem is the way that qubits are measured. A research group introduces a new approach that tackles these challenges head-on using nanobolometers instead of traditional, bulky parametric amplifiers.

Ecology: Animals Ecology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

'Teacher Toads' can save native animals from toxic cane toads      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists from Macquarie University have come up with an innovative way to stop cane toads killing native wildlife by training goannas to avoid eating the deadly amphibians.

Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Microbiology Biology: Zoology Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Sea Life Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals Paleontology: Dinosaurs Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Do some mysterious bones belong to gigantic ichthyosaurs?      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Several similar large, fossilized bone fragments have been discovered in various regions across Western and Central Europe since the 19th century. The animal group to which they belonged is still the subject of much debate to this day. A study could now settle this dispute once and for all: The microstructure of the fossils indicates that they come from the lower jaw of a gigantic ichthyosaur. These animals could reach 25 to 30 meters in length, a similar size to the modern blue whale.

Computer Science: Quantum Computers Engineering: Graphene Physics: General Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

New technique lets scientists create resistance-free electron channels      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A team has taken the first atomic-resolution images and demonstrated electrical control of a chiral interface state -- an exotic quantum phenomenon that could help researchers advance quantum computing and energy-efficient electronics.