Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Fossil frogs share their skincare secrets      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Palaeontologists have solved a hundred-year-old mystery of how some fossil frogs preserve their fleshy parts -- it's all down to their skin. Palaeontologists studied 45-million-year-old fossil frogs from the Geiseltal site in central Germany. Remarkably, the fossils show full body outlines of the soft tissues. The team discovered that the excellent condition of the fossil frogs is due to preservation of ancient skin remnants.

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

Compact quantum light processing      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An international collaboration of researchers has achieved a significant breakthrough in quantum technology, with the successful demonstration of quantum interference among several single photons using a novel resource-efficient platform. The work represents a notable advancement in optical quantum computing that paves the way for more scalable quantum technologies.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Lemur's lament: When one vulnerable species stalks another      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

What can be done when one threatened animal kills another? Scientists studying critically endangered lemurs in Madagascar confronted this difficult reality when they witnessed attacks on lemurs by another vulnerable species, a carnivore called a fosa.

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

Study finds iron-rich enamel protects, but doesn't color, rodents' orange-brown incisors      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Chattering squirrels, charming coypus, and tail-slapping beavers -- along with some other rodents -- have orange-brown front teeth. Researchers have produced high-resolution images of rodent incisors, providing an atomic-level view of the teeth's ingenious enamel and its coating. They discovered tiny pockets of iron-rich materials in the enamel that form a protective shield for the teeth but, importantly, don't contribute to the orange-brown hue -- new insights that could improve human dentistry.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Botany Biology: General Biology: Genetics Ecology: Animals Ecology: Endangered Species Geoscience: Environmental Issues Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Making crops colorful for easier weeding      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

To make weeding easier, scientists suggest bioengineering crops to be colorful or to have differently shaped leaves so that they can be more easily distinguished from their wild and weedy counterparts. This could involve altering the crops' genomes so that they express pigments that are already produced by many plants, for example, anthocyanins, which make blueberries blue, or carotenoids, which make carrots orange. Then, they say, weeding robots could be trained to remove only the weeds using machine learning.

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.

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: Encryption Computer Science: General Computer Science: Quantum Computers Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

Breakthrough promises secure quantum computing at home      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The full power of next-generation quantum computing could soon be harnessed by millions of individuals and companies, thanks to a breakthrough guaranteeing security and privacy. This advance promises to unlock the transformative potential of cloud-based quantum computing.

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.