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Categories: Mathematics: General, Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published Fast electrical signals mapped in plants with new bioelectronic technology
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source What happens inside the carnivorous plant Venus Flytrap when it catches an insect? New technology has led to discoveries about the electrical signalling that causes the trap to snap shut. Bioelectronic technology enables advanced research into how plants react to their surroundings, and to stress.
Published Insect protein slows weight gain, boosts health status in obese mice
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study in mice suggests replacing traditional protein sources with mealworms in high-fat diets could slow weight gain, improve immune response, reduce inflammation, enhance energy metabolism, and beneficially alter the ratio of good to bad cholesterol.
Published Egg 'signatures' will allow drongos to identify cuckoo 'forgeries' almost every time, study finds
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Egg 'signatures' will allow drongos to identify cuckoo 'forgeries' almost every time, study finds. African cuckoos may have met their match with the fork-tailed drongo, which scientists predict can detect and reject cuckoo eggs from their nest on almost every occasion, despite them on average looking almost identical to drongo eggs.
Published Wormlike animals are first amphibians shown to pass microbes to their offspring
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Caecilians are an illusive type of snakelike amphibian that live in aquatic and subterranean environments. In some species, mothers produce a special type of nutrient-rich skin that juveniles consume, similar to the way in which humans breastfeed their children. A new study shows this behavior passes on microbes to juvenile caecilians, inoculating them to jump-start a healthy microbiome.
Published (How) cells talk to each other
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Like us, cells communicate. Well, in their own special way. Using waves as their common language, cells tell one another where and when to move. They talk, they share information, and they work together -- much like interdisciplinary teams. Researchers conducted research on how cells communicate -- and how that matters to future projects, e.g. application to wound healing.
Published Paleontologists identify two new species of sabertooth cat
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Sabertooth cats make up a diverse group of long-toothed predators that roamed Africa around 6-7 million years ago, around the time that hominins -- the group that includes modern humans -- began to evolve. By examining one of the largest global Pliocene collections of fossils in Langebaanweg, north of Cape Town in South Africa, researchers present two new sabertooth species and the first family tree of the region's ancient sabertooths. Their results suggest that the distribution of sabertooths throughout ancient Africa might have been different than previously assumed, and the study provides important information about Africa's paleoenvironment.
Published 'Mind controlling' parasitic worms are missing genes found in every other animal
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Parasitic hairworms manipulate the behavior of their hosts in what's sometimes called 'mind control.' A new study reveals another strange trait shared by different hairworm species: they're missing about 30% of the genes that researchers expected them to have. What's more, the missing genes are responsible for the development of cilia, the hair-like structures present in at least some of the cells of every other animal known.
Published Researcher turns one of the basic rules of construction upside down
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Structural engineers are familiar with seventeenth-century scientist Robert Hooke's theory that a hanging chain will mirror the shape of an upstanding rigid arch. However, new research now shows that this common-held belief is incorrect because, regardless of the similarities, the hanging chain and the arch are two incompatible mechanical systems.
Published GPT detectors can be biased against non-native English writers
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers show that computer programs commonly used to determine if a text was written by artificial intelligence tend to falsely label articles written by non-native language speakers as AI-generated. The researchers caution against the use of such AI text detectors for their unreliability, which could have negative impacts on individuals including students and those applying for jobs.
Published Board games are boosting math ability in young children
(via sciencedaily.com) Board games based on numbers, like Monopoly, Othello and Chutes and Ladders, make young children better at math, according to a comprehensive review of research published on the topic over the last 23 years.
Published Number cruncher calculates whether whales are acting weirdly
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source We humans can be a scary acquaintance for whales in the wild. This includes marine biologists tagging them with measuring devices to understand them better. These experiences can make whales behave erratically for a while. Such behaviour can affect research quality and highlights an animal ethics dilemma. Now, researchers have figured out how to solve the problems with math.
Published Deciphering the thermodynamic arrow of time in large-scale complex networks
(via sciencedaily.com) A solution for temporal asymmetry -- or entropy production -- in thermodynamics has been developed to further our understanding of the behavior of biological systems, machine learning, and AI tools. The researchers worked on the time-irreversible Ising model dynamics caused by asymmetric connections between neurons.
Published Combining maths with music leads to higher scores, suggests review of 50 years of research
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Children do better at maths when music is a key part of their lessons, an analysis of almost 50 years of research on the topic has revealed.
Published Evaluating cybersecurity methods
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers created a generic framework that enables an engineer or scientist to evaluate the effectiveness of defense schemes that seek to limit a hacker's ability to learn secret information by observing the behavior of a victim computer program.
Published How urea may have been the gateway to life
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Urea reacts extremely quickly under the conditions that existed when our planet was newly formed. This new insight furthers our understanding of how life on Earth might have begun.
Published Octopus sleep is surprisingly similar to humans and contains a wake-like stage
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have closely examined the brain activity and skin patterning in octopuses (Octopus laqueus) during active sleep and discovered that it closely resembles neural activity and skin patterning behavior seen when awake.
Published Newly discovered Jurassic fossils in Texas
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have filled a major gap in the state's fossil record -- describing the first known Jurassic vertebrate fossils in Texas. The weathered bone fragments are from the limbs and backbone of a plesiosaur, an extinct marine reptile.
Published Orangutans can make two sounds at the same time, similar to human beatboxing, study finds
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Orangutans can make two separate sounds simultaneously, much like songbirds or human beatboxers, according to a new study.
Published What math can teach us about standing up to bullies
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research from Dartmouth takes a fresh look at game theory to show that being uncooperative can help people on the weaker side of a power dynamic achieve a more equal outcome -- and even inflict some loss on their abusive counterpart. The findings can be applied to help equalize the balance of power in labor negotiations, international relations and everyday interactions, as well as integrate cooperation into interconnected AI systems such as driverless cars.
Published Megalodon was no cold-blooded killer
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source How the megalodon, a shark that went extinct 3.6 million years ago, stayed warm was a matter of speculation among scientists. Using an analysis of tooth fossils from the megalodon and other sharks of the same period, a study suggests the animal was able to maintain a body temperature well above the temperature of the water in which it lived. The finding could help explain why the megalodon went extinct during the Pliocene Epoch.