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Categories: Mathematics: Statistics, Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published New dino, 'Iani,' was face of a changing planet



A newly discovered plant-eating dinosaur may have been a species' 'last gasp' during a period when Earth's warming climate forced massive changes to global dinosaur populations.
Published Water molecules define the materials around us



A new paper argues that materials like wood, bacteria, and fungi belong to a newly identified class of matter, 'hydration solids.' The new findings emerged from ongoing research into the strange behavior of spores, dormant bacterial cells.
Published To groom or not to groom: 'Triage' in the ant kingdom



Social ants are masters of cooperative disease defense. They collectively take care of each other to prevent the spread of infections within a colony. But how does an individual ant know whom it should groom? A multidisciplinary team of researchers combined experimental and theoretical approaches to get a detailed look into ants' sanitary decision-making.
Published When pigeons dream



Dreams have been considered a hallmark of human sleep for a long time. Latest findings, however, suggest that when pigeons sleep, they might experience visions of flight. Researchers studied brain activation patterns in sleeping pigeons, using functional magnetic resonance imaging. The study revealed that similar to mammals, most of the brain is highly active during REM sleep. However, this wake-like state might come at a cost of reduced waste removal from the brain.
Published Robot 'chef' learns to recreate recipes from watching food videos



Researchers have trained a robotic 'chef' to watch and learn from cooking videos, and recreate the dish itself.
Published Desert ant increase the visibility of their nest entrances in the absence of landmarks



Researchers report that in the absence of visible landmarks, desert ants increase the likelihood that foraging nest mates will find their way home quickly and safely by elevating their nest entrance. Ant colonies whose nests are found deep in the Tunisian saltpan are particularly reliant on the self-made landmarks. If the mound at the nest entrance was removed, they immediately began building a new hill, unless the researchers provided artificial landmarks. This phenomenon adds yet another fascinating facet to the amazing navigation skills of these tiny desert animals.
Published A protein mines, sorts rare earths better than humans, paving way for green tech



Rare earth elements, like neodymium and dysprosium, are a critical component to almost all modern technologies, from smartphones to hard drives, but they are notoriously hard to separate from the Earth's crust and from one another. Scientists have discovered a new mechanism by which bacteria can select between different rare earth elements, using the ability of a bacterial protein to bind to another unit of itself, or 'dimerize,' when it is bound to certain rare earths, but prefer to remain a single unit, or 'monomer,' when bound to others.
Published Geneticists discover hidden 'whole genome duplication' that may explain why some species survived mass extinctions



Geneticists have unearthed a major event in the ancient history of sturgeons and paddlefish that has significant implications for the way we understand evolution. They have pinpointed a previously hidden 'whole genome duplication' (WGD) in the common ancestor of these species, which seemingly opened the door to genetic variations that may have conferred an advantage around the time of a major mass extinction some 200 million years ago.
Published Plants can distinguish when touch starts and stops, study suggests



Even without nerves, plants can sense when something touches them and when it lets go, a study has found. In a set of experiments, individual plant cells responded to the touch of a very fine glass rod by sending slow waves of calcium signals to other plant cells, and when that pressure was released, they sent much more rapid waves. While scientists have known that plants can respond to touch, this study shows that plant cells send different signals when touch is initiated and ended.
Published 107-million-year-old pterosaur bones: Oldest in Australia



A team of researchers have confirmed that 107-million-year-old pterosaur bones discovered more than 30 years ago are the oldest of their kind ever found in Australia, providing a rare glimpse into the life of these powerful, flying reptiles that lived among the dinosaurs.
Published Protein-based nano-'computer' evolves in ability to influence cell behavior



The first protein-based nano-computing agent that functions as a circuit has been created. The milestone puts them one step closer to developing next-generation cell-based therapies to treat diseases like diabetes and cancer.
Published Effective as a collective: Researchers investigate the swarming behavior of microrobots



Miniaturization is progressing rapidly in just any field and the trend towards the creation of ever smaller units is also prevalent in the world of robot technology. In the future, minuscule robots used in medical and pharmaceutical applications might be able to transport medication to targeted sites in the body. Statistical physics can contribute to the foundations for the development of such technologies.
Published Weevils, long-nosed beetles, are unsung heroes of pollination



Some of nature's most diverse pollinators often go unnoticed, even by scientists: long-snouted beetles called weevils. A new study provides a deep dive into the more than 600 species of weevils, including ones whose entire life cycles are interwoven with a specific plant that they help pollinate.
Published Iron-rich rocks unlock new insights into Earth's planetary history



A new study suggests iron-rich ancient sediments may have helped cause some of the largest volcanic events in the planet's history.
Published Move over, armadillos: There's a new bone-plated mammal in town



Armadillos have long been considered to be the only living mammals that produce protective bony plates. But a new study unexpectedly shows that African spiny mice produce the same structures beneath the skin of their tails, which until now had gone largely undetected.
Published Engineers create bacteria that can synthesize an unnatural amino acid



Researchers have engineered bacteria to synthesize an amino acid that contains a rare functional group that others have shown to have implications in the regulation of our immune system. The researchers also taught a single bacterial strain to create the amino acid and place it at specific sites within target proteins. These findings provide a foundation for developing unique vaccines and immunotherapies in the future.
Published Researchers build bee robot that can twist



A robotic bee that can fly fully in all directions has been developed. With four wings made out of carbon fiber and mylar as well as four light-weight actuators to control each wing, the Bee++ prototype is the first to fly stably in all directions. That includes the tricky twisting motion known as yaw, with the Bee++ fully achieving the six degrees of free movement that a typical flying insect displays.
Published Fossils of a saber-toothed top predator reveal a scramble for dominance leading up to 'the Great Dying'



A tiger-sized saber-toothed creature called Inostrancevia has previously only been found in Russia. But scientists have discovered its fossils in South Africa, suggesting that it migrated 7,000 miles across the supercontinent Pangaea during the world's worst mass extinction 252 million years ago. Heading to South Africa allowed it to fill a gap in a faraway ecosystem that had lost its top predators.
Published Puppeteer fungus' targeted takeover of 'zombie' flies



Researchers reveal the molecular and cellular underpinnings behind the parasitic fungus, Entomophthora muscae's (E. muscae), ability to manipulate the behavior of fruit flies.
Published Fossil of mosasaur with bizarre 'screwdriver teeth' found in Morocco



Scientists have discovered a new species of mosasaur, a sea-dwelling lizard from the age of the dinosaurs, with strange, ridged teeth unlike those of any known reptile. Along with other recent finds from Africa, it suggests that mosasaurs and other marine reptiles were evolving rapidly up until 66 million years ago, when they were wiped out by an asteroid along with the dinosaurs and around 90% of all species on Earth.