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Categories: Ecology: Research, Engineering: Robotics Research

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A groundbreaking study conducted across 30 field sites in the southwest UK has revealed the importance of incorporating varied habitats into the landscape at large.

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Researchers report that deforestation during the last two decades induced a higher warming and cloud level rise than that caused by climate change, which threatens biodiversity and water supply in African montane forests.

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Barely audible to human ears, healthy soils produce a cacophony of sounds in many forms -- a bit like an underground rave concert of bubble pops and clicks. Special recordings made by ecologists show this chaotic mixture of soundscapes can be a measure of the diversity of tiny living animals in the soil, which create sounds as they move and interact with their environment.

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A zinc-air microbattery could enable the deployment of cell-sized, autonomous robots for drug delivery within in the human body, as well as other applications such as locating leaks in gas pipelines.

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Establishing Key Biodiversity Areas in the Southern Ocean will be vital for safeguarding the ecosystem from the impact of human activities, researchers say.

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Europe's abandoned farmlands could find new life through rewilding, a movement to restore ravaged landscapes to their wilderness before human intervention. A quarter of the European continent, 117 million hectares, is primed with rewilding opportunities, researchers report.

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A new algorithm may make robots safer by making them more aware of human inattentiveness. In computerized simulations of packaging and assembly lines where humans and robots work together, the algorithm developed to account for human carelessness improved safety by about a maximum of 80% and efficiency by about a maximum of 38% compared to existing methods.

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As global warming intensifies, people increasingly suffer from extreme heat. For those working in a high-temperature environment indoors or outdoors, keeping thermally comfortable becomes particularly crucial. A team has now developed thermally-insulated and breathable soft robotic clothing that can automatically adapt to changing ambient temperatures, thereby helping to ensure worker safety in hot environments.

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New international research found that food webs are becoming less complex in warmer, nutrient-rich waters.

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Parent size and the conditions in which actively spawning adults lived are the most influential factors affecting growth of Lake Erie walleye, a new study has found.

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An international team of researchers analyzed beluga whale bones retrieved from archaeological sites in the Mackenzie Delta, Northwest Territories, Canada, to shed light on the sustainability of centuries of Inuvialuit beluga whale subsistence harvests.

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Scientists have trialled a new way to protect freshwater crocodiles from deadly invasive cane toads spreading across northern Australia.

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A recent study details how trees in New York City and Boston are more negatively impacted by heat waves and drought than trees of the same species in nearby rural forests. The finding highlights the challenges urban trees face in the context of climate change and underscores the importance of tailored urban forestry management as a tool for protecting tree species and reducing urban heat islands.

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The smaller carbon footprint, or wheel print, of automatic delivery robots can encourage consumers to use them when ordering food, according to a new study. The suitcase-sized, self-driving electric vehicles are much greener than many traditional food delivery methods because they have low, or even zero, carbon emissions. In this study, participants who had more environmental awareness and knowledge about carbon emissions were more likely to choose the robots as a delivery method. The green influence went away though when people perceived the robots as a high-risk choice -- meaning they worried that their food would be late, cold or otherwise spoiled before it arrived.

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Researchers show that the adaptation of antlions to their ecological niche has also changed their venom. They compared the venom system of antlion and closely related green lacewing larvae. Antlions produce a much more complex venom from three different venom glands than lacewing larvae do. All the venom proteins identified come from the insects themselves, not from symbiotic bacteria. Some of the toxins are new and appear to be unique to antlions. Waiting for their victims in pitfall traps in the sand, antlions can use their venom to immobilize larger prey. The venom therefore plays an important ecological role in adapting to their barren habitat.

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New research shows that programming robots to create their own teams and voluntarily wait for their teammates results in faster task completion, with the potential to improve manufacturing, agriculture and warehouse automation.

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Common push puppet toys in the shapes of animals and popular figures can move or collapse with the push of a button at the bottom of the toys' base. Now, a team of engineers has created a new class of tunable dynamic material that mimics the inner workings of push puppets, with applications for soft robotics, reconfigurable architectures and space engineering.

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Forest restoration can benefit humans, boost biodiversity and help tackle climate change simultaneously, new research suggests.

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A research team has recently developed a novel artificial compound eye system that is not only more cost-effective, but demonstrates a sensitivity at least twice that of existing market products in small areas. The system promises to revolutionize robotic vision, enhance robots' abilities in navigation, perception and decision-making, while promoting commercial application and further development in human-robot collaboration.

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Researchers have demonstrated a technique for creating sensors that can function both in air and underwater. The approach paves the way for 'amphibious' sensors with applications ranging from wildlife monitoring to biomedical applications.