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Categories: Ecology: Trees, Engineering: Robotics Research
Published Subalpine forests in the Northern Rockies are fire resilient--for now



Using lake sediment cores, scientists determined how these subalpine ecosystems recovered after 4,800 years of fire.
Published Forensic evidence can survive underwater for weeks



Forensic fibers can survive underwater for much longer than previously thought -- which could help criminal investigators uncover vital evidence. New research has found that fiber evidence can survive on fabrics underwater for several weeks.
Published New cyber algorithm shuts down malicious robotic attack



Researchers have designed an algorithm that can intercept a man-in-the-middle (MitM) cyberattack on an unmanned military robot and shut it down in seconds. The algorithm, tested in real time, achieved a 99% success rate.
Published Unifying matter, energy and consciousness



Understanding the interplay between consciousness, energy and matter could bring important insights to our fundamental understanding of reality.
Published Survival of the newest: the mammals that survive mass extinctions aren't as 'boring' as scientists thought



For decades, scientists have assumed that mammals and their relatives that survived challenging times (like those during mass extinctions) made it because they were generalists that were able to eat just about anything and adapt to whatever life threw at them. A new study into the mammal family tree through multiple mass extinctions revealed that the species that survived aren't as generic as scientists had thought: instead, having new and different traits can be the key to succeeding in the aftermath of a catastrophe.
Published Could future AI crave a favorite food?



Can artificial intelligence (AI) get hungry? Develop a taste for certain foods? Not yet, but a team of researchers is developing a novel electronic tongue that mimics how taste influences what we eat based on both needs and wants, providing a possible blueprint for AI that processes information more like a human being.
Published These robots helped explain how insects evolved two distinct strategies for flight



Robots helped achieve a major breakthrough in our understanding of how insect flight evolved. The study is a result of a six-year long collaboration between roboticists and biophysicists.
Published Insect cyborgs: Towards precision movement



Insect cyborgs may sound like something straight out of the movies, but hybrid insect computer robots, as they are scientifically called, could pioneer a new future for robotics. It involves using electrical stimuli to control an insect’s movement. Now, an international research group has conducted a study on the relationship between electrical stimulation in stick insects' leg muscles and the resulting torque (the twisting force that causes the leg to move).
Published Power of rhythm as a design element in evolution and robotics



As the internet quickly fills with viral videos of futuristic robots darting and racing around like the animals they’re built to mimic, researchers say that there’s an element of their movement’s programming that should not be overlooked: rhythm.
Published Carbon-capture tree plantations threaten tropical biodiversity for little gain, ecologists say



The increasingly urgent climate crisis has led to a boom in commercial tree plantations in an attempt to offset excess carbon emissions. However, authors argue that these carbon-offset plantations might come with costs for biodiversity and other ecosystem functions. Instead, the authors say we should prioritize conserving and restoring intact ecosystems.
Published Instant evolution: AI designs new robot from scratch in seconds



Researchers developed the first AI to date that can intelligently design robots from scratch by compressing billions of years of evolution into mere seconds. It's not only fast but also runs on a lightweight computer and designs wholly novel structures from scratch — without human-labeled, bias-filled datasets.
Published Timing plant evolution with a fast-ticking epigenetic clock



Recent discoveries in the field of epigenetics, the study of inheritance of traits that occur without changing the DNA sequence, have shown that chronological age in mammals correlates with epigenetic changes that accumulate during the lifetime of an individual. In humans, this observation has led to the development of epigenetic clocks, which are now extensively used as biomarkers of aging. While these clocks work accurately from birth until death, they are set back to zero in each new generation. Now, an international team shows that epigenetic clocks not only exist in plants, but that these clocks keep ticking accurately over many generations.
Published New research reveals dynamic factors shaping biodiversity at small scales



Researchers studying arboreal ants in a Florida forest explore the fundamental question of how resource availability and competition shape biodiversity.
Published Unleashing the power of AI to track animal behavior


Scientists have created a non-invasive movement tracking method called GlowTrack that uses fluorescent dye markers to train artificial intelligence to capture movement, from a single mouse digit to the human hand. GlowTrack has applications spanning biology, robotics, medicine, and beyond.
Published New insect genus discovered in one of the most biodiverse rain forest regions in the world



The Allpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve in Peru has often been described as the most biodiverse rainforest in the world. For example, in recent decades, scientist have discovered several new bird species from the region. Researchers from the University of Turku in Finland have studied the insect biodiversity in Allpahuayo-Mishana for over 20 years. In their latest study, the scientist described a new wasp genus, Capitojoppa, to science.
Published One-hour training is all you need to control a third robotic arm, study finds


A new study has found that people can learn to use supernumerary robotic arms as effectively as working with a partner in just one hour of training.
Published Scientists reveal what fuels wildfires in Sierra Nevada Mountains



Wildfires in California, exacerbated by human-driven climate change, are getting more severe. To better manage them, there's a growing need to know exactly what fuels the blazes after they ignite. Scientists now report that one of the chief fuels of wildfires in California's Sierra Nevada mountains is the decades-old remains of large trees.
Published Efficient training for artificial intelligence


New physics-based self-learning machines could replace the current artificial neural networks and save energy.
Published How climate warming could disrupt a deep-rooted relationship


Trees depend on fungi for their well-being. As climate change and global warming cause higher temperatures and amplified drought, little is known about how these important fungi will respond. To investigate this issue, a research team conducted a climate change experiment where they exposed boreal and temperate tree species to warming and drought treatments to better understand how fungi and their tree hosts respond to environmental changes. Their findings revealed that the combined effects of warming and water stress will likely result in major disturbances of ectomycorrhizal networks and may harm forest resilience and function.
Published Shape-changing smart speaker lets users mute different areas of a room


A team has developed a shape-changing smart speaker, which uses self-deploying microphones to divide rooms into speech zones and track the positions of individual speakers.