Showing 20 articles starting at article 801
< Previous 20 articles Next 20 articles >
Categories: Ecology: Endangered Species, Offbeat: Computers and Math
Published Tunneling electrons



By superimposing two laser fields of different strengths and frequency, the electron emission of metals can be measured and controlled precisely to a few attoseconds. Physicists have shown that this is the case. The findings could lead to new quantum-mechanical insights and enable electronic circuits that are a million times faster than today.
Published Prehistoric scat reveals 'Waves' of extinction in Colombia



Fungal spores found in dung have revealed that large animals went extinct in two 'waves' in the Colombian Andes.
Published How a horse whisperer can help engineers build better robots



New research shows us that age-old interactions between people and their horses can teach us something about building robots designed to improve our lives.
Published Jellyfish-like robots could one day clean up the world's oceans



Roboticists have developed a jellyfish-inspired underwater robot with which they hope one day to collect waste from the bottom of the ocean. The almost noise-free prototype can trap objects underneath its body without physical contact, thereby enabling safe interactions in delicate environments such as coral reefs. Jellyfish-Bot could become an important tool for environmental remediation.
Published Cheaper method for making woven displays and smart fabrics -- of any size or shape



Researchers have developed next-generation smart textiles -- incorporating LEDs, sensors, energy harvesting, and storage -- that can be produced inexpensively, in any shape or size, using the same machines used to make the clothing we wear every day.
Published Nanowire networks learn and remember like a human brain



Scientists have demonstrated nanowire networks can exhibit both short- and long-term memory like the human brain.
Published 360-million-year-old Irish fossil provides oldest evidence of plant self-defense in wood



Scientists have discovered the oldest evidence of plant self-defense in wood in a 360-million-year-old fossil from south-eastern Ireland. Plants can protect their wood from infection and water loss by forming special structures called 'tyloses'. These prevent bacterial and fungal pathogens from getting into the heartwood of living trees and damaging it. However, it was not previously known how early in the evolution of plants woody species became capable of forming such defenses. Published today in Nature Plants is the oldest evidence of tylosis formation from Late Devonian (360-million-year-old) fossil wood from the Hook Head Peninsula area, Co. Wexford, Ireland.
Published ChatGPT is still no match for humans when it comes to accounting



ChatGPT faced off against students on accounting assessments. Students scored an overall average of 76.7%, compared to ChatGPT's score of 47.4%. On a 11.3% of questions, ChatGPT scored higher than the student average, doing particularly well on AIS and auditing. But the AI bot did worse on tax, financial, and managerial assessments, possibly because ChatGPT struggled with the mathematical processes required for the latter type.
Published AI system can generate novel proteins that meet structural design targets



A new machine-learning system can generate protein designs with certain structural features, and which do not exist in nature. These proteins could be utilized to make materials that have similar mechanical properties to existing materials, like polymers, but which would have a much smaller carbon footprint.
Published Quantum entanglement could make accelerometers and dark matter sensors more accurate



The 'spooky action at a distance' that once unnerved Einstein may be on its way to being as pedestrian as the gyroscopes that currently measure acceleration in smartphones.
Published African penguins: Climate refugees from a distant past?



Imagine the view from the western coastline of southern Africa during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) over twenty thousand years ago: in the distance you would see at least fifteen large islands -- the largest 300 square kilometers in area -- swarming with hundreds of millions of marine birds and penguin colonies.
Published Rock, paper, scissors: Searching for stronger nonlocality using quantum computers



In the quantum world particles can instantaneously know about each other's state, even when separated by large distances. This is known as nonlocality. Now, A research group has produced some interesting findings on the Hardy nonlocality that have important ramifications for understanding quantum mechanics and its potential applications in communications.
Published Long-distance quantum teleportation enabled by multiplexed quantum memories



Researchers report having achieved quantum teleportation from a photon to a solid-state qubit over a distance of 1km, with a novel approach using multiplexed quantum memories.
Published Fluorescent blue coumarins in a folk-medicine plant could help us see inside cells



Plants that glow under ultraviolet (UV) light aren't only a figment of science fiction TV and movies. Roots of a traditional medicine plant called the orange climber, or Toddalia asiatica, can fluoresce an ethereal blue hue. And now, researchers have identified two coumarin molecules that could be responsible. These natural coumarins have unique fluorescent properties, and one of the compounds could someday be used for medical imaging.
Published The diversity of present tree species is shaped by climate change in the last 21,000 years



A new global survey of 1000 forest areas shows how climate change since the peak of the last ice age has had a major impact on the diversity and distribution of tree species we see today. The results can help us predict how ecosystems will react to future changes, thus having an impact on conservation management around the globe.
Published Team designs four-legged robotic system that can walk a balance beam



Researchers have designed a system that makes an off-the-shelf quadruped robot nimble enough to walk a narrow balance beam -- a feat that is likely the first of its kind.
Published Less ice, fewer calling seals



For several years, a team of researchers used underwater microphones to listen for seals at the edge of the Antarctic. Their initial findings indicate that sea-ice retreat has had significant effects on the animals' behavior: when the ice disappears, areas normally full of vocalizations become very quiet.
Published How can a pollinating insect be recognized in the fossil record?



Insect pollination is a decisive process for the survival and evolution of angiosperm (flowering) plants and, to a lesser extent, gymnosperms (without visible flower or fruit). There is a growing interest in studies on the origins of the relationship between insects and plants, especially in the current context of the progressive decline of pollinating insects on a global scale and its impact on food production. Pollinating insects can be recognized in the fossil record, although to date, there has been no protocol for their differentiation. Fossil pollinators have been found in both rock and amber deposits, and it is in rock deposits that the first evidence of plant pollination by insects is being studied across the globe. But how can we determine which was a true insect pollinator in the past?
Published Processing data at the speed of light



Scientists have developed an extremely small and fast nano-excitonic transistor.
Published Wildfires and animal biodiversity



Wildfires. Many see them as purely destructive forces, disasters that blaze through a landscape, charring everything in their paths. But a new study reminds us that wildfires are also generative forces, spurring biodiversity in their wakes.