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Categories: Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Ecology: Invasive Species
Published Two qudits fully entangled



Recently quantum computers started to work with more than just the zeros and ones we know from classical computers. Now a team demonstrates a way to efficiently create entanglement of such high-dimensional systems to enable more powerful calculations.
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 Biological invasions as costly as natural disasters



Over the past 40 years, the financial losses caused by biological invasions have been equivalent to those caused by various types of natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods or storms; however, according to scientists, they are now increasing at a faster pace.
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 Coastal species persist on high seas on floating plastic debris



The high seas have been colonized by a surprising number of coastal marine invertebrate species, which can now survive and reproduce in the open ocean, contributing strongly to the floating community composition. Researchers found coastal species, representing diverse taxonomic groups and life history traits, in the eastern North Pacific Subtropical Gyre on over 70 percent of the plastic debris they examined. Further, the debris carried more coastal species than open ocean species.
Published A neuromorphic visual sensor can recognize moving objects and predict their path



The new smart sensor uses embedded information to detect motion in a single video frame.
Published Multi-compartment membranes for multicellular robots: Everybody needs some body



We typically think of robots as metal objects, filled with motors and circuits. But the field of molecular robotics is starting to change that. Like the formation of complex living organisms, molecular robots derive their form and functionality from assembled molecules stored in a single unit, i.e., a body. Yet manufacturing this body at the microscopic level is an engineering nightmare. Now, a team has created a simple workaround.
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.
Published Professor unearths the ancient fossil plant history of Burnaby Mountain



New research led by a paleobotanist provides clues about what plants existed in the Burnaby Mountain area (British Columbia, Canada) 40 million years ago during the late Eocene, when the climate was much warmer than it is today.
Published Research in Japan shows the way toward tactile and proximity sensing in large soft robots



To make human-robot interactions safer and more fruitful, robots should be capable of sensing their environment. In a recent study, researchers developed a novel robotic link with tactile and proximity sensing capabilities. Additionally, they created a simulation and learning framework that can be employed to train the robotic link to sense its environment. Their findings will pave the way to a future where humans and robots can operate harmoniously in close proximity.
Published British flower study reveals surprise about plants' sex life



A study of Britain's native flowering plants has led to new insights into the mysterious process that allows wild plants to breed across species -- one of plants' most powerful evolutionary forces. When wild flowering plants are sizing up others they may often end up in a marriage between close relatives rather than neighbors, a new study has revealed.
Published It's all in the wrist: Energy-efficient robot hand learns how not to drop the ball



Researchers have designed a low-cost, energy-efficient robotic hand that can grasp a range of objects -- and not drop them -- using just the movement of its wrist and the feeling in its 'skin'.
Published Trees in areas prone to hurricanes have strong ability to survive even after severe damage



The island of Dominica took a direct hit from Category 5 Hurricane Maria. Nine months afterward, researchers found that while 89% percent of trees located in nine previously documented forest stands were damaged, but only 10 percent had immediately died. The most common damage was stem snapping and major branch damage. The damage with the highest rates of mortality were uprooting and being crushed by a neighboring tree. Large individual trees and species with lower wood density were susceptible to snapping, uprooting and mortality. Those on steeper slopes were more prone to being crushed by neighboring trees.
Published Table tennis brain teaser: Playing against robots makes our brains work harder



Brain scans taken during table tennis reveal differences in how we respond to human versus machine opponents.
Published Kids judge Alexa smarter than Roomba, but say both deserve kindness



Most kids know it's wrong to yell or hit someone, but what if that someone is a robot named Alexa? A new study asked kids how smart and sensitive they thought the virtual assistant was compared to a robotic vacuum. Four- to eleven-year-olds rated Alexa as more intelligent than the Roomba but felt neither deserve to be yelled at or otherwise harmed.
Published Rooting out how plants control nitrogen use



Nitrogen is such a crucial nutrient for plants that vast quantities of nitrogen-containing fertilizers are spread on farmlands worldwide. However, excess nitrogen in the soil and in drainage run-off into lakes and rivers causes serious ecological imbalances. A recent study has uncovered the regulatory mechanisms at work when plants utilize nitrogenous fertilizers in their roots, a positive step in the quest to generate crops that require less fertilizer while still producing the yields needed to feed the world.
Published In Florida study, nonnative leaf-litter ants are replacing native ants



A new look at decades of data from museum collections and surveys of leaf-litter ants in Florida reveals a steady decline in native ants and simultaneous increase in nonnative ants -- even in protected natural areas of the state, researchers report.
Published AI-equipped eyeglasses read silent speech



Researchers have developed a silent-speech recognition interface that uses acoustic-sensing and artificial intelligence to continuously recognize up to 31 unvocalized commands, based on lip and mouth movements.
Published US forests face an unclear future with climate change



Climate change might compromise how permanently forests are able to store carbon and keep it out of the air. In a new study, researchers found that the regions most at risk to lose forest carbon through fire, climate stress or insect damage are those regions where many forest carbon offset projects have been set up. The authors assert that there's an urgent need to update these carbon offsets protocols and policies.
Published Gone for good? California's beetle-killed, carbon-storing pine forests may not come back



Ponderosa pine forests in the Sierra Nevada that were wiped out by western pine beetles during the 2012-2015 megadrought won't recover to pre-drought densities, reducing an important storehouse for atmospheric carbon.