Showing 20 articles starting at article 1121
< Previous 20 articles Next 20 articles >
Categories: Biology: Zoology, Physics: Optics
Published Some spiders can transfer mercury contamination to land animals
(via sciencedaily.com) Sitting calmly in their webs, many spiders wait for prey to come to them. Arachnids along lakes and rivers eat aquatic insects, such as dragonflies. But, when these insects live in mercury-contaminated waterways, they can pass the metal along to the spiders that feed on them. Now, researchers have demonstrated how some shoreline spiders can move mercury contamination from riverbeds up the food chain to land animals.
Published More Texas owls are testing positive for rat poisons
(via sciencedaily.com) New research suggests that owls in Texas have high rates of anticoagulant rodenticides (AR) -- blood thinning rat poisons -- in their systems.
Published Movement sensors can detect disease in wild boar
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Accelerometers reading the behavior of wild boars can pick up when animals are infected with a fatal virus.
Published You say tomato, these scientists say evolutionary mystery
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Biologists have found evidence for evolutionary 'syndromes'-- sets of traits that occur together -- that help to explain how tomatoes first evolved their distinctive blend of color, sweetness, acidity and aroma. The research not only shines a light on how fruits evolve in the wild, but will also be valuable to crop-improvement efforts aimed at breeding more nutritious and appealing varieties of fruits.
Published Super antifreeze in cells: The ability to survive in ice and snow developed in animals far earlier than we thought
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source More than 400 million years ago, an insect-like animal called the springtail developed a small protein that prevents its cells from freezing.
Published 'A crab is never just a crab'
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A herring in the North Sea, a crab in the Wadden Sea or an anemone fish on a coral reef, ... biologists like to think in terms of individual species that all have their own place within food webs in ecosystems across the world. 'But that is surely too simplistic thinking,' researchers warn.
Published A new way to create germ-killing light
(via sciencedaily.com) A research team has created an aluminum-nitride device that can convert visible light into deep-ultraviolet light through the process of second harmonic generation. This work can lead to the development of practical devices that can sterilize surfaces with ultraviolet radiation while using less energy.
Published Researchers make a significant step towards reliably processing quantum information
(via sciencedaily.com) Using laser light, researchers have developed the most robust method currently known to control individual qubits made of the chemical element barium. The ability to reliably control a qubit is an important achievement for realizing future functional quantum computers.
Published Jackdaws switch friends to gain food -- but stick with family
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Jackdaws ditch old friends and make new ones if it helps them get rewards -- but stick with family through thick and thin, new research shows.
Published Contours that kill: Geometry influences prey capture in carnivorous pitcher plants
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have shown that the shape, size, and geometry of carnivorous pitcher plants determines the type of prey they trap.
Published Bees struggle to find flowers because of air pollution
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study has found that air pollution is preventing pollinators finding flowers because it degrades the scent.
Published Valleytronics: Innovative way to store and process information up to room temperature
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers have found a way to maintain valley polarization at room temperature using novel materials and techniques.
Published Echoes of extinctions: Novel method unearths disruptions in mammal trait-environment relationships
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research explores the historical shifts in mammal traits and biodiversity loss in eastern Africa. The study reveals how environmental changes disrupted mammal communities and highlights the urgent need for targeted conservation efforts to protect vulnerable species.
Published First U.S. study of nest temperature impacts on leatherback hatchlings
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A study shows nest temperatures affect leatherback hatchling shape, performance and nest success. Lower temperatures produced longer hatchlings; highest temperatures produced hatchlings with thicker body depths. Hatchlings from the highest nest temperatures had shorter flippers. Righting response (ability to flip over) scores were significantly lower in hatchlings from hotter nests. Hatchlings that were smaller and/or had a larger body depth struggled to right themselves. The leatherback turtle nests in this study also had an overall lower hatching success (45 percent) than loggerhead (73 percent) and green sea turtles (70 percent).
Published Disease affects blackbirds more than previously thought
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source When humans are ill, we tend to be less active. This also applies to wild animals, but so far, it has not been known how long the reduced activity lasts or which activities are affected the most. New research shows that birds' activity decreases for up to three weeks when they become ill -- something that could mean the difference between life and death.
Published How pulsating pumping can lead to energy savings
(via sciencedaily.com) Pumping liquids may seem like a solved problem but optimizing the process is still an area of active research. Any pumping application -- from industrial scales to heating systems at home -- would benefit from a reduction in energy demands. Researchers now showed how pulsed pumping can reduce both friction from and energy consumption of pumping. For this, they took inspiration from a pumping system intimately familiar to everyone: the human heart.
Published Fossil spines reveal deep sea's past
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Right at the bottom of the deep sea, the first very simple forms of life on earth probably emerged a long time ago. Today, the deep sea is known for its bizarre fauna. Intensive research is being conducted into how the number of species living on the sea floor have changed in the meantime. Some theories say that the ecosystems of the deep sea have emerged again and again after multiple mass extinctions and oceanic upheavals. Today's life in the deep sea would thus be comparatively young in the history of the Earth. But there is increasing evidence that parts of this world are much older than previously thought.
Published Atomic-scale spin-optical laser: New horizon of optoelectronic devices
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers have pushed the limits of the possible in the field of atomic-scale spin-optics, creating a spin-optical laser from monolayer-integrated spin-valley microcavities without requiring magnetic fields or cryogenic temperatures.
Published Farms that create habitat key to food security and biodiversity
(via sciencedaily.com) Diversified farming is an important complement to forest protections for reversing tropical biodiversity declines.
Published Most species are rare, but not very rare
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source More than 100 years of observations in nature have revealed a universal pattern of species abundances: Most species are rare but not very rare, and only a few species are very common. These so-called global species abundance distributions have become fully unveiled for some well-monitored species groups, such as birds. For other species groups, such as insects, however, the veil remains partially unlifted. A new study demonstrates how important biodiversity monitoring is for detecting species abundances on planet Earth and for understanding how they change.