Showing 20 articles starting at article 21
< Previous 20 articles Next 20 articles >
Categories: Biology: Zoology, Mathematics: Modeling
Published As human activities expand in Antarctica, scientists identify crucial conservation sites
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Establishing Key Biodiversity Areas in the Southern Ocean will be vital for safeguarding the ecosystem from the impact of human activities, researchers say.
Published Lake Erie walleye growth is driven by parents' size, experience
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source 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.
Published A belly full of jelly
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source For a long time, scientists assumed that jellies (commonly known as jellyfish) were a dead-end food source for predatory fish. However, a team has now discovered that fish in Greenland waters do indeed feed on jellyfish. In two of the analyzed species, they even made up the majority of the food. The results suggest that the role of jellyfish as prey in marine food webs should be reconsidered, especially in regards to the fact that they could be profiting from climate change and spreading farther and farther north.
Published In subdivided communities cooperative norms evolve more easily
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers simulated social norms with a supercomputer. Their findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the evolution of social norms and their role in fostering cooperative behavior.
Published Decoding the world's largest animal genome
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have sequenced the largest genome of all animals, the lungfish genome. Their data help to explain how the fish-ancestors of today's land vertebrates were able to conquer land.
Published Leading AI models struggle to identify genetic conditions from patient-written descriptions
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers discover that while artificial intelligence (AI) tools can make accurate diagnoses from textbook-like descriptions of genetic diseases, the tools are significantly less accurate when analyzing summaries written by patients about their own health. These findings demonstrate the need to improve these AI tools before they can be applied in health care settings to help make diagnoses and answer patient questions.
Published Ecologists put an insect group on century-old map of biodiversity
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The distribution of species around the globe is not a random process but an outcome resulting from several evolutionary mechanisms as well as past and current environmental limitations. As a result, since the mid-19th century, biologists have identified several main regions, called biogeographic realms, that depict these large ensembles of species around the world. These biogeographic realms represent one of the most fundamental descriptions of biodiversity on Earth and are commonly used in various fields of biology.
Published Giant fossil seeds from Borneo record ancient plant migration
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Ancient fossil beans about the size of modern limes, and among the largest seeds in the fossil record, may provide new insight into the evolution of today's diverse Southeast Asian and Australian rainforests, according to researchers who identified the plants.
Published Scientists condition crocodiles to avoid killer cane toads
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have trialled a new way to protect freshwater crocodiles from deadly invasive cane toads spreading across northern Australia.
Published Pit-building venom mixers
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source 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.
Published Rewriting the evolutionary history of critical components of the nervous system
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study has rewritten the conventionally understood evolutionary history of certain ion channels -- proteins critical for electrical signaling in the nervous system. The study shows that the Shaker family of ion channels were present in microscopic single cell organisms well before the common ancestor of all animals and thus before the origin of the nervous system.
Published Reduce, reuse, 're-fly-cle'
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Black soldier flies are now commercially used to consume organic waste -- but genetic modifications proposed by bioscientists could see the insects digesting a wider variety of refuse, while also creating raw ingredients for industry.
Published Think fast -- or not: Mathematics behind decision making
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research explains the mathematics behind how initial predispositions and additional information affect decision making.
Published AI poses no existential threat to humanity, new study finds
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Large Language Models (LLMs) are entirely controllable through human prompts and lack 'emergent abilities'; that is, the means to form their own insights or conclusions. Increasing model size does not lead LLMs to gain emergent reasoning abilities, meaning they will not develop hazardous abilities and therefore do not pose an existential threat. A new study sheds light on the (until now unexplained) capabilities and shortcomings of LLMs, including the need for carefully engineered prompts to exhibit good performance.
Published A new mechanism for shaping animal tissues
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A key question that remains in biology and biophysics is how three-dimensional tissue shapes emerge during animal development. Research teams have now found a mechanism by which tissues can be 'programmed' to transition from a flat state to a three-dimensional shape.
Published Researchers develop AI model that predicts the accuracy of protein--DNA binding
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new artificial intelligence model can predict how different proteins may bind to DNA.
Published Nature at risk in the hunt for the perfect selfie
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The need for a dramatic selfie or the perfect landscape photo is proving detrimental to nature, a new research collaboration has found.
Published Researchers make breakthrough in understanding species abundance
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The key finding was that temperature and genome size, not body size, had the greatest influence on the maximum population growth rate of the diatoms. Yet body size still mattered in colder latitudes, conserving Bermann's Rule.
Published Researchers outline promises, challenges of understanding AI for biological discovery
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Machine learning is a powerful tool in computational biology, enabling the analysis of a wide range of biomedical data such as genomic sequences and biological imaging. But when researchers use machine learning in computational biology, understanding model behavior remains crucial for uncovering the underlying biological mechanisms in health and disease. Researchers now propose guidelines that outline pitfalls and opportunities for using interpretable machine learning methods to tackle computational biology problems.
Published Giant prehistoric flying reptile took off using similar method to bats, study finds
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The pterosaur likely used all four limbs to propel itself in the air, as seen in bats today, researchers have found.