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Categories: Biology: Zoology, Offbeat: General
Published Bright prospects for engineering quantum light



Computers benefit greatly from being connected to the internet, so we might ask: What good is a quantum computer without a quantum internet?
Published Super-black wood can improve telescopes, optical devices and consumer goods



Thanks to an accidental discovery, researchers have created a new super-black material that absorbs almost all light, opening potential applications in fine jewelry, solar cells and precision optical devices.
Published Injury dressings in first-aid kits provide a new technique to reveal shark species after bite incidents



Scientists have revealed that injury dressings found in first-aid kits can reliably be used to identify shark species involved in bite incidents by deploying medical gauze to gather DNA samples from aquatic equipment, such as surfboards.
Published What no one has seen before -- simulation of gravitational waves from failing warp drive



Physicists have been exploring the theoretical possibility of spaceships driven by compressing the four-dimensional spacetime for decades. Although this so-called 'warp drive' originates from the realm of science fiction, it is based on concrete descriptions in general relativity. A new study takes things a step further -- simulating the gravitational waves such a drive might emit if it broke down.
Published Scientists using new sound tech to save animals from extinction



Scientists are using new technology to help endangered animals by listening to their sounds.
Published North Sea oil and gas extraction spikes pollution by 10,000 percent, study finds



North Sea oil and gas extraction can cause pollution to spike by more than 10,000 percent within half a kilometer around off-shore sites, a study has found. The research has uncovered the true impact on Britain's seabed life -- with the number of species plummeting nearly 30 percent near platforms.
Published What shapes a virus's pandemic potential? SARS-CoV-2 relatives yield clues



Two of the closest known relatives to SARS-CoV-2 -- a pair of bat coronaviruses discovered by researchers in Laos -- may transmit poorly in people despite being genetically similar to the COVID-19-causing virus, a new study reveals. The findings provide clues as to why some viruses have greater 'pandemic potential' than others and how researchers might go about identifying those that do before they become widespread.
Published Breaking MAD: Generative AI could break the internet, researchers find



Researchers have found that training successive generations of generative artificial intelligence models on synthetic data gives rise to self-consuming feedback loops.
Published How spreading misinformation is like a nuclear reaction



Researchers develop a new type of rumor propagation model, taking inspiration from nuclear reactions. Their model can provide fresh insights on how online disinformation spreads and how to combat it. The team identified similarities between rumor spreading and fission, the reaction that occurs inside nuclear reactors. In their model, rumors act like neutrons, the small particles that kick off nuclear fission. These rumors are seen by individuals, who send them careening into other people in a chain reaction.
Published The corona is weirdly hot: Parker Solar Probe rules out one explanation



By diving into the sun's corona, NASA's Parker Solar Probe has ruled out S-shaped bends in the sun's magnetic field as a cause of the corona's searing temperatures.
Published Platypus and chicken reveal how chromosomes balance between the sexes



Geneticists uncover new insights into how sex chromosome systems work in the platypus and the chicken -- which will lead to better understandings of our own sex chromosome evolution and gene regulation.
Published How researchers turn bacteria into cellulose-producing mini-factories



Researchers have modified certain bacteria with UV light so that they produce more cellulose. The basis for this is a new approach with which the researchers generate thousands of bacterial variants and select those that have developed into the most productive.
Published How an emerging disease in dogs is shedding light on cystic fibrosis



A canine gallbladder disease that involves the accumulation of abnormal mucus similar to that seen in human cystic fibrosis (CF) patients is caused by improper expression of the gene associated with CF in humans. The finding could have implications for human CF patients as well as for animal models of CF.
Published Dark matter: A camera trap for the invisible



AI-powered image recognition could give researchers a new tool in hunt for dark matter.
Published Shape-shifting 'transformer bots' inspired by origami



Inspired by the paper-folding art of origami, engineers have discovered a way to make a single plastic cubed structure transform into more than 1,000 configurations using only three active motors.
Published Robotics: Self-powered 'bugs' can skim across water to detect environmental data



Researchers have developed a self-powered 'bug' that can skim across the water, and they hope it will revolutionize aquatic robotics.
Published Scientists untangle interactions between the Earth's early life forms and the environment over 500 million years



The atmosphere, the ocean and life on Earth interacted over the past 500-plus million years in ways that improved conditions for early organisms to thrive. Now, an interdisciplinary team of scientists has produced a perspective article of this co-evolutionary history.
Published Climate is most important factor in where mammals choose to live, study finds



Using data from 6,645 camera traps across the United States, researchers mapped populations of 25 mammal species. They determined that climate, not human activity, was the primary factor in mammals deciding where to live.
Published Thousands of birds and fish threatened by mining for clean energy transition, study finds



Our increasing demand for metals and minerals is putting over four thousand vertebrate species at risk, with the raw materials needed for clean energy infrastructure often located in global biodiversity hotspots, a study has found.
Published The ancestor of all modern birds probably had iridescent feathers



Birds tend to be more colorful in the tropics, and scientists wanted to find out how they got there: if colorful feathers evolved in the tropics, or if tropical birds have brightly-colored ancestors that came to the region from somwhere else. Scientists built a database of 9,409 birds to explore the spread of color across the globe. They found that iridescent, colorful feathers originated 415 times across the bird tree of life, and in most cases, arose outside of the tropics -- and that the ancestor of all modern birds likely had iridescent feathers, too.