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Categories: Biology: Botany, Offbeat: Computers and Math

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Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

Scientists successfully maneuver robot through living lung tissue      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists have shown that their steerable lung robot can autonomously maneuver the intricacies of the lung, while avoiding important lung structures.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Botany Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature Ecology: Trees Environmental: Ecosystems
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Plant and forest researchers do not 'anthropomorphize' plants      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Plants are often attributed with abilities similar to those known in the animal or human world. Trees are said to have feelings and can therefore care for their offspring, like mothers. Researchers analyzed the claims in two popular publications on forests and reached the conclusion that conjecture is equated with fact. They warn against 'anthropomorphizing' plants.

Biology: Botany Biology: General Biology: Microbiology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature Environmental: Biodiversity Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
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Researchers issue urgent call to save the world's largest flower -Rafflesia -- from extinction      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study finds that most Rafflesia species, which produce the world's largest flowers, face extinction. Lack of protection at local, national, and international levels means that remaining populations are under critical threat.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Botany Biology: General Biology: Genetics Ecology: Endangered Species Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: Water Geoscience: Geochemistry
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Gene required for root hair growth, nitrate foraging found in grasses      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have found a plant gene that drives the growth of root hairs, the tiny structures that help plants find water and nutrients in the soil. The gene, dubbed 'BUZZ,' causes faster-growing, denser webs of roots and may also determine how plants find and use nitrates, a prime source of nitrogen essential to plant growth. Nitrates are also used in fertilizers that can pollute the environment as runoff, and this genetic discovery could ultimately help plant scientists find ways to grow crops more sustainably.

Chemistry: General Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General Energy: Technology Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
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Combustion powers bug-sized robots to leap, lift and race      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers combined soft microactuators with high-energy-density chemical fuel to create an insect-scale quadrupedal robot that is powered by combustion and can outrace, outlift, outflex and outleap its electric-driven competitors.

Biology: Botany Biology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature Ecology: Trees Environmental: Ecosystems
Published

Canopy gaps help eastern hemlock outlast invasive insect      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Creating physical gaps in the forest canopy give eastern hemlocks more access to resources and help those trees withstand infestation by an invasive insect.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Botany Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Molecular Ecology: Endangered Species
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Tracking down the formation of cardenolides in plants      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists are investigating the previously largely unknown biosynthetic pathway that leads to the formation of cardenolides in plants. In a new study, they present two enzymes from the CYP87A family as key enzymes that catalyze the formation of pregnenolone, the precursor for the biosynthesis of plant steroids, in two different plant families. The discovery of such enzymes should help to develop platforms for the cheap and sustainable production of high quality steroid compounds for medical use.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Botany Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Genetics Ecology: Endangered Species
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Mitochondrial genome editing technique yields useful traits      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Tweaks to the mitochondrial genome hold the potential for better hybrid seed production or to introduce seedless fruits.

Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
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Making AI smarter with an artificial, multisensory integrated neuron      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The feel of a cat's fur can reveal some information, but seeing the feline provides critical details: is it a housecat or a lion? While the sound of fire crackling may be ambiguous, its scent confirms the burning wood. Our senses synergize to give a comprehensive understanding, particularly when individual signals are subtle. The collective sum of biological inputs can be greater than their individual contributions. Robots tend to follow more straightforward addition, but researchers have now harnessed the biological concept for application in artificial intelligence (AI) to develop the first artificial, multisensory integrated neuron.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Botany Biology: General Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Ecology: Trees Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General
Published

Study shows replanting logged forests with diverse mixtures of seedlings accelerates restoration      (via sciencedaily.com) 

• Twenty-year experiment finds that active replanting beats natural recovery for restoring logged tropical forests. • The higher the diversity of replanted tree species, the more quickly canopy area and biomass recovered. • Results emphasize the importance of preserving biodiversity in pristine forests and restoring it in recovering logged forest.

Biology: Botany Ecology: Animals Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Trees Environmental: Biodiversity
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Pollination by more than one bee species improves cherry harvest      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

To obtain the biggest cherry harvest, trees should be pollinated by both honey bees and mason bees. This new study shows yet another benefit of biodiversity.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General Mathematics: General Mathematics: Modeling Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
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Evolution wired human brains to act like supercomputers      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists have confirmed that human brains are naturally wired to perform advanced calculations, much like a high-powered computer, to make sense of the world through a process known as Bayesian inference.

Computer Science: General Energy: Technology Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

Battery-free robots use origami to change shape in mid-air      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have developed small robotic devices that can change how they move through the air by 'snapping' into a folded position during their descent. Each device has an onboard battery-free actuator, a solar power-harvesting circuit and controller to trigger these shape changes in mid-air.

Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Botany Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Biology: Molecular
Published

Mysterious family of microbial proteins hijack crops' cellular plumbing      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Some crop pathogens use a clever trick to multiply and spread infection: they hijack the plant's cellular plumbing. In a new study, researchers unveil a class of bacterial proteins that fold into a straw-like shape and insert themselves into the plant cell membrane, allowing the inside of the leaf to become waterlogged. The researchers also figured out a possible way to block the water channel proteins and prevent infection.

Biology: Botany Biology: Evolutionary Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Nature Paleontology: Dinosaurs Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
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Nature's great survivors: Flowering plants survived the mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study by researchers from the University of Bath (UK) and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (Mexico) shows that flowering plants escaped relatively unscathed from the mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. Whilst they suffered some species loss, the devastating event helped flowering plants become the dominant type of plant today.

Biology: Botany Ecology: Endangered Species
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Disease-resistant rice and wheat plants may modulate disease susceptibility in their neighbors      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Growing several plant varieties in the same field for disease resistance is a longstanding agricultural practice, but can have unpredictable results. A study suggests that plant-to-plant interactions may confer disease immunity in both wheat and rice.

Biology: Botany Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Developmental Biology: Genetics Biology: Molecular Ecology: Endangered Species
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Auxin signaling pathway controls root hair formation for nitrogen uptake      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Root hairs represent a low-cost strategy to enhance nutrient uptake because they can significantly increase the nutrient-acquiring surface of plant roots. While primary and lateral roots are stimulated to elongate when plants grow under mild nitrogen deficiency, the existence of such a foraging response for root hairs and its underlying regulatory mechanism remain elusive. Now, researchers have revealed a framework composed of specific molecular players meditating auxin synthesis, transport and signaling that triggers root hair elongation for nitrogen acquisition.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

'Brainless' robot can navigate complex obstacles      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers who created a soft robot that could navigate simple mazes without human or computer direction have now built on that work, creating a 'brainless' soft robot that can navigate more complex and dynamic environments.

Computer Science: General Mathematics: General Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
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What do neurons, fireflies and dancing the Nutbush have in common?      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Synchronicity is all around us, but it is poorly understood. Computer scientists have now developed new tools to understand how human and natural networks fall in and out of sync.

Biology: Botany Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Endangered Species
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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.