Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Sea Life Geoscience: Oceanography Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Barnacles may help reveal location of lost Malaysia Airlines flight MH370      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Geoscientists have created a new method that can reconstruct the drift path and origin of debris from flight MH370, an aircraft that went missing over the Indian Ocean in 2014 with 239 passengers and crew. 

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

How artificial intelligence gave a paralyzed woman her voice back      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have developed a brain-computer interface (BCI) that has enabled a woman with severe paralysis from a brainstem stroke to speak through a digital avatar.

Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Sea Life Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

This fish doesn't just see with its eyes -- it also sees with its skin      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Without a mirror, it can be hard to tell if you're blushing, or have spinach in your teeth. But one color-changing fish has evolved a clever way to keep watch on the parts of itself that lie outside its field of view -- by sensing light with its skin.

Biology: Botany Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Heat sensor protects the Venus flytrap from fire      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The sensory hairs of the Venus flytrap contain a heat sensor that warns the plant of bush fires. It reacts to rapid temperature jumps, as researchers have discovered.

Archaeology: General Biology: Zoology Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals Paleontology: Fossils
Published

Researchers extract ancient DNA from a 2,900-year-old clay brick, revealing a time capsule of plant life      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

For the first time, a group of researchers have successfully extracted ancient DNA from a 2,900-year-old clay brick. The analysis provides a fascinating insight into the diversity of plant species cultivated at that time and place, and could open the way to similar studies on clay material from other sites and time periods.

Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Coffee offers performance boost for concrete      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Engineers in Australia have found a way of making stronger concrete with roasted used-coffee grounds, to give the drink-additive a 'double shot' at life and reduce waste going to landfills. The team developed a technique to make concrete 30% stronger by turning waste coffee grounds into biochar, using a low-energy process without oxygen at 350 degrees Celsius.

Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Did sabertooth tigers purr or roar?      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

When a sabertooth tiger called out, what noise did it make -- a mighty roar or a throaty purr? A new study examined the data behind the arguments for each vocalization and found that the answer was more nuanced than they thought -- and that it could depend on the shape of a few small bones.

Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Geoscience: Environmental Issues Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Transforming flies into degradable plastics      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Imagine using insects as a source of chemicals to make plastics that can biodegrade later -- with the help of that very same type of bug. That concept is closer to reality than you might expect. Researchers will describe their progress to date, including the isolation and purification of the insect-derived chemicals and their conversion into their bioplastics.

Biology: Botany Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

3D-printed vegan seafood could someday be what's for dinner      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

More mock seafood options are needed because of unsustainable fishing and aquaculture practices, which can harm the environment. Now, researchers have a new approach for creating desirable vegan seafood mimics that taste good, while maintaining the healthful profile of real fish. They 3D-printed an ink made from microalgae protein and mung bean protein, and their proof-of-concept calamari rings were air-fried into a snack.

Engineering: Nanotechnology Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Tattoo technique transfers gold nanopatterns onto live cells      (via sciencedaily.com) 

For now, cyborgs exist only in fiction, but the concept is becoming more plausible as science progresses. And now, researchers are reporting that they have developed a proof-of-concept technique to 'tattoo' living cells and tissues with flexible arrays of gold nanodots and nanowires. With further refinement, this method could eventually be used to integrate smart devices with living tissue for biomedical applications, such as bionics and biosensing.

Archaeology: General Ecology: Research Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Fossil feces infested with parasites from over 200 million years ago      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Fossilized feces preserve evidence of ancient parasites that infected an aquatic predator over 200 million years ago, according to a new study.

Biology: Developmental Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

The 'unknome': A database of human genes we know almost nothing about      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers hope that a new, publicly available database they have created will shrink, not grow, over time. That's because it is a compendium of the thousands of understudied proteins encoded by genes in the human genome, whose existence is known but whose functions are mostly not.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General Computer Science: Quantum Computers Energy: Technology Engineering: Nanotechnology Offbeat: Computers and Math Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Quantum material exhibits 'non-local' behavior that mimics brain function      (via sciencedaily.com) 

New research shows that electrical stimuli passed between neighboring electrodes can also affect non-neighboring electrodes. Known as non-locality, this discovery is a crucial milestone toward creating brain-like computers with minimal energy requirements.

Biology: Marine Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Sea Life Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals Paleontology: General
Published

Whale-like filter-feeding discovered in prehistoric marine reptile      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A remarkable new fossil from China reveals for the first time that a group of reptiles were already using whale-like filter feeding 250 million years ago.

Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Latest in body art? 'Tattoos' for individual cells      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Engineers have developed nanoscale tattoos -- dots and wires that adhere to live cells -- in a breakthrough that puts researchers one step closer to tracking the health of individual cells.

Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Butterflies can remember where things are over sizeable spaces      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Heliconius butterflies are capable of spatial learning, scientists have discovered. The results provide the first experimental evidence of spatial learning in any butterfly or moth species.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General Engineering: Robotics Research Mathematics: Modeling Offbeat: Computers and Math Physics: Optics Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Self-supervised AI learns physics to reconstruct microscopic images from holograms      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have unveiled an artificial intelligence-based model for computational imaging and microscopy without training with experimental objects or real data. The team introduced a self-supervised AI model nicknamed GedankenNet that learns from physics laws and thought experiments. Informed only by the laws of physics that universally govern the propagation of electromagnetic waves in space, the researchers taught their AI model to reconstruct microscopic images using only random artificial holograms -- synthesized solely from 'imagination' without relying on any real-world experiments, actual sample resemblances or real data.