Egyptian fruit bat pups steer echolocation beams from day zero
A trio of researchers with Tel Aviv University's School of Zoology has found that newly born Egyptian fruit bats are capable of steering echolocation beams. In their paper published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Grace Smarsh, Yif.....»»
Want to fight climate change? Don"t poach gorillas (or elephants, hornbills, toucans, etc.)
Here's a climate solution we can all get behind: don't kill elephants. Or poach gorillas—or wipe out tapirs, hornbills, or other large-bodied wildlife that eat fruit and disperse large seeds. That's because a new paper by the Wildlife Conservation.....»»
Gilded mysteries unveiled: Ancient art meets nanotechnology in nanoscale goldbeating
Goldbeating, an age-old craft pioneered by ancient Egyptian artisans more than five millennia ago, involves the meticulous thinning of bulk gold into gossamer-like leaves. Throughout history, this intricate process has adorned various masterpieces, s.....»»
The surprising behavior of male fruit flies under intense light conditions
A recent study published in Open Biology reports that exposure to intense light almost instantly provokes courtship behavior in male fruit flies (Drosophila). Surprisingly, the researchers observed both male-male and male-female courtship behavior un.....»»
Culled fruit trees sunk into the Wadden Sea boost local diversity and abundance of marine life
Reefs, whether natural or man-made, are hotspots of marine biodiversity. But especially in soft-bottomed seas, reefs have become scarce because many hard substrates have been removed due to overfishing of shellfish, dredging, trawling, and deep-sea m.....»»
Fungi-eating plants and flies team up for reproduction
Fungi-eating orchids were found for the first time to offer their flowers to fungi-eating fruit flies in exchange for pollination, which is the first evidence for nursery pollination in orchids. This unique new plant-animal relationship hints at an e.....»»
Grow-your-own households eat more fruit and vegetables while wasting less, research suggests
Household fruit and vegetable production, in allotments and gardens, could be key to a healthy and food-secure population, a new study from the University of Sheffield has found......»»
Researchers publish new results from dark boson searches
Located at CERN's North Area and receiving beams from the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS), the NA64 and NA62 experiments search for dark matter, complementing searches at the LHC, as they cover a different energy range. Both experiments have recently.....»»
Microplastic pollution: New device uses wood dust to trap up to 99.9% of microplastics in water
Could plants be the answer to the looming threat of microplastic pollution? Scientists at UBC's BioProducts Institute found that if you add tannins—natural plant compounds that make your mouth pucker if you bite into an unripe fruit—to a layer of.....»»
Researchers take important step toward developing cavity-based X-ray laser technology
Researchers have announced an important step in the development of a next-gen technology for making X-ray free-electron laser pulses brighter and more stable. They used precisely aligned mirrors made of high-quality synthetic diamond to steer X-ray l.....»»
Unveiling the tale of Tutcetus, the "pharaoh" of whales who died young 41 million years ago
An international team of scientists, led by Egyptian researchers, has made a groundbreaking discovery of a new species of extinct whale, Tutcetus rayanensis, that inhabited the ancient sea covering present-day Egypt around 41 million years ago. This.....»»
Replication of prior studies fails to find purported evidence of magnetic sensing in fruit flies
A team of neurosensory researchers from the University of Oxford, Universität Oldenburg and the University of Exeter has replicated landmark studies reporting magnetic sensing in Drosophila fruit flies and failed to find any evidence for it. In thei.....»»
New technique measures structured light in a single shot
Structured light waves with spiral phase fronts carry orbital angular momentum (OAM), attributed to the rotational motion of photons. Recently, scientists have been using light waves with OAM, and these special "helical" light beams have become very.....»»
Common ancestors of bats were omnivorous, according to resurrection of ancestral sweet receptors
The origins of powered flight and laryngeal echolocation in bats are widely cited as evidence that ancestral bats evolved as insectivores. Moreover, others have hypothesis that suggesting early bats were diurnal herbivores and that insectivory emerge.....»»
Animal study shows a father"s care could slow aging, alter brains and behavior
Fathers who pay attention and care for their sons can mold their progeny's developing nervous system and influence their offspring's future behavior, according to University of Virginia researchers who studied rodent parents and pups......»»
Gene grants powerful resistance to resurging plant disease
While wrapping oneself in 100% Egyptian cotton bedsheets is a delightful luxury on a warm summer night, cotton provides much more than breathable, soft fabric. In addition to textiles, the cotton plant is grown for food, fuel, and daily-use consumer.....»»
"Virgin Birth" Engineered into Female Animals for First Time
Scientists altered the genomes of female fruit flies, allowing them to reproduce without any contribution from a male.....»»
See an Amazingly Detailed Map of the Fruit Fly Brain
A dazzling new map lights up the fruit fly brain.....»»
How hidden details in ancient Egyptian tomb paintings are revealed by chemical imaging
The walls of ancient Egyptian tombs can teach us much about the lives of the pharaohs and their entourages. Tomb paintings showed the deceased and their immediate family members involved in religious activities, the burial itself, or feasting at banq.....»»
Listening in on endangered Amazon River dolphins
Monitoring echolocation clicks could be used to track the movements of two endangered freshwater dolphin species that inhabit inaccessible parts of the Amazon Basin—the boto (or pink river dolphin) and the tucuxi—and their interactions with peopl.....»»
Modifying shelf-life of melons via gene editing
The gaseous plant hormone ethylene has been long known to promote fruit ripening and plays a certain role in shelf-life. In a study published in Frontiers in Genome Editing, researchers performed gene editing using the Clustered Regularly Interspaced.....»»