How One Naughty Bird Cheats With Fancy Feather Structures
For male tanager birds, carotenoid feather pigments just aren't flashy enough. They have another way to make their colors really pop......»»
Study shines light on properties and promise of hexagonal boron nitride, used in electronic and photonics technologies
Single-photon emitters (SPEs) are akin to microscopic lightbulbs that emit only one photon (a quantum of light) at a time. These tiny structures hold immense importance for the development of quantum technology, particularly in applications such as s.....»»
Advances in understanding the evolution of stomach loss in agastric fishes
Living beings can evolve to lose biological structures due to potential survival benefits from such losses. For example, certain groups of ray-finned fishes show such regressive evolution—medakas, minnows, puffera, and wrasses do not have a stomach.....»»
Concern grows as bird flu spreads further in US cows: 32 herds in 8 states
Experts say the US is not sharing as much data on the outbreak as it should. Enlarge / Greylag geese sit on a field and rest while a cow passes by in the background. (credit: Getty | Daniel Bockwoldt) Researchers aroun.....»»
What to look for in your first turntable in 2024
Fancy joining the vinyl fun this Record Store Day? Then you'll need a good turntable. Here's what you need to know before buying one......»»
H5N1 strain of bird flu found in milk: WHO
The H5N1 bird flu virus strain has been detected in very high concentrations in raw milk from infected animals, the WHO said Friday, though how long the virus can survive in milk is unknown......»»
First evidence of ancient human occupation found in giant lava tube cave in Saudi Arabia
If you look from above, you can see thousands of stone structures dotting the landscape of the Arabian peninsula. On the ground, you can find a bounty of stone tools and ancient fireplaces scattered along the edges of ancient lakes, as well as rock a.....»»
Bird flu in cattle: What are the concerns surrounding the newly emerging bovine H5N1 influenza virus?
The confirmed presence of bird flu in American dairy cattle in a March 25 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)—and a case in Texas where a human working with cattle was infected—has put Canadian public health experts on high aler.....»»
Team finds direct evidence of "itinerant breeding" in East Coast shorebird species
Migration and reproduction are two of the most demanding events in a bird's annual cycle, so much so that the vast majority of migratory birds separate the two tasks into different times of the year......»»
A powerful technique for tracking a protein"s fleeting shape changes
Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have developed a powerful, new technique to generate "movies" of changing protein structures and speeds of up to 50 frames per second......»»
Spintronics: A new path to room temperature swirling spin textures
In some materials, spins form complex magnetic structures within the nanometer and micrometer scale in which the magnetization direction twists and curls along specific directions. Examples of such structures are magnetic bubbles, skyrmions, and magn.....»»
Birds of a feather flocking together: Research shows storks prefer to fly with conspecifics during migration
With long legs and large wings, the white stork is a prominent star of the pageant that is animal migration. Flying from Europe towards Africa in autumn, and then back again in spring, birds can be seen taking to the sky in conspicuous flocks that he.....»»
Improved mid-infrared nanoscopy enables 30 times clearer view of the insides of bacteria
A team at the University of Tokyo have constructed an improved mid-infrared microscope, enabling them to see the structures inside living bacteria at the nanometer scale. Mid-infrared microscopy is typically limited by its low resolution, especially.....»»
Researchers find babbling by zebra finch chicks is important step to memorizing songs
When babies learn to talk or birds learn to sing, the same principle applies: listen and then imitate. This is how the first babble becomes the first word or vocalization. Male zebra finch chicks initially memorize the song of an adult bird. Later, t.....»»
Cut light pollution and treat glass to help migrating birds, say researchers
Spring bird migration has begun. Under cover of darkness, 2.5–3.5 billion birds will fly northward to their breeding grounds in the United States and Canada. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, now is one of the most important times of yea.....»»
Saturday Citations: Listening to bird dreams, securing qubits, imagining impossible billiards
It's Saturday, which means that in a universe where the arrow of time moves backward, people have to go to work tomorrow. In such a hypothetical universe, Garfield hates Fridays—tough to imagine. This week, we looked at several hundred breaking sci.....»»
Chemists devise easier new method for making a common type of building block for drugs
Ring-shaped chemical structures called saturated heterocycles are found in most FDA-approved drugs but are often difficult to create. Scripps Research chemists have just developed a surprisingly easy method for making many of these sought-after compo.....»»
Bird Flu Is Spreading in Alarming New Ways
H5N1 has infected cattle across the US and jumped from a mammal to a human for the first time. Experts fear it may someday evolve to spread among humans......»»
What do bird dreams sound like?
For more than 20 years, researchers have known that areas of birds' brains dedicated to singing show neural patterns during sleep akin to the ones they use while awake and singing......»»
Scientists find blue light makes buildings more deadly to migrating birds
Bird collisions with buildings are nothing new, but a new study by scientists at The University of New Mexico sheds light on a potential cause......»»
Researchers discover the secret of how termites build their giant nests
Termites are the architects of the natural world. The nests that they build can reach meters of height, with complex and elaborate structures, galleries that ensure efficient communication and that automatically ventilate the nest interior in a way t.....»»