You can"t always determine emotion from someone"s facial movements, neither can AI
If you saw a person with their brow furrowed, mouth turned down, and eyes squinted, would you guess they're angry? What if you found out they'd forgotten their reading glasses and were deciphering a restaurant menu?.....»»
Belief in animals" capacity for emotion linked to better health and welfare
Working equids whose owners believe in their capacity to feel emotion have significantly better health and welfare outcomes than those whose owners do not, according to new research by the University of Portsmouth and international animal welfare cha.....»»
“Vampire facials” promoted by celebs are linked to new HIV cases
Health officials are calling for former clients to get retested. Enlarge / A woman getting a non-vampire facial. (credit: Getty | Sammy Dallal) Health officials in New Mexico have identified new cases of HIV linked to t.....»»
Testing of wind sensing in rats shows sub-orbital whiskers play a role in assessing direction
A team of neurobiologists and neuroscientists at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory has found that sub-orbital whiskers play a role in helping rats determine which direction air movement is coming from and to respond accordingly. In their pa.....»»
Village dogs match pet dogs in reading human facial expressions, study shows
A new study, published in PeerJ and conducted by Dr. Martina Lazzaroni (University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna), Dr. Joana Schar (University of Vienna) and colleagues, has shed light on the cognitive abilities of village dogs in understanding huma.....»»
Black hole ripples could help pin down expansion of universe
The echoes of light from jets launched from black holes offers a new way to pin down the distance to these exotic objects and to study a largely unobserved population in the center of the Galaxy. It could also even help determine the rate of expansio.....»»
New criteria to determine whether shear bands are beneficial or harmful to crystalline materials
Shear band formation is not typically a good sign in a material—the bands often appear before a material fractures or fails. But materials science and engineering researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have found that shear bands aren.....»»
Mercedes-Benz addresses Level 3 legalities; lawyers say uncertainty lingers
Mercedes-Benz says "well-established legal systems" should determine whether the company is liable for crashes and other incidents that may arise from use of its Drive Pilot system. Whether human drivers bear some liability remains a key legal questi.....»»
Clever fly offers lessons on advanced predator adaptations
The saffron robber fly (Laphria saffrana) is an extremely fast bee-colored hunter that has to determine, while perched, which insects it wants to chase and eat. This is complicated by the fact that its eyes have poor resolution, especially at distanc.....»»
Host genetics shown to play a significant role in the composition of switchgrass root microbiomes
Plants provide a home for a wide diversity of microbes, especially in their roots. In turn, these communities can provide important benefits for the host. A study published in Current Biology investigated how the genetics of host plants determine the.....»»
Training AI to recognize fly mating identifies a gene that controls mating positions
A research group at the Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University in Japan has used artificial intelligence to determine that piezo, a channel that receives mechanical stimuli, plays a role in controlling the mating posture of male fruit flies (D.....»»
Researchers determine chloroplast size unlikely option for improving photosynthetic efficiency
A group of RIPE researchers have found, for the first time, that chloroplast size manipulations are unlikely to be an option for increasing crop photosynthetic efficiency. Their work was recently published in New Phytologist......»»
Behold the likely face of a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon teenage girl
Isotropic analysis revealed her diet and likely migration from southern Germany to England. Enlarge / (left) Skull of teenage girl from 7th century CE. (right) Facial reconstruction as she might have looked in life. (credit: Univ.....»»
New finding suggests how and why temperatures determine the sex of turtles
Warmer temperatures are known to make more turtle eggs become female hatchlings, but new research out of Duke University shows that those females also have a higher capacity for egg production, even before their sex is set......»»
Einstein and Euler: Accelerating expansion of the universe and dark matter theories put to the test
The cosmos is a unique laboratory for testing the laws of physics, in particular those of Euler and Einstein. Euler described the movements of celestial objects, while Einstein described the way in which celestial objects distort the universe......»»
Biologists document genome-level climate adaptation in endangered bird species
As the climate changes, living things must adapt to new environmental conditions in one of two ways—either geographically or genetically. While it's relatively simple for scientists to track and record a species' geographic movements, proving their.....»»
Facial tumors evolve to coexist with Tasmanian devil populations, shows new study
Research led by the University of Tasmania has found that the deadly devil facial tumor disease (DFTD) responsible for wiping out two-thirds of the species over the last 30 years is evolving to coexist with devil populations......»»
Plant life found to determine soil bacteria diversity in the Arctic tundra
Living and nonliving factors that influence the types of vegetation that grow at different elevations in the Arctic tundra also regulate the types of bacteria that grow in the soil. The distribution of generalist bacteria, which can adapt to a broade.....»»
Scientists discover critical factors that determine the survival of airborne viruses
Critical insights into why airborne viruses lose their infectivity have been uncovered by scientists at the University of Bristol. The findings, published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface today, reveal how cleaner air kills the virus sig.....»»
Drones and other tech play major roles in saving our wildlife
From drones locating koalas hidden in treetops to recording little penguin acoustics and night-time movements on film, Flinders University researchers have shown the importance of technologies such as cameras and AI to help conservation efforts......»»
Paws for thought: Is your pet feeling a complex emotion?
Would you be able to identify what emotions your pet is feeling? A team of cognitive neuroscience and animal behavior scientists have discovered that cat and dog owners perceive a variety of emotional states in their animals, ranging from simple to c.....»»