Tag: Animals

Technology

Can animals count? Scientists discover math skills are not just for humans

 Amy  0 50 

HONG KONG — Can animals count? Numerical acumen has long been seen as a distinctly human ability. However, a game-changing discovery from scientists at the City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has seemingly confirmed the existence of hidden number skills among rats. This newly identified sense of numeracy among rodents offers crucial insight that may help scientists further investigate the neural basis of numerical abilities and disabilities in humans, the research team explains.…

AITechnology

Would you wear this ‘shoe-like vessel’ made from genetically engineered bacteria?

 Naomi  0 233 

Transitioning towards sustainable clothing practices is a must for combating climate change, so researchers are turning to bacteria for their fashion inspiration. As detailed in the research journal Nature Biotechnology, a team at Imperial College London has genetically engineered new microbial strains capable of being woven into wearable material, while simultaneously self-dyeing itself in the process. The result is a new vegan, plastic-free leather that’s suitable for items such as wallets and shoes—although perhaps not the most fashionable looking shoes…

AITechnology

Hat-wearing cyborg jellyfish could one day explore the ocean depths

 Amy  0 90 

To better understand the ocean’s overall health, researchers hope to harness some of evolution’s simplest creatures as tools to assess aquatic ecosystems. All they need is $20 worth of materials, a 3D-printer, and some jellyfish hats.  Jellyfish first began bobbing through Earth’s ancient oceans at least half a billion years ago, making them some of the planet’s oldest creatures. In all that time, however, their biology has remained pretty consistent—a bell-shaped, brainless head attached to a mass of tentacles, all…

AITechnology

How social media helps wildlife trafficking thrive in plain sight

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This article was originally featured on Hakai Magazine, an online publication about science and society in coastal ecosystems. Read more stories like this at hakaimagazine.com. In the summer of 2020, Jennifer Pytka spent three and a half hours a day sleuthing the internet for evidence of wildlife trafficking. She’d type กระเบนท้องน้ำ, a Thai word that loosely translates to stingray, into Google, and her search would immediately yield images of rings, each studded with an ornate white thorn about the size of a thumbnail.…

AITechnology

Why scientists are tracking whale tails with AI

 sykes  0 117 

Researchers using an AI photo-scanning tool similar to facial recognition have learned that there’s been a 20% decline in North Pacific Ocean humpback whale populations over the past decade. The researchers pointed to a climate change related heat wave as a possible culprit. The findings, published this week in Royal Society Open Science, used the artificial intelligence-powered image detection model to analyze more than 200,000 photographs of humpback whales taken between 2001 and 2022.  Facial recognition models used to identify…

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A sea creature extinct for half a billion years inspired a new soft robot

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Plenty of robots are inspired by existing animals, but not as many take their cue from extinct creatures. To design their own new machine, Carnegie Mellon University researchers looked over 500-million years back in time for guidance. Their result, presented during the 68th Biophysical Society Annual Meeting, is an underwater soft robot modeled after one of the sea urchin’s oldest ancestors. [Related: Watch robot dogs train on obstacle courses to avoid tripping.] Pleurocystitids swam the oceans around half a billion…

AITechnology

Watch this cool, useless biohybrid robot take a stroll

 Emma  0 61 

As impressive as many biohybrid robotic projects are, they aren’t exactly known for their hairpin turns. In fact, it’s still pretty difficult to design an agile machine merging artificial materials and biological tissue. But if a future generation of biohybrids does manage to one day clear that hurdle, they could owe it to a tiny pair of cute, albeit pretty much useless, robo-legs. Researchers at the University of Tokyo detailed their 3cm tall creation in a new study published today…

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These micro-robots were inspired by mini-bugs and water striders

 Naomi  0 38 

The design theory behind a pair of tiny insect-inspired obots may one day find its way into environmental monitoring, surgery procedures, as well as search-and-rescue missions—all while, reportedly, setting records in the process. Modeled after a mini-bug and a water strider, the two bots respectively weigh in at eight and 55 milligrams, and may mark the “smallest, lightest, and fastest fully functional” micro-robots in the world, according to Washington State University. Developed by a team of WSU researchers and recently…

AITechnology

This magnetic robot arm was inspired by octopus tentacles

 sykes  0 23 

In its collapsed form, this robot arm looks like a tiny concertina, an accordion-like musical instrument that can expand and fold into itself. Unlike a concertina, this arm cannot make melodies, but what it can do is unfurl and undulate in delicate—and potentially useful—ways.  This design, described in detail in a new study out Monday in the journal PNAS, is inspired by the octopus arm, and mimics how it stretches, twists, and manipulates objects. Its creators hope that it can…

AITechnology

Birders behold: Cornell’s Merlin app is now a one-stop shop for bird identification

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Last year, as pandemic lockdown restrictions hit the US, new bird enthusiasts flocked to the free Merlin Bird ID app. The app, which comes from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, previously offered ways for users to identify a mystery bird near them through descriptions or a photo. Earlier this summer, it received an even cooler feature: the ability to recognize a bird based on a short audio clip of its song, chirp, or call.  Starting in March 2020, the Merlin…

ScienceTechnology

Putting cows on a seaweed diet helps curb their methane burps

 Amy  0 323 

Hugo Kruip for Unsplash Expanding a cow’s diet to include a pinch of seaweed could go a long way in helping tame their burps and farts—and protect the climate. A new study released last week led by scientists at the University of California at Davis showed that adding just a small amount of dried red seaweed to the feed of beef steers reduced their methane production during digestion by over 80 percent, which could have implications for global greenhouse gas…

Technology

Anesthetics Have The Same Effects On Plants As They Have On Animals And Humans

 Amy  0 217 

A new study published in Annals of Botany shows that plants react to anesthetics similarly to the way animals and humans do, suggesting plants are ideal objects for testing anesthetics actions in future. Anesthetics were first used in the 19th century when it was discovered that inhaling ether gas stopped patients feeling pain during surgery. Since then many different chemicals have been found to induce anesthesia. However, despite the fact that many anesthetics have been used over a 150-year period, little is…