Enlarge / Don’t bother me, I’m busy evolving. (credit: Indrek Lainjärv / EyeEm) When we think of evolution, we often think of slow, gradual changes made over millions of years. However, new research suggests that the process could be happening quite quickly, driving major changes over the course of a single year in response to […]
Enlarge / Don’t bother me, I’m busy evolving. (credit: Indrek Lainjärv / EyeEm) When we think of evolution, we often think of slow, gradual changes made over millions of years. However, new research suggests that the process could be happening quite quickly, driving major changes over the course of a single year in response to […]
(credit: Deanna Barch) One of the unfortunate realities of science is that small data sets often produce unreliable results, as any minor, random fluctuations can have a large impact. One solution to this issue has been building ever-larger data sets, where these fluctuations tend to be small compared to any actual effects. One of the […]
Enlarge / The transplant team with the replacement heart. (credit: The transplant team with the replacement heart. ) On Wednesday, the University of Maryland Medical Center announced that David Bennett, the first human to receive a pig heart transplant , died on Tuesday, March 8. His death comes roughly two months after the transplant; the […]
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Infection by SARS-CoV-2 causes a dizzying array of symptoms beyond the respiratory distress that is its most notable feature. These range from intestinal distress to blood clots to the loss of smell, and symptoms vary wildly from person to person. Figuring out exactly what the virus does inside the human body […]
Enlarge / Fire ants form a protrusion from an ant raft. (credit: Vernerey Research Group/CU Boulder) Fire ants are a textbook example of collective behavior, capable of behaving as individuals, and also banding together to form floating rafts in response to flooding. Now a pair of mechanical engineers from the University of Colorado, Boulder, have […]
(credit: .imelda / Flickr) One of the more disturbing aspects of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is its ability to readily hop between a variety of species, ranging from domesticated animals like cats and mink to wild deer. This creates a potential risk. While spreading in other animals, the virus can pick up mutations that make it […]
Enlarge / A miniature predatory robber fly (Holcocephala fascia) feeds on a captured rove beetle. A new study reveals that the fly approaches its prey from underneath, aiming for a future meeting point wth the target. (credit: Samuel Fabian) Robber flies are aerodynamic acrobats, able to spot their prey, dodge around obstacles, and capture smaller […]
Enlarge (credit: Lee et al.) Most muscles in our bodies only act in response to incoming nerve signals, which have to trigger each individual muscle cell to contract or relax. But heart muscle is different. The impulses that trigger contraction in heart muscle are passed from one muscle cell to its neighbors, leading to a […]
Figaro the cockatoo displays his “primate level” combination tool-using skills by playing a cockatoo version of “golf, ” and choosing the correct hole for a cashew reward. Two other cockatoos figured out different tool-using techniques to achieve the same result. (Goffin Lab) Figaro the cockatoo displays his “primate level” combination tool-using skills by playing a […]