Science
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Tiny nematode worms can grow enormous mouths and become cannibals
[ad_1] The enormous mouth of a tiny nematode worm Sara Wighard and Ralf Sommer / Max Planck Institute for Biology Tubingen Tiny soil worms called nematodes usually feast on bacteria or algae, and have tiny mouths to suit their diet. But give a baby nematode some fungus and its mouth can as much as double in size – giving it…
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‘Peaceful’ male bonobos may actually be more aggressive than chimps
[ad_1] Bonobos often act aggressively, despite their peaceful reputation Sergey Uryadnikov / Alamy Stock Photo Have we misjudged our two closest relatives? Chimpanzees are known for lethal violence while bonobos are widely seen as paragons of peaceful coexistence, free love and female empowerment – but a new study suggests that the reality is more complicated. Maud Mouginot at Boston University…
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See inside an endangered California condor egg just before it hatches
[ad_1] Rotating CT scan inside a California condor egg San Diego Zoo A scan of a California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) egg has revealed a rarely seen embryonic world. The chick is the 250th condor hatched at a facility helping to bring back the threatened birds from the brink of extinction. Like each condor egg laid in the San Diego Zoo…
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Are panda sex lives being sabotaged by the wrong gut microbes?
[ad_1] Conservationists think tweaking pandas’ diets might shift their gut microbiomes in a way that could encourage them to mate [ad_2] Source link
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Embryos pause development when nutrients are low — and now we know how
[ad_1] A mouse embryo that has paused its development due to nutrient depletion Jiajia Ye The embryos of many species can stop developing when starved of nutrients, only to restart the process once these are restored – and scientists may have figured out how they do it. In the early stages of pregnancy, a fertilised egg turns into a blastocyst,…
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Watch mini humanoid robots showing off their football skills
[ad_1] Footballing robots have had an upgrade. Two-legged robots trained using deep reinforcement learning, which is driven by artificial intelligence, can walk, turn to kick a ball and get up after falling faster than robots working from scripted lessons. Guy Lever at Google DeepMind and his colleagues put battery-powered Robotis OP3 robots, which are about 50 centimetres tall and have…
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Peter Higgs: Physicist who theorised the Higgs boson has died aged 94
[ad_1] Physicist Peter Higgs in Italy in 1996 Leonardo Cendamo/Getty Images Groundbreaking theoretical physicist Peter Higgs has died at age 94. Higgs’s work explaining how elementary particles get their mass won him the Nobel prize in 2013 and formed a key ingredient in the standard model of particle physics. He died in his home in Edinburgh, UK, on 8 April…
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Dumping green sand in shallow seas could let them absorb more CO2
[ad_1] Olivine sands can be found on some beaches in Hawaii Sara Komo/Shutterstock Dumping alkaline green sand into shallow seas could increase ocean absorption of carbon dioxide by 8 per cent this century, according to a modelling study. Oceans take up almost a third of the CO2 we emit into the atmosphere and researchers are exploring ways to boost that…
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Eclipse 2024 live: Watch the full total solar eclipse via NASA’s broadcast – latest
[ad_1] On 8 April, a total solar eclipse will sweep across Mexico, the US and Canada. This kind of eclipse only occurs when the sun and moon line up perfectly in the sky so the moon covers the entire disc of the sun, casting a shadow on Earth. The path that this shadow takes as it rushes across the ground…
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5 solar eclipse activities to do with children
[ad_1] There are plenty of fun eclipse activities to do with kids Edwin Remsberg/Alamy If you are planning to enjoy the total solar eclipse on 8 April with your children, here are a few activities you can do with them before and during the eclipse, to help them understand what causes a solar eclipse and get the most out of…
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