Plants & Animals news
Lost World Found in Papua New Guinea Volcano
Sep 08, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A BBC expedition exploring inside the crater of an extinct volcano in Papua New Guinea (PNG) has discovered a lost world of dozens of weird new species and rare animals, including new frogs, ...
New Breakthrough in Global Warming Plant Production
Mar 30, 2009 |
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Researchers at the universities of Leicester and Oxford have made a discovery about plant growth which could potentially have an enormous impact on crop production as global warming increases.
Tropical lizards can't take the heat of climate warming
Mar 03, 2009 |
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From geckos and iguanas to Gila monsters and Komodo dragons, lizards are among the most common reptiles on Earth. They are found on every continent except Antarctica. One even pitches car insurance in TV ads. ...
Extinct goat was cold-blooded
Nov 18, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- An extinct goat that lived on a barren Mediterranean island survived for millions of years by reducing in size and by becoming cold-blooded, which has never before been discovered in mammals.
Evidence Points to Conscious 'Metacognition' in Some Nonhuman Animals
Sep 14, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- J. David Smith, Ph.D., a comparative psychologist at the University at Buffalo who has conducted extensive studies in animal cognition, says there is growing evidence that animals share functional ...
Herbivory discovered in a spider
Oct 12, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- There are approximately 40,000 species of spiders in the world, all of which have been thought to be strict predators that feed on insects or other animals. Now, scientists have found that ...
Crows can use 'up to three tools'
Aug 05, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- New experiments by Oxford University scientists reveal that New Caledonian crows can spontaneously use up to three tools in the correct sequence to achieve a goal, something never before observed ...
Great Tit Turns Out to be a Killer
Sep 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The Great Tit is an aggressive songbird found in Britain, continental Europe, parts of Northern Africa, and much of Asia. It is believed to survive mostly on seeds, nuts, fruit, insects, beetles, ...
Bigger not necessarily better, when it comes to brains
Nov 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Tiny insects could be as intelligent as much bigger animals, despite only having a brain the size of a pinhead, say scientists at Queen Mary, University of London.
Optimized by Evolution, Ants Don't Have Traffic Jams
Mar 30, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- As highway traffic increases, you'd probably expect a traffic jam, where vehicles slow down due to the high density. While traffic jams are a common occurrence on our highways, high density ...
Komodo even more deadly than thought: Research
May 18, 2009 |
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The carnivorous reptiles (Varanus komodoensis) are known to bite prey and release them, leaving them to bleed to death from their wounds: the victims are reported to go into shock before the dragons kill a ...
Parasite causes zombie ants to die in an ideal spot
Aug 11, 2009 |
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A study in the September issue of The American Naturalist describes new details about a fungal parasite that coerces ants into dying in just the right spot -- one that is ideal for the fungus to grow and reproduce. The st ...
Like humans, monkeys fall into the 'uncanny valley'
Oct 13, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Princeton University researchers have come up with a new twist on the mysterious visual phenomenon experienced by humans known as the "uncanny valley." The scientists have found that monkeys ...
Aesop's fable 'the crow and the pitcher' more fact than fiction (w/ Video)
Aug 06, 2009 |
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In Aesop's fable 'The crow and the pitcher' a thirsty crow uses stones to raise the level of water in a pitcher to quench its thirst. A new study published online today (06 August) in the journal Current Bi ...
Ants more rational than humans
Jul 24, 2009 |
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In a study released online on July 22 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences, researchers at Arizona State University and Princeton University show that ants can accomplish a task ...
