Animals' Behavior Can Hasten Their Extinction
... shearwaters are attracted to nocturnal light--but flying into lights oncars and buildings often results in death. Least Bell's vireos nest along habitat edges--but today their habitat is sofragmented that the edges are highly susceptible to predators. Instead of ignoring species' behavior, we should use ...Sandia, University Of Montana Researchers Try Training Bees To Find Buried Landmines
...re from the hive in all directions. "Bees are like flying dust mops," says Bromenshenk."Wherever they go, they pick up dust, airborne chemicals,and other samples. If it's out there, they'll find it andbring it back." All landmines leak small amounts of explosives into nearbysoil or water. Sandia's mine-dete...Discovery of new bird species in China, oldest beak shows evolution complexity
...mmetric wing feathers characteristic of all modern flying birds.Ostriches and other birds that can't fly well sprout nearly symmetric feathersincapable of creating an airfoil and hence lift. "These birds also have highly curved foot claws and reversed big toesshowing they were clearly tree-dwelling ...CU-Boulder to send experiments ranging from ladybugs to water quality on NASA shuttle
...er-based BioServe Space Technologies Centerwill be flying experiments ranging from ladybugs and butterflies to biomedicineand water purification on a space shuttle slated for launch July 20. Scheduled for launch from Cape Kennedy, Fla., the five-day flight of NASA'sspace shuttle Columbia may be the last of ...Burrowing mayfly swarms signal a healthier ecosystem, USGS scientists say
While swarms of flying insects may have little appeal for most people, US... feed on decaying plant matter,and both nymphs and flying adults are preyed upon by various species of fish,including species such as yellow perch that are im...Cleaner air and less acidification among proposals for new environmental goals
... aglobal scale, and that emissions from aeroplanes flying above 10,000 metres donot damage theozone layer. Sustainable lakes and watercourses The Swedish EPA is of the opinion that more lakes and watercourses should beprotected. Thosethat have high natural values should receive long-term protection by 202......er radioactive sources. Living in the mountains or flying also increases exposure slightly. Surviving a long winter's nap But the total dosage from these is small during our lifespans, so the impact normally is insignificant. However, for an organism in hibernation for a million years or so, the cumula...Fossil mayflies can be used to 'weigh' ancient atmospheres
...inctions, such as those 65 million years ago among flying reptiles (pterosaurs) and birds' flightless dinosaur relatives? Cisne said he hopes that further study of mayflies and other fossil insects will provide more definitive answers to geologists' questions. "Mayflies are particularly good subjects becaus...Bees wearing reflectors help scientists track insects training flights
...econnaissance not by taking longer flights, but by flying faster and faster, the scientists report. Honeybees live in a social world known for its distinct division of labor based on age-specific tasks. They begin their adult life working inside the hive as sanitation workers and nursemaids, among other ro......en, in 1996, a different team discovered that bees flying between very tall buildings performed waggle dance...xploring the possibility of developing autonomous, flying vehicles that incorporate some principle of insect vision to avoid obstacles, perhaps for surveillan......es for some time," said Peterson. "One day we were flying over that part of the island tracking the signal f...illed by the Middle Pack. "Two days later we were flying along the shoreline of the island and we saw a female standing on a rock out in Lake Superior faci......tion of all kinds, whether it's running, swimming, flying or wriggling. As Koehl has found, these principles even apply to movement not associated with locomotion - with sampling the environment, capturing food or just trying to stay put in the face of wind or water currents. Earlier this month, the UC Berk...Ancient fossil shows earliest feathers, may end argument about birds' origin
... the other side, which is characteristic of modern flying birds, he observed. Barbs on either side of the qu...the earliest bird," Rubin said. "So you have birds flying before the evolution of the first bird-like dinosaurs. We now question very strongly whether there w...Ancient feathered animal challenges dinosaur-bird link
... prove that this animal was indeed the ancestor of flying birds, Ruben said, it's clearly consistent with th...rd, Archaeopteryx," Ruben said. "So you have birds flying before the evolution of the first birdlike dinosaurs. We now question very strongly whether there we...Feathers on reptile older than dinosaurs, reported in Science
Washington DC - A small, flying reptile older than most dinosaurs may have sported a set of feathers, suggests a study in the 23 June issue of Science . The evidence comes from a fossil approximately 220 million years old, about 75 million years older than the oldest known bird, ...Desktop biofactories? New microrobots might manipulate single cells, Science authors report
...onic devices featuring rods and levers, artificial flying insects made of polysilicon, and a walking silicon microrobot. But, "none of these operate in water, and would not be suitable as microactuators for the manipulation of cells," Jager notes. Whenever pure silicon is exposed, he explains, it oxidizes a...Microscopic bone evidence supports dinosaur-bird evolution link
...and U.S. researchers suggested a fossil of a small flying reptile with feathers, called Longisquama, came from 225 million years ago. That's about the time dinosaurs first appeared but 75 million years before the first birds. Longisquama was an archosaur, part of a group of reptiles from which dinosaurs, bi...Hummingbird studies raise questions about birdsong evolution
... wings from limb structures in pterosaurs (ancient flying dinosaurs), bats andbirds. "The reason why wings evolved in a similar way is because there is an environmentalconstraint, the center of gravity, placed on how animals can fly," he explained. "Here, I think thereis an interaction between the envi...Microbial transport at Yellowstone: by land, sea or air?
...s have a penchant for travel driving, sailing and flying over the planet in search of new places to live. So do microbes, say researchers at the University of Illinois who have been studying microbial transport at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park. "Hot springs comprise a complex ecosystem ...Unprecedented fire season in southern Africa aids air quality, climate change research
...carbon budgets." Studies by research aircraft flying inside the pall of haze revealed several surprises. Aircraft encountered puzzling layers of extremely clean air sandwiched between polluted layers. "The pollution in the region is often very stratified with height in the atmosphere," says Peter ...