Coaching computer canines in clambering
The mutts are metal, the size of toy poodles, with four pointy feet ending in little balls. They need to learn how to make their way on those little feet across a treacherous terrain of broken rocks. University of Southern California roboticist Stefan Schaal has just won renewal of a $1...Researchers identify gene that plays key role in size of dogs
...dogs from 14 small dog breeds, such as Chihuahuas, toy fox terriers and Pomeranians, and nine large dog breeds, including Irish wolfhounds, Saint Bernards and Great Danes. Surprisingly, almost all of the dogs from the small breed shared a stretch of DNA that was identical to that found in small Portugues......like bichon frise, Chihuahua, Maltese, Pomeranian, toy poodle, pug and Pekingese to large breeds such as ...iny dogs," says Chase, who owns a pair of 4-pound, toy poodle-Maltese mixes. "Tiny dogs are not particularly functional. They dont hunt with you. They dont...Delft University of Technology designs language development toy for autistic children
Helma van Rijn has developed a toy that uses a new method for teaching words to autistic children. She developed this toy as part of her graduation project at Delft University of Technology's Faculty of Industrial Design E......microscopic protein acts like a tiny Slinky spring toy within the coating of nerve cells, giving them strength. When 1-millimeter-long nematode worms were bred with the mutant gene, they lacked beta spectrin, resulting in breakage of their nerve cells' axons ? the long, wire-like extensions that connec...Watching with intent to repeat ignites key learning area of brain
...utting together or disassembling objects using six toy parts. In one condition, participants simply watched the activity; in another, they observed clips with the intention to be able to reproduce the actions in the correct sequential order minutes later. Despite lying completely still during these tas...Study reveals noisy Christmas toys can damage hearing
... The most dangerous toys by far were found to be toy guns. A mechanical toy machine gun, a plastic tommy gun, and a cap gun were tested and all were found to have noise levels ...'Molecular zipper' may hold important clues to Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and mad cow disease
...athological fibril structures. "Like a transformer toy -- a car that changes its shape and turns into a robot -- the protein changes its shape, going from its normal function to a diseased state," Nelson said. "Other proteins just do their jobs," Eisenberg said, "but these transformer proteins are diffe...Census of Marine Life - Discoveries and Highlights 2004: Scientists add 4m+ records, 13,000 species
...rince William Sound, Alaska. Hard, red, resembling toy jacks, the plants roll like tumbleweed in beds used as nurseries by scallops, shrimp, and other invertebrates, prompting plans to study the plants' contribution to the ecosystem. Additions to the book of life from hydrothermal vents and seeps...