Woodpeckers are well known for striking tree trunks with remarkable force and precision. These birds deliver thousands of high-speed impacts per day, generating mechanical loads that would destabilize the skulls of most other birds. For decades,…
Category: 5. Biology
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Why woodpeckers rarely get rattled: Skulls built to control rotation, not cushion blows
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A 3D-printed wheelchair is helping this turtle walk again
A Gulf Coast box turtle named Moses, missing both of its back legs, is…
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Ocean currents drive disease spread between oyster reefs: Research identifies restoration sites at risk
The European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) was once widespread in the North Sea. However, overfishing, habitat destruction and infectious diseases pushed the species to the brink of extinction in some regions nearly one hundred years ago. In…
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Outdated Flood Maps Put U.S. Property Owners at Risk
How can climate change influence flood insurance? This is what a pair of papers published in npj Natural Hazards and Nature Water hopes to address as a team of researchers led by Arizona State University…
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New species of ancient mollusk found in South Korean waters
Scientists have discovered a new species of chiton, an ancient marine mollusk that has remained virtually unchanged for the last 300 million years. Chitons have an elongated oval shape with a shell composed of eight interlocking plates that…
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Environmental sampling finds more poultry viruses than bird swabs in live markets
Scientists at Duke-NUS Medical School have found that viruses circulating in live poultry markets can be detected more effectively by sampling the surrounding environment than by testing individual birds. The study, published in Nature…
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Watch How Planet-Hopping Microbes Can Survive Asteroid Strikes
Did life originate on Earth, or could it have been seeded here, originating on some other planet, like Mars? The latter scenario would involve extraterrestrial material getting ejected from its home planet and making the trip through space,…
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Drones capture rare harbor porpoise mating behavior off Shetland
Drones flying above the waters of Shetland have captured rare footage of harbor porpoises gathering in unusually large groups and engaging in mating behavior. The footage, gathered between 2019 and 2023, provides one of the most detailed records…
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Koalas Nearly Lost Their Genetic Diversity But Their Comeback Is Rewriting the Story
Koalasā population comeback may be doing more than boosting numbersāit could also be rebuilding their lost genetic diversity. A new genomic study of koalas across Australia suggests that rapid population recovery may help restore genetic…
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Study reveals a disease-relevant role for tanycytes in neurodegeneration
Accumulation of the protein tau in the brain isĀ one of theĀ hallmarksĀ of Alzheimer’s disease. In a paper publishing March 5 in the Cell Press journalĀ Cell Press Blue, researchers report a previously unknown mechanism…
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