Imagine Max, a well-trained border collie, manages to ignore a squirrel in the park when his owner tells him to sit. His owner says, “Max, stop chasing that squirrel and sit down,” and Max obeys. Can dogs learn and understand words the way humans do?
Category: 5. Biology
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Some dogs can pick up hundreds of words—do they learn like children?
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How Animals Build a Sense of Direction
These head direction cells are connected in a ringlike system called a ring attractor network. In mammals, this network is not a physical ring (though it is, strangely, in fruit flies), but it can be schematically represented as such. The…
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Plant Discovery Could Transform How Medicines Are Made
Scientists have uncovered an unexpected way plants make powerful chemicals, revealing hidden biological connections that could transform how medicines are discovered and produced. Plants produce protective chemicals called alkaloids as part of…
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Fossil shorebirds reveal Australia's ancient wetlands lost to climate change
Flinders University paleontology researchers—with local fossil experts—have discovered how prolific shorebirds, including the Plains-wanderer, once lived across South Australia’s South-East during wetter times up to 60,000 years ago.
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When and how to plant fruit trees for 'fruitful' results
Dreaming of harvesting peaches, plums, apples or figs from your own backyard? Growing delicious homegrown fruit starts with planting your tree correctly—and at the right time of year.
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Looking deep into the eyes of insects
Researchers from the University of Konstanz have studied how insect brains take in complex light stimuli and process them in parallel. They are the first to have found evidence that information is processed in different layers of the lamina.
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Walking sharks break the rules of reproduction
Scientists at James Cook University have uncovered a striking biological surprise. Epaulette sharks can reproduce and lay eggs without showing any measurable increase in energy use. The finding challenges long-standing assumptions about how…
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First new fossils in more than 100 years discovered at Colorado's Dinosaur National Monument
Parking lot construction at Colorado’s Dinosaur National Monument unearthed new fossils last fall, the first discovery at the monument in more than 100 years, according to the National Park Service.
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Analyzing bacterial enzymes in pikromycin synthesis
Macrolides are an important class of antibiotics that includes drugs such as azithromycin and erythromycin, which are widely used to treat a range of infections, including pneumonia and skin infections.
A defining feature of their…
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Researcher finds way to predict whirling disease with almost no data
A study led by a University of Calgary researcher has come up with an AI-based early detection system for river-borne pathogens—including whirling disease in trout and salmon.
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