ScienceDaily: Strange Science News |
- Bird brains follow the beat
- Cunning super-parasitic wasps sniff out protected aphids and overwhelm their defenses
- Robot obeys to commands and gestures
- Lifestyle of naked mole-rats holds lifesaving clues
| Posted: 24 Feb 2012 12:27 PM PST By training birds to 'get rhythm', scientists uncover evidence that our capacity to move in time with music may be connected with our ability to learn speech.  |
| Cunning super-parasitic wasps sniff out protected aphids and overwhelm their defenses Posted: 24 Feb 2012 08:07 AM PST In the war between parasite and host, the parasitic wasp and the pea aphid are locked in a battle for survival. New research shows that this cunning parasite sniffs out differences between protected and unprotected aphids, and alters its egg-laying strategy, in order to overwhelm aphid defenses and ensure survival of wasp offspring. The wasp lays an egg inside the pea aphid, where the egg hatches and converts the aphid's insides into a wasp nursery. The wasp larva uses the still-living aphid as a food source, eventually pupating inside the aphid and emerging as a fully-formed mature wasp. However the pea aphid is not defenseless. It is protected by a bacterial symbiont.  |
| Robot obeys to commands and gestures Posted: 24 Feb 2012 08:06 AM PST A robot helping in the household no longer is a dream of the future. ARMAR, the humanoid robot, can understand commands and execute them independently. For instance, it gets the milk out of the fridge. Thanks to cameras and sensors, it orients itself in the room, recognizes objects, and grasps them with the necessary sensitivity. Additionally, it reacts to gestures and learns by watching a human colleague how to empty a dishwasher or clean the counter. Thus, it adapts naturally to our environment.  |
| Lifestyle of naked mole-rats holds lifesaving clues Posted: 23 Feb 2012 03:25 PM PST A biologist thinks the subterranean lifestyle of the naked mole-rat may hold clues to keeping brain cells alive and functioning when oxygen is scarce, as during a heart attack. The key may lie in how brain cells regulate their intake of calcium, he says.  |
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