Robots have been designed to move in ways that mimic animal movements, such as walking and swimming. Scientists are now considering how to design robots that mimic the gliding motion exhibited by flying snakes.
The earliest morphological traces of life on Earth are often highly controversial, both because non-biological processes can produce relatively similar structures and because such fossils have often been subjected to advanced alteration and metamorphism. Stromatolites, layered organo-sedimentary structures reflecting complex interplays between microbial communities and their environment, have long been considered key macrofossils for life detection in ancient sedimentary rocks; however, the biological origin of ancient stromatolites has frequently been criticized. An article released Friday in the Geological Society of America journal Geology uses a range of advanced two- and three-dimensional analytical techniques to establish the biological origins of Earth's oldest stromatolites from the 3.48-billion-year-old Dresser Formation, Pilbara, Western Australia.
Washington [US], October 6 (ANI): A new study of a tiny Triassic fossil reptile first discovered over 100 years ago in the northeast of Scotland has revealed it to be a close relative of the species that would become pterosaurs' iconic flying reptiles of the age of the dinosaurs.
Scientists have discovered why vampire bats are the only creatures capable of surviving solely on blood. They compared the genomes of common vampire bats to those of 26 other bat species. Then, they discovered 13 genes in vampire bats that are either absent or no longer function. Those gene changes allowed them to adapt to […]
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