New scientific research has revealed how a small part of the brain singlehandedly steadies the body if it is thrown off balance. The study in mice found that a brain region called the lateral vestibular nucleus, or LVN, accomplishes this feat by moving muscles in a two-step, kneejerk response that first widens the animal's center...
Modern man vs. giant animals: Mega-herbivores were displaced by humans who partly took their place
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Scientists have studied the extinction of mega-herbivores – plant-eating animals that weighed more than one ton – that occurred approx. 12,000 years ago. The scientists reached the conclusion that, on the one hand, modern man was the cause of these giant terrestrial animals' extinction, and on the other hand, humans took...
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Visualizing danger from songbird warning calls
[unable to retrieve full-text content]A researcher finds that a small songbird, the Japanese tit (Parus minor), can retrieve a visual image of a predator from specific alarm calls....
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Mammals and birds could have best shot at surviving climate change
[unable to retrieve full-text content]New research that analyzed more than 270 million years of data on animals shows that mammals and birds – both warm-blooded animals – may have a better chance of evolving and adapting to the Earth's rapidly changing climate than their cold-blooded peers, reptiles and amphibians....
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New Egyptian dinosaur reveals ancient link between Africa and Europe
[unable to retrieve full-text content]When it comes to the final days of the dinosaurs, Africa is something of a blank page. Fossils found in Africa from the Late Cretaceous, the time period from 100 to 66 million years ago, are few and far between. That means that the course of dinosaur evolution in Africa has...
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Entomologist discovers millipede that comes in more color combinations than any other
The new millipede that Paul Marek discovered is as pretty as it is dangerous.
The thumb-sized millipede that crawls around the forest floor of Southwest Virginia's Cumberland Mountains has more color combinations than any other millipede discovered.
Apheloria polychroma, as the millipede is known, also has an enviable trait in the animal world -- it's covered in...