[unable to retrieve full-text content]New research indicates that introduced 'alien' honeybees are competing for resources with native bees and threatening the survival of plants that rely on interactions with specific pollinators....
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New measures could help tackle tragic consequences of poorly bred puppies, say vets
08 February 2018
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Effective legislation must be backed by adequate resources to guarantee dog welfare
Responding to Michael Gove's call for evidence on banning third party puppy sales, and the raft of measures laid in Parliament today, the President of the British Veterinary Association John Fishwick said:
“As vets, we see first-hand the tragic consequences that can...
Fruit bat's echolocation may work like sophisticated surveillance sonar
New research from the University of Washington suggests that the Egyptian fruit bat is using similar techniques to those preferred by modern-day military and civil surveillance. The results could inspire new directions for driverless cars and drones.
The new open-access paper in PLoS Biology shows how the animals are able to navigate using a different system...
Robotic fish can 'see' and mimic live fish
For more than a decade, biomimetic robots have been deployed alongside live animals to better understand the drivers of animal behavior, including social cues, fear, leadership, and even courtship. The encounters have always been unidirectional; the animals observe and respond to the robots. But in the lab of Maurizio Porfiri, a professor of mechanical and...
Mind-controlling molecules from wasp venom could someday help Parkinson's patients
[unable to retrieve full-text content]After being stung by a parasitic wasp, the American cockroach loses control of its behavior, becoming host to the wasp's egg. Days later, the hatchling consumes the cockroach alive. While this is a gruesome process for the cockroach, scientists now report the discovery of a new family of peptides in the...
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Here is the perfect spot for a birds' inner compass
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Migratory birds use a magnetic compass in their eye for navigation. Its basic sensory mechanisms have long remained elusive, but now researchers reveal exactly where in the eye, the birds' control center for navigation is situated....
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