About: Joseph

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.

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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...

[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...

[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....

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Spoiling old dogs in their twilight years by retiring them to the sofa and forgiving them their stubbornness or disobedience, doesn't do our four-legged friends any good. Regular brain training and lifelong learning create positive emotions and can slow down mental deterioration in old age. Physical limitations, however, often do not...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Research has revealed that, among schooling fish, groups can have different collective personalities, with some shoals sticking closer together, being better coordinated, and showing clearer leadership than others....