Using genetic analyses, Senckenberg scientists have discovered that not all Grass Snakes retreated to warm southern refugia during the last Central European Ice Age. Together with a colleague from Spain, they offer first evidence for the survival of a warmth-loving, egg-laying reptile during this cold period. The study was recently published in the journal Scientific...
AI computer vision breakthrough IDs poachers in less than half a second
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Researchers have long been applying AI to protect wildlife. Initially, computer scientists were using AI and game theory to anticipate the poachers' haunts, and now they have applied artificial intelligence and deep learning to spot poachers in near real-time....
Read more
Stem cell research provides hope for tasmanian devils with a deadly, transmissible cancer
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Using stem cell therapy, researchers have taken the first step toward developing an effective treatment for devil facial tumor disease (DFTD), which is decimating Tasmanian devils in the wild....
Read more
Snacking snakes act as ‘ecosystem engineers’ in seed dispersal
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Despite the bad rap snakes often get, they are more central to ecology than most people realize. New research reveals that snakes might even play a key role in dispersing plant seeds....
Read more
Competing for blood: How ecologists are solving infectious disease mysteries
[unable to retrieve full-text content]By looking at malaria infections and hookworms as competitors battling over a key resource -- red blood cells -- ecologists were able to explain why co-infected patients often got sicker after being dewormed: without the hookworms to keep it in check, the malaria infection ran rampant....
Read more
'Spectacular' finding: New 3-D vision discovered in praying mantis
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Miniature glasses have revealed a new form of 3-D vision in praying mantises that could lead to simpler visual processing for robots....
Read more