It's a depressingly familiar sight when an oil well blows or a tanker runs aground: thousands of stranded, helpless animals wallowing in cloying crude oil. 'Birds are often used as the poster children for the deadly effects ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 5, 2017
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1
(Phys.org)—A pair of researchers from Stanford University has studied the energy used by a type of small parrot as it hops from branch to branch during foraging. As they note in their paper uploaded to the open access site ...
The wind rushing between skyscrapers is a substantial hurdle for anyone interested in operating small drones in urban areas. Yet, pigeons seem to have little trouble maneuvering through turbulent city skies. With sights set ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 10, 2017
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19
The protective goggles are tight, the chin strap secure. Conditions are calm and the lasers are ready; the air is infused with tiny aerosol particles that are primed to scatter and track at the slightest disruption. Wait ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 5, 2016
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New research at Lund University in Sweden shows that the flight speed of birds is determined by a variety of factors. Among the most sensational is that the size of the flock has a significant impact on how fast the birds ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 16, 2016
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18
For the first time, researchers have discovered that birds can sleep in flight. Together with an international team of colleagues, Niels Rattenborg from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen measured the brain ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 3, 2016
1
565
Research by post-doctoral fellow Alexander Dececchi challenges long-held hypotheses about how flight first developed in birds. Furthermore, his findings raise the question of why certain species developed wings long before ...
Evolution
Jul 18, 2016
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11
(Phys.org)—A pair of researchers has found that at least one type of birds flies at just two speed levels. In their paper published in the journal Biology Letters, Ingo Schiffner and Mandyam Srinivasan with the University ...
New research based on high-resolution x-ray movies reveals that despite having extremely underdeveloped muscles and wings, young birds acquire a mature flight stroke early in their development, initially relying heavily on ...
Archaeology
Apr 21, 2016
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45
An international team of engineers and biologists will gain unprecedented insights into how birds fly so efficiently and then turn that knowledge to building unmanned aircraft with shapeshifting wings.
Engineering
Mar 17, 2016
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