Related topics: facial expressions

Coronaviruses are masters of mimicry, new study finds

Coronaviruses are adept at imitating human immune proteins that have been implicated in severe COVID-19 disease, a study from researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons has found.

Cheating birds mimic host nestlings to deceive foster parents

The common cuckoo is known for its deceitful nesting behavior—by laying eggs in the nests of other bird species, it fools host parents into rearing cuckoo chicks alongside their own. While common cuckoos mimic their host's ...

Scientists discover new species of wasp-mimicking praying mantis

Cleveland Museum of Natural History Director of Research & Collections and Curator of Invertebrate Zoology Dr. Gavin Svenson and former Case Western Reserve University graduate student, Henrique Rodrigues, have discovered ...

A tasty Florida butterfly turns sour

The viceroy butterfly is a mimic, modeling its orange-and-black colors after the queen butterfly, a bug that tastes so disgusting predators have learned not to eat it or anything that looks like it, including viceroys. The ...

How poppy flowers get those vibrant colours that entice insects

With bright reds and yellows—and even the occasional white—poppies are very bright and colorful. Their petals, however, are also very thin; they are made up of just three layers of cells. University of Groningen scientists ...

Warty hammer orchids are sexual deceivers

Orchids are famed for their beautiful and alluring flowers – and the great lengths to which people will go to experience them in the wild. Among Australian orchids, evocative names such as The Butterfly Orchid, The Queen ...

A virtual reality approach to social interaction

People tend to copy other people's behaviour, facial expressions or speech when socially interacting with them. Understanding this unintentional mimicry using sophisticated technology was the subject of the INTERHYTHM project.

100-million-year-old liverwort mimicry in insects

Camouflage and mimicry are pervasive throughout the biological world as part of the usual interactions between predators and their prey, allowing both to avoid detection. Among insects, the icons of mimicry include familiar ...

How a 'flipped' gene helped butterflies evolve mimicry

Female swallowtail butterflies do something a lot of butterflies do to survive: they mimic wing patterns, shapes and colors of other species that are toxic to predators. Some - but not all - swallowtail species have evolved ...

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