At the insect singles bar, cicadas provide the soundtrack
Gainesville FL (SPX) Jul 12, 2016 -
Summer days resonate with the sound of cicadas trying to make a love connection. But like a lot of singles, male cicadas don't always attract the kind of mates they're hoping for.
Cicada calls, it turns out, attract not just female cicadas, but sarcophagid flies in the mood for love, according to a study by Brian J. Stucky, a post-doctoral researcher at the Florida Museum of Natural Histor ...
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Researchers reveal first sightings of rare whales off New Zealand coast
Dunedin, New Zealand (SPX) Jul 12, 2016 -
For the first time in New Zealand waters an extremely rare grouping of Shepherd's Beaked Whales has been spotted from a University of Otago research vessel off the coast of the city of Dunedin in the South Island.
Dr Will Rayment, from Otago's Department of Marine Science, last week led a survey expedition of the submarine canyons off the Otago coast aboard the vessel Polaris II, and revea ...
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China has 'no historic rights' in South China Sea: tribunal
The Hague (AFP) July 12, 2016 -
China has no legal basis to claim "historic rights" to islands in the South China Sea and has violated Manila's sovereign rights, an international tribunal ruled on Tuesday, in a bitter dispute that risks stoking further tensions in Southeast Asia.
"The tribunal concluded that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights within the sea areas falling within the 'nine-dash line' ...
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Israel ultra-Orthodox women go hi-tech
Holon, Israel (AFP) July 11, 2016 -
Bright and airy, the workspace at Comax is much like other Israeli hi-tech firms, except that a rabbi has carefully vetted its design to allow ultra-Orthodox Jewish women to work there.
The company in Holon near Tel Aviv employs 20 ultra-Orthodox women, one of several to do so as increasingly more female breadwinners from Israel's religious community join the secular work force.
Graduat ...
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The debut of a robotic stingray, powered by light-activated rat cells
Washington DC (SPX) Jul 11, 2016 -
Researchers have created a robotic mimic of a stingray that's powered and guided by light-sensitive rat heart cells. The work exhibits a new method for building bio-inspired robots by means of tissue engineering. Batoid fish, which include stingrays, are distinguished by their flat bodies and long, wing-like fins that extend from their heads.
These fins move in energy-efficient waves that ...
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New clues could help scientists harness the power of photosynthesis
University Park PA (SPX) Jul 11, 2016 -
Identification of a gene needed to expand light harvesting in photosynthesis into the far-red-light spectrum provides clues to the development of oxygen-producing photosynthesis, an evolutionary advance that changed the history of life on Earth.
"Knowledge of how photosynthesis evolved could empower scientists to design better ways to use light energy for the benefit of mankind," said Dona ...
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One reaction, two results, zero waste
Onna, Japan (SPX) Jul 11, 2016 -
Finding new and effective ways to create alcohols and esters is a constant target in chemistry, as these substances are important industrial compounds and feedstocks - the raw materials from which many industrial processes start. Alcohols have numerous medical and industrial applications, such as drugs and antifreeze.
Esters, a class of organic compounds, are utilized by the food and cosme ...
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