Cyborg Beetles powered by a wing and a piezoelectric prayer

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Remember this day, friends. Remember when the cyborg beetles early first took flight in our labs and flew right into their world domination destiny. Look! Even now one of the brood is stealing a quarter, no doubt for financing purposes.

But total world domination won’t happen just yet. First, their human scientist handlers must perfect the way that the tiny piezolectric generators implanted on their backs create energy using nothing but the insect’s own wing flaps.

How’s it going so far? Pretty good for the beetles, reports Discover…

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Woolly Rhino fossil discovery in Tibet provides important clues to evolution of Ice Age Giants

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A New Wooly Rhino Discovery.

A new paper published in the journal Science reveals the discovery of a primitive woolly rhino fossil in the Himalayas, which suggests some giant mammals first evolved in present-day Tibet before the beginning of the Ice Age. The extinction of Ice Age giants such as woolly mammoths and rhinos, giant sloths, and saber-tooth cats has been widely studied, but much less is known about where these giants came from, and how they acquired their adaptations for living in a cold environment…

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Noise pollution causing songbirds to cheat on each other

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Confusion arises in the city for songbirds.

Noise pollution from humans is guilty of many things — causing whales to lose their way, killing giant squid, leading baby fish away from good habitat, and generally stressing out animals. But while we know noise pollution in the oceans is causing whales to yell their songs, scientists have only just discovered that it is also causing birds to change their tune — and it seems to lead to a problem with fidelity and mate selection.

Researchers have discovered that noise from roads and highways has caused some birds, including the Great Tit to change their songs to a higher pitch so that they can be heard over the din. However, the change makes them less attractive to mates…

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The expression “Sweating Like a Pig” has nothing to do with pigs

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Cute but not sweaty.

Pigs don’t sweat much, so they wallow in the mud to cool off their bodies. So how did the English language expression “sweating like a pig” develop? It’s actually a reference to pig iron, which is form of iron smelting…

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Dolphins now conch fishing

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Dolphins are very smart creatures.

Researchers from Murdoch University have been watching bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Australia develop an ingenious way to fish. First witnessed by researchers in 2007, a dolphin will use a conch shell to trap and scoop up fish. The dolphin will then proceed to pour the fishies into its mouth as if they were the bottoms of a chip bag. The remarkable part is that this behavior seems to be becoming more widespread, marking it as a trend learned…

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90% of plant and animal species on Earth not yet discovered

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There are approximately 8.7 million different types of plant and animal on Earth.

About 90% of the plant and animal species on Earth have yet to be discovered or classified according to scientists.  Earth is estimated to be home to just under 9 million species, a study says.

 

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Android app locates endangered species wherever you are

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Once they are gone, they are gone.

This is one of those cool-yet-terribly-sad-it-exists apps. The Center for Biological Diversity has created an app for Android users that will tell you exactly which endangered species are living in the area you’re standing in. On the one hand, it’s amazing to know at any point in time which species are living in the area you’re walking though, and especially interesting to know which endangered species are struggling to survive. It could be a way to stay aware of local ecology and how you can help with conservation efforts. However, it’s of course a bummer that there’s an app that will tell you all the species that are thiiiiis close to being found only in history books.

The free “Species Finder” Android app has over 1,000 plants and animals from the endangered species list in its database. Using your smartphone’s GPS, the app generates a list of all the threatened and endangered species living in whichever county you’re currently located in.

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