Animals differ strikingly in character and temperament. Yet only recently has it become evident that personalities are a widespread phenomenon in the animal kingdom. Animals as diverse as spiders, mice and squids appear to have personalities. Personality differences have been described in more than 60 species, including primates, rodents, birds, fish, insects and mollusks. New work by Max Wolf (University of Groningen; currently at the Santa Fe Institute), Santa Fe Institute Postdoctoral Fellow Sander van Doorn, Franz Weissing (University of Groningen), and Olof Leimar (Stockholm University) offers an explanation for the evolution of animal personalities. Their findings are detailed in "Life-history trade-offs favour the evolution of animal personalities" in the May 31 issue of Nature.
The evolutionary origins of "animal personality" - defined as consistent behavior over time and in different situations - is poorly understood. Why do different personality types exist within a single population given that, at first sight, one would expect one type to be more successful than another" Why are individuals not more flexible considering that personality rigidity sometimes leads to seemingly inefficient behavior" Why do we find the same types of traits correlated with each other in very different kinds of animals"
The authors argue that in many cases personalities are shaped by a simple underlying principle: the more an individual stands to lose (in terms of future reproduction) the more cautiously it is likely to behave, in all kinds of situations and consistently over time.
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The Great Ape Trust in Des Moines, Iowa, is home to seven bonobos -- a close relative of the chimpanzee -- and three orangutans. But if you think Iowa might be a strange place for them to live, don't say it out loud & these apes understand English.
The Great Ape Trust in Des Moines, Iowa, is home to seven bonobos -- a close relative of the chimpanzee -- and three orangutans. But if you think Iowa might be a strange place for them to live, don't say it out loud & these apes understand English.
A runaway black hole pummeling through space at millions of miles per hour should be as easy to spot as a dog dragging along its leash and stake.
Blazing trails of X-rays, produced by material getting sucked into the voracious beast, would be a dead giveaway of the escapee. Plus merged galaxies missing their black holes, sort of "empty nests," should be quite frequent.
But astronomers searching for such evidence have come up empty-handed, suggesting ejected black holes are less common than theory has predicted.
Two teams of astronomers presented research here today at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society revealing which galaxies could be potential launch platforms for an ousted black hole as well as reasons why ejectees are so rare.
Blazing trails of X-rays, produced by material getting sucked into the voracious beast, would be a dead giveaway of the escapee. Plus merged galaxies missing their black holes, sort of "empty nests," should be quite frequent.
But astronomers searching for such evidence have come up empty-handed, suggesting ejected black holes are less common than theory has predicted.
Two teams of astronomers presented research here today at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society revealing which galaxies could be potential launch platforms for an ousted black hole as well as reasons why ejectees are so rare.
ESA's SOHO has helped uncover radio screams that foretell dangerous Coronal Mass Ejections, or CMEs, which produce radiation storms harming infrastructure on ground, in space as well as humans in space.
Scientists made the connection by analysing observations of CMEs from ESA/NASA's SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) and NASA's Wind spacecraft. The team includes researchers from Goddard, the Catholic University of America, Washington, the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, and the Observatory of Paris.
A CME is a solar slam to our high-tech civilisation. It begins when the Sun launches a thousand million tons of electrically conducting gas (plasma) into space at millions of kilometres per hour.
A CME cloud is laced with magnetic fields and when directed our way, smashes into Earth's magnetic field. If the magnetic fields have the correct orientation, they dump energy into Earth's magnetic field, causing magnetic storms. These storms can cause widespread blackouts by overloading power line equipment with extra electric current.
Scientists made the connection by analysing observations of CMEs from ESA/NASA's SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) and NASA's Wind spacecraft. The team includes researchers from Goddard, the Catholic University of America, Washington, the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, and the Observatory of Paris.
A CME is a solar slam to our high-tech civilisation. It begins when the Sun launches a thousand million tons of electrically conducting gas (plasma) into space at millions of kilometres per hour.
A CME cloud is laced with magnetic fields and when directed our way, smashes into Earth's magnetic field. If the magnetic fields have the correct orientation, they dump energy into Earth's magnetic field, causing magnetic storms. These storms can cause widespread blackouts by overloading power line equipment with extra electric current.
University of Western Sydney researcher, Associate Professor Tom Millar has approached the problem of dry eyes from a new perspective. He re-examined the structure and function of natural tears to find new clues for creating longer lasting artificial tears.
Tears protect and lubricate the cornea and conjunctiva of the eye and help provide a clear medium through which we see.
Tears protect and lubricate the cornea and conjunctiva of the eye and help provide a clear medium through which we see.
While the Crab Nebula's location in the sky agreed very well with the reported position of this bright new star, several studies of the expanding cloud of stellar debris unexpectedly indicated that it was expanding much too fast to be associated with a supernova explosion in 1054. Instead, these studies pointed later in time, toward an explosion date in the first half of the 12th century.
A team of astronomers has recalculated the explosion date of the famous Crab Nebula supernova and found excellent agreement between their measurements and the classic date of the 1054 A.D. appearance of a bright "guest star" seen in the constellation of Taurus the Bull.
A team of astronomers has recalculated the explosion date of the famous Crab Nebula supernova and found excellent agreement between their measurements and the classic date of the 1054 A.D. appearance of a bright "guest star" seen in the constellation of Taurus the Bull.
Turning off a gene that has been associated with Alzheimer's disease made mice smarter in the lab, researchers said on Sunday in a finding that lends new insight on learning and may lead to new drugs for memory problems.
They said these mice were far more adept at sensing changes in their environment than their mouse brethren.
"It's pretty rare when you can make an animal smarter," said Dr. James Bibb, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who led the study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
They said these mice were far more adept at sensing changes in their environment than their mouse brethren.
"It's pretty rare when you can make an animal smarter," said Dr. James Bibb, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who led the study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
An Indian zoologist said Monday he has found a new species of limbless lizard in a forested area in the country's east. "Preliminary scientific study reveals that the lizard belongs to the genus Sepsophis," said Sushil Kumar Dutta, who led a team of researchers from "Vasundhra," a non-governmental organization, and the North Orissa University.
The newly found 7-inch long lizard looks like a scaly, small snake, Dutta said. "It prefers to live in a cool retreat, soft soil and below stones."
"The lizard is new to science and is an important discovery. It is not found anywhere else in the world," Dutta told The Associated Press. He is the head of the zoology department of the North Orissa University in the eastern Indian town of Baripada.
The newly found 7-inch long lizard looks like a scaly, small snake, Dutta said. "It prefers to live in a cool retreat, soft soil and below stones."
"The lizard is new to science and is an important discovery. It is not found anywhere else in the world," Dutta told The Associated Press. He is the head of the zoology department of the North Orissa University in the eastern Indian town of Baripada.
With technology becoming far more sophisticated and pervasive, sports is awash in ethical dilemmas. So where does a lightning fast amputee fit in the spectrum of Barry Bonds with his alleged doping and Tiger Woods with his better-than-perfect Lasik eyes?
The real estate in our corner of the universe suddenly seems so much bigger. Australian astronomers are among an international team that has announced the discovery of 28 more planets in our galaxy.
Spotted in the past year, they raise the number of worlds known to circle other stars to 236 - a 12 per cent increase.
Spotted in the past year, they raise the number of worlds known to circle other stars to 236 - a 12 per cent increase.
