In English
2023-07-03 @ 19.59.33 ∈ In English
Men are hunters, women are gatherers. That was the assumption. A new study upends it.
Their findings — published in the journal PLOS One this week — is that in 79% of the societies for which there is data, women were hunting. [Moreover], this wasn't just opportunistic killing of animals that the women happened upon. The vast majority of the [time] "the hunting was purposeful. Women had their own toolkit. They had favorite weapons. Grandmas were the best hunters of the village."
2023-07-01 @ 20.53.03 ∈ In English
Pace off: NASA Goddard acoustics chamber and US marine band turn up the volume
The acoustics chamber isn't like a concert hall, despite how its name might sound. Instead, the chamber replicates the harsh sound environment of a rocket launch by blasting sound waves at a spacecraft to make sure it can withstand the journey into orbit.
2023-07-01 @ 19.35.51 ∈ In English
2023-06-30 @ 13.22.42 ∈ In English
Artificial neural network study explains why biting flies are attracted to blue objects
[The ANN, trained to process visual information in a way similar to that of the fly brain, had] trouble telling the difference between blue objects and animals. This suggested that an inability to distinguish between animals and blue objects is the reason for the attraction to blue objects by flies.
2023-06-27 @ 19.13.01 ∈ In English
Seasonal specialization in butterflies determines responses to a changing climate
"The small white butterfly is better than the green-veined white butterfly at reproducing over the summer but has poorer winter survival. It appears to be a 'summer specialist' and the green-veined white butterfly a 'winter specialist.'"
2023-06-23 @ 11.55.22 ∈ In English
As Arctic warms, caribou and muskoxen slow biodiversity loss
Diversity declined by about 0.85 species per decade when herbivores were excluded, whereas this decline was only about 0.33 species per decade when they were allowed to graze. The scientists attributed this to herbivores keeping species such as shrubs, dwarf birch and gray willow in check so that other plants could better flourish.
2023-06-17 @ 22.11.50 ∈ In English
Rare butterflies thriving after reintroduction bid
The large heath butterfly was once so widespread that it was locally named the Manchester argus. But its habitat was wrecked by the 19th Century arrival of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Wildlife experts said they were "optimistic" about the species, which is now "breeding strongly".
2023-06-16 @ 18.04.59 ∈ In English
We’ve pumped so much groundwater that we’ve nudged the Earth’s spin, says new study
By pumping water out of the ground and moving it elsewhere, humans have shifted such a large mass of water that the Earth tilted nearly 80 centimeters (31.5 inches) east between 1993 and 2010 alone, according to a new study published in Geophysical Research Letters.
2023-06-15 @ 20.37.07 ∈ In English
How traditional Indigenous education helped four lost children survive 40 days in the Amazon jungle
Indigenous children typically learn from an early age how to open paths through dense vegetation, how to tell edible from non-edible fruits. They know how to find potable water, build rain shelters and set animal traps. They can identify animal footprints and scents—and avoid predators such as jaguars and snakes lurking in the woods.