These 3D-printed pipes inspired by shark intestines outperform Tesla valves
Enlarge / Shark intestines are naturally occurring Tesla valves; scientists have figured out how to mimic their unique structure.Sarah L. Keller/University of Washington Scientists at the University of Washington have re-created the distinctive spiral shapes of shark intestines in 3D-printed pipes in order to study the unique fluid flow inside the spirals. Their prototypes kept…
Rare woolly rhino mummies emerge from the permafrost
Enlarge / Portion of a reproduction of cave paintings in France, showing rhinos (among other species). For most people, an extinct species is an abstraction, a set of bones they might have seen on display in a museum. For Gennady Boeskorov, they are things he has interacted with directly, studying their fur, their skin, their…
Mice made transparent with a dye used in Doritos
Enlarge / Zihao Ou, who helped develop this solution, holds a tube of it. One key challenge in medical imaging is to look past skin and other tissue that are opaque to see internal organs and structures. This is the reason we need things like ultrasonography, magnetic resonance, or X-rays. There are chemical clearing agents…
A single peptide helps starfish get rid of a limb when...
For many creatures, having a limb caught in a predator’s mouth is usually a death sentence. Not starfish, though—they can detach the limb and leave the predator something to chew on while they crawl away. But how can they pull this off? Starfish and some other animals (including lizards and salamanders) are capable of autonomy…
Remembering where your meals came from key for a small bird’s...
It seems like common sense that being smart should increase the chances of survival in wild animals. Yet for a long time, scientists couldn’t demonstrate that because it was unclear how to tell exactly if a lion or a crocodile or a mountain chickadee was actually smart or not. Our best shots, so far, were…
Old Easter Island genomes show no sign of a population collapse
Rapa Nui, often referred to as Easter Island, is one of the most remote populated islands in the world. It's so distant that Europeans didn't stumble onto it until centuries after they had started exploring the Pacific. When they arrived, though, they found that the relatively small island supported a population of thousands, one that…
X-ray footage shows how Japanese eels escape from a predator’s stomach
Enlarge / "The only species of fish confirmed to be able to escape from the digestive tract of the predatory fish after being captured.”Hasegawa et al./Current Biology Imagine you're a Japanese eel, swimming around just minding your own business when—bam! A predatory fish swallows you whole and you only have a few minutes to make…
Massive underwater eruption may preview deep-sea mining destruction
Enlarge / Following the 2022 Hunga volcano eruption, a nearby hydrothermal vent was seen coated with a white mat of bacteria and surrounded by a thick layer of ash. The vent usually supports animal life that survives using chemical energy from the vent fluid, but those creatures were almost entirely wiped out. In January 2022,…
Most, but not all, dogs play fetch, while cats do so...
Although more common in dogs, 4 in 10 pet cats also choose to play fetch with their owners. Credit: Mikel M. Delgado/CC-BY 4.0 Although more common in dogs, 4 in 10 pet cats also choose to play fetch with their owners. Credit: Mikel M. Delgado/CC-BY 4.0 Conventional wisdom would suggest that all dogs love to…
How Can Biofilms Help or Hinder Spaceflight?
As humans spread into the cosmos, we will take a plethora of initially Earth-bound life with us for the ride. Some might be more beneficial or potentially harmful than others. And there is no lifeform more prevalent on Earth than bacteria. These tiny creatures and fungi, their long-lost cousins on the evolutionary tree, have a…
