Top Stories

Wildlife Safari Defends Its Elephant Car Wash

During the summer at the Wildlife Safari zoo in Oregon, visitors can pay $25 to have elephants “wash” their vehicles. The elephants use their trunks as sponge holders and hoses.

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When peaceful coexistence turns into concurrence

To find out how rising temperatures could affect species diversity, biologists from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and the Leipzig University have developed a simple experiment: they covered the bottom of different Petri dishes with litter material, then put in two species of springtails, that is, arthropods only a few millimetres in size, and then added mites feeding on springtails. Subsequently, for some of the Petri dishes they increased the ambient temperature from originally 13.5°C to 18.5°C and for some other Petri dishes to 23.5°C. In those Petri dishes, the temperatures were hence five, respectively ten degrees higher than the conditions to which the animals had been exposed to in long-term cultures over years. This created simplified miniature ecosystems under climate change conditions, in which the springtail species that peacefully coexist in the wild represented the prey, and the mites represented the predators. For two months, the researchers then observed how the interactions between the three species would develop with different temperatures.

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Lightform: The Magical Little Device That Transforms Whole Rooms Into Screens

Technology wants to disappear. In computing’s early days, the machines swallowed entire rooms. Today, we wear them on our wrists. Soon, they could vanish completely, their smarts embedding directly into our surroundings.

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The Vanishing Nile: A Great River Faces a Multitude of Threats

The Nile River is under assault on two fronts – a massive dam under construction upstream in Ethiopia and rising sea levels leading to saltwater intrusion downstream. These dual threats now jeopardize the future of a river that is the lifeblood for millions.

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Tracking Collaboration For Sustainability and Social Impact

The transformation of business in the 21st century has many facets and a number of common characteristics. One of these is the presence of softer, more rounded edges toward consumers when it comes to transparency, communities when it comes to volunteerism and philanthropy, employees when it comes to engagement efforts, and the environment when it comes to sustainability.

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Buckle up! Climate Change to Increase Severe Aircraft Turbulence

Turbulence strong enough to catapult unbuckled passengers and crew around the aircraft cabin could become twice or even three times as common because of climate change, according to a new study from the University of Reading published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences (AAS), an international journal published by Springer and hosted by the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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Hybridization between Native and Invasive Trout is Increasing in the West

Hybridization, or the interbreeding of species, is increasing between native and invasive trout across the northern Rocky Mountains, according to a study released Tuesday by the U.S. Geological Survey and partners.

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University Research Teams to Study Potential Aeronautical Innovations

Imagine an aircraft structure that can change its shape in flight to reduce the sonic boom noise produced by supersonics airplanes. Or imagine an airliner that can take-off and fly with a quiet and energy efficient electric propulsion system.

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New function discovered for compound that may help slow aging

Researchers at Oregon State University have found that a compound called rapamycin has unusual properties that may help address neurologic damage such as Alzheimer’s disease.

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Tiny Whiteflies Provide Insight into Stabilizing Manmade Drones During Takeoff

When whiteflies take off, they don't just spread their wings and fly. Just .03 of an inch long, these tiny insects possess a variety of sophisticated techniques that provide them with exceptional stability in the air. Tel Aviv University researchers now say that they may hold the secret to stabilizing the take-off of small robotic manmade flyers such as miniaturized drones.

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