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Birds learn to fly with a little help from their ancestors
08-14-2007 · EurekAlert!A researcher at the University of Sheffield has discovered that the reason birds learn to fly so easily is because latent memories may have been left behind by their ancestors.
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Keywords: birds, learn, fly, little, ancestors, bird, ancestor
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- Learning to evolve: With a little help from my ancestors
07-30-2007 · EurekAlert!
Using computer simulations, Stone demonstrates that the ability to learn in network models has two surprising consequences. First, learning accelerates the rate at which a skill becomes innate over generations, so it accelerates the evolution of innate skill acquisition. Second, learning in previous generations indirectly induces the formation of a latent memory in the current generation, and therefore decreases the amount of learning required.
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- What determines the speed at which birds fly?
07-16-2007 · EurekAlert!
Measurement of flight speeds of 138 species of bird reveals that mass and wing loading do not scale according to aerodynamic theory but vary significantly depending on phylogeny.
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- Genome of marine organism tells of humans' unicellular ancestors
02-14-2008 · EurekAlert!
A ubiquitous but little-known marine organism, the choanoflagellate, is the last one-celled ancestor of humans and provides insight into how cells learned to assemble into multicelled organisms. The genome of the choanoflagellate Monisiga brevicollis has now been sequenced and, according to UC Berkeley's Nicole King, offers clues to the origin of the glue that holds many-celled animals together and how cells learned to communicate.
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- Low-pathogenic forms of bird flu do cause illness among birds
01-30-2007 · EurekAlert!
Migratory swans carrying a mild form of avian influenza depart from the Netherlands more than a month after their healthy counterparts do. They also feed slower and fly shorter distances. These insights will be published on January 31, 2007 in PLoS ONE, the International, peer-reviewed, open-access, online publication from the Public Library of Science (PLoS) by scientists from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) and the Department of Virology of the Erasmus MC.
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- Mother's little helpers
08-16-2007 · EurekAlert!
An Australian bird has been found to produce smaller, less nourishing eggs when it breeds in the presence of other "helper" birds that provide child-care assistance. This unique adaptation enables the birds to live longer and breed more often than females without helpers.
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- Do migratory birds 'see' the magnetic field?
09-25-2007 · EurekAlert!
Every year millions of migratory birds fly towards their wintering quarters and come back in next year's spring to breed. Behavioral experiments have shown that the Earth's magnetic field is the main orientation cue on their journeys. Nevertheless, surprisingly little is known about the neuronal substrates underlying these navigational abilities.
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- Sea anemone genome provides new view of our multi-celled ancestors
07-05-2007 · EurekAlert!
The genome of the starlet sea anemone is nearly as complex as the human genome, according to UC Berkeley and Joint Genome Institute researchers who have completed the first analysis of the animal's genes. Because of this similarity, it is providing major insights into the common ancestor of eumetazoans, a group that includes not only humans and sea anemones, but nearly all multi-celled animals.
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- Land conversion and climate threaten land birds
06-04-2007 · EurekAlert!
Evaluating changes in range size of land bird species using Millenium Ecosystem Assessment scenarios reveals that land conversion, as well as climate change, will lead to the decline of many species, particularly those in the tropics.
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- Coaching computer canines in clambering
07-05-2007 · EurekAlert!
The mutts are metal, the size of toy poodles, with four pointy feet ending in little balls. They need to learn how to make their way on those little feet across a treacherous terrain of broken rocks. University of Southern California roboticist Stefan Schaal has just won renewal of a $1.5 million DARPA contract to train them to do so -- and has a video showing how they run.
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- Scientists find mutations that let bird flu adapt to humans
11-15-2006 · EurekAlert!
By comparing influenza viruses found in birds with those of the avian virus that have also infected human hosts, researchers have identified key genetic changes required for pandemic strains of bird flu.
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