Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
Science

Submission + - Unusual discovery of new African monkey species (mongabay.com) 1

Submitted by rhettb
rhettb writes: In a remote and largely unexplored rainforest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), researchers have made an astounding discovery: a new monkey species. The new primate, which is name the lesula and described in a paper in the journal PLoS ONE, was first noticed by scientist and explorer, John Hart, in 2007. The discovery of a new primate species is rare nowadays. In fact, the lesula is only the second newly discovered monkey in Africa in the past 28 years.
Science

Submission + - Flickr photo leads to new insect discovery (mongabay.com) 1

Submitted by rhettb
rhettb writes: Scientists have discovered a previously unknown species of lacewing insect after stumbling upon a series of photos posted on Flickr, according to a paper published in the journal ZooKeys. Entomologist Shaun Winterton first found evidence of the species when he randomly stumbled upon a set of photos posted by Hock Ping Guek, a Malaysian photographer. Winterton recognized the insect as a potentially new species, but needed to collect field specimen in order to formally describe it. About a year later, an individual was collected at the same site, enabling Winterton to write up the description in ZooKeys. Hock is a co-author on the paper.
NASA

Submission + - NASA tool shows where forest is being cut down (mongabay.com)

Submitted by terrancem
terrancem writes: A new tool developed by NASA and other researchers shows where forest is being chopped down on a quarterly basis. The global forest disturbance alert system (GloF-DAS) is based on comparison of MODIS global vegetation index images at the exact same time period each year in consecutive years. GloF-DAS could help users detect deforestation shortly after it occurs, offering the potential to take measures to investigate clearing before it expands.

Submission + - Yeti crab cultivates bacteria on claw, then eats t (nature.com)

Submitted by Pierre Bezukhov
Pierre Bezukhov writes: In the deep ocean off the coast of Costa Rica, scientists have found a species of crab that cultivates gardens of bacteria on its claws, then eats them.

The bristles that cover the crab’s claws and body are coated in gardens of symbiotic bacteria, which derive energy from the inorganic gases of the seeps. The crab eats the bacteria, using comb-like mouthparts to harvest them from its bristles.

Scientists believe the crab waves its claws to actively farm its bacterial gardens: movements stir up the water around the bacteria, ensuring that fresh supplies of oxygen and sulphide wash over them and helping them to grow.
Science

Submission + - Paul Allen lent personal ROV to study old fish (mongabay.com)

Submitted by crudmonkey
crudmonkey writes: It took a custom-made submarine, billionaire Paul Allen, and a tenacious desire lasting well beyond two decades to unveil enigmatic details about the life of the coelacanth—the primitive fish that invariably hooks researchers. A study published earlier this year in the journal Marine Biology summarizes 21 years of coelacanth population research.
Science

Submission + - Sensor enables 3D mapping of rainforests, tree by (mongabay.com) 1

Submitted by rhettb
rhettb writes: High above the Amazon rainforest in Peru, a team of scientists is conducting an ambitious experiment: a biological survey of a never-before-explored tract of remote and inaccessible cloud forest. They are doing so using an advanced system that enables them to map the three-dimensional physical structure of the forest as well as its chemical and optical properties. This sensor—built by engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory—is the first of its kind. The spectrometer can detect dozens of signals such as photosynthetic pigment concentrations, water content of leaves, defense compounds like phenols, and structural compounds such as lignin and cellulose. These signals can build signatures to distinguish individual plant species as well as other measures of forest condition.
Science

Submission + - Lizards beat birds in intelligence test (mongabay.com) 1

Submitted by rhettb
rhettb writes: Reptiles have long been thought to be dim-witted, but a new study in Biology Letters finds that the Puerto Rican anole, a type of lizard, can match birds in intelligence. Using cognitive tests that have been previously used on birds, researchers with Duke University found that the lizards were capable of solving a problem they've never encountered before, remembering the solution in future trials, and even changing techniques when presented with new challenges. In fact, the tiny anoles solved the test with fewer tries than birds.
Android

Submission + - Android Users Warned To Avoid Public WiFi (ft.com)

Submitted by bonch
bonch writes: Researchers at Ulm University have uncovered a trivial way to intercept data on Android devices connected to public WiFi networks. An authentication token can be captured by mimicking WiFi hotspots that a device has previously connected to, allowing read-write access to Google applications like Picasa and Contacts. Android users are recommended to disable WiFi auto-synchronization and avoid using public WiFi networks.
Security

Submission + - The emergency internet bunkers (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by
Barence
Barence writes: "Should the Doomsday Clock ever strike midnight we may well discover, finally, whether or not the internet really could survive a nuclear conflict. If it could, then a handful of datacenters dotted around the world would likely to be all that remains of the multi-billion-pound hosting industry. These secretive, high-security sites, tunnelled out of mountains or housed behind the blast-proof doors of one-time Nato bunkers, are home to the planet’s most secure hosting providers. PC Pro profiles the emergency internet bunkers."
Image

"Farming" Amoebas Discovered 49

Posted by samzenpus from the rise-of-amoeba-agriculture dept.
Researchers from Rice University have found a type of amoeba that practices a sort of "primitive farming behavior." When their bacteria food become scarce, the Dictyostelium discoideum will group together and form a "fruiting body" that will disperse bacteria spores to a new area. From the article: "The behavior falls short of the kind of 'farming' that more advanced animals do; ants, for example, nurture a single fungus species that no longer exists in the wild. But the idea that an amoeba that spends much of its life as a single-celled organism could hold short of consuming a food supply before decamping is an astonishing one. More than just a snack for the journey of dispersal, the idea is that the bacteria that travel with the spores can 'seed' a new bacterial colony, and thus a food source in case the new locale should be lacking in bacteria." It's good to know that even a single celled creature is not immune to the pull of Farmville.
Idle

Submission + - The new Viagra: fruit crapped out by elephant (mongabay.com) 2

Submitted by Damien1972
Damien1972 writes: Its taste has been described between a delicious custard and old gym socks, but the durian fruit is considered a delicacy in much of Southeast Asia. Still, even durian lovers may be uncomfortable with the idea of eating the fruit after it has been consumed and expelled by a wild Asian elephant. But according to the New Straits Times, wealthy businessmen are willing to pay over $300 for a sample of elephant-ingested durian, which they believe acts as an aphrodisiac.
Idle

Submission + - Scientists: eat roaches, not beef (mongabay.com) 5

Submitted by rhettb
rhettb writes: Scientists in the Netherlands have discovered that insects produce significantly less greenhouse gas per kilogram of meat than cattle or pigs. Their study, published in the online journal PLoS One, suggests that a move towards insect farming could result in a more sustainable — and affordable — form of meat production.

Submission + - Hosting Company Appears to be Violating the GPL (palegray.net) 2

Submitted by
palegray.net
palegray.net writes: "A web hosting provider called Appnor has recently moved the network diagnostics utility WinMTR off of SourceForge, and is now claiming the program to be a closed source, commercial application (it was previously made available under the GPL). I emailed the current maintainer of the original mtr utility about this, and have been informed that this event most likely constitutes an overt GPL violation, as it is presumed that WinMTR contains mtr code. Appnor claims that they have the right to do this, as there have been no external contributions to WinMTR in over ten years. I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think copyright law works that way."

Slashdot Top Deals

"I got a question for ya. Ya got a minute?" -- two programmers passing in the hall

Close