We know Darwinian selection has shaped the evolution of humans and all other natural species -- but could it apply to robots?
Inspired by the rather scary way that ants and bees divvy up labour for big jobs, Belgian researchers have developed a method that allowed teams of robots to automatically split into groups carrying out different sub-tasks.
Their study, published in PLOS Computational Biology, shows how artificial evolution and detailed robotics simulations could be used to pave the way for swarms of small robots exploring new or hostile environments -- think other planets.
Snakes deliver venom with their fangs - now scientists have discovered two species of frog that do it with their heads. Photo / Supplied
Snakes deliver venom with their fangs - now scientists have discovered two species of frog that do it with their heads.
The two species, both living in Brazil, have just become the first-known actually venomous frogs.
Not only do the frogs produce potent toxins - it's well known some frogs secrete poison from glands in their skin - but they also have a mechanism to deliver those nasty secretions into another animal using bony spines on their heads.
One of the scientists who discovered them happened to be pricked by one - luckily for him, it was the less lethal of the two.
A single gram of the toxic secretion from A. brunoi would be enough to kill more than 300,000 mice - or about 80 of us.
Findings revealed that horses have 17 different expressions. Photo / Supplied
Which animal has more facial expressions than dogs, monkeys and even chimpanzees?
A horse, of course - and it turns out you don't need to be Robert Redford to learn how they're feeling. In a new study, British and US animal psychologists set out to create a universal list of expressions that all horses make, to ensure that animal welfare specialists have clearer and more consistent knowledge of what horses are communicating.
Their findings revealed that horses have 17 different expressions - and that only cats and humans have more expressions, at a total of 21 and 27.
Further, they found it was highly possible for the bulk of us who know nothing about horses to learn this system of so-called EquiFACS - or Equine Action Coding Systems.
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