eggs

Parthenogenesis: Fatherless mouse pups develop from unfertilised eggs with gene editing

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Parthenogenesis, the development of offspring from unfertilised eggs, was thought to be impossible in mammals, but researchers have used genetic trickery to make it happen Life 7 March 2022 By Alex Wilkins An adult mouse that developed from an unfertilised egg, and her pups YANCHANG WEI A genetically manipulated mouse pup born from an unfertilised egg … Read more

Archaeologists Figured Out How to Tell if One of These Roman Pots Was Used For Poop

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Earthenware vessels can often be windows to the activities of long lost cultures. Traces of their contents can be clues to what we once snacked on, how we fed our children, and even how we cursed our enemies.   For decades, a number of conical vessels unearthed near Roman latrines were presumed to be recently … Read more

Fear of predators means sparrows struggle to raise chicks to adulthood

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Sparrows on a collection of Canadian islands change their behaviour when they fear predators are nearby, and an experiment shows this reduces their ability to raise their offspring to adulthood Life 7 February 2022 By Luke Taylor Song sparrow (Melospiza melodia) in British Columbia, Canada Jess Findlay/BIA/Minden/Naturepl.com The fear of predators alone is enough to … Read more

Scientists Spent 4 Years Identifying a New Wasp That Only Leaves Its Home For 2 Days

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Parasitic gall wasps don’t get out much. For the vast majority of their year-long lives, from eggs to larvae, pupae to adults, these tiny insects are entombed in cocoon-like crypts on the leaves, flowers, and stems of oak trees.   When spring rolls around, there’s no time to waste, not even for food. The wasps … Read more

Ancient Toilet Reveals Dangerous Parasites Once Plagued Jerusalem’s Elite

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A 2,700-year-old drop toilet, found at an ancient royal estate in southern Jerusalem, still shows traces of what could have been an epidemic of parasitic infection long ago. The findings suggest even the wealthiest inhabitants of ancient Jerusalem, elite enough to use an outhouse, commonly suffered from intestinal worms.   While latrines and toilets are … Read more

Polar Bears Keep Being Seen Hunting Reindeer, But There’s More to The Story

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Recently, scientists in Hornsund, Svalbard – a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic ocean – witnessed a polar bear pursuing a reindeer into the sea before killing it, dragging it ashore, and eating it.   The video that they captured was widely shared on news and social media platforms. Then, two days later, they saw the … Read more

Robots: Human-like hand can crush beer cans and hold eggs without breaking them

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A robot hand that has the lightness of touch to hold delicate objects and the strength to crush cans could one day be used as a prosthetic Technology 14 December 2021 By Carissa Wong A highly dexterous, human-like robotic hand with fingertip touch sensors can delicately hold eggs, use tweezers to pick up computer chips … Read more