2024-04-19 15:08:11
The ocean in a tin can – Sometimes all it takes is opening a collection of expired tuna cans to make important discoveries about the health of the marine environment. In any case, this is the fruitful path followed by a team of biologists from the University of Washington, who assessed the state of health of large marine mammals over several decades by measuring the quantities of parasites present from year to year. year in canned salmon… a reflection of those to which the animal’s natural predators were exposed by feeding on it (without a can opener, them). [Scientific American]. To go further with the archives: 50 years of aquaculture, what now?, 2023.
Wasted effort for Perseverance ? – Send a rover to Mars. Equip it with a drilling tool. Have him take core samples of Martian soil here and there and leave these samples, carefully grouped at a specific point, in sealed tubes. Launch, several years later, a probe into orbit around the Red Planet. The following year, task a lander with recovering the precious tubes and entrusting them to the probe, itself designed to bring them back to Earth. Complicated ? This was the scenario written by NASA and Esa for Perseverance (which continues its Martian exploration and coring) and the missions which were to follow. But the American agency no longer believes in it, estimating the cost of operations at $11 billion, and a return to land in 2040 at best. She has just made a call for proposals, looking for more reasonable solutions. [Nature]. To go further with the archives: Mars: what strategy for the rover samples Perseverance ?, 2021.
Scalded Lizards – An invasive species of toad is wreaking havoc in Australia. In particular, it decimates monitor lizards, which eat them and die from the effects of the toxin contained in the batrachians’ skin. In juveniles, this toxin is present in much lower quantities; monitor lizards that consume them become ill, then recover. Biologists from Macquarie University in Sydney placed thousands of eggs and hatchlings in areas where the toad had not yet reached, and monitored monitor lizard populations when the invasive species arrived. little by little developed. Bottom line: after tasting the young, the monitor lizards learn their lesson. They avoid adults… and save their lives. [Science]. To go further with the archives: Why don’t poison dart frogs poison themselves? 2017.
Goodbye Atlas. Hello Atlas. – The famous bipedal robot Atlas is bowing out, after eleven years of funny or chilling demonstrations. Precisely: the hydraulic version of the robot. The company Boston Dynamics has just presented its successor – Atlas, all-electric version. More compact, more anthropomorphic… and even more impressive. [The Verge]. To go further with the archives: Testing robots to live well with them, 2017.
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