New Study Shows Decision-making Capabilities In Plants Under Competition

A vegetative state is a clinical condition that usually refers to patients who have a severe dysfunction of their cerebral hemispheres, resulting in a loss of conscious responses, hence the term vegetative. Well, it turns out we may soon need to update our lexicon as this expression is kind of an insult to plants. Yes, that is because a new scientific study has revealed that plants actually exhibit decision-making behaviors when they are faced with competition.

The Hows And Whys Of Itching Explained

We all had those moments when an irresistible itch just happens to ignite at the exact time the series' episode we are watching reaches its climax. The vicious itch leaves us with two choices: Either we try to relieve it by scratching and risk missing our favorite TV show's best moments, or we simply resist the urge and call it a day. Oftentimes, this dilemma feels like having to choose between being killed by a firing squad or being burned at stake.

But what does science have to tell us about this unpleasant sensation?

This Fungus Species Has More Than 23,000 Sexes

Fungi, those exotic "creatures" with which we have a love and hate relationship, may seem primitive to most people, but the truth is that they have one of the most uncanny mating systems out there. In order to digest this post as smoothly as possible, a disclaimer is a must. You need to give all your prior knowledge pertaining to gender a rest, because what you are about to witness defy all kinds of conventional conceptions about mating. With that warning out of way, we can now finally talk about sex among fungi.

Scientists Determine That Aliens Might Look Like Us After All

When we try to picture what an alien living on Kepler-452b might look like, the first image that comes to our mind is that of a greenish creature with shiny big eyes and a giant brain. However, this impression is about to change as a new scientific study from the University of Oxford has shown that aliens might in fact be more similar to us than we think.

Bacteria Have A Sense Of Touch, Study Finds

Fish getting emotional and fruit flies having primitive internal emotions? If this isn't enough to give you a braingasm, then how about bacteria that possess a sense of touch? Yes, you are not reading a science fiction book, because a research team led by Prof. Urs Jenal at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel, has discovered that bacteria are actually capable of sensing their environment!

Scientists Gave Erections To Dead Dolphin Penises To Study Their Penetration Behavior

"The things we do for science" might be the standard Jaime Lannister-like response one would get upon asking the team members behind this research about their unconventional approach to studying dolphin sex.
Researchers at Dalhousie, Massachusetts and Tufts Universities have used an artificially erected dead dolphin penis (i.e., an artificial dead boner so to speak) to understand how these cetaceans mate in the wild.

Scientists Discover That Fish Have Human-Like Emotional Responses To External Stimuli

We all were exposed to a situation where our excuses for not showing up for a party or a meeting seemed fishy to the others. Although the term "fishy" bears a negative meaning in most cases since it likely originated from the fact that fish are slippery and smell bad after a while, things might change after a recent scientific study showed that fish get in fact emotional, just like humans do. Well, sort of!

The Creepy Tentacle Insect Is Actually A Creatonotos Gangis Moth

When it comes to the art of attracting females, insects often go to extreme lengths to secure a mate. As we have seen in the previous post, water boatman males make the loudest noise in the animal kingdom relative to their body size. Another example of sophisticated courtship endeavor seen in insects is that of a moth commonly found in south-east Asia as well as in northern Australia.

Males of the Creatonotos Gangis moth species have four tentacle-like body parts whose role is to attract females by emitting pheromones.

This Insect Uses Its Penis As A Musical Instrument

In the last post, we have covered a story about scientists using dead dolphins' penises to simulate their penetration behavior, and with this post's title, it seems that we are on a scientific penile spree.

This time, though, the subject is an insect called water boatman. It is a 2-mm (0.07-inch) long arthropod that makes the loudest noise relative to its body size!

Scientists Have Discovered That Mantis Shrimps Learn And Remember Like Insects

Thinking like an insect might sound like an insult to a creature that possesses one of the most sophisticated eyes in the animal kingdom: That is what most people would think after reading this post's title. However, being able to learn and remember things like insects do is actually a good thing for the mantis shrimp. 

A new scientific study, which was published in eLife on September 26 2017, uncovered that the brains of mantis shrimps contain learning and memory centers that so far have been observed only in insects.

Researchers Discover A Way To Generate Electricity From Tears And Saliva

Next time you are checking on your zombie apocalypse survival kit to make sure you are prepared for what is to come, sneaking in a bottle of your tears might be as crucial as your typical knife set. Well, sort of!

Irish scientists have figured out a method to generate electricity using a protein that can found in tears and even egg whites.

Does Size Matter? Ducks Say Yes According To A Scientific Study

"Does size matter?", We all came across this question in one form or another to the point that it became almost a synonym for the word cliché. While humans, in general, give ambiguous and often different answers to this question, ducks' response to this query is a flat out "yes". A new scientific study has revealed that, when forced to compete for females, the dominant male ducks of certain species develop a very long penis, while the weaker ones grow nothing whatsoever!

Scientists Have Used Genetically Engineered Poliovirus To Destroy Cancer Cells

With British scientists building an artificial embryo from stem cells and their American counterparts using a modified poliovirus to fight off cancer cells, it looks like science isn't short on achievements this week. An immunotherapy technique developed by researchers in the laboratory of Matthias Gromeier at Duke University, uses an engineered hybrid of poliovirus and rhinovirus to kill off cancer cells.

Cambridge Scientists Have Created The First Artificial Mouse Embryo From Stem Cells

In a breakthrough scientific experiment, researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed a structure that looks like a mouse embryo, by using two type of stem cells and growing them in a 3D mold.