January 7, 2023 | Issue 23-1 | |
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There are two fish in a tank. One fish turns to the other and says, "How the heck do you drive this thing!?"
Israeli scientists from Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba, Israel have successfully taught goldfish to drive a robotic car!
Via a top-down camera, the "fishmobile" uses motion sensing technology to maneuver the vehicle. A signal is sent to one of the wheels when the fish swims close to that side of the tank. Over time the fish learned their movements would correspond to the movements of the vehicle.
The fish would be rewarded with food when they successfully reached a pink target across the room — even with obstacles in their way. They plan to further test whether they can navigate to find a target they can't see.
The methodology in question is called "domain transfer", when one species is placed in another’s environment and carries out an otherwise familiar task — in this case navigation.
Six goldfish took part in the study, the biggest of which measured just 7 inches and weighed no more than 4.2 oz. They each received 10 driving lessons.
Watch the video here!
Source: “Israeli scientists teach goldfish to drive a robotic car on land,” NBC News, 01/06/23
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164 Million-Year-Old Plant Fossil Is The Oldest Example Of A Flowering Bud | |
Researchers in China unearthed a 164 million-year-old fossilized plant with a perfectly preserved flower bud, making it the earliest example of a flowering plant ever uncovered. The discovery changes what we know about the evolution of flowering plants, researchers say.
The fossil is around 1.7 inches (4.2 centimeters) long and 0.8 inches (2 cm) wide. It contains a stem, a leafy branch, a bulbous fruit and a tiny flower bud around 3 square millimeters in size.
Until now, fossil evidence had suggested that flowering plants didn't emerge until the Cretaceous period, but the new discovery pushes the emergence of the group firmly back into the Jurassic period. The new species was named Florigerminis jurassica.
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Read more about this un-bud-lievable new discovery here!
Source: “164 million-year-old plant fossil is the oldest example of a flowering bud,” livescience.com, 1/6/2023
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