credit – A Posado via SWNS The whiskers on an elephant’s trunk are key to its “amazing” sense of touch, reveals new research. The 1,000 hairs that cover the trunk have unusual properties that highlight where contact happens along each whisker allowing the largest land animal to grab something as small as a peanut, say … Read more
NASA The reproductive spores of a moss species were able to somehow survive the vacuum of space during a 9-month stint outside the International Space Station. In the immortal words of Jeff Goldblum, life, uh, finds a way. Physcomitrella patens is known as a hardy pioneer species of spreading moss that readily cultivates on muddy ground. … Read more
Ptilotus senarius, a relative of Mulla Mulla – by Aaron Bean / iNaturalist A plant-lover who snapped a photo of an interesting shrub he found on a trip to the Outback inadvertently proved that it wasn’t, in fact, extinct, something which scientists had presumed. With 60 years having passed without a confirmed sighting of the … Read more
Toyota – released Toyota recently unveiled a four-legged mobility robot that can go where wheels cannot, and specializes in tasks that are difficult in a wheelchair such as climbing up stairs and positioning passengers to get into cars. Debuted by the carmaker at the 2025 Japan Mobility Show, it consists of an ergonomic seat mounted … Read more
The earwig’s delicate, paper-thin wings can open 10x their folded size due to its origami-like creases – Credit: ETH Zurich / Purdue University (Article by Rohini Subrahmanyam originally published by Knowable Magazine) As the microscopic, tear-shaped Lacrymaria olor swims around hunting for food, it does something remarkable: In a blink, the tiny protist extends its … Read more