Quantcast
Channel: Phys.org news tagged with:spines
Browsing index pages (38 articles)

Scientists ID tiny prehistoric sea worm with 50 head spines

Long before dinosaurs roamed the Earth, a bizarre creature with a Venus flytrap-like head swam the seas.

View Article


Brain-imaging system uses 'multi-pupil' prism arrays

A specialized type of adaptive-optics technology that has been demonstrated by taking high-resolution time-lapse images of functioning brain cells might be used to better understand how the brain works.

View Article


Sea urchin spines could fix bones

More than 2 million procedures every year take place around the world to heal bone fractures and defects from trauma or disease, making bone the second most commonly transplanted tissue after blood. To...

View Article

New study identifies ancient shark ancestors

New research based on x-ray imaging provides the strongest evidence to date that sharks arose from a group of bony fishes called acanthodians. Analyzing an extraordinarily well-preserved fossil of an...

View Article

Two new highly adorned spiky ant species discovered in New Guinea

The distinctive dorsal spines found on two new species of highly adorned Pheidole ants may help to support the ants' massive heads, according to a study published July 27, 2016 in the open-access...

View Article


Nanopillars on drone fly larvae allow them to avoid bacterial contamination

The immature stage of the drone fly (Eristalis tenax) is known as a "rat-tailed maggot" because it resembles a hairless baby rodent with a "tail" that is actually used as a breathing tube. Rat-tailed...

View Article

Inspired by a desert beetle, cactus and pitcher plant, researchers design a...

Organisms such as cacti and desert beetles can survive in arid environments because they've evolved mechanisms to collect water from thin air. The Namib desert beetle, for example, collects water...

View Article

Superelastic adaptive alloy could improve the success rate of childhood...

Scoliosis is typically defined as the curvature of the spine, which in severe cases can lead to severe physical deformity in addition to pulmonary and cardiac problems. Early-onset scoliosis refers to...

View Article


Relationship found between predation and the shape of prey fish body and spines

(Phys.org)—A trio of researchers with the University of California's Department of Evolution and Ecology has found a predictable relationship between the size of predator fish mouths and the shape and...

View Article


The molecules that tell you how to grow a backbone

Growing the right number of vertebrae in the right places is an important job – and scientists have found the molecules that act like 'theatre directors' for vertebrae genes in mice: telling them how...

View Article

Common back problems may be caused by evolution of human locomotion

A common spinal disease could be the result of some people's vertebrae, the bones that make up the spine, sharing similarities in shape to a non-human primate. The research, published in the open...

View Article

New species of Hero Shrew found in equatorial Africa

Scientists at Chicago's Field Museum and international collaborators have described a new species of Hero Shrew – the mammal with the most bizarre lower spine on Earth. The interlocking vertebrae of...

View Article

A new species of marine fish from 408 million years ago discovered in Teruel

Researchers from the University of Valencia and the Natural History Museum of Berlin have studied the fossilised remains of scales and bones found in Teruel and the south of Zaragoza, ascertaining that...

View Article


Scientists develop mouse model that can advance research on iPS cells to the...

VIB scientists associated to the UGent have developed a mouse model that can advance the research on iPS cells to the next step.

View Article

Sharksucker fish's strange disc explained

There's an old legend about a fish that attaches itself to ships and has powers to slow them down. The powers may be mythical but the fish is real. 

View Article


Station spinal ultrasounds seeking why astronauts grow taller in space

(Phys.org)—Did you ever wish you could be just a teensy bit taller? Well, if you spend a few months in space, you could get your wish—temporarily. It is a commonly known fact that astronauts living...

View Article

Sea urchin's spiny, elastic strength revealed

(Phys.org)—For the first time, a team of Australian engineers has modelled the microscopic mechanics of a sea urchin's spine, gaining insight into how these unusual creatures withstand impacts in their...

View Article


Human-like spine morphology found in aquatic eel fossil

For decades, scientists believed that a spine with multiple segments was an exclusive feature of land-dwelling animals. But the discovery of the same anatomical feature in a 345-million-year-old eel...

View Article

New evidence suggests earliest trilobites were able to partially roll up...

(Phys.org) —A trio of researchers—two from Cambridge University and one from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has found evidence that suggests that the earliest trilobites were able to roll up their...

View Article

Researchers remove oil from water using copper cones inspired by cactus...

(Phys.org) —A team of researchers working at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, has developed a new way to remove oil from water—using a design inspired by nature. In their paper published in...

View Article
Browsing index pages (38 articles)


Latest Images