Evolution & Behaviour
Exceptional hearing ability in a hummingbird
Many birds communicate using songs. Among them, the Ecuadorian Hillstar hummingbird produces a song with the highest pitch. Our previous research suggests that these hummingbirds produce high-pitch sounds to stand out from ambient noise. For vocal communication to be effective, the listener needs to hear the... click to read more
Tidings from Before the Flood: how Artificial Intelligence Rediscovers Ancient Babylonian Texts
How much can we learn from our past? And how far back into the past can we draw connections between our predecessors and us? The ancient Mesopotamians, residents of the lands between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates in modern-day Iraq, believed wisdom came from before... click to read more
The crocodile that crossed an ocean
How many times have you been thinking about a crocodile while swimming in the sea or in the ocean? Probably not a single time. For most of us, the chance of meeting a crocodile while swimming in salt water is unlikely. However, in some areas... click to read more
The body-language of the elephant trunk
Illustration realized in the framework of a collaboration between the Image/Recit option of the HEAD (Haute École d'Art et de Design) and the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Geneva. Articulated bodies like the human skeleton are made of serial joints, restraining the number of... click to read more
How did wild cats turn into our beloved domestic animals?
How cats – one of our favorite domestic animals – historically turned to live with us remains mysterious. The relationships between humans and housecats' common ancestor, the Near Eastern wildcat, begun as early as a rise of farming over 9,000 years ago, but it took... click to read more
Editor's picks
Trending now
Popular topics