The horses at the Children’s Zoo in Gothenburg don’t mind being pet by children and adults. However, they do get stressed by the noise from an excavator. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have discovered this after fitting heart rate monitors to eight Gotland russ horses.

Researchers in Germany have found that solar panels on rewetted peatland provide a unique habitat for bird species along with generating green energy and potentially locking up carbon. The findings are published in the British Ecological Society journal, Ecological Solutions and Evidence.

Marine wildlife trafficking is big business, raking in billions of dollars every year and threatening species’ survival and the health of ecosystems. But trafficked sea creatures are often concealed in ordinary travelers’ luggage or packages, which makes it hard to spot and seize illicit shipments. Now scientists have used a neural network, a form of AI, to teach an algorithm to spot three commonly trafficked products — shark fins, sea cucumbers, and dried seahorses — in CT scans of bags like those taken at airports. The algorithm, which had a 92% success rate in testing, could help detect marine wildlife trafficking at scale and stop the trade in progress.

With poppy seed-sized brains, jumping spiders compute distances in a highly efficient manner. Their eyes contain multiple retinal layers, each focused at a different depth. By comparing differences in sharpness, they estimate distance. New camera mimics this strategy while consuming less energy than a nightlight. It could enable a new generation of battery-powered devices that need to gauge their surroundings, like wearable technologies, assistive devices, robots and drones.

Camera could enable ultra-low-energy wearables, robots and drones

A three-year study has cracked open the hidden biology behind coral reproduction, revealing hormone cycles that echo those of humans and other animals, and a new way to detect reef distress before it's too late.

A groundbreaking multidisciplinary study reveals that the abundant mangrove fern Acrostichum aureum in Hainan Island harbors moderate genetic diversity but faces hidden vulnerability, providing critical evidence for targeted mangrove ecosystem conservation strategies.