feathers

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A groundbreaking study has identified common feather characteristics among flying birds, revealing that all possess 9 to 11 primary feathers, a trait that provides insights into the evolution of flight from dinosaur ancestors. By combining analysis of museum specimens and fossil data, researchers suggest that flight evolved only once among dinosaurs, highlighting the significance of feathers and flight in the evolutionary success of these species. Above is a fossil showing the wing and feathers of the prehistoric bird…

According to an analysis of hundreds of preserved bird specimens from museum collections around the globe, there's a specific set of feather rules behind the power of flight.These newly discovered rules allow scientists to better predict which dinosaurs could fly too."Theropod dinosaurs, including birds, are one of the most successful vertebrate lineages on our planet," says Field Museum of Natural History paleontologist Jingmai O'Connor. "One of the reasons that they're so successful is their flight. One of the other…

Needless to say, pregnancies can be draining both mentally and physically. So, it only makes sense that before bringing children into this world, women might want to think things through.London-based TikToker ‘LifeofJenny’ has seemingly thought long and hard about what she would need to support her through a pregnancy and some time after. In a video that went viral, the child-free woman discussed her conditions of what she would require from her partner if they decided to get pregnant, splitting the internet into camps…

Egyptian film-maker Omar El Zohairy is a brilliant emerging talent with an impressive professional pedigree; he is a former assistant to Yousry Nasrallah (who himself started out as assistant to the celebrated Youssef Chahine) and has won festival prizes with this, his debut feature. It’s a comedy with a little of Woody Allen or Franz Kafka – though with not much of the famous Emily Dickinson quote about what hope is. It is also a social-surrealist parable about a woman’s place in a man’s world. Higher than the animals?…

The feathers, fur, and scales that adorn different members of the animal kingdom may look quite different, but they're all made of the same basic stuff. And, as it turns out, it only takes a relatively simple genetic tweak to produce one instead of the other.By targeting the sonic hedgehog (Shh) gene, geneticists Michel Milinkovitch and Rory Cooper of the University of Geneva in Switzerland altered embryonic chickens to grow feathers instead of scales on their usually squamous feet.And the alteration is permanent. Once…

University of Geneva researchers have transformed chicken scales into feathers by temporarily modifying the Sonic hedgehog (Shh) gene expression, revealing that significant evolutionary transitions can occur without major changes in the genome. This research sheds light on the mechanisms responsible for the wide diversity of animal forms. Credit: © UNIGE / Cooper & MilinkovitchA UNIGE team shows how specifically modifying gene expression causes feathers to replace scales in the chicken.Scales, spines, feathers and…

The male desert sandgrouse might not be much to look at, but his belly feathers give him the unique ability to absorb and carry water. Researchers have, for the first time, closely examined the structure of the feathers to see how they absorb water and whether the process might be adapted for human use.When you think of feathers, you probably think of their ability to repel water. Not so the belly feathers of the male desert sandgrouse. He can visit a watering hole, absorb water into his feathers, fly more than 12 mi (20…

Birds likely aren't the first things that spring to mind when you think of poisonous animals, but two common species in Papua New Guinea have been found hoarding a toxic arsenal in their feathers.The regent whistler (Pachycephala schlegelii) and rufous-naped bellbird (Aleadryas rufinucha) have been caught in possession of a potent neurotoxin. Batrachotoxin causes muscle cramps and near-instantaneous cardiac failure on contact at high levels. The brightly colored birds store a metabolized version of the poison in their…

The bright, white tail feathers of the otherwise inconspicuous Eurasian woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) are the most reflective on record.An international team of researchers found that the woodcock's white patches reflected up to 55 percent of light, making their feathers around 30 percent more reflective than any other bird previously measured.Woodcocks are mottled brown birds with white patches on their tail feathers' undersides.Around spring in Europe and Asia, males use these bright patches in breeding display flights…