Laser-powered licence plates could help avoid satellite collisions

Extreme fires caused by ancient humans wiped out Californian megafauna

[ad_1] A sabre-toothed cat skull in the Page Museum at the La Brea tar pits, California Robert Landau/Getty Images A series of catastrophic fires was the immediate cause of the extinction of many large mammals in southern California 13,000 years ago, according to a study of fossils from the La Brea tar pits. The findings […]

How daisies make deceptive petals that look like female flies

[ad_1] The South African daisy uses mimicry to lure flies imageBROKER/Alamy An orange-hued daisy in South Africa has an unusual lure to attract pollinators: a little structure on its petals that resembles a female fly. Male flies descend on the petals in hopes of mating but end up ferrying the flowers’ pollen to other plants. […]

Having books in your Zoom background makes you seem more trustworthy

[ad_1] When people were asked to judge the trustworthiness and competence of video callers with various backgrounds, appearing in front of plants or books came out top Cook et al., 2023, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0 People give a better first impression on Zoom calls if they have books or plants behind them, rather than a […]