AI algorithms combined with satellite Earth observation systems effectively detect diseases of peatland vegetation, according to research conducted by scientists from the Remote Sensing Centre of the Institute of Geodesy and Cartography.
We know lycaons from Africa, but about half a million years ago these predatory mammals also existed in the lands of today's Poland. Scientists who examined the remains of the last Eurasian lycaon from the Wieluń Upland call it the canine Jack the Ripper. It was able to knock down very large prey and eat its entire body.
Trachelosaurus, a newly discovered reptile that lived about 245 million years ago, had a very long neck and a long spine. An international team of palaeontologists demonstrated this by going back to a description from a hundred years ago, when the bones were believed to come from several animals. Today it is known that they were the skeleton of one individual.
Scientists from Poland and Sweden have developed a computer tool that allows them to precisely identify forests with the highest ecological value. It can be used to plan forest protection and restoration.
Animal grazing contributes to increased biodiversity and ecosystem recovery after moderate fires, and reduces the risk of future fires. At the same time, large herbivorous mammals are more likely to feed in areas that have been burned, scientists from Poland and Sweden have shown.
Trematosaurs, early Triassic amphibians that resembled today's crocodiles, lived also in the areas of today's Poland 250 million years ago, researchers from the Institute of Paleobiology of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the University of Warsaw have shown.
Preparations composed of bacteriophages can be called self-producing and self-limiting drugs: they will multiply as long as they find bacteria. Without bacteria, they will disappear, says Professor Alicja Węgrzyn from the University of Gdańsk. In her opinion, bacteriophages have the potential to save humanity.
The impact of a polluted environment on the colour of a birds’ feathers and bodies varies depending on the type of colour. Scientists are trying to determine how serious this impact is, but they still lack some data, for example, on what the importance of the presence of pharmaceuticals in the environment is.
Scientists from the University of Warsaw, in collaboration with colleagues from Japan, are conducting research on riboswitches - RNA segments that control the production of proteins in bacteria. In the future, their research may result in new strategies for combating antibiotic resistance in microorganisms.
Scientists have observed repetitive behaviours in Daphnia, a freshwater arthropod, that, in the language of behavioural ecologists, can be called 'personality'. Scientists wonder what its purpose is and what role it has played throughout evolution.