Scientists are using cosmic distortions in light to test a bold idea: that the Universe might not be as symmetrical as we’ve ...

This prevented stress and boredom. Their performance indicates a natural understanding of geometric principles. In order to recognise the odd shape, the birds did not need any further training.

Biofilms lead lives of liminality. Just a few cells thick, these layered communities of microbes anchor themselves to solid surfaces at interfaces — where rocks meet salt water in tide pools, between ...

Crows have a sense of geometric intuition much like our own, a new study reveals. They can detect the 'odd one out' in a set of geometric shapes, and have an affinity for geometric regularity – shapes ...

In recent years, researchers have been studying the role of shape and geometry in biofilms and how physical laws, such as those governing cellular metabolism and the diffusion of nutrients, determine ...

Pick the odd one out. Initially, the birds encountered easy ... The birds identified intruders more easily when the base shapes followed stronger geometric rules – parallel sides, right angles, equal ...

Employing generalizations of differential geometry and calculus variations, the team successfully derived nonlinear field equations from optimized variations on the spacetime metric, which gave them ...

Crows make expert shape spotters Carrion crows ( Corvus corone ) can add geometry to their already impressive list of mathematical skills . Researchers showed sets of six shapes to two crows and ...

Even then, the crows picked out the odd shape more often than chance would allow ... parallel lines, and symmetrical shapes. These are essential features of geometry that humans typically learn in ...

But to mathematicians, shapes encompass a vast universe of surprising forms, from one-dimensional loops to polytopes (geometric objects with flat sides that can exist in any desired dimension).

Geometry, like language ... they didn’t show any consistent ability to pick out the geometrically odd shape. What this crow study suggests is that some forms of reasoning — especially those ...