In the past, evolved virtual creatures (EVCs) have been developed with rigid, articulated bodies, and with soft bodies, but never before with a combination of the two. In nature, however, creatures combining a rigid skeleton and non-rigid muscles are some of the most complex and successful examples of life on earth. Now, for the first time, creatures with fully evolved rigid-body skeletons and ...

Background Assessing outcomes of habitat management is critical for informing and adapting conservation plans. From 2013-2019, a multi-stage management initiative, led by the American Bird Conservancy (ABC), aims to create >25,000 ha of shrubland and early-successional vegetation to benefit Golden-winged Warblers (Vermivora chrysoptera) in managed forested landscapes of the western Great Lakes ...

" Perception and choice are the products of context dependent and comparative evaluation mechanisms that can be systematic and predictable, but that do not readily lend themselves to analyses that assume consistency, independence and invariance. "-Eldar Shafir Eldar Shafir's paper powerfully reinforces the notion that we are indeed different creatures from what much economics supposed. To cite ...

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The capacity to predict the geographic distribution and relative abundance of invasive species is pivotal to developing policy for eradication or control and management. Commonly used methods fall under the ambit of ecological niche models (ENMs). These methods were reviewed and shortcomings identified. Weather-driven physiologically based demographic models (PBDMs) are proposed that resolve m...

The cabbage aphid, Brevicoryne brassicae, has developed a chemical defence system that exploits and mimics that of its host plants, involving sequestration of the major plant secondary metabolites (glucosinolates). Like its host plants, the aphid produces a myrosinase (beta-thioglucoside glucohydrolase) to catalyse the hydrolysis of glucosinolates, yielding biologically active products. Here, w...

The winged helix/forkhead class of transcription factors is characterized by a 100-amino-acid, monomeric DNAbinding domain. The structure of the DNA-binding domain of one of the class members, hepatocyte nuclear factor 3 g (HNF3g), in a complex with a DNA target has been solved (Clark et al. 1993). The DNA-binding domain folds into a variant of the helix–turn–helix motif and is made up of three...