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BOT EVOLUTION. "After 500 generations researchers saw the generalist strategy begin to emerge: navigate toward light, pick up block, navigate away from light, drop block, repeat. After a thousand generations task partitioning begins to emerge and the cooperative behavior is optimized and refined over an additional thousand generations." http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/08/antlike-robots-might-help-explain-origins-cooperation View in LinkedIn

GENETIC PROGRAMMING of virtual ant bots over 2,000 generations starts to closely mimic the efficiency of leaf-cutter ants. "The robots used in this study could exhibit only very simple behaviors: They could move to and from a light source placed above the blocks, move about randomly, or pick up or drop an object. Within this framework, each robot could be programmed to mimic the roles of the leafcutters." https://lnkd.in/dy24Vex View in LinkedIn

PHYSIOLOGICAL PREPAREDNESS. "Migratory disposition, i.e. a state of readiness for prolonged flights, comprises hypertrophy of flight muscles, fat deposition in the adipose tissue, integrated changes in enzyme activities involved in the energy metabolism, hyperphagia, dietary changes and the development of migratory activity." http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2011/02/11/rspb.2010.2567 View in LinkedIn

MOLECULAR BOT. "Kyle Lund’s robot (which he does actually call a spider) can move about completely of its own accord. Its program is completely written into its landscape. The spider’s body is a molecule called streptavidin and each of its legs are single-stranded ‘DNAzymes’ – one half of the famous double helix, with the added ability to cut other DNA strands. In doing so, it shortens the length of any strand that it happens to walk on." http://science.sciencemag.org/content/345/6198/795 View in LinkedIn

BODILY AND BEHAVIORAL CHANGES. "Before and during migration, migratory birds undergo a profound and synchronized shift in a set of physiological adaptations and behavioural traits." http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2011/02/11/rspb.2010.2567 View in LinkedIn

CONTEXTUAL PROGRAMMING. "The two robots are the stars of two new papers that describe the latest advances in making independent, programmable nano-scale robots out of individual molecules. The two new studies have solved this problem by programming the robots’ actions into their environment rather than their bodies." http://science.sciencemag.org/content/345/6198/795 View in LinkedIn

GENES CONTROLLING ORIENTATION. "Quantitative genetics analyses in several animal systems suggests that migratory orientation has a strong genetic component. Nevertheless, the exact identity of genes controlling orientation remains largely unknown." https://lnkd.in/dWFycUQ View in LinkedIn

ENDOGENOUS GPS. "The amazing accuracy of migratory orientation performance across the animal kingdom is facilitated by the use of magnetic and celestial compass systems that provide individuals with both directional and positional information that provide individuals with both directional and positional information." https://lnkd.in/dWFycUQ View in LinkedIn

FROM GENE TO PHENOTYPE. "There is a clear need to study the molecular genetic basis of migration, which may bridge the gap between genes and phenotype." http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2011/02/11/rspb.2010.2567 View in LinkedIn

CAUSE OR EFFECT? "Despite extensive research over decades, the molecular, physiological and endocrinological mechanisms underlying the regulation of migratory movements remain largely unknown. In particular, it remains unclear whether endocrine changes are a cause or an effect of migratory processes." http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2011/02/11/rspb.2010.2567 View in LinkedIn