 | Rata Topo Vs Vibora Topo Rata Topo: Una rata topo lampiña o rata topo desnuda,también conocida como farumfer o heterocéfalo,es un mamífero roedor perteneciente al suborden de los histricognatos,a la familia de los batiérgidos y al género Heterocephalus. Las ratas topo desnudas son pequeños roedores que habitan principalmente en Etiopía,Kenia y Somalia y cuya característica visible más señalada es la carencia de pelo que les aporta un extraño aspecto. Su longevidad,excepcionalmente larga entre los roedores de su tamaño,se encuentra en torno a los 26 años pero su característica biológica más destacada es que la rata topo lampiña,junto con algunos otros batiérgidos,es que es el único mamífero eusocial conocido,es decir que posee una casta especializada únicamente en la reproducción del resto de una colonia estéril como ocurre con algunos insectos sociales tales como las hormigas,termitas y abejas.En sus sistemas de túneles subterráneos,cavados por los trabajadores principalmente con sus grandes incisivos,poseen zonas comunes donde excretan y se revuelcan para mantener el olor común de la colonia. Es allí donde el contacto con la orina de la reina, que se cree que contiene feromonas especiales aún por detectar,mantiene al resto de las hembras y a la mayoría de los machos de la colonia estériles hasta que ésta muere o desaparece y consecuentemente,es relevada cuando su orina deja de producir efecto.Sólo esto lleva a las hembras a luchar a muerte entre sí para decidir quién será su sucesora. La reina dispone de vértebras especializadas que la hacen más larga que el resto de las hembras.La parte inferior de la espina dorsal se alarga tras su primer o segundo embarazo hasta alcanzar un tercio más de longitud que la de las demás.La puesta de una reina consta de entre 3 y 12 crías, aunque es capaz de albergar hasta 27 fetos.En una colonia normal entre uno y tres machos se aparean con la reina mientras el resto de individuos(que oscilan entre 20 y 300,tanto machos como hembras)adquieren la función de trabajadores que cavan túneles y buscan comida,de sirvientes que atienden a la reina y a su progenie y de soldados que defienden los túneles de agresiones de serpientes,zorros,águilas y búhos. En muchos lugares se le considera una alimaña debido a sus hábitos alimenticios,pues se alimenta de raíces y tubérculos,dañando los cultivos de patatas y otros vegetales. VIBORA TOPO: Existe una gran diversidad de víboras repartidas a todo lo largo y ancho del mundo. Por ejemplo, las víboras topo (Atractaspis) son serpientes excavadoras que comprenden una docena de especies distribuidas por Africa, Asia Menor y la península Arábiga. El veneno de estas serpientes no es muy activo y rara vez resulta fatal para el hombre. Las víboras topo se nutren especialmente de mamíferos de regular tamaño. |
 | Ever Seen a Naked Mole Rat? Not a mole, not a rat These odd little creatures with pink, wrinkly skin dig and live in underground burrows the way moles do. They have skinny, rat-like tails. Yet naked mole-rats are more closely related to porcupines, chinchillas, and guinea pigs than they are to moles or rats and are the only species of mole-rat that has practically no hair. Why are they "naked"? Naked mole-rats live underground in the desert regions of East Africa, a pretty warm place during the day. If it does get cold at night, the little mammals just huddle together in a mole-rat pile and use each other's body heat to keep warm. And since they spend their lives underground, they don't need hair for sun protection. Most mole-rat species live by themselves. But the naked mole-rat and the Damaraland mole-rat Cryptomys damarensis are the only two mammal species that are eusocial (yew SO shul). This means they live in colonies that may have several generations living together and just a few individuals that produce all the offspring for the colony, much the way bees and ants live. A naked mole-rat colony may have from 20 to 300 individuals living in an underground area that can be as large as 6 football fields! The area is filled with a tunnel system that stays at a warm temperature of 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius), even though the outside temperature can get much colder or much warmer. To keep the colony healthy and safe, there are chambers, or rooms, at different points along the tunnel system. Each chamber has a purpose, just like the rooms in your home. There is the nesting chamber, or nursery, where the queen (dominant female) stays with the pups (babies), and feeding chambers, used for collecting and storing food—a mole-rat pantry! There is even a toilet chamber, where the members go to the bathroom (sorry, no shower). Most people think naked mole-rats are blind. Their tiny eyes are not much use underground, but they can still see a little bit. However, mole-rats rely on their senses of hearing, smell, and touch more than their sight. Researchers have studied them in light and dark environments and find their behavior doesn't change. The colony has a specific job for each member and is led by the queen. Only a small group of males is allowed to mate with the queen. The other naked mole-rats in the colony serve as soldiers or workers. If a snake or other predator comes into a tunnel, the mole-rats let out an alarm call to alert the soldiers. Like a little army unit, the soldiers run off to defend the colony with their large, sharp teeth. Several of the soldiers may pile on top of each other to block the way, and all the predator sees is many sets of gnashing teeth! The mole-rats assigned as workers scout for food, dig the tunnels, and care for the queen's pups. The queen of the colony is larger and longer than all the other mole-rats. Her job is to breed and have pups and to keep her position as the dominant mole-rat in the colony. But the queen is not born into her position: she must earn it. Females will fight, even to the death, for the right to be queen. Once a queen is established, she will actually stretch the space between the vertebrae in her backbone to become longer and get ready to have pups. Her position as queen is never secure and she must continue to fight off other females if she wants to stay in charge. The queen often inspects the tunnels and chambers and tries to keep control of her colony by biting and pushing the other mole-rats to remind them she is the boss. Eating tough roots and tubers requires some pretty strong and sharp teeth. A naked mole-rat's front teeth also help them tunnel through dirt while looking for these food items. Like all rodents, these teeth continue to grow, but by gnawing on hard things, they keep their teeth from getting too long! Naked mole-rats at the San Diego Zoo are fed yams, carrots, corn, broccoli, and fruit. Their favorite food item is a banana. They eat what? Yucky, but true: naked mole-rats eat their own poop. But they have a very good reason for doing this. Naked mole-rats eat roots and tubers, which are very hard to digest. Their intestines are full of microscopic organisms to help with digestion. But in order to absorb more of the nutrients from their food, they will eat the poop. It's like getting two meals for the price of one. And not only do they eat their feces, they also roll in it! Because naked mole-rats live in the dark, they have nearly lost the use of their eyes. In order to identify members of the colony versus an intruding colony, they all roll around in the toilet chamber. This way everyone smells the same! (Literature credit: SD Zoo) |
 | Ants taking a beetle away. Short video with some d'n'b music in the background depicting simple scene of ants taking a beetle away to their nest. Good to watch if you have to match time on your hands. |
 | Fennesz Live at Lovebytes 2006 Sheffield UK Christian Fennesz is known for his impeccable work in creating beautiful compositions for guitar and computer; shimmering, swirling electronic sounds of enormous range and complex musicality. Performance 10pm Friday 24 March 2006 |
 | Terra Engine - The Silent Language Of Grief Experimental music video for the song "The Silent Language Of Grief", created by Terra Engine http://www.myspace.com/johnlithiummusic Minimalist, yet somber and sorrowful. The album "Khvarenah", which includes this track, will be released soon by Timetheory Netlabel (Jon7). |
 | Swarm intelligence - ants simulation3 simulation of ants showing self organization and the building of efficient "roads" |
 | MILyBots -------------------------- University of Florida Machine Intelligence Lab MILyBots www.mil.ufl.edu/milybots ------------------------- Group of swarm-robots performing salsa dance choreography part II. |
 | Particle Swarms for Object Tracking A solution based on a Swarm Intelligence metaphor with a prey-predator scheme is proposed for real time object tracking in video sequences, which is a basic process in multiple computer vision tasks. Swarm predator particles fly on a Boid-like fashion over image prey pixels, using combined image features to guide individual movement rules. Object tracking emerges from interaction between predator particles and their environment. |
 | Bugs Bugs are general purpose robotic platforms designed for experimentation with ideas of swarm intelligence. They are physically embodied autonomous agents interacting as an artificial life system. Each robot is programmed with simple rules such as "seek light" and "avoid obstacles". Through their interaction with each other and the environment these simple low level behaviors give rise to interesting higher level patterns of organization. This video is a studio demo. It shows a test of 5 agents exploring flocking behavior at 3x speed. |
 | Swarm Pong Collective Intelligence, direct feedback and 100 people is all you need to have an exciting pong session with almost perfect coordination. www.1492online.com intelligent Collective Behavior (iCB) |
| Oceanfrontier Hideaway | |
| Sheraton Suites Philadelphia Airport | |
| The Boulders Resort and Golden Door Spa | |
| Coral Beach Club |
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