The tale of the flying snail

Darwin's theory that snails hitch a lift with birds proves plausible.

For an animal with one foot, it certainly gets around. Even across oceans.

Scientists have shown that the land snail Balea perversa has somehow managed to travel from Europe to the Azores, then right down the length of the Atlantic Ocean to a remote set of isles between South Africa and South America - a 9,000 kilometre trip that seems unlikely for an animal that doesn't even know how to swim. The snails also seem to have made the return trip back to Europe.

The Tristan da Cunha islands, the furthest point from Europe where the snails have been found, are "among the most remote islands in the world", says Richard Preece of the University of Cambridge. Preece and his colleagues confirm, through a genetic study published in Nature, that the snails in both places are of the same genus1.


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Tokyo to get world's first 'maglev' elevator

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- The world's first elevators controlled by magnetic levitation will debut as early as 2008, a Tokyo-based company said Tuesday.

Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Corp. will employ so-called maglev technology -- capable of suspending objects in mid-air through the combination of magnetic attraction and repulsion -- to control the lifts, it said in a statement.

The maglev elevators will be quieter and more comfortable and will travel 300 meters (984 feet) per minute -- not as fast as the company's conventional lifts that can move up to 1,010 meters (3,314 feet) a minute, Toshiba said.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/01/17/maglev.lift.ap/index.html

Big brains are not crucial to teaching

Animals do not need a big brain to be able to teach each other, a new study suggests.

Animal behaviourists in the UK believe they have found the first evidence of two-way teacher-pupil communication between ants, suggesting that teaching behaviour may have evolved according to the value of information rather than brain size.

Some ants use tandem running when foraging. This is when one ant appears to lead another from the nest to a food source by using signals that control the speed and route of the journey.

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The leader’s speed is controlled by frequent taps on its legs and abdomen by the antennae of the follower ant – who appears to stop frequently to learn the route back.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8567

Taiwan breeds green-glowing pigs

Scientists in Taiwan say they have bred three pigs that "glow in the dark".

They claim that while other researchers have bred partly fluorescent pigs, theirs are the only pigs in the world which are green through and through.

The pigs are transgenic, created by adding genetic material from jellyfish into a normal pig embryo.

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In daylight, the researchers say the pigs' eyes, teeth and trotters look green. Their skin has a greenish tinge.

In the dark, shine a blue light on them and they glow torch-light bright.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4605202.stm