Robot Dinosaur Flaps Feathers to Scare Prey

A robot dinosaur wearing a bellboy hat welcomes guests from the front desk at the Henn-na Hotel in Urayasu, suburban Tokyo on August 31, 2018. (AFP/Kazuhiro Nogi)
A robot dinosaur wearing a bellboy hat welcomes guests from the front desk at the Henn-na Hotel in Urayasu, suburban Tokyo on August 31, 2018. (AFP/Kazuhiro Nogi)
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Robot Dinosaur Flaps Feathers to Scare Prey

A robot dinosaur wearing a bellboy hat welcomes guests from the front desk at the Henn-na Hotel in Urayasu, suburban Tokyo on August 31, 2018. (AFP/Kazuhiro Nogi)
A robot dinosaur wearing a bellboy hat welcomes guests from the front desk at the Henn-na Hotel in Urayasu, suburban Tokyo on August 31, 2018. (AFP/Kazuhiro Nogi)

Against a backdrop of looming skyscrapers, a robot dinosaur raises its feathery wings, sending its prey fleeing in terror. It is a scientific invention to show how some dinosaurs could have flapped primitive wings to scare their quarry out of hiding, similar to birds like the roadrunner.

In this case, the robo-dino's prey is a grasshopper, which responds by springing into a shrub. The interaction was shown in a video released alongside a study by researchers in Seoul, South Korea. The findings were published in the journal Nature and reported by AFP.

Dinosaurs were long thought to be the relatives of reptiles, but over the last three decades, dinosaur fossils have been discovered with feathers, leading scientists to believe they are instead the ancestors of birds.

Many of these feathered dinosaurs could not fly, so a number of theories have been put forth, including that the feathers insulated the dinosaurs against the cold, or maybe they allowed dinosaurs to move more quickly.

Some small dinosaurs may have even used their wings to knock down and trap their prey, said Piotr Jablonski, a senior author of the study.

The team of researchers proposed adding a new predatory trick to this list, which they called the "flush-pursue strategy", a method used by the passerine and the northern mockingbird that flap their wings to prompt prey to reveal its location.

To demonstrate their hypothesis, the team built a robot version of the flightless dinosaur Caudipteryx, a peacock-sized pennaraptor that lived 124 million years ago.

The metal robot -- dubbed the "Robopteryx" -- was tasked with flapping its wings to scare-up some grasshoppers, whose ancestors lived in the same period as the Caudipteryx.

"The grasshoppers more frequently escaped when the dinosaur displayed its proto-wings," said lead study author Jinseok Park.

The grasshoppers were also more likely to hop away when the robot's wings were painted with contrasting black and white patches, which was proved after testing the neural response of the grasshoppers and how the contrasting-color wings, scared them and triggered their escape reflex.



Eastern Half of US Braces for More Long Days of Dangerous Heat

A kid cools off in Crown Fountain in Millennium Park as temperatures climbed to over 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius), in Chicago, Illinois, on June 21, 2025. (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP)
A kid cools off in Crown Fountain in Millennium Park as temperatures climbed to over 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius), in Chicago, Illinois, on June 21, 2025. (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP)
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Eastern Half of US Braces for More Long Days of Dangerous Heat

A kid cools off in Crown Fountain in Millennium Park as temperatures climbed to over 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius), in Chicago, Illinois, on June 21, 2025. (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP)
A kid cools off in Crown Fountain in Millennium Park as temperatures climbed to over 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius), in Chicago, Illinois, on June 21, 2025. (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP)

Tens of millions of people across the Midwest and East braced Sunday for another sweltering day of dangerously hot temperatures as a rare June heat wave continued to grip parts of the US.

Most of the northeastern quadrant of the country from Minnesota to Maine was under some type of heat advisory Sunday. So were parts of Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana and Mississippi, The Associated Press reported.

The temperature had already reached 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26.6 degrees Celsius) in the Chicago area by 7:30 a.m. Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasts called for heat indices of between 100 and 105 degrees F (37.7 to 40.5 degrees C).

The heat index in Pittsburgh was expected to top 105 F. The temperature in Columbus, Ohio, was 77 F (25 C) at 8:30 a.m. Highs there were expected to reach 97 F (36 C) with a heat index around 104 F (40 C).

Forecasts called for a heat index of 100 F in Philadelphia on Sunday, with a 108 F (42.2 C) heat index on Monday.

The city’s public health department declared a heat emergency starting at noon Sunday and ending Wednesday evening. Officials directed residents to air-conditioned libraries, community centers and other locations, and set up a “heat line” staffed by medical professionals to discuss conditions and illnesses made worse by the heat. At Lincoln Financial Field, officials said each fan attending Sunday’s FIFA World Cup match would be allowed to bring in one 20-ounce (0.6-liter) plastic bottle of water.

Sunday marked the second straight day of extreme heat across the Midwest and East Coast. Heat indices on Saturday hit 103 F (39.4 C) in Chicago and 101 F (38.3 C) in Madison, Wisconsin, turning that city's annual naked bike ride into a sticky and sweaty affair.

Minneapolis baked under a heat index of 106 F (41.1 C). The actual temperature was 96 degrees F (35.5 degrees C), which broke the old record for the date of 95 F (35 C) set in 1910, according to the weather service.

The heat is expected to persist into the coming week, with the hottest temperatures shifting eastward. New York City is expected to see highs around 95 F (35 C) on Monday and Tuesday. Boston is on track for highs approaching 100 F (37.7 C) on Tuesday, and temperatures in Washington, D.C., were expected to hit 100 F on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Meteorologists say a phenomenon known as a heat dome, a large area of high pressure in the upper atmosphere that traps heat and humidity, is responsible for the extreme temperatures.

Mark Gehring, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Sullivan, Wisconsin, said this level of heat is not uncommon during the summer months in the US, although it usually takes hold in mid-July or early August. The most unusual facet of this heat wave is the sheer amount of territory sweltering under it, he said.

“It's basically everywhere east of the Rockies,” he said, referring to the Rocky Mountains. “That is unusual, to have this massive area of high dewpoints and heat.”