WEIRD STUFF

Bacteria important for a good cup of tea

New research in China suggests that the secret to making a delicious cuppa is held in a collection of microbes that are found on the roots of tea plants.

The microbes work together to increase the production of the amino acid theanine, the main component responsible for the taste of tea.

Wenxin Tang of the Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University explained: "The initial expectation for the synthetic microbial community derived from high-quality tea plant roots was to enhance the quality of low-quality tea plants.

"However, to our astonishment, we discovered that the synthetic microbial community not only enhances the quality of low-quality tea plants, but also exerts a significant promoting effect on certain high-quality tea varieties.

"Furthermore, this effect is particularly pronounced in low-nitrogen soil conditions."

The team argues that focusing on the microbial communities could be a better method of creating a nice cup of tea than genetically modifying tea plants.

Tigers and cheetahs can recognise human voices

Big cats can tell human voices apart.

New research has found that animals like tigers and cheetahs have the ability to differentiate between familiar and unfamiliar human voices.

A study saw 24 cats of 10 species exposed to audio recordings of both familiar and unfamiliar humans saying the same phrase: "Good morning, how are you doing today?"

The team analysed the cats' reactions and behaviours in response to each voice and found that they responded a lot more quickly to the familiar voice -- irrespective of sex or whether they are hand-reared or mother-reared.

Professor Jennifer Vonk, the co-author of the research for Oakland University, explained that the findings could reflect the need for wild animals to keep track of who might be in the area, and help the felines pay attention to warning calls from other species.

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Stingray experiences virgin birth

A female stingray in a North Carolina Aquarium shocked staff after getting pregnant -- despite not being in a tank with male stingrays for more than eight years.

Charlotte is expected to give birth to up to four pups in the coming weeks.

The staff was relieved that the marine animal didn't have a tumour and was, in fact, expecting after undergoing an ultrasound.

Brenda Ramer, executive director of the sea life centre in Hendersonville and Shark Lab, told ABC 13 News: "We were all, like, 'Shut the back door, there's no way.'

"We thought we were overfeeding her. But we were overfeeding her because she has more mouths to feed."

It turns out, according to an expert, Charlotte could have mated with five small sharks sharing the same tank, meaning the pups will likely be a stingray-shark hybrid.

Kady Lyons, a research scientist at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, has said it's the only known case she has ever heard of.

She commented: "I'm not surprised, because nature finds a way of having this happen."

Lyons clarified: "We should set the record straight that there aren't some shark-ray shenanigans happening here."

Instead, Charlotte's egg fused with another cell, leading to the creation of an embryo.