@lana's saved articles

Model-free Motion Planning of Autonomous Agents for Complex Tasks in Partially Observable Environments

1. Junchao Li
2. Mingyu Cai
3. Zhen Kan
4. Shaoping Xiao

Substrate evaporation drives collective construction in termites

1. G. Facchini
2. A. Rathery
3. S. Douady
4. D. Sillam-Dussès
5. A. Perna

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This valuable study investigates the environmental drivers behind termite construction, focusing, in particular, on pellet deposition behavior, with the conclusion that termites likely sense curvature indirectly through substrate evaporation. The findings reconcile discrepancies between previous studies through experimental and computational approaches. The strength of the evidence supporting the claims is solid, although many computational details are still missing, and the are concerns about the repeatability of the results across replicates, the dynamics of evaporation in their experiment, and the termites' ability to sense humidity.

Reviewed by eLife

How hibernation in frogs drives brain and reproductive evolution in opposite directions

1. Wen Bo Liao
2. Ying Jiang
3. Long Jin
4. Stefan Lüpold

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  In this important paper, the authors report a link between brumation and tissue size in frogs, summarizing convincing evidence that extended brumation is associated with smaller brain size and increased investment in reproduction-related tissues. The research will be of broad interest to ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and those interested in global change biology. While the dataset involves significant field work and advanced statistical analyses, the manuscript would benefit from more explanation of the models, including why frogs are a good model in which to address these questions, and from general improvement in the structure and conciseness.

Reviewed by eLife