ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Bats use water ripples to hunt frogs
• Genome of longest-living cancer: 11,000-year-old living dog cancer reveals its origin, evolution
• When nanotechnology meets quantum physics in one dimension: New experiment supports long-predicted 'Luttinger liquid' model
• Death row confessions and the last meal test of innocence
• Detecting sickness by smell
• Choose your love: Sexual selection enhances ability of offspring to cope with infection
• Does it pay to be a lover or a fighter? It depends on how you woo females
• Detecting chemicals, measuring strain with a pencil and paper
• Humans can use smell to detect levels of dietary fat
• Flies with brothers make gentler lovers
• Exposure to cold temperatures can help boost weight loss
• Brain works like a radio receiver
• Hedges, edges help pigeons learn their way around
• Fast eye movements: A possible indicator of more impulsive decision-making

Bats use water ripples to hunt frogs Posted: 23 Jan 2014 11:19 AM PST As the male tungara frog serenades females from a pond, he creates watery ripples that make him easier to target by rivals and predators such as bats. He will stop calling if he sees a bat overhead, but ripples continue moving for several seconds after the call ceases. In a new study, researchers found evidence that bats use echolocation to detect these ripples and home in on a frog.

Genome of longest-living cancer: 11,000-year-old living dog cancer reveals its origin, evolution Posted: 23 Jan 2014 11:17 AM PST A cancer normally lives and dies with a person, however this is not the case with a sexually transmitted cancer in dogs. In a new study, researchers have described the genome and evolution of this cancer that has continued living within the dog population for the past 11,000 years.

When nanotechnology meets quantum physics in one dimension: New experiment supports long-predicted 'Luttinger liquid' model Posted: 23 Jan 2014 11:17 AM PST Scientists have succeeded in conducting a new experiment that supports the existence of the long-sought-after Luttinger liquid state.

Death row confessions and the last meal test of innocence Posted: 23 Jan 2014 09:58 AM PST Social circumstance often gives meals meaning, so it is logical that the last meals of those on death row may signify something beyond taste preference. While there are many factors that could contribute to last meal selection, this study is the first to provide evidence of a link between food selection and self-perceived guilt or innocence. These findings may be useful to the legal community in further assessing the innocence and perceived innocence of those who have received the death penalty in the past.

Detecting sickness by smell Posted: 23 Jan 2014 07:27 AM PST Humans are able to smell sickness in someone whose immune system is highly active within just a few hours of exposure to a toxin, according to new research published.

Choose your love: Sexual selection enhances ability of offspring to cope with infection Posted: 23 Jan 2014 04:55 AM PST To test whether female mate choice enhances the health of offspring, either through immune resistance, tolerance to infection, or both, researchers tested female house mice's preferences for particular males and then experimentally assigned each female to mate with either their preferred or their non-preferred male. They found that females that mated with their preferred male produced more offspring and were better able to cope with infection.

Does it pay to be a lover or a fighter? It depends on how you woo females Posted: 23 Jan 2014 04:55 AM PST As mating season approaches, male animals are faced with a question that can make or break their chances at reproducing: does it pay to be a lover or a fighter? Or both? Researchers found that where animals fall on the lover/fighter scale depends on how much they are able to ensure continued mating rights with females.In species where fighting for the right to mate means greater control of females, such as in the elephant seal, males invest more in weapons and less in testes size.

Detecting chemicals, measuring strain with a pencil and paper Posted: 22 Jan 2014 05:23 PM PST A team of students has proven that pencils and regular office paper can be used to measure strain on an object and detect hazardous gases.

Humans can use smell to detect levels of dietary fat Posted: 22 Jan 2014 05:20 PM PST New research reveals humans can use the sense of smell to detect dietary fat in food. As food smell almost always is detected before taste, the findings identify one of the first sensory qualities that signals whether a food contains fat. Innovative methods using odor to make low-fat foods more palatable could someday aid public health efforts to reduce dietary fat intake.

Flies with brothers make gentler lovers Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:38 AM PST Flies living with their brothers cause less harm to females during courting than those living with unrelated flies, say scientists. The study found that unrelated male flies compete more fiercely for females' attention than related flies, resulting in shorter lifespans for males and reduced fecundity for females.

Exposure to cold temperatures can help boost weight loss Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:38 AM PST Regular exposure to mild cold may be a healthy and sustainable way to help people lose weight, according to researchers. On the flip side, that means our warm and cozy homes and offices might be partly responsible for our expanding waistlines.

Brain works like a radio receiver Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:37 AM PST Initial evidence is found that the brain has a 'tuning knob' that is actually influencing behavior. Brain circuits can tune into the frequency of other brain parts relevant at the time.

Hedges, edges help pigeons learn their way around Posted: 22 Jan 2014 06:18 AM PST Homing pigeons' ability to remember routes depends on the complexity of the landscape below, with hedges and boundaries between urban and rural areas providing ideal landmarks for navigation. Researchers released 31 pigeons from four sites around Oxford for an average of 20 flights each. They found that pigeons were better able to memorize flight paths when the landscape below was of a certain visual complexity, such as rural areas with hedgerows.

Fast eye movements: A possible indicator of more impulsive decision-making Posted: 21 Jan 2014 03:32 PM PST Using a simple study of eye movements, scientists report evidence that people who are less patient tend to move their eyes with greater speed. The findings, the researchers say, suggest that the weight people give to the passage of time may be a trait consistently used throughout their brains, affecting the speed with which they make movements, as well as the way they make certain decisions.

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