ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Unique chromosomes preserved in Swedish fossil
• Can you drive fast enough to avoid being clocked by speed cameras?
• Playing as black: Avatar race affects white video game players
• Humans can distinguish at least one trillion different odors
• Unisex rooms made gender insignificant in army

Unique chromosomes preserved in Swedish fossil Posted: 21 Mar 2014 07:17 AM PDT Researchers have made a unique discovery in a well-preserved fern that lived 180 million years ago. Both undestroyed cell nuclei and individual chromosomes have been found in the plant fossil, thanks to its sudden burial in a volcanic eruption.

Can you drive fast enough to avoid being clocked by speed cameras? Posted: 21 Mar 2014 06:49 AM PDT Anyone wanting to avoid being caught out by speed cameras can do so very simply -- by obeying the speed limits. But physics students have suggested that -- theoretically, at least -- there may also be another way of avoiding getting a ticket. A group of students found that drivers could escape detection by driving so fast that their number plates would appear invisible to speed cameras. But any drivers tempted to give this a try next time they are on the motorway should be warned; the car would need to be traveling at 119 million miles per hour to make the number plate invisible. This speed equates to one sixth of the speed of light -- and no human-made vehicle is capable of going anywhere near this speed.

Playing as black: Avatar race affects white video game players Posted: 21 Mar 2014 06:47 AM PDT What happens when white video game players see themselves as black characters in a violent game? A new study suggests some disturbing answers. It makes the white players act more aggressively after the game is over, have stronger explicit negative attitudes toward blacks and display stronger implicit attitudes linking blacks to weapons.

Humans can distinguish at least one trillion different odors Posted: 20 Mar 2014 11:07 AM PDT Humans are capable of discriminating at least one trillion different odors, new research shows. Scientists determined that our sense of smell is prepared to recognize this vast olfactory palette after testing individuals' ability to recognize differences between complex odors mixed in the laboratory. It has been said for decades that humans were limited to distinguishing only 10,000 different odors.

Unisex rooms made gender insignificant in army Posted: 20 Mar 2014 08:17 AM PDT The researchers behind a new report on gender equality in the Norwegian army describe the phenomenon as "degenderization". When women and men shared the same room, gender was no longer significant.

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