ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Slick and slender snake beats short and stubby lizard in sand swimming
• Computers using digital footprints are better judges of personality than friends and family
• 3-D printed Shelby Cobra
• Two-faced fish clue that our ancestors 'weren't shark-like'
• From the bottom up: Manipulating nanoribbons at the molecular level
• They see flow signals: Researchers identify nature of 'sixth sense' in fish
• 'Batman' leads way to extremely fast and precise data storage
• Portly pastors make up more than a third of American clergy

Slick and slender snake beats short and stubby lizard in sand swimming Posted: 12 Jan 2015 03:13 PM PST For swimming through sand, a slick and slender snake can perform better than a short and stubby lizard. That's one conclusion from a study of the movement patterns of the shovel-nosed snake, a native of the Mojave Desert of the Southwest United States.

Computers using digital footprints are better judges of personality than friends and family Posted: 12 Jan 2015 12:44 PM PST Researchers have found that, based on enough Facebook Likes, computers can judge your personality traits better than your friends, family and even your partner. Using a new algorithm, researchers have calculated the average number of Likes artificial intelligence (AI) needs to draw personality inferences about you as accurately as your partner or parents.

3-D printed Shelby Cobra Posted: 12 Jan 2015 11:12 AM PST A new 3-D printed vehicle pays homage to the classic Shelby Cobra in celebration of the racing car's 50th anniversary.

Two-faced fish clue that our ancestors 'weren't shark-like' Posted: 12 Jan 2015 10:55 AM PST An investigation of a 415-million-year-old fish skull strongly suggests that the last common ancestor of all jawed vertebrates, including humans, was not very shark-like. It adds further weight to the growing idea that sharks are not 'primitive.'

From the bottom up: Manipulating nanoribbons at the molecular level Posted: 12 Jan 2015 10:39 AM PST Researchers have developed a new precision approach for synthesizing graphene nanoribbons from pre-designed molecular building blocks. Using this process the researchers have built nanoribbons that have enhanced properties--such as position-dependent, tunable bandgaps--that are potentially very useful for next-generation electronic circuitry.

They see flow signals: Researchers identify nature of 'sixth sense' in fish Posted: 12 Jan 2015 06:30 AM PST A team of scientists has identified how a "sixth sense" in fish allows them to detect flows of water, which helps resolve a long-standing mystery about how these aquatic creatures respond to their environment.

'Batman' leads way to extremely fast and precise data storage Posted: 12 Jan 2015 05:29 AM PST Researchers have succeeded in switching tiny, magnetic structures using laser light and tracking the change over time. In the process, a nanometer-sized area bizarrely reminiscent of the Batman logo appeared. The research results could render data storage on hard drives faster, more compact and more efficient.

Portly pastors make up more than a third of American clergy Posted: 12 Jan 2015 05:19 AM PST More than a third of American clergy members are obese, with stress, longer hours, being underpaid and lack of self-care among the reasons, according to a study. But the pastoral profession has some built-in prevention methods that can help clergy be healthier if they take advantage of them.

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