ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

---

• Chameleons use colorful language to communicate: Chameleons' body regions are 'billboards' for different types of information
• The mystery of lizard breath: One-way air flow may be 270 million years old
• Muscular head pumps give long-proboscid fly edge
• New system allows for high-accuracy, through-wall, 3-D motion tracking; Technology could revolutionize gaming, fall detection
• Study raises questions about longstanding forensic identification technique
• Can celebrity cancer diagnoses prompt quitting smoking?
• Egg dumping -- and rearing
• The garden microbe with a sense of touch: Common soil dwelling bacterium responds to forces and curvature
• Magpie parents know a baby cuckoo when they see one
• Are overweight children less able to handle advertising?
• Video of failed bike stunt lends insights into biomechanics of facial fracture
• Mug shot misuse on internet: How to end exploitation
• Money may corrupt, but thinking about time can strengthen morality
• Gut microbes affect MicroRNA response to bacterial infection
• UK women scientists have fewer studies funded, given less money than men
• Balancing old and new skills

Chameleons use colorful language to communicate: Chameleons' body regions are 'billboards' for different types of information Posted: 11 Dec 2013 10:42 AM PST To protect themselves, some animals rapidly change color when their environments change, but chameleons change colors in unusual ways when they interact with other chameleons. Researchers have discovered that these color changes don't happen "out-of-the-blue" -- instead, they convey different types of information during important social interactions.

The mystery of lizard breath: One-way air flow may be 270 million years old Posted: 11 Dec 2013 10:39 AM PST Air flows mostly in a one-way loop through the lungs of monitor lizards -- a breathing method shared by birds, alligators and presumably dinosaurs, according to a new study that may push the evolution of this trait back to 270 million years ago.

Muscular head pumps give long-proboscid fly edge Posted: 11 Dec 2013 10:27 AM PST A long-proboscid fly with an extra-long, tongue-like proboscis might seem to take extra-long to feed on a flower, but it actually has an advantage over its counterparts with average sized nectar-sipping mouth parts. It can suck up almost all nectar available in a flower in one go, because it has more efficient suction pumps in its head, say researchers.

New system allows for high-accuracy, through-wall, 3-D motion tracking; Technology could revolutionize gaming, fall detection Posted: 11 Dec 2013 10:18 AM PST Imagine playing a video game like Call of Duty or Battlefield and having the ability to lead your virtual army unit while moving freely throughout your house. Gaming could become this realistic, thanks to new technology that allows for highly accurate, 3-D motion tracking. The new system, dubbed "WiTrack," uses radio signals to track a person through walls and obstructions, pinpointing her 3-D location to within 10 to 20 centimeters -- about the width of an adult hand.

Study raises questions about longstanding forensic identification technique Posted: 11 Dec 2013 07:46 AM PST Forensic experts have long used the shape of a person's skull to make positive identifications of human remains. But those findings may now be called into question, since a new study shows that there is not enough variation in skull shapes to make a positive ID.

Can celebrity cancer diagnoses prompt quitting smoking? Posted: 11 Dec 2013 06:39 AM PST In a study published, researchers found that when celebrities publicly discuss their struggles with cancer diagnoses, the resulting media coverage prompts more smokers to search for information on quitting than events like New Year's Day or World No Tobacco Day.

Egg dumping -- and rearing Posted: 11 Dec 2013 06:38 AM PST Many birds have reason to worry that the eggs in their nest might not be their own: Birds often deposit eggs into other nests and it is not easy for parents to tell their eggs from others. Researchers have discovered that tree sparrows can recognize eggs deposited by other tree sparrows but do not always reject them.

The garden microbe with a sense of touch: Common soil dwelling bacterium responds to forces and curvature Posted: 11 Dec 2013 06:37 AM PST A common soil dwelling bacterium appears to possess a sense of touch, researchers have shown. A study has found that Bacillus mycoides, which has been known to science since 1842, responds to forces and curvature in the medium on which it's growing.

Magpie parents know a baby cuckoo when they see one Posted: 11 Dec 2013 06:37 AM PST Cuckoos that lay their eggs in the nest of a magpie so that their chicks can be raised by the latter better hope that their young are not raised together with other magpies. The chances of cuckoo fledglings raised in mixed broods being fed by their foster parents are much lower, according to research.

Are overweight children less able to handle advertising? Posted: 11 Dec 2013 04:02 AM PST Weight, body shape perception, self-esteem and dietary habits all contribute to how children handle food advertising. A new study suggests that overweight children, in particular, could benefit from special training, in order to increase their media skills in relation to the exposure to advertising.

Video of failed bike stunt lends insights into biomechanics of facial fracture Posted: 10 Dec 2013 09:06 AM PST A man attempting a bicycle stunt made a significant —- if unintended -— contribution to surgical science, as a video of his crash allowed researchers to analyze the "kinematic and dynamic parameters" of the accident and resulting facial fractures.

Mug shot misuse on internet: How to end exploitation Posted: 10 Dec 2013 06:12 AM PST When a person is arrested, part of the procedure is to have a 'booking photo' taken of the accused. In the US, these are stored on arresting agency websites and are publicly available. There has been a rise in the practice of 'scraping' mug shots and posting them live on websites where anyone can chance upon a photo of a loved one or friend who may have inadvertently committed a minor offense. Thousands of individuals have been affected by this phenomenon in terms of employability and reputation, and are having to pay specialist companies to remove the photos from public view.

Money may corrupt, but thinking about time can strengthen morality Posted: 10 Dec 2013 04:21 AM PST Priming people to think about money makes them more likely to cheat, but priming them to think about time seems to strengthen their moral compass, according to new research.

Gut microbes affect MicroRNA response to bacterial infection Posted: 10 Dec 2013 04:21 AM PST When it comes to fighting off pathogens like Listeria, your best allies may be the billions of microorganisms that line your gut, according to new research. The study reveals that germ-free mice are more susceptible to infection with the foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes than mice with conventional intestinal microbiota.

UK women scientists have fewer studies funded, given less money than men Posted: 09 Dec 2013 05:41 PM PST Women scientists specializing in infectious disease research have fewer studies funded than men, and receive less funding across most topic areas in the specialty than their male peers, finds a study published.

Balancing old and new skills Posted: 09 Dec 2013 12:23 PM PST A new model explains how the brain can learn novel tasks while still remembering what it has already learned.

You are subscribed to email updates from ScienceDaily: Strange Science News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610