ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

---

• Social or stinky? New study reveals how animal defenses evolve
• Bottom-up insight into crowd dynamics: Preparing for stampedes, mass evacuations
• Social media, self-esteem and suicide: Nations with more corruption demonstrate more social media, less suicide
• Shadowing in Sensor Images: NASA study points to 'infrared-herring' in apparent Amazon green-up
• 'Steak-knife' teeth reveal ecology of oldest land predators
• Click chemistry could provide total chemical DNA synthesis, study shows
• What falling in love does to your heart and brain
• Excrement collected worldwide shows co-evolution of herbivores, their gut microbes
• Virtual-reality 'assisted' flying? Helping airline passengers experience comfort, space and altered self-perception
• Money makes people right-wing, inegalitarian, UK study finds
• Pre-term labor problem: Using blue light to slow, prevent preterm labor
• Grasshoppers are what they eat: New method to extract plant DNA from grasshopper guts sheds light on plant-insect interactions

Social or stinky? New study reveals how animal defenses evolve Posted: 07 Feb 2014 12:13 PM PST Some animals are "eww" while others are "aww." Why do some animals use stinking secretions for defense, while others are social? In a new study, researchers found that noxious spraying was favored by animals that were nocturnal and mostly at risk from other animals, while sociality was favored by animals that were active during the day and potentially vulnerable to birds of prey.

Bottom-up insight into crowd dynamics: Preparing for stampedes, mass evacuations Posted: 07 Feb 2014 08:41 AM PST Stampedes unfortunately occur on too regular a basis. Previously, physicists developed numerous models of crowd evacuation dynamics. Now, a new study outlines a procedure for quantitatively comparing different crowd models, which also helps to compare these models with real-world data. In a new paper, researchers have demonstrated that these crowd evacuation dynamics models are a viable decision-making tool in safety preparation and planning concerning real-world human crowds.

Social media, self-esteem and suicide: Nations with more corruption demonstrate more social media, less suicide Posted: 07 Feb 2014 06:40 AM PST In nations where corruption is rife, it seems that citizens these days find an escape from the everyday problems that trickle down to their lives by using online social media more than those elsewhere. Research also suggests that these two factors -- more corruption, more social networking -- also correlate with lower suicide rates.

Shadowing in Sensor Images: NASA study points to 'infrared-herring' in apparent Amazon green-up Posted: 07 Feb 2014 05:39 AM PST A new NASA study shows that the appearance of canopy greening is not caused by a biophysical change in Amazon forests, but instead by a combination of shadowing within the canopy and the way that satellite sensors observe the Amazon during the dry season.

'Steak-knife' teeth reveal ecology of oldest land predators Posted: 07 Feb 2014 05:39 AM PST The first top predators to walk on land were not afraid to bite off more than they could chew, a study has found. Researchers suggest that Dimetrodon, a carnivore that walked on land between 298 million and 272 million years ago, was the first terrestrial vertebrate to develop serrated ziphodont teeth.

Click chemistry could provide total chemical DNA synthesis, study shows Posted: 07 Feb 2014 05:38 AM PST An interdisciplinary study has shown for the first time that 'click chemistry' can be used to assemble DNA that is functional in human cells, which paves the way for a purely chemical method for gene synthesis. Human cells can still read through strands of DNA correctly despite being stitched together using a linker not found in nature.

What falling in love does to your heart and brain Posted: 06 Feb 2014 12:52 PM PST Getting struck by Cupid's arrow may very well take your breath away and make your heart go pitter-patter this Valentine's Day, reports sexual wellness specialists.

Excrement collected worldwide shows co-evolution of herbivores, their gut microbes Posted: 06 Feb 2014 11:20 AM PST An extensive study on excrement and rumen fluids in plant-eating mammals from all over the whole world shows that the ciliates in their guts have evolved in parallel with them. This is the result of a five-year research project performed by evolution biologists, microbiologists and computer scientists.

Virtual-reality 'assisted' flying? Helping airline passengers experience comfort, space and altered self-perception Posted: 06 Feb 2014 08:13 AM PST Does this sound familiar? After a long check-in procedure you are finally sitting in your assigned seat on the aircraft. But the seat is too narrow, the foot-well is too tight, you have neighbors using both armrests, and the family with small children in the row in front increases the noise level considerably. If only there was a way to hide the environment or perhaps even create an illusion of comfort and relaxation! This illusion could soon become a reality, leading to a significant improvement of airline passenger comfort.

Money makes people right-wing, inegalitarian, UK study finds Posted: 06 Feb 2014 05:23 AM PST Lottery winners tend to switch towards support for a right-wing political party and to become less egalitarian, according to new research on UK data.

Pre-term labor problem: Using blue light to slow, prevent preterm labor Posted: 05 Feb 2014 01:55 PM PST A Florida researcher is tackling a new and inventive way to slow down and perhaps prevent preterm labor. The solution? A pair of goggles. The light emitting devices could intermittently flash a blue light at a sleeping pregnant mother at risk for preterm labor. That flash of light could cause a drop in the brain hormone melatonin, which is tied to contractions.

Grasshoppers are what they eat: New method to extract plant DNA from grasshopper guts sheds light on plant-insect interactions Posted: 05 Feb 2014 11:37 AM PST Grasshoppers cause damage that costs landowners millions of dollars annually; however, grasshopper populations also play a positive role in cycling nutrients from decomposing plant matter back into the soil. A new method to recover high-quality DNA of ingested plant tissue from grasshopper guts can allow scientists to investigate their feeding patterns, and could help illuminate the impact of grasshoppers on plant communities.

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