ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Important and complex systems, from the global financial market to groups of friends, may be highly controllable
• What singing fruit flies can tell us about quick decisions
• Plankton make scents for seabirds and a cooler planet
• Computers see through faked expressions of pain better than people
• Size, personality matter in how Kalahari social spiders perform tasks
• Cognitive function and oral perception in independently-living octogenarians
• First evidence of plants evolving weaponry to compete in the struggle for selection
• Fake laughter doesn't fool the brain, research reveals
• Texans are turning to a different kind of spirit -- vodka -- and saltier is better
• Nanopores underlie our ability to tune in to a single voice: Inner-ear membrane uses tiny pores to mechanically separate sounds

Important and complex systems, from the global financial market to groups of friends, may be highly controllable Posted: 20 Mar 2014 11:07 AM PDT Scientists have discovered that all complex systems, whether they are found in the body, in international finance, or in social situations, actually fall into just three basic categories, in terms of how they can be controlled.

What singing fruit flies can tell us about quick decisions Posted: 20 Mar 2014 10:14 AM PDT The pitch and tempo of the male fruit fly's mating song is based on environmental cues rather than a stereotyped pattern, researchers have discovered. These findings could be substantial for understanding rapid decision-making in more advanced beings such as humans.

Plankton make scents for seabirds and a cooler planet Posted: 20 Mar 2014 09:55 AM PDT The top predators of the Southern Ocean, far-ranging seabirds, are tied both to the health of the ocean ecosystem and to global climate regulation through a mutual relationship with phytoplankton, according to newly published work from the University of California, Davis.

Computers see through faked expressions of pain better than people Posted: 20 Mar 2014 09:19 AM PDT Scientists have found that a computer system spots real or faked expressions of pain more accurately than people can. Humans could not discriminate real from faked expressions of pain better than random chance -- and, even after training, only improved accuracy to a modest 55 percent. The computer system attains an 85 percent accuracy.

Size, personality matter in how Kalahari social spiders perform tasks Posted: 20 Mar 2014 08:57 AM PDT At first glance, colonies of thousands of social spiders all look the same and are busy with the same tasks. Not so, says researchers after carefully studying various gatherings of social spiders of the Kalahari Desert in South Africa. The size and condition of a particular spider's body indicates which task it generally performs within a colony. In addition, neighboring colonies can have different "personalities" too.

Cognitive function and oral perception in independently-living octogenarians Posted: 20 Mar 2014 07:15 AM PDT Researchers hypothesized that the decline of cognitive impairment is involved in oral perceptions since its preclinical stage. The aim of this study was to examine association of cognitive function with tactile and taste perceptions in independently-living 80-year-old elderly. These results suggest that the decline of cognitive function was related to tactile and taste perceptions in independently-living octogenarians without dementia.

First evidence of plants evolving weaponry to compete in the struggle for selection Posted: 20 Mar 2014 07:13 AM PDT Rutting stags and clawing bears are but two examples of male animals fighting over a mate, but new research has uncovered the first evidence of similar male struggles leading to the evolution of weaponry in plants.

Fake laughter doesn't fool the brain, research reveals Posted: 19 Mar 2014 07:25 PM PDT As the world celebrates International Day of Happiness today (Thursday, 20 March), can we tell whether people are truly happy just from their laugh? "During our study, when participants heard a laugh that was posed, they activated regions of the brain associated with mentalizing in an attempt to understand the other person's emotional and mental state," the authors state.

Texans are turning to a different kind of spirit -- vodka -- and saltier is better Posted: 19 Mar 2014 12:30 PM PDT Texans, known for enjoying local beers and Dr Pepper soft drinks, now have a growing beverage industry that would appeal to James Bond, who is well-known for enjoying a good martini. Distillers are producing at least 17 Texas vodkas. The most popular are, surprisingly, those that are a bit salty.

Nanopores underlie our ability to tune in to a single voice: Inner-ear membrane uses tiny pores to mechanically separate sounds Posted: 18 Mar 2014 08:37 AM PDT Even in a crowded room full of background noise, the human ear is remarkably adept at tuning in to a single voice -- a feat that has proved remarkably difficult for computers to match. A new analysis of the underlying mechanisms has provided insights that could ultimately lead to better machine hearing, and perhaps to better hearing aids as well.

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