ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Million suns shed light on fossilized plant
• Sensing gravity with acid: Scientists discover role for protons in neurotransmission
• Salamanders shrinking as their mountain havens heat up
• Kids' books featuring animals with human traits lead to less learning of natural world
• Pesticides make the life of earthworms miserable
• Mars-mimicking chamber explores habitability of other planets
• Paleontologists assemble giant turtle bone from fossil discoveries made centuries apart
• Smokers' bitter taste buds may be on the fritz
• Technofossils: Unprecedented legacy left behind by humans
• Simple, like a neutron star: How neutron stars are like (and unlike) black holes
• Strange materials cropping up in condensed matter laboratories
• DIY vaccination: Microneedle patch may boost immunization rate, reduce medical costs
• Kelvin wave seen on quantum 'tornado' for first time
• Shock-absorbing 'goo' discovered in bone
• Smart home able to detect symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases

Million suns shed light on fossilized plant Posted: 25 Mar 2014 06:04 PM PDT Scientists have used one of the brightest lights in the Universe to expose the biochemical structure of a 50 million-year-old fossil plant to stunning visual effect. The team of palaeontologists, geochemists and physicists investigated the chemistry of exceptionally preserved fossil leaves from the Eocene-aged 'Green River Formation' of the western United States by bombarding the fossils with X-rays brighter than a million suns produced by synchrotron particle accelerators.

Sensing gravity with acid: Scientists discover role for protons in neurotransmission Posted: 25 Mar 2014 12:42 PM PDT While probing how organisms sense gravity and acceleration, scientists uncovered evidence that acid (proton concentration) plays a key role in communication between neurons. Scientists discovered that sensory cells in the inner ear continuously transmit information on orientation of the head relative to gravity and low-frequency motion to the brain using protons as the key means of synaptic signal transmission.

Salamanders shrinking as their mountain havens heat up Posted: 25 Mar 2014 12:42 PM PDT Salamanders in some of North America's best habitat are shrinking fast as their surroundings get warmer and drier, forcing them to burn more energy. A new article examines specimens caught in the Appalachian Mountains from 1957 to 2007 and wild salamanders caught at the same sites in 2011-2012. Animals measured after 1980 averaged 8 percent smaller -- one of the fastest rates of changing body size ever recorded.

Kids' books featuring animals with human traits lead to less learning of natural world Posted: 25 Mar 2014 08:32 AM PDT A new study has found that kids' books featuring animals with human characteristics not only lead to less factual learning but also influence children's reasoning about animals. Researchers also found that young readers are more likely to attribute human behaviors and emotions to animals when exposed to books with anthropomorphized animals than books depicting animals realistically.

Pesticides make the life of earthworms miserable Posted: 25 Mar 2014 08:32 AM PDT Pesticides are sprayed on crops to help them grow, but the effect on earthworms living in the soil under the plants is devastating, new research reveals. The worms only grow to half their normal weight and they do not reproduce as well as worms in fields that are not sprayed, a research team reports after having studied earthworms that were exposed to pesticides over generations.

Mars-mimicking chamber explores habitability of other planets Posted: 25 Mar 2014 08:29 AM PDT A research team in Spain has the enviable job of testing out new electromechanical gear for potential use in future missions to the Red Planet. They do it within their Mars environmental simulation chamber, which is specially designed to mimic conditions on the fourth planet from the sun -- right down to its infamous Martian dust.

Paleontologists assemble giant turtle bone from fossil discoveries made centuries apart Posted: 25 Mar 2014 06:58 AM PDT A broken fossil turtle bone discovered by an amateur paleontologist in 2012 turned out to be the missing half of a bone first described in 1849. The surprising puzzle discovery has led paleontologists to revise conventional wisdom of how long fossils can survive exposed to surface conditions. It also provides insight into one of the largest turtle species ever known.

Smokers' bitter taste buds may be on the fritz Posted: 25 Mar 2014 06:48 AM PDT Bitterness can generally be tasted at very low concentrations, but not so for those who light up. Smokers and those who have quit cannot fully appreciate the full flavor of a cup of coffee, because many cannot taste the bitterness of their regular caffeine kick. It is already known that smoking, and especially the toxic chemicals in tobacco, causes a loss of taste among smokers. It also causes structural changes to the fungiform papillae of the tongue where the taste buds are located. However, it is not yet known whether the full taste range returns to normal once a person quits smoking, or how long it takes.

Technofossils: Unprecedented legacy left behind by humans Posted: 25 Mar 2014 06:48 AM PDT Scientists suggest that the fossil impact humans have made on the planet is vast and unprecedented in nature -- and that there's been nothing remotely like it since the Earth formed, over four and half billion years ago. The researchers argue that, like dinosaurs, who left their bones and footprints behind for future generations to discover, humans will also leave a footprint behind -- one made up of material goods unique to humankind that are so different from anything else produced by animals in the history of Earth that they deserve their own name: technofossils.

Simple, like a neutron star: How neutron stars are like (and unlike) black holes Posted: 25 Mar 2014 06:44 AM PDT For astrophysicists neutron stars are extremely complex astronomical objects. Research has demonstrated that in certain respects these stars can instead be described very simply and that they show similarities with black holes.

Strange materials cropping up in condensed matter laboratories Posted: 25 Mar 2014 06:42 AM PDT Physicists are using surprising ideas and mathematical tools originating in string theory to guide research into strange materials that are cropping up in condensed matter laboratories. There are a handful of systems that cannot be described by considering electrons (or any other kind of quasi-particle) moving around.

DIY vaccination: Microneedle patch may boost immunization rate, reduce medical costs Posted: 24 Mar 2014 05:04 PM PDT There are many reasons some people may not get a flu shot, but would they be more likely to do so if there was a simple device that could be mailed directly to them, was easy enough to use by themselves, and provided at least the same level of protection as a traditional flu shot without the pain of a needle jab? A recent study suggests the answer is yes.

Kelvin wave seen on quantum 'tornado' for first time Posted: 24 Mar 2014 12:40 PM PDT A spinning tornado of very cold liquid helium obeys the laws of quantum mechanics. Sometimes, two quantum tornadoes flex into curved lines, cross over and form an X, swap ends, and then retract -- a process called reconnection. For the first time, researchers provide visual evidence that the reconnection of quantum vortexes launches Kelvin waves to quickly relax the system. Understanding turbulence in quantum fluids may offer clues to neutron stars, trapped atom systems and superconductors.

Shock-absorbing 'goo' discovered in bone Posted: 24 Mar 2014 12:40 PM PDT New findings show that much of the mineral from which bone is made consists of 'goo' trapped between tiny crystals, allowing movement between them. It is this flexibility that stops bones from shattering. Latest research shows that the chemical citrate -- a by-product of natural cell metabolism -- is mixed with water to create a viscous fluid that is trapped between the nano-scale crystals that form our bones. This fluid allows enough movement, or 'slip', between these crystals so that bones are flexible, and don't shatter under pressure. It is the inbuilt shock absorber in bone that, until now, was unknown.

Smart home able to detect symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases Posted: 21 Mar 2014 06:50 AM PDT The world population is rapidly aging, which means the number of disabled and dependent people is increasing since these rates increase with age, particularly after the age of 80. Accordingly, researchers have designed a system of sensors which, when fitted in a home, allows a person's habits and activities to be monitored and any changes in his/her habits and activities that could be a symptom of disorders relating to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's to be detected.

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