ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Ancient whodunit may be solved: Methane-producing microbes did it!
• Self-healing engineered muscle grown in the laboratory
• Computer maps 21 distinct emotional expressions — even 'happily disgusted'
• Hybrid vehicles more fuel efficient in India, China than in U.S.
• Breakthrough in creating invisibility cloaks, stealth technology
• Physicists split and collide ultracold atom clouds using steerable 'optical tweezers'
• Can gratitude reduce costly impatience?
• 'Cosmic barometer' could reveal violent events in universe's past
• Secrets of a mollusk's unique bioceramic armor

Ancient whodunit may be solved: Methane-producing microbes did it! Posted: 31 Mar 2014 12:36 PM PDT Methane-producing microbes may be responsible for the largest mass extinction in Earth's history. Fossil remains show that sometime around 252 million years ago, about 90 percent of all species on Earth were suddenly wiped out -- by far the largest of this planet's five known mass extinctions. It turns out that Methanosarcina had acquired a particularly fast means of making methane, and the team's detailed mapping of the organism's history now shows that this transfer happened at about the time of the end-Permian extinction.

Self-healing engineered muscle grown in the laboratory Posted: 31 Mar 2014 12:36 PM PDT Living skeletal muscle that contracts powerfully and rapidly, integrates quickly into mice, and for the first time, demonstrates the ability to heal itself both inside the laboratory and inside an animal has been grown in the lab by biomedical engineers. "The muscle we have made represents an important advance for the field," an author said. "It's the first time engineered muscle has been created that contracts as strongly as native neonatal skeletal muscle."

Computer maps 21 distinct emotional expressions — even 'happily disgusted' Posted: 31 Mar 2014 12:35 PM PDT Researchers have found a way for computers to recognize 21 distinct facial expressions — even expressions for complex or seemingly contradictory emotions such as "happily disgusted" or "sadly angry." The study more than triples the number of documented facial expressions that researchers can now use for cognitive analysis.

Hybrid vehicles more fuel efficient in India, China than in U.S. Posted: 31 Mar 2014 11:41 AM PDT What makes cities in India and China so frustrating to drive in -- heavy traffic, aggressive driving style, few freeways -- makes them ideal for saving fuel with hybrid vehicles, according to new research. In a pair of studies using real-world driving conditions, they found that hybrid cars are significantly more fuel-efficient in India and China than they are in the United States.

Breakthrough in creating invisibility cloaks, stealth technology Posted: 31 Mar 2014 08:44 AM PDT Scientists have managed to create artificial nanostructures called metamaterials that can 'bend light.' But the challenge has been making enough of the material to turn invisibility cloaks into a practical reality. New research, however, may have just cracked that barrier.

Physicists split and collide ultracold atom clouds using steerable 'optical tweezers' Posted: 31 Mar 2014 08:42 AM PDT Physicists have pushed the frontiers of quantum technology by developing a steerable 'optical tweezers' unit that uses intense laser beams to precisely split minute clouds of ultracold atoms and to smash them together. The researchers' feat is set to enhance efforts to understand the mysterious ways that atoms interact at temperatures of less than a millionth of a degree above absolute zero.

Can gratitude reduce costly impatience? Posted: 31 Mar 2014 07:02 AM PDT In a potentially landmark study, a team of researchers demonstrate that feelings of gratitude automatically reduce financial impatience. The human mind tends to devalue future rewards compared to immediate ones -- a phenomenon that often leads to favoring immediate gratification over long-term wellbeing. As a consequence, patience has long been recognized to be a virtue. And indeed, the inability to resist temptation underlies a host of problems ranging from credit card debt and inadequate savings to unhealthy eating and drug addiction.

'Cosmic barometer' could reveal violent events in universe's past Posted: 31 Mar 2014 05:37 AM PDT Scientists have developed a way of reading the universe's 'cosmic barometer' to learn more about ancient violent events in space. Exploding stars, random impacts involving comets and meteorites, and even near misses between two bodies can create regions of great heat and high pressure. Researchers have now developed a method for analysing the pressure experienced by tiny samples of organic material that may have been ejected from dying stars before making a long journey through the cosmos.

Secrets of a mollusk's unique bioceramic armor Posted: 30 Mar 2014 12:15 PM PDT The secrets behind a marine creature's defensive armor -- one that is exceptionally tough, yet optically clear -- have been revealed by scientists. The shells' unique properties emerge from a specialized nanostructure that allows optical clarity, as well as efficient energy dissipation and the ability to localize deformation, the researchers found.

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