ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Corn dwarfed by temperature dip suitable for growing in mines, caves
• Alcohol and drugs: Not just for modern humans
• Graphene and painkiller receptor combined into scalable chemical sensor
• Entering adulthood in a recession linked to lower narcissism later in life
• Dopamine turns worker ants into warrior queens
• Ultra-fast bionic arm can catch objects on the fly
• HADES searches for dark matter: Astrophysicists cross 'Dark Photon' off the list in top position
• Artificial magnetic bacteria 'turn' food into natural drugs
• Salt needed: Tolerance lessons from a Dead Sea fungus
• 'Exploding head syndrome': Real but overlooked sleep disorder

Corn dwarfed by temperature dip suitable for growing in mines, caves Posted: 12 May 2014 12:50 PM PDT Lowering temperatures for two hours each day reduces the height of corn without affecting its seed yield, a study shows, a technique that could be used to grow crops in controlled-environment facilities in caves and former mines. Raising the crops in isolated and enclosed environments would help prevent genetically modified pollen and seed from escaping into the ecosystem and crossing with wild plants.

Alcohol and drugs: Not just for modern humans Posted: 12 May 2014 12:50 PM PDT Unlike most modern humans, the prehistoric people of Europe did not use mind-altering substances simply for their hedonistic pleasure. Researchers contend that their use was an integral part of prehistoric beliefs, and that these substances were seen to aid in communication with the spiritual world.

Graphene and painkiller receptor combined into scalable chemical sensor Posted: 12 May 2014 08:25 AM PDT Researchers have created an artificial chemical sensor based on one of the human body's most important receptors, one that is critical in the action of painkillers and anesthetics. In these devices, the receptors' activation produces an electrical response rather than a biochemical one, allowing that response to be read out by a computer.

Entering adulthood in a recession linked to lower narcissism later in life Posted: 12 May 2014 08:25 AM PDT We often attribute the narcissistic tendencies of others to parenting practices or early social experiences. But new research reveals that economic conditions in the formative years of early adulthood may also play a role. The research shows that people who entered their adulthood during hard economic times are less narcissistic later in life than those who came of age during more prosperous times.

Dopamine turns worker ants into warrior queens Posted: 12 May 2014 07:18 AM PDT The ritualized fighting behavior of one ant species is linked to increases in dopamine levels that trigger dramatic physical changes in the ants without affecting their DNA, according to research. The researchers studied Indian jumping ants (Harpegnathos saltator), which can undergo significant changes in physiology without any related changes to their DNA. Instead, the changes depend on which genes are turned on or off -- which in turn is determined by social and environmental factors. This has made them a model organism for epigenetics researchers.

Ultra-fast bionic arm can catch objects on the fly Posted: 12 May 2014 07:17 AM PDT With its palm open, the robot is completely motionless. A split second later, it suddenly unwinds and catches all sorts of flying objects thrown in its direction -- a tennis racket, a ball, a bottle. This arm measures about 1.5 meters long and keeps an upright position. It has three joints and a sophisticated hand with four fingers. It is unique, as it has the ability to catch projectiles of various irregular shapes in less than five hundredths of a second.

HADES searches for dark matter: Astrophysicists cross 'Dark Photon' off the list in top position Posted: 12 May 2014 07:17 AM PDT Recent results of HADES experiments have shown, that the dark photon or U boson is no longer a top candidate to explain the nature of dark matter. Researchers are now searching for the constituents of dark matter at HADES, the High-Acceptance Di-Electron Spectrometer. These negative results -- recently published in Physics Letters B -- could even lead to challenges of the standard model of particle physics.

Artificial magnetic bacteria 'turn' food into natural drugs Posted: 12 May 2014 07:14 AM PDT Scientists have successfully created magnetic bacteria that could be added to foodstuffs and could, after ingestion, help diagnose diseases of the digestive system like stomach cancer. These important findings constitute the first use of a food as a natural drug and aid in diagnosing an illness, anywhere in the world.

Salt needed: Tolerance lessons from a Dead Sea fungus Posted: 09 May 2014 04:45 AM PDT Some organisms thrive in salty environments by lying dormant when salt concentrations are very high. Other organisms need salt to grow. A team of researchers described the genome of a Dead Sea fungus through a new study. Understanding how organisms adapt to extremely salty environments could help improve salt tolerance in crops, laying the groundwork of understanding necessary to grow them in desert and saline environments.

'Exploding head syndrome': Real but overlooked sleep disorder Posted: 06 May 2014 01:13 PM PDT It sounds like a phrase from Urban Dictionary, or the title of an animated gif, but a researcher says 'exploding head syndrome' is an authentic and largely overlooked phenomenon that warrants a deeper look. People with the syndrome typically perceive abrupt, loud noises—door slams, fireworks, gunshots—as they are going to sleep or waking up. While harmless, the episodes can be frightening.

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