ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Scientists investigate the role of the 'silent killer' inside deep-diving animals
• Beer foam secrets tapped in new study
• Writing is on the wall for air pollution, thanks to air-cleansing poem
• Caribbean clingfish: Tiny, tenacious and tentatively toxic
• @millennials wary of @twitter, #MSU study finds
• How orchid bees find their personal scent, attract mates
• Magnetar formation mystery solved? Supernova explosions and dizzying spins in a binary system
• Strongly interacting electrons in wacky oxide synchronize to compute like the brain
• Ancient giant sperm from tiny shrimps discovered at Riversleigh World Heritage Fossil Site
• Which has more efficient 'engine': Tuna or whale?
• 'Man's best friend' shares similar 'albino' gene

Scientists investigate the role of the 'silent killer' inside deep-diving animals Posted: 14 May 2014 03:28 PM PDT Scientists have furthered science's understanding of carbon monoxide's natural characteristics and limitations by studying the gas in one of the world's best divers: the elephant seal. Colorless and odorless, carbon monoxide (CO) is now monitored in many homes with inexpensive detectors. In human bodies, CO is produced naturally as a byproduct of the breakdown of hemoglobin -- molecules responsible for transporting oxygen -- inside red blood cells. To their surprise, researchers discovered that carbon monoxide is bound to 10 percent of the hemoglobin in adult elephant seals, or 10 times the amount found in healthy humans, and roughly comparable to someone who smokes 40 cigarettes per day.

Beer foam secrets tapped in new study Posted: 14 May 2014 01:52 PM PDT It's an unlikely beer-drinking toast: "Here's to L-T-P-One!" Yet, the secret to optimal foam in the head of a freshly poured brew, according to food science research, is just the right amount and kind of barley lipid transfer protein No. 1, aka LTP1. "To some beer aficionados, the sign of a good head – the proper consistency, color, height, duration – is to draw a face with your finger in the foam, before taking the first sip," the food scientist notes. "If the face is still there, when the glass is drained and the liquid is gone – that's seriously good foam."

Writing is on the wall for air pollution, thanks to air-cleansing poem Posted: 14 May 2014 10:30 AM PDT The writing is on the wall for smog as the world's first air-cleansing poem is unveiled. A catalytic poem called In Praise of Air is printed on material containing a formula that is capable of purifying its surroundings. This cheap technology could also be applied to billboards and advertisements alongside congested roads to cut pollution. The professor who came up with the idea of using treated materials to cleanse the air, said: "This is a fun collaboration between science and the arts to highlight a very serious issue of poor air quality in our towns and cities.

Caribbean clingfish: Tiny, tenacious and tentatively toxic Posted: 14 May 2014 07:03 AM PDT Sometimes we think we know everything about something only to find out we really don't, said a biologist studying tiny fish. Scientists comparing a new clingfish to known ones discovered a new species, and made an important finding about a group of well-studied fish at the same time. They discovered a venom gland that had been missed until now.

@millennials wary of @twitter, #MSU study finds Posted: 14 May 2014 07:03 AM PDT A new study indicates young adults have a healthy mistrust of the information they read on Twitter. Nearly anyone can start a Twitter account and post 140 characters of information at a time, bogus or not, a fact the study's participants seemed to grasp, according to the author of a recent study.

How orchid bees find their personal scent, attract mates Posted: 14 May 2014 05:45 AM PDT A fragrant perfume has brought many a man and many a woman together. Orchid bees, too, appear to rely on scent when it comes to choosing a partner. In the course of their lives, the males compile a species-specific bouquet that they store in the pockets on their hind legs. One day, they release it in order to attract the female, assumes a biologist who studies the flying perfume aficionados' collecting behavior.

Magnetar formation mystery solved? Supernova explosions and dizzying spins in a binary system Posted: 14 May 2014 05:45 AM PDT Magnetars are the bizarre super-dense remnants of supernova explosions. They are the strongest magnets known in the universe — millions of times more powerful than the strongest magnets on Earth. Astronomers now believe they've found the partner star of a magnetar for the first time. This discovery helps to explain how magnetars form — a conundrum dating back 35 years — and why this particular star didn't collapse into a black hole as astronomers would expect.

Strongly interacting electrons in wacky oxide synchronize to compute like the brain Posted: 14 May 2014 05:43 AM PDT A new type of computing architecture that stores information in the frequencies and phases of periodic signals could work more like the human brain to do computing using a fraction of the energy of today's computers.

Ancient giant sperm from tiny shrimps discovered at Riversleigh World Heritage Fossil Site Posted: 13 May 2014 05:46 PM PDT Preserved giant sperm from tiny shrimps that lived about 17 million years ago have been discovered in Queensland, Australia. They are the oldest fossilized sperm ever found in the geological record. The shrimps lived in a pool in an ancient cave inhabited by thousands of bats, and the presence of bat droppings in the water could help explain the almost perfect preservation of the fossil crustaceans.

Which has more efficient 'engine': Tuna or whale? Posted: 12 May 2014 12:50 PM PDT A large whale and a much smaller tuna each propels itself through water. Which is the more efficient swimmer? It has been difficult to compare propulsion efficiencies of animals of different sizes, but now researchers have developed a metric to measure individual energy consumption efficiency and make such a comparison possible. (The two are almost equally efficient.) The new metric could help in the design of cars and underwater vehicles as efficient and agile as real fish.

'Man's best friend' shares similar 'albino' gene Posted: 12 May 2014 08:25 AM PDT A genetic mutation in Doberman pinschers that causes albinism in the breed has been found by researchers, a discovery that has eluded veterinarians and breeders worldwide up until now. "What we found was a gene mutation that results in a missing protein necessary for cells to be pigmented," said a researcher. "Some defects in this same gene cause a condition called oculocutaneous albinism in humans." This type of albinism has certain characteristics that are evident in both humans and dogs.

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