ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

---

• Newly discovered insect 'Supersonus' hits animal kingdom's highest-pitch love call
• Flowers' polarization patterns help bees find food
• First 3-D pterosaur eggs found with their parents
• How de-roling may help actors shed intense roles
• Design of self-assembling protein nanomachines starts to click: A nanocage builds itself from engineered components
• Looking for the best strategy? Ask a chimp
• Are squiggly lines the future of password security?
• Crooning in the concrete jungle: Taiwan's frogs use drains to amplify mating calls
• You catch (and kill) more flies with this sweetener
• Cleaning the air with roof tiles
• 60-year-old prediction of atomic behavior confirmed: New experimental path to superfast quantum computing
• Unexpected diversity of egg yolk proteins play key role in ant sociality, castes
• Left-handed fetuses could show effects of maternal stress on unborn babies

Newly discovered insect 'Supersonus' hits animal kingdom's highest-pitch love call Posted: 05 Jun 2014 04:09 PM PDT In the rainforests of South America, scientists have discovered a new genus and three new species of insect with the highest ultrasonic calling songs ever recorded in the animal kingdom. Katydids (or bushcrickets) are insects known for their acoustic communication, with the male producing sound by rubbing its wings together (stridulation) to attract distant females for mating.

Flowers' polarization patterns help bees find food Posted: 05 Jun 2014 11:17 AM PDT Bees use their ability to 'see' polarized light when foraging for food, researchers have discovered. This is the first time bees have been found to use this ability for something other than navigation.

First 3-D pterosaur eggs found with their parents Posted: 05 Jun 2014 11:14 AM PDT Researchers have discovered the first three-dimensionally preserved pterosaur eggs in China. The eggs were found among dozens, if not hundreds, of pterosaur fossils, representing a new genus and species (Hamipterus tianshanensis). The discovery reveals that the pterosaurs -- flying reptiles with wingspans ranging from 25 cm to 12 m -- lived together in gregarious colonies.

How de-roling may help actors shed intense roles Posted: 05 Jun 2014 11:00 AM PDT Actors and actresses have learned many methods of becoming their characters, but how do they leave their character -- or de-role -- when the role is over? Examples of de-roling techniques include shaking limbs and body to literally shake the character off, or ritualistically stepping out of a performance by handing back a character's specific prop or costume piece to a director.

Design of self-assembling protein nanomachines starts to click: A nanocage builds itself from engineered components Posted: 05 Jun 2014 06:33 AM PDT Biological systems produce an incredible array of self-assembling protein tools on a nanoscale, such as molecular motors, delivery capsules and injection devices. Inspired by sophisticated molecular machines naturally found in living things, scientists want to build their own with forms and functions customized to tackle modern day challenges. A new computational method, proven to accurately design protein nanomaterials that arrange themselves into a symmetrical, cage-like structure, may be an important step toward that goal.

Looking for the best strategy? Ask a chimp Posted: 05 Jun 2014 05:35 AM PDT If you're trying to outwit the competition, it might be better to have been born a chimpanzee, according to a new study which found that chimps consistently outperform humans in simple contests drawn from game theory.

Are squiggly lines the future of password security? Posted: 04 Jun 2014 05:32 PM PDT As more people use smart phones and tablets to store personal information and perform financial transactions, the need for robust password security is more critical than ever. A new study shows that free-form gestures -- sweeping fingers in shapes across the screen -- can be used to unlock phones and grant access to apps. These gestures are less likely to be observed and reproduced by 'shoulder surfers' who spy on users to gain unauthorized access.

Crooning in the concrete jungle: Taiwan's frogs use drains to amplify mating calls Posted: 04 Jun 2014 05:30 PM PDT As our cities continue to grow many animal species have to choose to abandon their changing habitats or adapt to their new setting. In Taiwan the tiny mientien tree frog (Kurixalus diootocus) is making the most of its new situation by using city storm drains to amplify mating calls.

You catch (and kill) more flies with this sweetener Posted: 04 Jun 2014 05:30 PM PDT A popular non-nutritive sweetener may be an effective and human-safe insecticide, researchers have discovered through a study that began as a sixth-grade science fair project. Erythritol, the main component of the sweetener Truvia, was toxic to fruit flies in a dose-dependent manner in the study. Flies consumed erythritol when sugar was available and even seemed to prefer it. No other sweeteners tested had these toxic effects.

Cleaning the air with roof tiles Posted: 04 Jun 2014 11:13 AM PDT Engineering students have created a roof tile coating that when applied to an average-sized residential roof breaks down the same amount of smog-causing nitrogen oxides per year as a car driven 11,000 miles makes. They also calculated it would cost only about $5 for enough titanium dioxide to coat an average-sized residential roof.

60-year-old prediction of atomic behavior confirmed: New experimental path to superfast quantum computing Posted: 04 Jun 2014 06:39 AM PDT Researchers have used a super-cold cloud of atoms that behaves like a single atom to see a phenomenon predicted 60 years ago and witnessed only once since. The phenomenon takes place in the seemingly otherworldly realm of quantum physics and opens a new experimental path to potentially powerful quantum computing.

Unexpected diversity of egg yolk proteins play key role in ant sociality, castes Posted: 03 Jun 2014 03:25 PM PDT Researchers have performed molecular evolutionary analyses on the egg yolk forming protein, Vitellogenin, and its many forms, amongst seven Formica ant species. Vitellogenin (Vg) is known to play a role in the fate and regulation of insect social castes, with previous studies showing Vg expression most prevalent in queens and much lower in the workers.

Left-handed fetuses could show effects of maternal stress on unborn babies Posted: 02 Jun 2014 05:46 PM PDT Fetuses are more likely to show left-handed movements in the womb when their mothers are stressed, according to new research. Researchers say their findings are an indicator that maternal stress could have a temporary effect on unborn babies. However, the researchers emphasized that their study was not evidence that maternal stress led to fixed left-handedness in infants after birth. They said that some people might be genetically predisposed to being left-handed and that there are examples where right and left-handedness can switch throughout a person's life.

You are subscribed to email updates from Strange & Offbeat News -- ScienceDaily To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610