ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Hair from mummy's clothes provides insights into red deer lineage
• New species of spider wasp may use chemical signals from dead ants to protect nest
• Extinct human cousin gave Tibetans advantage at high elevation
• Martian salts must touch ice to make liquid water, study shows
• Squid sucker ring teeth material could aid reconstructive surgery, serve as eco-packaging
• Japanese gold leaf artists worked on a nanoscale: X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy is a non-destructive way to date artwork
• Reinterpreting dark matter: Could dark matter be regarded as a very cold quantum fluid?
• A sheep's early life experiences can shape behavior in later life
• Smarter than you think: Fish can remember where they were fed 12 days later
• Dairy farmers keep flies guessing by alternating pesticides
• Enough to put you off your popcorn? Food labelling study underway
• Climate change could stop fish finding their friends

Hair from mummy's clothes provides insights into red deer lineage Posted: 02 Jul 2014 12:14 PM PDT Genetic analysis of Neolithic deer hair from Italian Alps mummy's clothes ties deer population to modern day western European lineage, in contrast to the eastern lineage found in the Italian alps today.

New species of spider wasp may use chemical signals from dead ants to protect nest Posted: 02 Jul 2014 12:14 PM PDT A new species of spider wasp, the 'Bone-house Wasp,' may use chemical cues from dead ants as a nest protection strategy. Wasps use a wide variety of nest protection strategies, including digging holes or occupying pre-existing cavities such as in wood.

Extinct human cousin gave Tibetans advantage at high elevation Posted: 02 Jul 2014 10:17 AM PDT Several thousand years ago, the common ancestors of Han Chinese and Tibetans moved onto the Tibetan plateau, a low-oxygen environment that probably proved fatal to many because of early heart disease and high infant mortality. But a specific variant of a gene for hemoglobin regulation, picked up from earlier interbreeding with a mysterious human-like species, Denisovans, gradually spread through the Tibetan population, allowing them to live longer and healthier and avoid cardiovascular problems.

Martian salts must touch ice to make liquid water, study shows Posted: 02 Jul 2014 10:16 AM PDT In chambers that mimic Mars' conditions, researchers have shown how small amounts of liquid water could form on the planet despite its below-freezing temperatures. Liquid water is an essential ingredient for life as we know it. Mars is one of the very few places in the solar system where scientists have seen promising signs of it -- in gullies down crater rims, in instrument readings, and in Phoenix spacecraft self portraits that appeared to show wet beads on the lander's leg several years ago.

Squid sucker ring teeth material could aid reconstructive surgery, serve as eco-packaging Posted: 02 Jul 2014 08:10 AM PDT Squid tentacles are loaded with hundreds of suction cups, or suckers, and each sucker has a ring of razor-sharp 'teeth' that help these mighty predators latch onto and take down prey. Researchers report that the proteins in these teeth could form the basis for a new generation of strong, but malleable, materials that could someday be used for reconstructive surgery, eco-friendly packaging and many other applications.

Japanese gold leaf artists worked on a nanoscale: X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy is a non-destructive way to date artwork Posted: 02 Jul 2014 08:09 AM PDT Ancient Japanese gold leaf artists were truly masters of their craft. An analysis of six ancient Namban paper screens show that these artifacts are gilded with gold leaf that was hand-beaten to the nanometer scale. Researchers believe that the X-ray fluorescence technique they used in the analysis could also be used to date other artworks without causing any damage to them.

Reinterpreting dark matter: Could dark matter be regarded as a very cold quantum fluid? Posted: 02 Jul 2014 06:23 AM PDT Astronomers have explored cold dark matter in depth and proposes new answers about the formation of galaxies and the structure of the Universe. These predictions are being contrasted with fresh data provided by the Hubble space telescope. It is estimated that only a minute fraction of the matter in the Universe is baryonic matter, which forms stars, planets and living organisms. The rest, comprising over 80%, is dark matter and energy.

A sheep's early life experiences can shape behavior in later life Posted: 01 Jul 2014 04:32 PM PDT New research has found that a sheep's experiences soon after birth can shape its later behavior and also that of its offspring. Scientists investigated whether early-life experiences can alter behavioral responses to a naturally painful event in adulthood -- giving birth -- and also affect behavior of the next generation.

Smarter than you think: Fish can remember where they were fed 12 days later Posted: 01 Jul 2014 04:32 PM PDT It is popularly believed that fish have a memory span of only 30 seconds. Canadian scientists, however, have demonstrated that this is far from true -- in fact, fish can remember context and associations up to 12 days later.

Dairy farmers keep flies guessing by alternating pesticides Posted: 01 Jul 2014 11:55 AM PDT Old-fashioned fly swatters may be the most foolproof housefly killer, but for dairy farms, insecticides are the practical choice. Flies spread disease and a host of pathogens that cost farms hundreds of millions of dollars in annual losses. Unfortunately, with the repeated use of the same insecticides, flies develop resistance through genetic mutations that make these products less effective. Entomologists analyzed levels of resistance to six insecticides in flies, and have identified the mutations that led to resistance in houseflies and from cattle farms.

Enough to put you off your popcorn? Food labelling study underway Posted: 01 Jul 2014 08:15 AM PDT People munching popcorn in a cinema don't change their eating habits whether the snacks are labelled high fat, low fat or not labelled at all, according to a new study. But add in a third factor – the socioeconomic background of eaters – and some quirky results emerge. When concerned eaters of higher status saw the low fat label, it made them eat more than their unconcerned counterparts. Labels had the opposite effect on concerned popcorn lovers of lower status: they ate less of the low fat snack – and less of the high fat snack.

Climate change could stop fish finding their friends Posted: 30 Jun 2014 04:34 PM PDT Like humans, fish prefer to group with individuals with whom they are familiar, rather than strangers. This gives numerous benefits including higher growth and survival rates, greater defense against predators and faster social learning. However, high carbon dioxide levels, such as those anticipated by climate change models, may hinder the ability of fish to recognize one another and form groups with familiar individuals.

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