ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Hot-spring bacteria reveal ability to use far-red light for photosynthesis
• X-ray laser probes tiny quantum tornadoes in superfluid droplets
• Severe drought is causing the western US to rise like a spring uncoiling
• Fish and coral smell a bad neighborhood: Marine protected areas might not be enough to help overfished reefs recover
• Neanderthals 'overlapped' with modern humans for up to 5,400 years
• Physicists have chilled the world's coolest molecule
• Reading 'Fifty Shades' linked to unhealthy behaviors
• Water window imaging opportunity
• Delivery by drone: New algorithm lets drones monitor their own health during long package-delivery missions
• Electric sparks may alter evolution of lunar soil
• Feeling bad at work can be a good thing (and vice versa)
• Your toothpaste's fluorine formed in the stars
• Smartphone-loss anxiety disorder
• Does your computer know how you're feeling?
• Paleolithic diet may have included snails 10,000 years earlier than previously thought
• Severing nerves may shrink stomach cancers: Botox injections slow growth of stomach tumors in mice
• Worker bees ‘know’ when to invest in their reproductive future
• Bacterial nanowires: 'Electric bacteria' not what we thought they were

Hot-spring bacteria reveal ability to use far-red light for photosynthesis Posted: 21 Aug 2014 11:15 AM PDT Bacteria growing in near darkness use a previously unknown process for harvesting energy and producing oxygen from sunlight, scientists have discovered. The discovery lays the foundation for further research aimed at improving plant growth, harvesting energy from the sun, and understanding dense blooms like those now occurring on Lake Erie and other lakes worldwide.

X-ray laser probes tiny quantum tornadoes in superfluid droplets Posted: 21 Aug 2014 11:15 AM PDT An experiment at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory revealed a well-organized 3-D grid of quantum 'tornadoes' inside microscopic droplets of supercooled liquid helium -- the first time this formation has been seen at such a tiny scale. The findings by an international research team provide new insight on the strange nanoscale traits of a so-called 'superfluid' state of liquid helium.

Severe drought is causing the western US to rise like a spring uncoiling Posted: 21 Aug 2014 11:15 AM PDT The severe drought gripping the western United States in recent years is changing the landscape well beyond localized effects of water restrictions and browning lawns. Scientists have used GPS data to discover that the growing, broad-scale loss of water is causing the entire western US to rise up like an uncoiled spring.

Fish and coral smell a bad neighborhood: Marine protected areas might not be enough to help overfished reefs recover Posted: 21 Aug 2014 11:13 AM PDT Pacific corals and fish can both smell a bad neighborhood, and use that ability to avoid settling in damaged reefs. Damaged coral reefs emit chemical cues that repulse young coral and fish, discouraging them from settling in the degraded habitat, according to new research. The study shows for the first time that coral larvae can smell the difference between healthy and damaged reefs when they decide where to settle.

Neanderthals 'overlapped' with modern humans for up to 5,400 years Posted: 21 Aug 2014 09:37 AM PDT Neanderthals and modern humans were both living in Europe for between 2,600 and 5,400 years, according to a new article. For the first time, scientists have constructed a robust timeline showing when the last Neanderthals died out.

Physicists have chilled the world's coolest molecule Posted: 21 Aug 2014 08:59 AM PDT Physicists have chilled the world's coolest molecules. The tiny titans in question are bits of strontium monofluoride, dropped to 2.5 thousandths of a degree above absolute zero through a laser cooling and isolating process called magneto-optical trapping. They are the coldest molecules ever achieved through direct cooling, and they represent a physics milestone likely to prompt new research in areas ranging from quantum chemistry to tests of the most basic theories in particle physics.

Reading 'Fifty Shades' linked to unhealthy behaviors Posted: 21 Aug 2014 08:59 AM PDT Young adult women who read 'Fifty Shades of Grey' are more likely than nonreaders to exhibit signs of eating disorders and have a verbally abusive partner, finds a new study. Further, women who read all three books in the blockbuster "Fifty Shades" erotic romance series are at increased risk of engaging in binge drinking and having multiple sex partners.

Water window imaging opportunity Posted: 21 Aug 2014 08:58 AM PDT Ever heard of the water window? It consists of radiations in the 3.3 to 4.4 nanometer range, which are not absorbed by the water in biological tissues. A new theoretical study identifies the physical mechanism needed to efficiently generate harmonic radiations at high laser intensities that occur beyond the saturation threshold of atoms and molecules. These findings are aimed at improving conventional methods of coherent radiation production to reach the water window.

Delivery by drone: New algorithm lets drones monitor their own health during long package-delivery missions Posted: 21 Aug 2014 08:58 AM PDT In the near future, the package that you ordered online may be deposited at your doorstep by a drone: Last December, online retailer Amazon announced plans to explore drone-based delivery, suggesting that fleets of flying robots might serve as autonomous messengers that shuttle packages to customers within 30 minutes of an order. A new algorithm lets drones monitor their own health during long package-delivery missions.

Electric sparks may alter evolution of lunar soil Posted: 21 Aug 2014 07:24 AM PDT The moon appears to be a tranquil place, but new modeling suggests that, over the eons, periodic storms of solar energetic particles may have significantly altered the properties of the soil in the moon's coldest craters through the process of sparking -- a finding that could change our understanding of the evolution of planetary surfaces in the solar system.

Feeling bad at work can be a good thing (and vice versa) Posted: 21 Aug 2014 07:24 AM PDT Contrary to popular opinion, it can be good to feel bad at work, whilst feeling good in the workplace can also lead to negative outcomes, researchers say. The commonly-held assumption that positivity in the workplace produces positive outcomes, while negative emotions lead to negative outcomes, may be in need for reconsideration.

Your toothpaste's fluorine formed in the stars Posted: 21 Aug 2014 07:23 AM PDT The fluorine that is found in products such as toothpaste was likely formed billions of years ago in now-dead stars of the same type as our sun, according to new research by astronomers.

Smartphone-loss anxiety disorder Posted: 21 Aug 2014 07:23 AM PDT New research outlines the possible coping mechanisms that might be needed following loss or theft of one's smart phone or other digital devices and the security problems that the user might face.

Does your computer know how you're feeling? Posted: 21 Aug 2014 06:05 AM PDT Researchers have designed a computer program that can accurately recognize users' emotional states as much as 87% of the time, depending on the emotion. The study combined -- for the first time -- two established ways of detecting user emotions: keystroke dynamics and text-pattern analysis.

Paleolithic diet may have included snails 10,000 years earlier than previously thought Posted: 20 Aug 2014 01:46 PM PDT Paleolithic inhabitants of modern-day Spain may have eaten snails 10,000 years earlier than their Mediterranean neighbors. Snails were widespread in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene, but it is still unknown when and how they were incorporated into human diets.

Severing nerves may shrink stomach cancers: Botox injections slow growth of stomach tumors in mice Posted: 20 Aug 2014 01:43 PM PDT Nerves may play a critical role in stomach cancer growth and that blocking nerve signals using surgery or Botox® (onabotulinumtoxinA) could be an effective treatment for the disease. Stomach cancer is the fourth-leading type of cancer and the second-highest contributor to cancer mortality worldwide, with a 5-year survival rate of less than 25 percent.

Worker bees ‘know’ when to invest in their reproductive future Posted: 20 Aug 2014 06:16 AM PDT When a colony of honeybees grows to about 4,000 members, it triggers an important first stage in its reproductive cycle: the building of a special type of comb used for rearing male reproductive, called drones.

Bacterial nanowires: 'Electric bacteria' not what we thought they were Posted: 18 Aug 2014 12:25 PM PDT Scientists have discovered that bacterial nanowires (which conduct electricity, allowing certain bacteria to breathe) are actually extensions of the bacteria's outer membrane -- not pili, as originally thought. Understanding the way these electric bacteria work has applications well beyond the lab. Such creatures have the potential to address some of the big questions about the nature of life itself, including what types of lifeforms we might find in extreme environments, like space.

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