ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Cats and athletes teach robots how to fall
• Intimidating chimpanzee males are more likely to become fathers
• Mars, too, has macroweather: But weather forecasting on the Red Planet is likely to be even trickier than on Earth
• Is there organic matter on Mars? Chloromethane not due to contamination from Earth, research suggests
• Cold-induced pain linked to the garlic, mustard receptor
• Did men evolve navigation skill to find mates? Spatial ability, roaming distance linked to number of lovers
• Atomic timekeeping, on the go: New approach may enable more stable and accurate portable atomic clocks
• Behavioral changes seen after sleep learning: Rotten egg smell blended with cigarette smell helps smokers' quit
• Amateur, professional astronomers alike thrilled by extreme storms on Uranus
• Moving cameras talk to each other to identify, track pedestrians
• Is it possible to be addicted to entrepreneurship?
• Jupiter's Great Red Spot is likely a sunburn, not a blush
• ‘Smart’ drugs won’t make smart people smarter, research concludes
• All 'quantum weirdness' may be caused by interacting parallel worlds, physicist theorizes
• From video camera to driverless shuttle vehicle
• Mary Rose dog was a he, not a she
• Only 6% of people work in the occupations they aspired to in childhood

Cats and athletes teach robots how to fall Posted: 13 Nov 2014 09:32 AM PST Scientists are studying mid-air orientation and impact behavior in both cats and humans as it applies to reduced impact in falling robots, especially those that one day may be used for search-and-rescue missions in hazardous conditions.

Intimidating chimpanzee males are more likely to become fathers Posted: 13 Nov 2014 09:29 AM PST Chimpanzee males that treat females aggressively father more offspring over time. The findings are based on genetic evidence of paternity and suggest that sexual coercion via long-term intimidation is an adaptive strategy for males in chimpanzee society.

Mars, too, has macroweather: But weather forecasting on the Red Planet is likely to be even trickier than on Earth Posted: 13 Nov 2014 08:00 AM PST Weather, which changes day-to-day due to constant fluctuations in the atmosphere, and climate, which varies over decades, are familiar. More recently, a third regime called "macroweather," has been used to describe the relatively stable regime between weather and climate.

Is there organic matter on Mars? Chloromethane not due to contamination from Earth, research suggests Posted: 13 Nov 2014 08:00 AM PST Organic matter recently detected by NASA's robotic rover Curiosity is probably not due to contamination brought from Earth as researchers originally thought. A team of German and British scientists now suggests that the gaseous chlorinated organic compound -- chloromethane -- recently found on the Red Planet most likely comes from the soil of Mars, with its carbon and hydrogen probably deriving from meteorites that fell on the planet's surface.

Cold-induced pain linked to the garlic, mustard receptor Posted: 13 Nov 2014 05:51 AM PST Some people experience cold not only as feeling cold, but actually as a painful sensation. This applies even to fairly mild temperatures -- anything below 20°C. A group of researchers has now identified the mechanism in the body that creates this connection between cold and pain. It turns out that it is the same receptor that reacts to the pungent substances in mustard and garlic.

Did men evolve navigation skill to find mates? Spatial ability, roaming distance linked to number of lovers Posted: 13 Nov 2014 04:48 AM PST A new study of two African tribes found evidence that men evolved better navigation ability than women because men with better spatial skills – the ability to mentally manipulate objects – can roam farther and have children with more mates.

Atomic timekeeping, on the go: New approach may enable more stable and accurate portable atomic clocks Posted: 12 Nov 2014 05:33 PM PST What time is it? The answer, no matter what your initial reference may be -- a wristwatch, a smartphone, or an alarm clock -- will always trace back to the atomic clock. Now researchers have come up with a new approach to atomic timekeeping that may enable more stable and accurate portable atomic clocks, potentially the size of a Rubik's cube.

Behavioral changes seen after sleep learning: Rotten egg smell blended with cigarette smell helps smokers' quit Posted: 12 Nov 2014 05:26 PM PST The scientist who discovered that we can learn in our sleep via conditioning with odor, has now shown that smokers used fewer cigarettes after a night of olfactory training. By exposing sleeping smokers to the smell of cigarettes paired with rotten eggs or fish, the team saw a significant reduction in the amount smoked.

Amateur, professional astronomers alike thrilled by extreme storms on Uranus Posted: 12 Nov 2014 11:48 AM PST The normally bland face of Uranus has become increasingly stormy, with enormous cloud systems so bright that for the first time, amateur astronomers are able to see details in the planet's hazy blue-green atmosphere. Astronomers first observed the storms in the infrared using the Keck telescope. When amateurs learned of the storms, they turned their optical telescopes on the planet and saw different but equally impressive storms.

Moving cameras talk to each other to identify, track pedestrians Posted: 12 Nov 2014 11:47 AM PST Electrical engineers have developed a way to automatically track people across moving and still cameras by using an algorithm that trains the networked cameras to learn one another's differences.

Is it possible to be addicted to entrepreneurship? Posted: 12 Nov 2014 11:47 AM PST Researchers have examined why some entrepreneurs keep starting new businesses. Researchers looked at the underlying psychological processes that may motivate some entrepreneurs to repeatedly engage in new businesses, despite the possible risks to personal relationships and health.

Jupiter's Great Red Spot is likely a sunburn, not a blush Posted: 12 Nov 2014 10:32 AM PST The ruddy color of Jupiter's Great Red Spot is likely a product of simple chemicals being broken apart by sunlight in the planet's upper atmosphere, according to a new analysis of data from NASA's Cassini mission. The results contradict the other leading theory for the origin of the spot's striking color -- that the reddish chemicals come from beneath Jupiter's clouds.

‘Smart’ drugs won’t make smart people smarter, research concludes Posted: 12 Nov 2014 10:19 AM PST It is claimed one in five students have taken the 'smart' drug Modafinil to boost their ability to study and improve their chances of exam success. But new research into the effects of Modafinil has shown that healthy students could find their performance impaired by the drug.

All 'quantum weirdness' may be caused by interacting parallel worlds, physicist theorizes Posted: 12 Nov 2014 10:19 AM PST A new theory of quantum mechanics was developed by Bill Poirier, a chemical physicist. The theory discusses parallel worlds' existence and the quantum effects observed in nature.

From video camera to driverless shuttle vehicle Posted: 12 Nov 2014 05:42 AM PST A new type of driverless shuttle vehicle has been developed thanks to innovative computer vision guidance technology that enables the vehicle to locate itself on a roadway reliably and inexpensively.

Mary Rose dog was a he, not a she Posted: 10 Nov 2014 09:40 AM PST The smallest member of the Mary Rose crew – the ship's dog – was a he, and not a she as was previously believed, experts say. The skeleton of the dog lacked a baculum, or penis bone, and so was thought for many years to be that of a female dog. The dog, named "Hatch" by researchers, was discovered in 1981 during the underwater excavation of the ship, which sank defending Portsmouth from a French invasion in 1545. However recent developments in DNA analysis have found that Hatch was a young male dog, most closely related to modern Jack Russell terriers, with a brown coat.

Only 6% of people work in the occupations they aspired to in childhood Posted: 10 Nov 2014 08:02 AM PST Children who aspire to professions considered sex-typical have twice the chance of ending up in one of them as an adult. However, only "Only 6% of people work in the profession they aspired to in childhood," found investigators.

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