ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Drug-resistant bacteria lurk in subway stations, high school students discover
• Seafloor volcano pulses may alter climate: Strikingly regular patterns, from weeks to eons
• Tiny termites can hold back deserts by creating oases of plant life
• Carnivorous mushroom reveals human immune trick: How we punch our way into cancer cells
• Genetics lab unravels mystery whale killing at sea
• Prototype of a robotic system with emotion and memory
• Spontaneous cure of rare immune disease
• After merger, chimpanzees learned new grunt for 'apple'
• Medical marijuana for children with developmental and behavioral disorders?
• Norwegian lemmings dress loudly and scream even louder to survive
• How many licks to finish a lollipop? Formula models how water currents shape and dissolve solids
• The power of light-matter coupling
• Octopus robot makes waves with ultra-fast propulsion
• Tiny robotic 'hand' could improve cancer diagnostics, drug delivery

Drug-resistant bacteria lurk in subway stations, high school students discover Posted: 05 Feb 2015 02:49 PM PST Forget commuters and rats, New York City's subway system is crowded with microbes. After spending her vacation swabbing benches and turn styles beneath the city, high school students found bacteria impervious to two major antibiotics.

Seafloor volcano pulses may alter climate: Strikingly regular patterns, from weeks to eons Posted: 05 Feb 2015 11:29 AM PST A new study shows that undersea volcanoes flare up on strikingly regular cycles, ranging from two weeks to 100,000 years -- and, that they erupt almost exclusively during the first six months of each year. The pulses -- apparently tied to short- and long-term changes in earth's orbit, and to sea levels -- may help trigger natural climate swings.

Tiny termites can hold back deserts by creating oases of plant life Posted: 05 Feb 2015 11:29 AM PST Termite mounds can help prevent the spread of deserts into semi-arid ecosystems and agricultural lands. The results of a new study not only suggest that termite mounds could make these areas more resilient to climate change than previously thought, but could also inspire a change in how scientists determine the possible effects of climate change on ecosystems.

Carnivorous mushroom reveals human immune trick: How we punch our way into cancer cells Posted: 05 Feb 2015 11:29 AM PST Edible oyster mushrooms have an intriguing secret: They eat spiders and roundworms. And they do so using proteins that can punch their way into cells, leaving tidy but deadly holes. It's a trick that our immune cells also use to protect us, destroying infected cells, cancerous cells, and bacteria.

Genetics lab unravels mystery whale killing at sea Posted: 05 Feb 2015 11:12 AM PST Fisheries scientists happened onto a killer whale attack too late to tell what species had been the target. So they recovered all that was left -- a whale lung -- and probed its DNA to for clues to where it came from. It turned out to be the first documentation of killer whales attacking a rarely seen pygmy sperm whale.

Prototype of a robotic system with emotion and memory Posted: 05 Feb 2015 11:11 AM PST Researchers have developed a prototype of a social robot which supports independent living for the elderly, working in partnership with their relatives or carers.

Spontaneous cure of rare immune disease Posted: 05 Feb 2015 09:30 AM PST A genetic phenomenon called chromothripsis, or 'chromosome shattering,' may have spontaneously cured the first person to be documented with WHIM syndrome. The patient was the subject of a 1964 study that first described the disorder, a syndrome of recurrent infections, warts and cancer caused by the inability of immune cells, particularly infection-fighting neutrophils, to leave the bone marrow and enter the bloodstream.

After merger, chimpanzees learned new grunt for 'apple' Posted: 05 Feb 2015 09:30 AM PST Chimpanzees have special grunts for particular types of foods, and their fellow chimps know exactly what those calls mean. Now, by studying what happened after two separate groups of adult chimpanzees moved in together at the Edinburgh Zoo, researchers have made the surprising discovery that our primate cousins can change those referential grunts over time, to make them sound more like those of new peers.

Medical marijuana for children with developmental and behavioral disorders? Posted: 05 Feb 2015 09:27 AM PST As medical marijuana becomes increasingly accepted, there is growing interest in its use for children and adolescents with developmental and behavioral problems such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a new review.

Norwegian lemmings dress loudly and scream even louder to survive Posted: 05 Feb 2015 06:51 AM PST Researcher looks at why the Norwegian lemming is so boldly colored and brave. The conspicuous, bold colors of the Norwegian lemming's fur and its loud barks serve as warnings to predators that it is not a creature to be messed with. This ferocity makes it unique among small rodents.

How many licks to finish a lollipop? Formula models how water currents shape and dissolve solids Posted: 05 Feb 2015 06:50 AM PST A team of scientists has identified the complex process by which materials are shaped and ultimately dissolved by surrounding water currents.

The power of light-matter coupling Posted: 05 Feb 2015 05:30 AM PST A theoretical study shows that strong ties between light and organic matter at the nanoscale open the door to modifying these coupled systems' optical, electronic or chemical properties. Light and matter can be so strongly linked that their characteristics become indistinguishable. These light-matter couplings are referred to as polaritons. Their energy oscillates continuously between both systems, giving rise to attractive new physical phenomena. Now, scientists have explained why such polaritons can remain for an unusual long time at the lowest energy levels, in such a way that alters the microscopic and macroscopic characteristics of their constituting matter.

Octopus robot makes waves with ultra-fast propulsion Posted: 05 Feb 2015 05:30 AM PST Scientists have developed an octopus-like robot, which can zoom through water with ultra-fast propulsion and acceleration never before seen in human-made underwater vehicles. Most fast aquatic animals are sleek and slender to help them move easily through the water but cephalopods, such as the octopus, are capable of high-speed escapes by filling their bodies with water and then quickly expelling it to dart away. Inspired by this, scientists built a deformable octopus-like robot with a 3D printed skeleton with no moving parts and no energy storage device, other than a thin elastic outer hull.

Tiny robotic 'hand' could improve cancer diagnostics, drug delivery Posted: 04 Feb 2015 07:26 AM PST Many people imagine robots today as clunky, metal versions of humans, but scientists are forging new territory in the field of 'soft robotics.' One of the latest advances is a flexible, microscopic hand-like gripper. The development could help doctors perform remotely guided surgical procedures or perform biopsies. The materials also could someday deliver therapeutic drugs to hard-to-reach places.

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