ScienceDaily: Strange Science News |
- Worm lizards dispersed by 'rafting' over oceans, not continental drift
- Tiny songbird discovered to migrate non-stop, 1,500 miles over the Atlantic
- Non-invasive technique allows amputee to use bionic hand, powered by his thoughts
- Soft, energy-efficient robotic wings
- Can 'ghosts' cause bad air? Poor indoor air quality and 'sightings'
- Brain's 'gender' may be quite flexible: Mechanism that plays key role in sexual differentiation of brain described
- A robot prepared for self-awareness: Expanded software architecture for walking robot Hector
- On the edge of extinction: Tiny pupfish go without breathing to survive their harsh environment
- Secrets of the seahorse tail revealed
- Internet searches create illusion of personal knowledge, research finds
- The 100 million year-old piggyback: Amber reveals earliest example of maternal care in insects
- Why slimy cheats don’t win: 'Cheating' amoebae don't survive better than 'cooperating' amoebae
- Mystery galaxies: Astronomers discover likely precursors of galaxy clusters we see today
- An apple a day won't keep the doctor away but maybe the pharmacist
| Worm lizards dispersed by 'rafting' over oceans, not continental drift Posted: 31 Mar 2015 06:58 PM PDT Tiny, burrowing reptiles known as worm lizards became widespread long after the breakup of the continents, leading scientists to conclude that they must have dispersed by rafting across oceans soon after the extinction of the dinosaurs, rather than by continental drift as previously thought.  |
| Tiny songbird discovered to migrate non-stop, 1,500 miles over the Atlantic Posted: 31 Mar 2015 06:58 PM PDT For the first time biologists report 'irrefutable evidence' that tiny blackpoll warblers complete a nonstop flight from about 1,410 to 1,721 miles (2,270 to 2,770 km) in just two to three days. For this work the scientists fitted geolocator packs on 20 birds in Vermont and 20 more in Nova Scotia. They were able to recapture three birds from the Vermont group and two from the Nova Scotia group for analyses.  |
| Non-invasive technique allows amputee to use bionic hand, powered by his thoughts Posted: 31 Mar 2015 10:13 AM PDT Medical researchers have created an algorithm that allowed a man to grasp a bottle and other objects with a prosthetic hand, powered only by his thoughts.  |
| Soft, energy-efficient robotic wings Posted: 31 Mar 2015 10:13 AM PDT Researchers have discovered a new resonance phenomenon in a dielectric elastomer rotary joint that can make the artificial joint bend up and down, like a flapping wing.  |
| Can 'ghosts' cause bad air? Poor indoor air quality and 'sightings' Posted: 31 Mar 2015 09:12 AM PDT A team of researchers is studying possible links between reported hauntings and indoor air quality. It is known that some fungi, such as rye ergot fungus, may cause severe psychosis in humans.  |
| Posted: 31 Mar 2015 09:12 AM PDT During prenatal development, the brains of most animals, including humans, develop specifically male or female characteristics. But scientists have known little about the details of how this differentiation occurs. Now, a new study has illuminated details about this process. Researchers succeeded in transforming the brain of a female rat after an important developmental window had closed, giving it the characteristics of a male rat brain.  |
| A robot prepared for self-awareness: Expanded software architecture for walking robot Hector Posted: 31 Mar 2015 08:34 AM PDT A year ago, researchers showed that their software endowed the walking robot Hector with a simple form of consciousness. Their new research goes one step further: they have now developed a software architecture that could enable Hector to see himself as others see him. "With this, he would have reflexive consciousness," explains an expert. The architecture is based on artificial neural networks.  |
| On the edge of extinction: Tiny pupfish go without breathing to survive their harsh environment Posted: 31 Mar 2015 08:34 AM PDT The endangered desert pupfish has made itself at home in the harsh, hot environment of Death Valley hot springs by using a surprising evolutionary adaptation: They can go for up to five hours without oxygen.  |
| Secrets of the seahorse tail revealed Posted: 31 Mar 2015 07:09 AM PDT A team of engineers and biologists reports new progress in using computer modeling and 3D shape analysis to understand how the unique grasping tails of seahorses evolved. These prehensile tails combine the seemingly contradictory characteristics of flexibility and rigidity, and knowing how seahorses accomplish this feat could help engineers create devices that are both flexible and strong.  |
| Internet searches create illusion of personal knowledge, research finds Posted: 31 Mar 2015 07:08 AM PDT Searching the Internet for information may make people feel smarter than they actually are, according to new research. In a series of experiments, participants who searched for information on the Internet believed they were more knowledgeable than a control group about topics unrelated to the online searches. In a result that surprised the researchers, participants had an inflated sense of their own knowledge after searching the Internet even when they couldn't find the information they were looking for.  |
| The 100 million year-old piggyback: Amber reveals earliest example of maternal care in insects Posted: 31 Mar 2015 04:43 AM PDT Scientists have uncovered the earliest fossilized evidence of an insect caring for its young. The findings push back the earliest direct evidence of insect brood care by more than 50 million years, to at least 100 million years ago when dinosaurs dominated Earth.  |
| Why slimy cheats don’t win: 'Cheating' amoebae don't survive better than 'cooperating' amoebae Posted: 31 Mar 2015 04:39 AM PDT Darwin's evolutionary theory predicts survival of the fittest. So why do different survival tactics co-exist, if evolution should always favor the winning strategy? To answer that question scientists have been studying a single-celled amoeba, also known as slime mold, which displays certain behaviors that have been labelled as "cheating" or "cooperating." They found that cheaters don't necessarily win in terms of overall survival, suggesting that biologists should re-evaluate how they define and measure social cooperation.  |
| Mystery galaxies: Astronomers discover likely precursors of galaxy clusters we see today Posted: 30 Mar 2015 02:39 PM PDT Observations made with two space observatories, Herschel and Planck, reveal glimpses into how today's galaxies came to be. Using one-of-a-kind instrumentation, astronomers were able to study large numbers of 'mystery galaxies' that appear to be associated with clusters.  |
| An apple a day won't keep the doctor away but maybe the pharmacist Posted: 30 Mar 2015 09:24 AM PDT Turns out, an apple a day won't keep the doctor away but it may mean you will use fewer prescription medications, according to a real article published on April 1.  |
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