ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Video games can power up from merely fun to meaningful experiences
• Cracking your knuckles: What really happens inside your joints?
• Quantum cryptography at the speed of light: Researchers design first all-photonic repeaters
• Use of insects in animal feed seen as favorable by farmers, sector and consumers
• Northern lights: How 'black' auroras actually work
• Female chimps more inclined to use tools when hunting
• Bone eating worms dined on marine reptile carcasses

Video games can power up from merely fun to meaningful experiences Posted: 15 Apr 2015 05:35 PM PDT It may be game over for critics who claim that video games are nothing more than a fun diversion. A team of researchers suggests that many games can be meaningful entertainment experiences for players.

Cracking your knuckles: What really happens inside your joints? Posted: 15 Apr 2015 12:53 PM PDT "Pull my finger," a phrase embraced by school-aged kids and embarrassing uncles the world over, is now being used to settle a decades-long debate about what happens when you crack your knuckles. Scientists have determined what happens inside finger joints to cause the distinctive popping sounds heard when cracking knuckles. For the first time, they observed that the cause is a cavity forming rapidly inside the joint.

Quantum cryptography at the speed of light: Researchers design first all-photonic repeaters Posted: 15 Apr 2015 06:28 AM PDT Engineers bring perfectly secure information exchanges one step to reality. They have now designed the first all-photonic quantum repeaters -- protocols that ensure data can be carried reliably and securely across longer distances when using quantum cryptography.

Use of insects in animal feed seen as favorable by farmers, sector and consumers Posted: 15 Apr 2015 06:13 AM PDT The attitudes towards the use of insects in animal feed and resulting livestock products are generally favorable, so has recent scientific research shown. The use of insects in animal feed is one potential solution to improve the sustainability of animal diets and maintain legitimacy for livestock production within society.

Northern lights: How 'black' auroras actually work Posted: 15 Apr 2015 06:09 AM PDT While our understanding of how the aurora's shimmering curtains of colour are formed, scientists have struggled to explain the black patches between the bright beams. Now scientists have discovered what happens at the heart of these so-called "black aurora".

Female chimps more inclined to use tools when hunting Posted: 15 Apr 2015 06:00 AM PDT Anthropologists have been observing savanna chimps using tools to hunt prey. After observing more than 300 tool-assisted hunts they found female chimps hunt with tools more than males.

Bone eating worms dined on marine reptile carcasses Posted: 14 Apr 2015 06:24 PM PDT A species of bone-eating worm that was believed to have evolved in conjunction with whales has been dated back to prehistoric times when it fed on the carcasses of giant marine reptiles.

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