ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Supernova 'crime scene,' shows single white dwarf to blame
• DNA can't explain all inherited biological traits, research shows
• Astronomers watch unfolding saga of massive star formation
• Element of surprise helps babies learn
• Widest possible photosynthesis, absorbing any color of sunlight, from oranges through near-infrared
• Scientists create artificial link between unrelated memories
• With geomagnetic compass hooked to the brain, blind rats act like they can see
• Black holes don’t erase information, scientists say
• Microbes scared to death by virus presence
• Road revolution by connecting vehicles: Computational framework for optimizing traffic flow
• Hubble finds phantom objects near dead quasars
• First perfume which smells better the more you sweat

Supernova 'crime scene,' shows single white dwarf to blame Posted: 02 Apr 2015 03:35 PM PDT Astronomers have determined the pre-explosion mass of a white dwarf star that blew up thousands of years ago. The measurement strongly suggests the explosion involved only a single white dwarf, ruling out a well-established alternative scenario involving a pair of merging white dwarfs.

DNA can't explain all inherited biological traits, research shows Posted: 02 Apr 2015 01:17 PM PDT Characteristics passed between generations are not decided solely by DNA, but can be brought about by other material in cells, new research shows. Scientists studied proteins found in cells, known as histones, which are not part of the genetic code, but act as spools around which DNA is wound. Histones are known to control whether or not genes are switched on.

Astronomers watch unfolding saga of massive star formation Posted: 02 Apr 2015 01:17 PM PDT Astronomers are getting a unique, real-time look as a massive young star develops, with the promise of greatly improved understanding of the process.

Element of surprise helps babies learn Posted: 02 Apr 2015 01:15 PM PDT Cognitive psychologists have demonstrated for the first time that babies learn new things by leveraging the core information they are born with. When something surprises a baby, like an object not behaving the way a baby expects it to, the baby not only focuses on that object, but ultimately learns more about it than from a similar yet predictable object.

Widest possible photosynthesis, absorbing any color of sunlight, from oranges through near-infrared Posted: 02 Apr 2015 01:13 PM PDT A small team of chemists, having learned the secrets of light absorption from chlorophylls a and b, can now tune molecules to absorb anywhere in the solar spectrum. They are using this facility to synthesize pigments that fill gaps in the sunlight absorbed by native pigments and to push deeper into the infrared than any native pigment.

Scientists create artificial link between unrelated memories Posted: 02 Apr 2015 10:27 AM PDT The ability to learn associations between events is critical for survival, but it has not been clear how different pieces of information stored in memory may be linked together by populations of neurons. In a new study synchronous activation of distinct neuronal ensembles caused mice to artificially associate the memory of a foot shock with the unrelated memory of exploring a safe environment.

With geomagnetic compass hooked to the brain, blind rats act like they can see Posted: 02 Apr 2015 10:27 AM PDT By attaching a microstimulator and geomagnetic compass to the brains of blind rats, researchers have found that the animals can spontaneously learn to use new information about their location to navigate through a maze nearly as well as normally sighted rats. Researchers say the findings suggest that a similar kind of neuroprosthesis might also help blind people walk freely through the world.

Black holes don’t erase information, scientists say Posted: 02 Apr 2015 10:27 AM PDT Shred a document, and you can piece it back together. But send information into a black hole, and it's lost forever. A new study finds that -- contrary to what some physicists have argued for the years -- information is not lost once it has entered a black hole. The research presents explicit calculations showing how information is, in fact, preserved.

Microbes scared to death by virus presence Posted: 02 Apr 2015 08:47 AM PDT The microbe Sulfolobus islandicus can go dormant, ceasing to grow and reproduce, in order to protect themselves from infection by Sulfolobus spindle-shaped virus 9 (SSV9), researchers have discovered. The dormant microbes are able to recover if the virus goes away within 24 to 48 hours -- otherwise they die.

Road revolution by connecting vehicles: Computational framework for optimizing traffic flow Posted: 02 Apr 2015 08:47 AM PDT Drivers trying to get to work or home in a hurry know traffic congestion wastes a lot of time, but it also wastes a lot of fuel. In 2011, congestion caused people in US urban areas to travel an extra 5.5 billion hours and purchase an extra 2.9 billion gallons of fuel costing $121 billion. But despite the tangle of vehicles at busy intersections and interstate ramps, most of the country's highways are open road with vehicles occupying only about 5 percent of road surface. Researchers envision vehicles exchanging information -- such as location, speed, and destination -- to generate individualized instructions for drivers.

Hubble finds phantom objects near dead quasars Posted: 02 Apr 2015 08:46 AM PDT NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has photographed a set of wispy, goblin-green objects that are the ephemeral ghosts of quasars that flickered to life and then faded. The eight unusual looped structures may offer insights into the puzzling behaviors of galaxies with energetic cores.

First perfume which smells better the more you sweat Posted: 02 Apr 2015 05:17 AM PDT The first-ever perfume delivery system to ensure the more a person sweats, the better they will smell, has been developed.

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