ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• A smartphone with ultimate macro feature: DNA-scanning fluorescent microscope
• The trillion-frame-per-second camera
• Multifractals suggest the existence of an unknown physical mechanism on the Sun
• Artificial photosynthesis could help make fuels, plastics and medicine
• Making robots more human: Wearable sensors read human facial expressions
• Gamblers are more impulsive and 'see patterns' where there are none
• Sun's blistering heat: Strong evidence for coronal heating theory
• Elderly crickets are set in their ways, study finds

A smartphone with ultimate macro feature: DNA-scanning fluorescent microscope Posted: 29 Apr 2015 08:32 AM PDT Researchers have recently developed a device that can turn any smartphone into a DNA-scanning fluorescent microscope.

The trillion-frame-per-second camera Posted: 29 Apr 2015 08:32 AM PDT Researchers have developed a new high-speed camera that can record events at a rate of more than 1-trillion-frames-per-second. That speed is more than one thousand times faster than conventional high-speed cameras.

Multifractals suggest the existence of an unknown physical mechanism on the Sun Posted: 29 Apr 2015 08:32 AM PDT The famous sunspots on the surface of the Earth's star result from the dynamics of strong magnetic fields, and their numbers are an important indicator of the state of activity on the Sun. Researchers have been conducting multifractal analysis into the changes in the numbers of sunspots. The resulting graphs were surprisingly asymmetrical in shape, suggesting that sunspots may be involved in hitherto unknown physical processes.

Artificial photosynthesis could help make fuels, plastics and medicine Posted: 29 Apr 2015 07:48 AM PDT The global industrial sector accounts for more than half of the total energy used every year. Now scientists are inventing a new artificial photosynthetic system that could one day reduce industry's dependence on fossil fuel-derived energy by powering part of the sector with solar energy and bacteria. The system converts light and carbon dioxide into building blocks for plastics, pharmaceuticals and fuels -- all without electricity.

Making robots more human: Wearable sensors read human facial expressions Posted: 29 Apr 2015 07:10 AM PDT Most people are naturally adept at reading facial expressions -- from smiling and frowning to brow-furrowing and eye-rolling -- to tell what others are feeling. Now scientists have developed ultra-sensitive, wearable sensors that can do the same thing. Their technology could help robot developers make their machines more human.

Gamblers are more impulsive and 'see patterns' where there are none Posted: 29 Apr 2015 07:09 AM PDT Gamblers are more impulsive and "see" more illusory patterns where there are none, a new study finds. Pathological gamblers "see" patterns in things that are actually quite random and not really there, to such a degree that they are quite willing to impulsively bet good money on such illusory nonrandomness.

Sun's blistering heat: Strong evidence for coronal heating theory Posted: 29 Apr 2015 06:48 AM PDT The sun's surface is blisteringly hot at 10,340 degrees Fahrenheit -- but its atmosphere is another 300 times hotter. This has led to an enduring mystery for those who study the sun: What heats the atmosphere to such extreme temperatures? Normally when you move away from a hot source the environment gets cooler, but some mechanism is clearly at work in the solar atmosphere, the corona, to bring the temperatures up so high.

Elderly crickets are set in their ways, study finds Posted: 29 Apr 2015 06:01 AM PDT As insects grow old their behavior becomes increasingly predictable according to new research. The study, which set out to understand how personality alters with age, found that behavioral traits tend to become entrenched as crickets age.

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