ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• 'Swing-dancing' pairs of electrons discovered
• 80 percent of Burmese long-tailed macaques use stone-tools to hammer food
• Trap-jaw ants jump with their jaws to escape the antlion's den
• How noise affects the palate: When flying, taste buds prefer savory tomato
• Cause of galactic death: Strangulation
• 'Supercool' material glows when you write on it
• Brains of smokers who quit successfully might be wired for success
• Men: Wearing red can make you appear angry, dominant
• New class of 'dark' globular star clusters discovered around giant galaxy Centaurus A
• Spare computing power: Secure, anonymous, easy way to pay for online content

'Swing-dancing' pairs of electrons discovered Posted: 13 May 2015 11:58 AM PDT Scientists have discovered electrons that can 'swing dance.' This unique electronic behavior can potentially lead to new families of quantum devices.

80 percent of Burmese long-tailed macaques use stone-tools to hammer food Posted: 13 May 2015 11:56 AM PDT Eighty percent of a population of Burmese long-tailed macaques on an island in southern Thailand use stone and shell tools to crack open seafood, and do so using 17 different action patterns.

Trap-jaw ants jump with their jaws to escape the antlion's den Posted: 13 May 2015 11:56 AM PDT Some species of trap-jaw ants use their spring-loaded mandibles to hurl themselves out of harm's way when an ant-trapping predator stalks, researchers report in the journal PLOS ONE. This dramatic maneuver doubles the ants' survival when other escape methods fail, the researchers found. (See video.)

How noise affects the palate: When flying, taste buds prefer savory tomato Posted: 13 May 2015 11:55 AM PDT While examining how airplane noise affects the palate, food scientists found umami-rich foods become your taste bud's best buds.

Cause of galactic death: Strangulation Posted: 13 May 2015 10:26 AM PDT Astronomers have partially solved an epic whodunit: what kills galaxies so that they can no longer produce new stars?

'Supercool' material glows when you write on it Posted: 13 May 2015 07:29 AM PDT A new material stays liquid more than 200 degrees F below its expected freezing point, but a light touch can cause it to form yellow crystals that glow under ultraviolet light.

Brains of smokers who quit successfully might be wired for success Posted: 13 May 2015 06:33 AM PDT Smokers who are able to quit might actually be hard-wired for success. The study showed greater connectivity among certain brain regions in people who successfully quit smoking compared to those who tried and failed.

Men: Wearing red can make you appear angry, dominant Posted: 13 May 2015 05:38 AM PDT Men who wear red clothes send out a signal that they are angry and aggressive, in much the same way as if their face had reddened, new research suggests. This study is believed to be the first into the effects of color on social perceptions of dominance and aggression in neutral settings.

New class of 'dark' globular star clusters discovered around giant galaxy Centaurus A Posted: 13 May 2015 05:37 AM PDT Astronomers have discovered a new class of 'dark' globular star clusters around the giant galaxy Centaurus A. These mysterious objects look similar to normal clusters, but contain much more mass and may either harbor unexpected amounts of dark matter, or contain massive black holes -- neither of which was expected nor is understood.

Spare computing power: Secure, anonymous, easy way to pay for online content Posted: 13 May 2015 05:32 AM PDT Page views and "likes" are great for journalists' and webmasters' egos, but they don't pay the bills. Researchers may have found a solution. They have identified a secure, anonymous way for readers, viewers and gamers to pay for online content without them having to make a cash payment. "Any online website could participate, whether they are a news site, a blog, a video streaming service, a gaming site, or social media," remarked one of the researchers.

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