ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Magnetism can control heat, sound
• Scientists retrieve lost memories using optogenetics
• Dinosaurs were likely warm-blooded
• Donuts, math, and superdense teleportation of quantum information
• Smart flies can match odd scents to sweet treats based on time of day
• Wastewater treatment may be creating new antibiotics
• Bladder cells regurgitate bacteria to prevent UTIs
• Spinning a new version of spider silk
• Super-efficient light-based computers
• Birds, not just mammals, copy yawns
• Big Bang aftermath: Ancient stars from birth of the universe
• Underwater robot swarms use collective cognition to perform tasks
• Turning traditional textiles smart

Magnetism can control heat, sound Posted: 28 May 2015 12:36 PM PDT Elemental particles that transmit both heat and sound -- known as acoustic phonons -- also have magnetic properties and can, therefore, be controlled by magnets, even for materials thought to be 'nonmagnetic,' such as semiconductors. This discovery 'adds a new dimension to our understanding of acoustic waves,' according to a landmark study.

Scientists retrieve lost memories using optogenetics Posted: 28 May 2015 11:28 AM PDT Researchers have found that memories that have been 'lost' as a result of amnesia can be recalled by activating brain cells with light. They reactivated memories that could not otherwise be retrieved, using a technology known as optogenetics.

Dinosaurs were likely warm-blooded Posted: 28 May 2015 11:09 AM PDT Dinosaurs grew as fast as your average living mammal, according to a new research article. The article is a re-analysis of a widely publicized 2014 Science paper on dinosaur metabolism and growth that concluded dinosaurs were neither ectothermic nor endothermic -- terms popularly simplified as 'cold-blooded' and 'warm-blooded' -- but instead occupied an intermediate category.

Donuts, math, and superdense teleportation of quantum information Posted: 28 May 2015 09:45 AM PDT Quantum teleportation has been achieved by a number of research teams around the globe since it was first theorized in 1993, but current experimental methods require extensive resources and/or only work successfully a fraction of the time. Now, by taking advantage of the mathematical properties intrinsic to the shape of a donut -- or torus, in mathematical terminology -- a physicists have made great strides by realizing 'superdense teleportation.'

Smart flies can match odd scents to sweet treats based on time of day Posted: 28 May 2015 09:41 AM PDT Flies might be smarter than you think. New research shows fruit flies know what time of day it is. What's more, the insects can learn to connect different scents with the sweet reward of sugar, depending on the hour: menthol in the morning and mushrooms in the afternoon.

Wastewater treatment may be creating new antibiotics Posted: 28 May 2015 09:38 AM PDT For years, scientists have been aware of the potential problems of antibiotics being present in wastewater, and new research is showing that treatments to clean wastewater may actually be creating new antibiotics and further contributing to the development of antibiotic resistance in the environment.

Bladder cells regurgitate bacteria to prevent UTIs Posted: 28 May 2015 09:38 AM PDT Bladder cells have a highly effective way to combat E. coli bacteria that cause urinary tract infections (UTIs), researchers have found. They do to the bacteria what we could do to having indigestion problems: vomiting to rid the stomach of harmful substances.

Spinning a new version of spider silk Posted: 28 May 2015 08:11 AM PDT After years of research decoding the complex structure and production of spider silk, researchers have now succeeded in producing samples of this exceptionally strong and resilient material in the laboratory. The new development could lead to a variety of biomedical materials -- from sutures to scaffolding for organ replacements -- made from synthesized silk with properties specifically tuned for their intended uses.

Super-efficient light-based computers Posted: 28 May 2015 05:42 AM PDT Infrared light passes through silicon the way visible light passes through glass. Just as a prism bends visible light to reveal the rainbow, different silicon structures can bend infrared light in useful ways. It is theoretically possible to replace wires with silicon fibers. Why bother: to transmit lots more data while using lots less energy.

Birds, not just mammals, copy yawns Posted: 28 May 2015 05:38 AM PDT Have you ever caught yourself yawning right after someone else did? The same happens to budgies. Biologists have just noted that contagious yawning also occurs between members of a bird species. Contagious yawning was previously thought only to occur between humans, domestic dogs, chimpanzees and a type of rodent aptly called the high-yawning Sprague-Dawley rat.

Big Bang aftermath: Ancient stars from birth of the universe Posted: 28 May 2015 05:38 AM PDT Astronomers have discovered three "cosmic Methusalems" from the earliest years of the universe. These unusual stars are about 13 billion years old and experts assign them to the first generations of stars after the "dark ages." The chemical qualities of these extremely rare stellar bodies enable new insights into the events that must have led to the origins of the stars. The first stars have been assumed to be high-mass and to shine especially brightly. However, the latest observations point to hitherto unknown phenomena in the young universe, allowing for the emergence of much smaller stars.

Underwater robot swarms use collective cognition to perform tasks Posted: 28 May 2015 05:36 AM PDT Scientists have created underwater robot swarms that function like schools of fish, exchanging information to monitor the environment, searching, maintaining, exploring and harvesting resources in underwater habitats. The project developed autonomous robots that interact with each other and exchange information, resulting in a cognitive system that is aware of its environment.

Turning traditional textiles smart Posted: 26 May 2015 01:42 PM PDT Researchers have invented a "motherboard" able to turn textiles smart. For example, this technology included in bed sheets can measure the hours slept by a person.

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