ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Warm-blooded fishes swim faster and farther than cold-blooded counterparts
• Mapping app turns art into a sharable walking route
• Blocking obesity-associated protein stops dangerous fat formation, mouse study shows
• Explosive volcanoes fueled by water
• A better way to build DNA scaffolds: Long, custom-designed DNA strands
• Carrot or stick? Punishments may guide behavior more effectively than rewards
• From the depths of a microscopic world, spontaneous cooperation
• Scientists X-ray chocolate
• First evolutionary history of 50 years of music charts using big data analysis of sounds
• Compiling a 'dentist’s handbook' for penis worms
• Researchers put magic spin on protein to tease out its first dance with tempo set by temperature

Warm-blooded fishes swim faster and farther than cold-blooded counterparts Posted: 06 May 2015 01:43 PM PDT Marine scientists have long known that some species of fish possess a unique physiological characteristic -- a web of arteries and veins lying very close together -- that enables them to raise their internal temperatures higher than that of the water surrounding them. Now, a new study has demonstrated that species possessing the ability to warm their core -- a process called endothermy -- are able to swim two and a half times faster than those whose body temperature doesn't change.

Mapping app turns art into a sharable walking route Posted: 06 May 2015 01:41 PM PDT The Trace app turns a digital sketch that you draw on your smartphone screen -- heart, maple leaf, raindrop -- into a walking route that you can send to a friend. The recipient of the "gift" receives step-by-step walking directions that eventually reveal the hidden shape on a map.

Blocking obesity-associated protein stops dangerous fat formation, mouse study shows Posted: 06 May 2015 10:36 AM PDT By changing mouse genes to block a protein associated with obesity, scientists have prevented fat from forming around the animals' internal organs, even when the animals eat an unhealthy diet. The study found that these genetically engineered mice also retained their sensitivity to insulin (normally blunted by obesity), despite gaining weight.

Explosive volcanoes fueled by water Posted: 06 May 2015 09:51 AM PDT Geologists have tapped water in surface rocks to show how magma forms deep underground and produces explosive volcanoes in the Cascade Range.

A better way to build DNA scaffolds: Long, custom-designed DNA strands Posted: 06 May 2015 09:50 AM PDT Imagine taking strands of DNA - the material in our cells that determines how we look and function - and using it to build tiny structures that can deliver drugs to targets within the body or take electronic miniaturization to a whole new level. While it may still sound like science fiction to most of us, researchers have been piecing together and experimenting with DNA structures for decades. And, in recent years, scientists have moved the use of human-made DNA structures closer to a variety of real-world applications.

Carrot or stick? Punishments may guide behavior more effectively than rewards Posted: 06 May 2015 09:05 AM PDT When it comes to rewards and punishments, which is more effective -- the carrot or the stick? A simple experiment suggests that punishments are more likely to influence behavior than rewards. The results stem from a study involving 88 students at a university.

From the depths of a microscopic world, spontaneous cooperation Posted: 06 May 2015 08:13 AM PDT A clever combination of two different types of computer simulations enabled a group of researchers to uncover an unexpectedly cooperative group dynamic: the spontaneous emergence of resource sharing among individuals in a community. Who were the members of this friendly, digitally represented collective? Escherichia coli, rod-shaped bacteria found in the digestive systems of humans and many other animals.

Scientists X-ray chocolate Posted: 06 May 2015 08:12 AM PDT An X-ray study may lead to higher quality chocolate. The study offers new insights into the formation of fat bloom, an unwelcome white layer that occasionally forms on chocolate.

First evolutionary history of 50 years of music charts using big data analysis of sounds Posted: 06 May 2015 05:48 AM PDT Evolutionary biologists and computer scientists have come together study the evolution of pop music. Their analysis of 17,000 songs from the US Billboard Hot 100 charts, 1960 to 2010, is the most substantial scientific study of the history of popular music to date.

Compiling a 'dentist’s handbook' for penis worms Posted: 06 May 2015 05:46 AM PDT A new study of teeth belonging to a particularly phallic-looking creature has led to the compilation of a prehistoric 'dentist's handbook' which may aid in the identification of previously unrecognised specimens from the Cambrian period, 500 million years ago. The carnivorous Penis Worm, or Ottoia, known from 500-million-year-old fossils, was a fearsome beast: it could turn its mouth inside out to reveal a tooth-lined throat that looked like a cheese grater.

Researchers put magic spin on protein to tease out its first dance with tempo set by temperature Posted: 06 May 2015 05:46 AM PDT All cells contain complex molecular components that fulfil functions necessary for the cell to live. These components require motion in a very particular order to function almost like an intricate set of dance steps, and researchers have learned that temperature affects these movements.

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