ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Biomanufacturing of CdS quantum dots
• Birds of a feather: Pigeon head crest findings extend to domesticated doves
• Black holes may make ideal dark matter labs
• Consciousness has less control than believed, according to new theory
• Survival of the gutless? Filter-feeders eject internal organs in response to stress
• Can heat be controlled as waves?
• The physics of swimming fish
• Nonphotosynthetic pigments could be biosignatures of life on other worlds
• Astronomers explain why a star is so hot right now
• Sahti, an old, home-brewed Finnish beer, characterized for the first time

Biomanufacturing of CdS quantum dots Posted: 23 Jun 2015 03:03 PM PDT Engineers have demonstrated a bacterial method for the low-cost, environmentally friendly synthesis of aqueous soluble quantum dot nanocrystals at room temperature.

Birds of a feather: Pigeon head crest findings extend to domesticated doves Posted: 23 Jun 2015 03:03 PM PDT A few years ago biologists found that a prominent change in pigeon plumage, head crests, could be traced to a mutation in a single gene. Now the research team has found an almost exact repeat in the evolutionary playbook in distantly related doves.

Black holes may make ideal dark matter labs Posted: 23 Jun 2015 01:11 PM PDT A new computer simulation shows that dark matter particles colliding in the extreme gravity of a black hole can produce strong, potentially observable gamma-ray light. Detecting this emission would provide astronomers with a new tool for understanding both black holes and the nature of dark matter, an elusive substance accounting for most of the mass of the universe that neither reflects, absorbs nor emits light.

Consciousness has less control than believed, according to new theory Posted: 23 Jun 2015 11:19 AM PDT Consciousness -- the internal dialogue that seems to govern one's thoughts and actions -- is far less powerful than people believe, serving as a passive conduit rather than an active force that exerts control, according to a new theory proposed by a researcher.

Survival of the gutless? Filter-feeders eject internal organs in response to stress Posted: 23 Jun 2015 10:17 AM PDT A recent study explores the ability of a common coral reef organism to eviscerate and regenerate its gut within 12 days and rebuild its filtration organ, the branchial sac, within 19 days. Understanding this process points to promising new directions in human soft tissue regeneration research, scientists say.

Can heat be controlled as waves? Posted: 23 Jun 2015 08:33 AM PDT A growing interest in thermoelectric materials -- which convert waste heat to electricity -- and pressure to improve heat transfer from increasingly powerful microelectronic devices have led to improved theoretical and experimental understanding of how heat is transported through nanometer-scale materials.

The physics of swimming fish Posted: 23 Jun 2015 08:31 AM PDT Fish may seem to glide effortlessly through the water, but the tiny ripples they leave behind are evidence of a constant give-and-take of energy between the swimmer and its aqueous environment -- a momentum exchange that propels the fish forward but is devilishly tricky to quantify. Now, new research shows that a fish's propulsion can be understood by studying vortices in the surrounding water as individual units instead of examining the flow as a whole.

Nonphotosynthetic pigments could be biosignatures of life on other worlds Posted: 23 Jun 2015 06:55 AM PDT To find life in the universe, it helps to know what it might look like. If there are organisms on other planets that do not rely wholly on photosynthesis -- as some on Earth do not -- how might those worlds appear from light-years away?

Astronomers explain why a star is so hot right now Posted: 23 Jun 2015 06:55 AM PDT Astronomers have solved a mystery over small, unusually hot blue stars, 10 times hotter than our Sun, that are found in the middle of dense star clusters.

Sahti, an old, home-brewed Finnish beer, characterized for the first time Posted: 23 Jun 2015 04:29 AM PDT Scientists considered that it's high time to finally scientifically characterize sahti beer. The sweet and strong sahti with its exceptionally rich combination of fruity flavors has been brewed in Finland for hundreds of years. To successfully recreate sahti-style beer a craft brewer outside Finland should have an idea of what it should taste like. This is complicated by the fact that sahti doesn't travel well: it's prone to spoilage. The study clearly shows that sahti beer differs from modern commercial beers in almost every respect. The twelve beers sampled were all very strong, very sweet and had flavors at concentrations as much as 10-fold greater than in the modern beers used as references.

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