ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Helium leakage from Earth's mantle in Los Angeles Basin
• Spiky monsters: New species of 'super-armored' worm
• Key element of human language discovered in bird babble
• When times are tough, parents favor daughters over sons
• Physicists shatter stubborn mystery of how glass forms
• New nanogenerator harvests power from rolling tires
• The fear you experience playing video games is real, and you enjoy it
• Retreating sea ice linked to changes in ocean circulation, could affect European climate
• Even stars older than 11 billion years have Earth-like planets
• Lightning research deepens understanding of sprite formation
• Running with prosthetic lower-limbs: Advantage or disadvantage?

Helium leakage from Earth's mantle in Los Angeles Basin Posted: 29 Jun 2015 01:22 PM PDT Geologists have found evidence of helium leakage from Earth's mantle along a 30-mile stretch of the Newport-Inglewood Fault Zone in the Los Angeles Basin. Using samples of casing gas from two dozen oil wells ranging from LA's Westside to Newport Beach in Orange County, researchers discovered that more than one-third of the sites -- some of the deepest ones -- show evidence of high levels of helium-3 (3He).

Spiky monsters: New species of 'super-armored' worm Posted: 29 Jun 2015 12:24 PM PDT A newly-identified species of spike-covered worm with legs, which lived 500 million years ago, was one of the first animals on Earth to develop armor for protection.

Key element of human language discovered in bird babble Posted: 29 Jun 2015 12:22 PM PDT Stringing together meaningless sounds to create meaningful signals was previously thought to be the preserve of humans alone, but a new study has revealed that babbler birds are also able to communicate in this way.

When times are tough, parents favor daughters over sons Posted: 29 Jun 2015 11:21 AM PDT In tough economic times, parents financially favor daughters over sons, according to researchers. The study found participants preferred to enroll a daughter rather than a son in beneficial programs, preferred to give a U.S. Treasury bond to a daughter rather than a son, and bequeathed a greater share of their assets to female offspring in their will when they perceived economic conditions to be poor.

Physicists shatter stubborn mystery of how glass forms Posted: 29 Jun 2015 10:25 AM PDT Scientists have described how glasses form at the molecular level and provided a possible solution to a problem that has stumped scientists for decades.

New nanogenerator harvests power from rolling tires Posted: 29 Jun 2015 09:46 AM PDT Engineers have developed a nanogenerator that harvests energy from a car's rolling tire friction.

The fear you experience playing video games is real, and you enjoy it Posted: 29 Jun 2015 09:45 AM PDT With the advent of video games, a frequently asked question has been whether we get as engrossed in them emotionally as we do when we see a scary movie. The answer is yes and in new ways, according to new research.

Retreating sea ice linked to changes in ocean circulation, could affect European climate Posted: 29 Jun 2015 09:34 AM PDT Retreating sea ice in the Iceland and Greenland Seas may be changing the circulation of warm and cold water in the Atlantic Ocean, and could ultimately impact the climate in Europe, says a new study.

Even stars older than 11 billion years have Earth-like planets Posted: 29 Jun 2015 08:10 AM PDT 33 Kepler stars have been selected for their solar like oscillations and a set of basic parameters have been determined with high precision showing that stars even older than 11 billion years have Earth-like planets.

Lightning research deepens understanding of sprite formation Posted: 29 Jun 2015 05:02 AM PDT A new study has improved our understanding of a curious luminous phenomenon that happens 25 to 50 miles above thunderstorms. These spectacular phenomena, called sprites, are fireworks-like electrical discharges, sometimes preceded by halos of light, in earth's upper atmosphere. It has been long thought that atmospheric gravity waves play an important role in the initiation of sprites but no previous studies, until this team's recent findings, provided convincing arguments to support that idea.

Running with prosthetic lower-limbs: Advantage or disadvantage? Posted: 29 Jun 2015 04:59 AM PDT Researchers have been looking at the impact of lower-limb prosthetics on competitive running, specifically looking at whether athletes with prosthesis are at an unfair advantage when running against athletes without prosthetics.

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