ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Curiosity rover finds evidence of Mars' primitive continental crust
• Earth's magnetosphere: Discovery of zebra stripes in space resolves a half-century mystery
• Nonmagnetic elements form unique magnet
• Growing beating cardiac tissue from stem cells: New model for early heart development
• Human hands may be more primitive than chimp's
• Acoustical metamaterial with near-zero density
• The last Viking and his 'magical' sword?
• Mathematical model gives fashion advice
• Memory-loss man case 'like nothing we have ever seen before'
• Bees with tiny transmitters on their backs show how disease harms the threatened insects

Curiosity rover finds evidence of Mars' primitive continental crust Posted: 14 Jul 2015 11:20 AM PDT The ChemCam laser instrument on NASA's Curiosity rover has turned its beam onto some unusually light-colored rocks on Mars, and the results are surprisingly similar to Earth's granitic continental crust rocks. This is the first discovery of a potential 'continental crust' on Mars.

Earth's magnetosphere: Discovery of zebra stripes in space resolves a half-century mystery Posted: 14 Jul 2015 10:15 AM PDT In the 1960s, NASA launched six satellites to study Earth's atmosphere, magnetosphere and the space between Earth and the moon. Using observations from those satellites, researchers have detected mysterious plasma waves in the Van Allen radiation belts, the donut-shaped rings surrounding Earth that contain high-energy particles trapped by the planet's magnetic field.

Nonmagnetic elements form unique magnet Posted: 14 Jul 2015 09:49 AM PDT How can two metals that are not magnetic combine to make a magnet? Scientists have found one answer in their creation of the first known itinerant antiferromagnet from nonmagnetic constituents.

Growing beating cardiac tissue from stem cells: New model for early heart development Posted: 14 Jul 2015 09:41 AM PDT Researchers have developed a template for growing beating cardiac tissue from stem cells, creating a system that could serve as a model for early heart development and as a drug-screening tool to make pregnancies safer. Scientists have mimicked human tissue formation by starting with stem cells genetically reprogrammed from adult skin tissue to form small chambers with beating human heart cells.

Human hands may be more primitive than chimp's Posted: 14 Jul 2015 08:30 AM PDT Human hands may be more primitive than chimp's. Human hand proportions have changed little from those of the last common ancestor (LCA) of chimpanzees and humans. These findings indicate that the structure of the modern human hand is largely primitive in nature, rather than the result of selective pressures in the context of stone tool-making.

Acoustical metamaterial with near-zero density Posted: 14 Jul 2015 08:30 AM PDT When a sound wave hits an obstacle and is scattered, the signal may be lost or degraded. But what if you could guide the signal around that obstacle, as if the interfering barrier didn't even exist? Recently, researchers created a material from polyethylene membranes that does exactly that.

The last Viking and his 'magical' sword? Posted: 14 Jul 2015 06:36 AM PDT Have you held the sword? Have you felt its weight? Have you felt how sharp and strong the blade is? A deadly weapon and symbol of power -- jewellery for a man, with 'magical properties'. The sword gave power to the warrior, but the warrior's strength could also be transferred to the sword. That is how they were bound together: man and weapon, warrior and sword.

Mathematical model gives fashion advice Posted: 14 Jul 2015 05:30 AM PDT Researchers have developed a mathematical model that is able to assess whether a person is fashionably dressed and to give advice on how to make the outfit more fashionable.

Memory-loss man case 'like nothing we have ever seen before' Posted: 14 Jul 2015 05:30 AM PDT A psychologist has described a unique case, new to science. A 38-year-old fit and healthy man suffered memory loss after a local anesthetic and root-canal treatment at his dentist. For the past decade he can only remember up to 90 minutes. Symptoms are akin to those depicted in movies such as Groundhog Day and Memento. And, there is no evidence that the treatment at the dentist can be blamed for his condition. He is fully aware of his identity and his personality did not change -- but every day the man thinks it is the day of his dental appointment.

Bees with tiny transmitters on their backs show how disease harms the threatened insects Posted: 14 Jul 2015 05:28 AM PDT Researchers are creating a buzz in bee research, gluing tiny transmitters to the backs of the insects for the first time. Biologists glued RFID chips to the backs of 960 bees, providing new insights into how disease affects the threatened insects.

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