ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Skydiving spiders in South American forests discovered
• Vomiting device offers direct evidence that vomit aerosolizes norovirus-like particles
• 'Planetary pebbles' were the building blocks for the largest planets
• Will the pronoun I become obsolete? A biological perspective
• Female fish genitalia evolve in response to predators, interbreeding
• Detection of gamma rays from a newly discovered dwarf galaxy may point to dark matter
• Hummingbird tongue is really a tiny pump
• Toilet waste provides knowledge about diseases' global transmission routes
• Building computers from DNA?
• Brain-in-a-dish as mature as five-week-old fetus brain
• Comet impacts may have led to life on Earth -- and perhaps elsewhere

Skydiving spiders in South American forests discovered Posted: 19 Aug 2015 02:44 PM PDT Arachnophobes fearful of spiders jumping, creeping or falling into their beds now have something new to worry about. Some spiders might also glide in through the window.

Vomiting device offers direct evidence that vomit aerosolizes norovirus-like particles Posted: 19 Aug 2015 11:36 AM PDT Using a vomiting device of their creation, researchers are reporting the first direct evidence that vomiting can aerosolize virus particles similar to human norovirus. Future directions for the work include assessing how long virus particles can remain airborne, and how far they may be able to travel in the air.

'Planetary pebbles' were the building blocks for the largest planets Posted: 19 Aug 2015 10:48 AM PDT Researchers have unraveled the mystery of how Jupiter and Saturn likely formed. This discovery changes our view of how all planets might have formed.

Will the pronoun I become obsolete? A biological perspective Posted: 19 Aug 2015 09:06 AM PDT Plants and animals, including humans, are not autonomous individuals but are holobionts: biomolecular networks that consist of visible hosts plus millions of invisible microbes, recent microbiological research has shown.

Female fish genitalia evolve in response to predators, interbreeding Posted: 19 Aug 2015 09:06 AM PDT Female fish in the Bahamas have developed ways of showing males that 'No means no.' The study shows that females have evolved differently shaped genitalia to deter unwanted advances from males of different populations. This "lock and key" theory suggests that females can better choose advances from wanted males by shaping their genitalia to promote copulation with desired males of their own population or species.

Detection of gamma rays from a newly discovered dwarf galaxy may point to dark matter Posted: 19 Aug 2015 07:36 AM PDT A newly discovered dwarf galaxy orbiting our own Milky Way has offered up a surprise -- it appears to be radiating gamma rays, according to an analysis by physicists. The exact source of this high-energy light is uncertain at this point, but it just might be a signal of dark matter lurking at the galaxy's center.

Hummingbird tongue is really a tiny pump Posted: 19 Aug 2015 07:36 AM PDT Biologists have long believed that hummingbirds pick up floral nectar in the same way fluid rises in a capillary tube. However, researchers have now demonstrated that this long-held theory is wrong. Instead, they say, the tongue itself acts as a tiny pump.

Toilet waste provides knowledge about diseases' global transmission routes Posted: 19 Aug 2015 05:36 AM PDT Analysis and genome sequencing of disease-causing microorganisms and antimicrobial resistance bacteria in toilet waste from international aircraft could be a first step towards global surveillance of infectious diseases and identification of how they are transmitted between countries.

Building computers from DNA? Posted: 19 Aug 2015 05:34 AM PDT New research could one day help build computers from DNA. Scientists have found a way to 'switch' the structure of DNA using copper salts and EDTA (Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) -- an agent commonly found in shampoo and other household products. The applications for this discovery include nanotechnology -- where DNA is used to make tiny machines, and in DNA-based computing -- where computers are built from DNA rather than silicon.

Brain-in-a-dish as mature as five-week-old fetus brain Posted: 19 Aug 2015 05:33 AM PDT Scientists have developed a nearly complete human brain in a dish that equals the brain maturity of a five-week-old fetus. The brain organoid, engineered from adult human skin cells, is the most complete human brain model yet developed.

Comet impacts may have led to life on Earth -- and perhaps elsewhere Posted: 19 Aug 2015 05:33 AM PDT Comet impact on Earth are synonymous with great extinctions, but now research shows that early comet impact would have become a driving force to cause substantial synthesis of peptides -- the first building blocks of life. This may have implications for the genesis of life on other worlds.

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