ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Atomic fractals in metallic glasses
• Confusion afoot: People struggle to tell their toes apart with their eyes closed
• Bugs in space: How microbes are surviving on astronauts
• ‘Lost world’ of cold weather dinosaurs discovered
• Could being a good father send you to an early grave?
• The 'Pig-Pen' in each of us: People emit their own personal microbial cloud
• Turing nanopatterns in insect eyes
• Darwin on a chip: New electronic circuits mimic natural networks like the human brain

Atomic fractals in metallic glasses Posted: 22 Sep 2015 09:00 AM PDT The atoms that make up metallic glasses lack the orderly lattice structure present in most other crystalline solids. Researchers have now shown that within randomly packed clusters of atoms, a fractal pattern emerges at the scale of two atomic diameters.

Confusion afoot: People struggle to tell their toes apart with their eyes closed Posted: 22 Sep 2015 08:49 AM PDT Most people can't tell their toes apart without looking. Some healthy people can 'lose' a toe if their eyes are closed. While most of us would assume we've got a pretty good idea of where the various parts of our body are, research suggests we may have a problem telling our toes apart -- with implications for the way our brains see our bodies.

Bugs in space: How microbes are surviving on astronauts Posted: 22 Sep 2015 08:49 AM PDT Bugs are winning out, and that's a good thing according to NASA's Human Research Program. As part of NASA's One-Year Mission, researchers are studying how microbes living on astronauts' skin, inside their bodies and on the International Space Station impact their health. To prepare for a journey to Mars, it is important to understand how long-duration spaceflight affects microorganisms because changes to this complex ecosystem could be detrimental to future missions.

‘Lost world’ of cold weather dinosaurs discovered Posted: 22 Sep 2015 07:46 AM PDT Scientists have uncovered a new species of duck-billed dinosaur, a 30-footlong herbivore that endured months of winter darkness and probably experienced snow. The skeletal remains of the dinosaurs were found in a remote part of Alaska. These dinosaurs were the northernmost dinosaurs known to have ever lived.

Could being a good father send you to an early grave? Posted: 22 Sep 2015 07:40 AM PDT Non-genetic inheritance plays a huge role in determining the characteristics of offspring. For example, bad parenting creates bad parents-to-be, while well-cared for larvae mature into high quality parents.

The 'Pig-Pen' in each of us: People emit their own personal microbial cloud Posted: 22 Sep 2015 07:39 AM PDT We each give off millions of bacteria from our human microbiome to the air around us every day, and that cloud of bacteria can be traced back to an individual. New research focused on the personal microbial cloud -- the airborne microbes we emit into the air -- examined the microbial connection we have with the air around us. The findings demonstrate the extent to which humans possess a unique 'microbial cloud signature.'

Turing nanopatterns in insect eyes Posted: 21 Sep 2015 03:21 PM PDT In 1952, the legendary British mathematician and cryptographer Alan Turing proposed a model, which assumes formation of complex patterns through chemical interaction of two diffusing reagents. Scientists managed to prove that the corneal surface nanopatterns in 23 insect orders completely fit into this model.

Darwin on a chip: New electronic circuits mimic natural networks like the human brain Posted: 21 Sep 2015 10:39 AM PDT Researchers have demonstrated working electronic circuits that have been produced in a radically new way, using methods that resemble Darwinian evolution. The size of these circuits is comparable to the size of their conventional counterparts, but they are much closer to natural networks like the human brain. The findings promise a new generation of powerful, energy-efficient electronics.

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