ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Giant flightless bird wandered the Arctic 50 million years ago
• A metal that behaves like water
• South Africa's Sterkfontein Caves produce two new hominin fossils
• New glass technology discovered: Window doubling as a huge TV?
• Power walk: Footsteps could charge mobile electronics
• Sneezing produces complex fluid cascade, not a simple spray
• Hold on! The ability to hold a grip predicts who has the willpower finish their schoolwork
• Why you may skimp on your Valentine's Day gift
• You’ve heard of string theory. What about knot theory?
• Forget butterflies and bees, box like an ant
• Why do some fish eat their own eggs?
• Native grass could be key to super-thin condoms
• Americans recognize 'past presidents' who never were, study finds
• Car roof and battery made with byproducts of paper production
• Scientists discover hidden galaxies behind the Milky Way
• Mysterious Menominee crack is unusual geological pop-up feature
• Ten fingers not needed for fast typing
• Toxoplasmosis: Morbid attraction to leopards in parasitized chimpanzees
• Slime can see: Tiny cyanobacteria use principle of the lens in the human eye to perceive light direction
• Cockroach inspires robot squeezes through cracks
• Cotton candy machines may hold key for making artificial organs
• Oregano may reduce methane in cow burps
• Artistic space odyssey to broadcast people's messages to the stars
• Wolf species have ‘howling dialects’
• Prehistoric mystery meat put to the test (spoiler alert: It’s not woolly mammoth or giant ground sloth)
• Hallucinogen may protect against intimate partner violence, researcher suggests
• From allergens to anodes: Pollen derived battery electrodes
• Central Appalachia flatter due to mountaintop mining
• New luminous creatures illuminate the mystery of the Red Sea
• New tarantula named after Johnny Cash among 14 spider species found in the United States
• Walking on water: Researchers unravel science of skipping spheres
• Researchers link compulsive Facebook checking to lack of sleep
• Magnets levitate above a superconductor: New properties of superconductors discovered
• Ancient wildebeest-like animal shared 'bizarre' feature with dinosaur
• The evolution of 'Dark-fly'
• Diatoms sense the 'odor' of stones
• Genetic cause of rare allergy to vibration discovered
• Penguin chicks huddle up for heat, protection
• Parasitic ants alter how captive ants recognize nest mates
• Discovery of 'Jurassic butterflies'
• Winning a competition predicts future dishonest behavior, say researchers
• Researchers try to determine the cause of female red flour beetle promiscuity
• New Zealand's little penguins are recent Australian invaders
• Bright sparks shed new light on the dark matter riddle
• Mechanical 'trees' swaying in the wind: Turning good vibrations into energy
• Quirky cooling: The quantum fridge
• Unprecedented: Expedition recovers mantle rocks with signs of life
• Phase of the moon affects amount of rainfall
• This plant sucks! (but how? )
• The Harbingers of aging
• Ancient extinction of giant Australian bird points to humans
• You’ll never 'be-leaf' what makes up this battery!
• Easier way to make ‘bijels,’ a complex new form of liquid matter
• Completely new kind of polymer could lead to artificial muscles, self-repairing materials
• Scientists map mouth microbes
• Enormous blades could lead to more offshore energy in US
• Octopuses shed their asocial reputation
• Bringing time and space together for universal symmetry
• Antarctic fungi survive Martian conditions on the International Space Station
• 'Architect' aquatic insects build perfect shelters out of tiny stones and they balance their two halves as a survival strategy

Giant flightless bird wandered the Arctic 50 million years ago Posted: 12 Feb 2016 07:23 AM PST New research confirms there really was a giant, flightless bird with a head the size of a horse's wandering about in the winter twilight of the high Arctic some 53 million years ago.

A metal that behaves like water Posted: 11 Feb 2016 03:59 PM PST Researchers have made a breakthrough in our understanding of graphene's basic properties, observing for the first time electrons in a metal behaving like a fluid. This research could lead to novel thermoelectric devices as well as provide a model system to explore exotic phenomena like black holes and high-energy plasmas.

South Africa's Sterkfontein Caves produce two new hominin fossils Posted: 11 Feb 2016 07:47 AM PST Two new hominin specimens, a finger bone and a molar, that were found in South Africa's Sterkfontein Caves seem to be from early hominins that can be associated with early stone tool-bearing sediments that entered the cave more than two million years ago.

New glass technology discovered: Window doubling as a huge TV? Posted: 11 Feb 2016 07:47 AM PST Imagine if the picture window in your living room could double as a giant thermostat or big screen TV. A discovery has brought us one step closer to this becoming a reality.

Power walk: Footsteps could charge mobile electronics Posted: 11 Feb 2016 06:02 AM PST When you're on the go and your smartphone battery is low, in the not-so-distant future you could charge it simply by plugging it into your shoe. An innovative energy harvesting and storage technology developed by mechanical engineers could reduce our reliance on the batteries in our mobile devices, ensuring we have power for our devices no matter where we are.

Sneezing produces complex fluid cascade, not a simple spray Posted: 11 Feb 2016 05:25 AM PST New high-speed videos captured researchers show that as a person sneezes, they launch a sheet of fluid that balloons, then breaks apart in long filaments that destabilize, and finally disperses as a spray of droplets, similar to paint that is flung through the air.

Hold on! The ability to hold a grip predicts who has the willpower finish their schoolwork Posted: 10 Feb 2016 02:10 PM PST A connection between a person's ability to maintain a firm grip and having the self-control to finish their schoolwork has been made by a team of researchers.

Why you may skimp on your Valentine's Day gift Posted: 10 Feb 2016 02:04 PM PST Just as people are more likely to give more to close friends than to strangers, people may be more likely to give less to close friends than to strangers if there is a mutual overall benefit for doing so.

You’ve heard of string theory. What about knot theory? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 02:04 PM PST A Q&A with a veteran knot theorist discusses the strange origins of the discipline, as well as its modern-day applications. This field of mathematics, rich in aesthetic beauty and intellectual challenges, has come a long way. It involves the study of mathematical knots, which differ from real-world knots in that they have no ends. You can think of each one as a string that crosses over itself a given number of times, and then reconnects with itself to form a closed loop.

Forget butterflies and bees, box like an ant Posted: 10 Feb 2016 11:27 AM PST Boxer Muhammad Ali famously declared his intent to 'float like a butterfly and sting like a bee,' but perhaps boxers should look to another type of insect for inspiration: the trap-jaw ant. In a new study, entomologists measured the speed at which different species of trap-jaw ants strike one another during antenna-boxing bouts.

Why do some fish eat their own eggs? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 08:19 AM PST Many animals go to great lengths to ensure the survival of their offspring - yet some species actually eat some or all of their babies. There is not always an obvious explanation – like a food shortage – for such filial cannibalism. Researchers have now investigated personality differences between individuals which may play a role in species which practice filial cannibalism. They observed the Common Goby – a marine fish of up to 6cm in length – to see how male individuals behave towards their eggs.

Native grass could be key to super-thin condoms Posted: 09 Feb 2016 07:11 PM PST Working in partnership with Aboriginal traditional owners of the Camooweal region in north-west Queensland, the Indjalandji-Dhidhanu People, researchers have developed a method of extracting nanocellulose -- which can be used as an additive in latex production -- from the grass.

Americans recognize 'past presidents' who never were, study finds Posted: 09 Feb 2016 01:18 PM PST Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, Hubert Humphrey and some guy named "Thomas Moore" are among the names that many Americans mistakenly identify as belonging to a past president of the United States, finds a news study by memory researchers.

Car roof and battery made with byproducts of paper production Posted: 09 Feb 2016 11:08 AM PST Swedish researchers have produced the world's first model car with a roof and battery made from wood-based carbon fiber -- a lightweight and renewable alternative to metals and other composites.

Scientists discover hidden galaxies behind the Milky Way Posted: 09 Feb 2016 10:20 AM PST Hundreds of hidden nearby galaxies have been studied for the first time, shedding light on a mysterious gravitational anomaly dubbed the Great Attractor. Despite being just 250 million light years from Earth, the new galaxies had been hidden from view until now by our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Using CSIRO's Parkes radio telescope equipped with an innovative receiver, an international team of scientists were able to see through the Milky Way, into a previously unexplored region of space.

Mysterious Menominee crack is unusual geological pop-up feature Posted: 09 Feb 2016 10:20 AM PST Seismologists studying a massive crack in the ground that appeared north of Menominee, Michigan in 2010 now think they know what the unusual feature might be.

Ten fingers not needed for fast typing Posted: 09 Feb 2016 08:24 AM PST The number of fingers does not determine typing speed, new study shows. People using self-taught typing strategies were found to be as fast as trained typists.

Toxoplasmosis: Morbid attraction to leopards in parasitized chimpanzees Posted: 09 Feb 2016 06:06 AM PST Researchers have shown that chimpanzees infected with toxoplasmosis are attracted by the urine of their natural predators, leopards, but not by urine from other large felines. The study suggests that parasite manipulation by Toxoplasma gondii is specific to each host. It fuels an ongoing debate on the origin of behavioral modifications observed in humans infected with toxoplasmosis: they probably go back to a time when our ancestors were still preyed upon by large felines.

Slime can see: Tiny cyanobacteria use principle of the lens in the human eye to perceive light direction Posted: 09 Feb 2016 06:06 AM PST Scientists have been trying to figure out how it is possible for bacteria to perceive light and react to it ever since they started using microscopes 300 years ago. Scientists have now solved this riddle: In studies on so-called cyanobacteria, the researchers demonstrated that these tiny organisms of only a few micrometers in size move toward a light source using the same principle of the lens in the human eye.

Cockroach inspires robot squeezes through cracks Posted: 08 Feb 2016 03:29 PM PST Ever wonder how roaches are able to get into anything, no matter how tight the seams? Biologists have now shown that the American cockroach can flatten its body to one-fifth normal running height to squeeze through cracks as small as two stacked pennies, and can run at high speed when flattened by half. These features were reproduced in a squishy robot that can run even when flattened: ideal for search and rescue.

Cotton candy machines may hold key for making artificial organs Posted: 08 Feb 2016 11:07 AM PST Engineers have modified the cotton candy machine to create complex microfluidic networks that mimic the capillary system in living tissue and have demonstrated that these networks can keep cells alive and functioning in an artificial three-dimensional matrix.

Oregano may reduce methane in cow burps Posted: 08 Feb 2016 08:25 AM PST A new research project aims to reduce methane emissions from dairy cows by up to 25 per cent. This benefits not only the environment, but also arable farmers and milk producers, and it uses one key ingredient: oregano.

Artistic space odyssey to broadcast people's messages to the stars Posted: 08 Feb 2016 08:25 AM PST Messages from around the world are to be beamed into space at the speed of light as part of a cultural project to create a celestial time capsule.

Wolf species have ‘howling dialects’ Posted: 08 Feb 2016 05:35 AM PST Largest quantitative study of howling, and first to use machine learning, defines different howl types and finds that wolves use these types more or less depending on their species, resembling a howling dialect. Researchers say findings could help conservation efforts and shed light on the earliest evolution of our own use of language.

Prehistoric mystery meat put to the test (spoiler alert: It’s not woolly mammoth or giant ground sloth) Posted: 05 Feb 2016 12:35 PM PST Sorry, Explorers Club, but woolly mammoth is no longer on the menu. Neither is the giant ground sloth.

Hallucinogen may protect against intimate partner violence, researcher suggests Posted: 05 Feb 2016 10:55 AM PST Hallucinogen research gains traction, suggests class of substance could be therapeutic for problem behaviors, including intimate partner violence, according to one researcher.

From allergens to anodes: Pollen derived battery electrodes Posted: 05 Feb 2016 10:50 AM PST Pollens, the bane of allergy sufferers, could represent a boon for battery makers: Recent research has suggested their potential use as anodes in lithium-ion batteries.

Central Appalachia flatter due to mountaintop mining Posted: 05 Feb 2016 10:49 AM PST Forty years of mountaintop coal mining have made parts of Central Appalachia 60 percent flatter than they were before excavation, researchers say. This study, which compares pre- and post-mining topographic data in southern West Virginia, is the first to examine the large-scale impact of mountaintop mining on landscape topography and how the changes influence water quality.

New luminous creatures illuminate the mystery of the Red Sea Posted: 05 Feb 2016 07:53 AM PST Biologists have discovered new species of fluorescent polyps living in colonies on the shells of gastropods.

New tarantula named after Johnny Cash among 14 spider species found in the United States Posted: 04 Feb 2016 02:54 PM PST The tarantula, named after the famous singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, is only one of fourteen spider species recently discovered in the southwestern United States. This new discovery nearly doubles the number of tarantula species known from the region.

Walking on water: Researchers unravel science of skipping spheres Posted: 04 Feb 2016 12:10 PM PST Skipping stones across the water surface can be tricky. So why is it so easy to get such impressive water-skipping performance from an elastic ball? Researchers say they have answers that may reveal a lot about water impact physics.

Researchers link compulsive Facebook checking to lack of sleep Posted: 04 Feb 2016 12:10 PM PST If you find yourself toggling over to look at Facebook several dozen times a day, it's not necessarily because the experience of being on social media is so wonderful. It may be a sign that you're not getting enough sleep.

Magnets levitate above a superconductor: New properties of superconductors discovered Posted: 04 Feb 2016 12:09 PM PST New findings may eventually lead to a theory of how superconductivity initiates at the atomic level, a key step in understanding how to harness the potential of materials that could provide lossless energy storage, levitating trains and ultra-fast supercomputers.

Ancient wildebeest-like animal shared 'bizarre' feature with dinosaur Posted: 04 Feb 2016 12:05 PM PST By poring over the fossilized skulls of ancient wildebeest-like animals (Rusingoryx atopocranion) unearthed on Kenya's Rusinga Island, researchers have discovered that the little-known hoofed mammals had a very unusual, trumpet-like nasal passage similar only to the nasal crests of lambeosaurine hadrosaur dinosaurs. The findings offer an example of convergent evolution between two very distantly related taxa and across tens of millions of years.

The evolution of 'Dark-fly' Posted: 04 Feb 2016 08:14 AM PST On Nov. 11, 1954, Syuiti Mori turned out the lights on a small group of fruit flies. More than 60 years later, the descendants of those flies have adapted to life without light. These flies -- a variety known as 'Dark-fly' -- outcompete their light-loving cousins when they live together in constant darkness, according to new research. Re-playing the evolution of Dark-fly identified the genomic regions that contribute to its success in the dark.

Diatoms sense the 'odor' of stones Posted: 04 Feb 2016 05:51 AM PST Diatoms are unicellular algae that are native in many waters. They are a major component of marine phytoplankton and the food base for a large variety of marine organisms. In addition, they produce about one fifth of the oxygen in the atmosphere and are therefore a key factor for our global climate. However, these algae, which measure only a few micrometers, have yet another amazing ability: they can "smell" stones.

Genetic cause of rare allergy to vibration discovered Posted: 03 Feb 2016 03:41 PM PST Scientists have identified a genetic mutation responsible for a rare form of inherited hives induced by vibration, also known as vibratory urticaria. Running, hand clapping, towel drying or even taking a bumpy bus ride can cause temporary skin rashes in people with this rare disorder. By studying affected families, researchers discovered how vibration promotes the release of inflammatory chemicals from the immune system's mast cells, causing hives and other allergic symptoms.

Penguin chicks huddle up for heat, protection Posted: 03 Feb 2016 11:57 AM PST Location and environmental conditions may influence when gentoo chicks huddle in cold, wet Antarctic conditions, according to new study.

Parasitic ants alter how captive ants recognize nest mates Posted: 03 Feb 2016 11:57 AM PST Enslaved Formica worker ants are more genetically and chemically diverse and less aggressive towards non-nest mates than free-living Formica ant colonies, according to a new study.

Discovery of 'Jurassic butterflies' Posted: 03 Feb 2016 10:49 AM PST A new study identifies a Jurassic age insect whose behavior and appearance closely mimic a butterfly -- but whose emergence on Earth predates the butterfly by about 40 million years.

Winning a competition predicts future dishonest behavior, say researchers Posted: 03 Feb 2016 10:48 AM PST 'These findings suggest that the way in which people measure success affects their honesty. When success is measured by social comparison, as is the case when winning a competition, dishonesty increases,' Schurr explains. 'When success does not involve social comparison, as is the case when meeting a set goal, defined standard or recalling a personal achievement, dishonesty decreases.'

Researchers try to determine the cause of female red flour beetle promiscuity Posted: 03 Feb 2016 10:48 AM PST New research focused on four possibilities that may explain why beetles are so promiscuous: that mating benefits the female beetles by providing them with moisture; with nutrients in the ejaculate; with proteins that support egg laying; or with additional sperm. The findings led scientists to conclude that it was the need for additional moisture that fed the beetles' drive to mate so frequently -- even to the point where they would sometimes coerce a reluctant male.

New Zealand's little penguins are recent Australian invaders Posted: 02 Feb 2016 02:40 PM PST The little penguin species (popularly known as little blue penguins) found in southern New Zealand is a surprisingly recent invader from Australia, according to a new study. Following the recent discovery that little penguins in the southern province of Otago belong to an Australian species, a team of researchers from New Zealand and the United States set out to determine when the Aussies first arrived.

Bright sparks shed new light on the dark matter riddle Posted: 01 Feb 2016 07:35 AM PST The origin of matter in the universe has puzzled physicists for generations. Today, we know that matter only accounts for 5 percent of our universe; another 25 percent is constituted of dark matter. And the remaining 70 percent is made up of dark energy. Dark matter itself represents an unsolved riddle.

Mechanical 'trees' swaying in the wind: Turning good vibrations into energy Posted: 01 Feb 2016 06:27 AM PST A project is testing whether high-tech objects that look a bit like artificial trees can generate renewable power when they are shaken by the wind -- or by the sway of a tall building, traffic on a bridge or even seismic activity.

Quirky cooling: The quantum fridge Posted: 01 Feb 2016 05:50 AM PST When cold milk is poured into a hot cup of tea, a temperature equilibrium is reached very quickly. The milk droplets and the tea particles interact, and after a few moments they all have the same average energy. This process is called thermalization. It plays a crucial role in cooling down gases to ultra-low temperatures. But surprisingly, even gases for which this effect is suppressed can be cooled. Scientists took a closer look at this phenomenon and found a special quantum-mechanical kind of cooling at work.

Unprecedented: Expedition recovers mantle rocks with signs of life Posted: 01 Feb 2016 05:44 AM PST An international team of scientists -- recently returned from a 47-day research expedition to the mid-Atlantic -- have collected an unprecedented sequence of rock samples from the shallow mantle of the ocean crust that bear signs of life, unique carbon cycling, and ocean crust movement. These unique samples were collected using unique seabed rock drills.

Phase of the moon affects amount of rainfall Posted: 30 Jan 2016 03:21 PM PST Satellite data shows that the moon's gravity puts a slight damper on rainfall on Earth.

This plant sucks! (but how? ) Posted: 29 Jan 2016 10:43 AM PST The bladderwort has a trap faster than the blink of an eye. It uses powerful suction to snatch its prey. A recently published review is helping reveal exactly how a plant can suck so much.

The Harbingers of aging Posted: 29 Jan 2016 10:19 AM PST Researchers have detected age-dependent alterations in metabolism and gene regulation in middle-aged fruitflies, and show that these effects are linked to a reduction in lifespan, suggests a new report.

Ancient extinction of giant Australian bird points to humans Posted: 29 Jan 2016 06:00 AM PST The first direct evidence that humans played a substantial role in the extinction of the huge, wondrous beasts inhabiting Australia some 50,000 years ago -- in this case a 500-pound bird -- has been discovered research team.

You’ll never 'be-leaf' what makes up this battery! Posted: 28 Jan 2016 01:00 PM PST Scientists have a new recipe for batteries: Bake a leaf, and add sodium. They used a carbonized oak leaf, pumped full of sodium, as a demonstration battery's negative terminal, or anode, according to a paper published yesterday in the journal ACS Applied Materials Interfaces.

Easier way to make ‘bijels,’ a complex new form of liquid matter Posted: 28 Jan 2016 01:00 PM PST Getting the interfaces between the two liquids into different shapes unlocks new kinds of behaviors and applications. And thanks to new research, one special kind of emulsion is becoming easier to make.

Completely new kind of polymer could lead to artificial muscles, self-repairing materials Posted: 28 Jan 2016 12:48 PM PST Imagine a polymer with removable parts that can deliver something to the environment and then be chemically regenerated to function again. Or a polymer that can contract and expand the way muscles do. These functions require polymers with both rigid and soft nano-sized compartments with extremely different properties. Researchers have developed a hybrid polymer of this type that might one day be used in artificial muscles; for delivery of drugs or biomolecules; in self-repairing materials; and for replaceable energy sources.

Scientists map mouth microbes Posted: 28 Jan 2016 10:32 AM PST A new study provides a detailed look at how the microbes in the mouth coexist.

Enormous blades could lead to more offshore energy in US Posted: 28 Jan 2016 10:32 AM PST A new design for gigantic blades longer than two football fields could help bring offshore 50-megawatt (MW) wind turbines to the United States and the world.

Octopuses shed their asocial reputation Posted: 28 Jan 2016 10:09 AM PST Octopuses have generally been viewed as solitary creatures -- and their color-changing abilities primarily as a means to hide from hungry predators. But, after binge watching more than 52 hours of octopus TV, researchers report that they have found that octopuses actually do have a social life. And it's not without drama.

Bringing time and space together for universal symmetry Posted: 28 Jan 2016 09:20 AM PST New research is broadening perspectives on time and space. Scientists challenge the long-held presumption that time evolution -- the incessant unfolding of the universe over time -- is an elemental part of Nature.

Antarctic fungi survive Martian conditions on the International Space Station Posted: 28 Jan 2016 08:38 AM PST Scientists have gathered tiny fungi that take shelter in Antarctic rocks and sent them to the International Space Station. After 18 months on board in conditions similar to those on Mars, more than 60 percent of their cells remained intact, with stable DNA. The results provide new information for the search for life on the red planet. Lichens from the Sierra de Gredos (Spain) and the Alps (Austria) also traveled into space for the same experiment.

'Architect' aquatic insects build perfect shelters out of tiny stones and they balance their two halves as a survival strategy Posted: 28 Jan 2016 05:14 AM PST Larvae of caddisfly, aquatic insects of the order Trichoptera, using substrate particles, build tiny tubes where they protect their fragile bodies and carry out the metamorphosis which will transform them in adults. Researchers unveil a curious secret of Nature, unknown until now. When the time for pupation comes, larvae modify the architecture of their shelters, balancing their two halves by means of adding weight to both ends. The goal is that the tubes in which they stay captive until pupation can rest horizontally on the shallow banks of the streams, given that, in case of staying in vertical position, the probability of being exposed to the air would be too high and they could die.

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