ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

---

• The trouble with drinking guidelines: What, in the world, is a standard drink?
• The pyrophilic primate
• 1917 astronomical plate has first-ever evidence of exoplanetary system
• Will raindrops stick to a spider web's threads?
• Unexpected long-range particle interactions: Spinning cells could attract each other across surprisingly long distances
• Swarming red crabs documented on video
• Tumble-proof cargo transporter in biological cells
• Tropical birds develop 'superfast' wing muscles for mating, not flying

The trouble with drinking guidelines: What, in the world, is a standard drink? Posted: 12 Apr 2016 06:11 PM PDT The controversy over the UK's new safe drinking guidelines revealed how much people within a country can disagree about drinking. It turns out that countries disagree with each other, too.

The pyrophilic primate Posted: 12 Apr 2016 01:05 PM PDT Fire, a tool broadly used for cooking, constructing, hunting and even communicating, was arguably one of the earliest discoveries in human history. But when, how and why it came to be used is hotly debated among scientists. A new scenario crafted by anthropologists proposes that human ancestors became dependent on fire as a result of Africa's increasingly fire-prone environment 2-3 million years ago.

1917 astronomical plate has first-ever evidence of exoplanetary system Posted: 12 Apr 2016 10:26 AM PDT You can never predict what treasure might be hiding in your own basement. It turns out that a 1917 image on an astronomical glass plate from the Carnegie Observatories' collection shows the first-ever evidence of a planetary system beyond our own Sun.

Will raindrops stick to a spider web's threads? Posted: 12 Apr 2016 10:20 AM PDT If you go out after a rain, you may notice spider webs glistening with water droplets. The soggy webs resemble human-made meshes for fog collection: They both have thin fibers that collect water from droplets in the air. Now researchers have developed a model to predict whether a falling droplet will stick to a thin fiber, and how much water residue will remain on the fiber.

Unexpected long-range particle interactions: Spinning cells could attract each other across surprisingly long distances Posted: 12 Apr 2016 07:53 AM PDT A team of researchers has found that moving bodies can be attracted to each other, even when they're quite far apart and separated by many other objects.

Swarming red crabs documented on video Posted: 12 Apr 2016 07:48 AM PDT A research team studying biodiversity at the Hannibal Bank Seamount off the coast of Panama has captured unique video of thousands of red crabs swarming in low-oxygen waters just above the seafloor.

Tumble-proof cargo transporter in biological cells Posted: 12 Apr 2016 07:48 AM PDT Ever wondered how molecular nanomotors work when transporting material such as organelles in the cell? Typically, nanomotors move along biopolymer filaments to go about their duties in the cell. Researchers now show that synthetic motors can attach to polymeric filaments and move along without changing either their shape or the direction in which they set out to move.

Tropical birds develop 'superfast' wing muscles for mating, not flying Posted: 12 Apr 2016 07:48 AM PDT Studies in a group of tropical birds have revealed one of the fastest limb muscles on record for any animal with a backbone. The muscle, which can move the wing at more than twice the speeds required for flying, has evolved in association with extravagant courtship displays that involve rapid limb movements, according to a report.

You are subscribed to email updates from Strange & Offbeat News -- ScienceDaily. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States