ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Personal cooling units on the horizon
• Do bearded dragons dream? Reptiles share sleep patterns with mammals and birds
• Snails select sources of food based on dislike for smells rather than acceptable taste
• Are we alone? Setting some limits to our planet's uniqueness
• Possible extragalactic source of high-energy neutrinos
• Cactus-inspired skin gives electric cars a spike
• Hear no evil: Farmed fish found to be hard of hearing
• Paranormal beliefs can increase number of dé jà vu experiences
• Strong interactions with voice-guided vehicles do not result in safer driving

Personal cooling units on the horizon Posted: 28 Apr 2016 02:32 PM PDT Firefighters entering burning buildings, athletes competing in the broiling sun and workers in foundries may eventually be able to carry their own, lightweight cooling units with them, thanks to a nanowire array that cools, according to materials researchers.

Do bearded dragons dream? Reptiles share sleep patterns with mammals and birds Posted: 28 Apr 2016 12:21 PM PDT Brain sleep appeared early in vertebrate evolution. Researchers describe the existence of REM and slow-wave sleep in the Australian dragon, with many common features with mammalian sleep: a phase characterized by low frequency/high amplitude average brain activity and rare and bursty neuronal firing (slow-wave sleep); another characterized by awake-like brain activity and rapid eye movements.

Snails select sources of food based on dislike for smells rather than acceptable taste Posted: 28 Apr 2016 09:21 AM PDT Harnessing naturally occurring chemicals could be used as a means to protect crop seedlings from being eaten by common pests, a study suggests.

Are we alone? Setting some limits to our planet's uniqueness Posted: 28 Apr 2016 06:53 AM PDT Are humans unique and alone in the vast universe? This question -- summed up in the famous Drake equation -- has for a half-century been one of the most intractable and uncertain in science. But a new article shows that the recent discoveries of exoplanets combined with a broader approach to the question makes it possible to assign a new empirically valid probability to whether any other advanced technological civilizations have ever existed.

Possible extragalactic source of high-energy neutrinos Posted: 28 Apr 2016 06:49 AM PDT Nearly 10 billion years ago in a galaxy known as PKS B1424-418, a dramatic explosion occurred. Light from this blast began arriving at Earth in 2012. Now, an international team of astronomers have shown that a record-breaking neutrino seen around the same time likely was born in the same event.

Cactus-inspired skin gives electric cars a spike Posted: 28 Apr 2016 06:45 AM PDT Inspired by the humble cactus, a new type of membrane has the potential to significantly boost the performance of fuel cells and transform the electric vehicle industry.

Hear no evil: Farmed fish found to be hard of hearing Posted: 28 Apr 2016 06:44 AM PDT Half of the world's farmed fish have hearing loss due to a deformity of the earbone, new research has found for the first time. Like humans, fish have ears which are essential for hearing and balance, so the findings are significant for the welfare of farmed fish as well as the survival of captive-bred fish released into the wild for conservation purposes.

Paranormal beliefs can increase number of dé jà vu experiences Posted: 27 Apr 2016 07:14 PM PDT A belief in the paranormal can mean an individual experiences more déjà vu moments in their life.

Strong interactions with voice-guided vehicles do not result in safer driving Posted: 27 Apr 2016 12:06 PM PDT Giving a car a more personal voice led to more car accidents, a new report suggests. The findings showed that participants who felt a strong social connection with the virtual driving instructor (i.e., "social presence") crashed more during the simulation, especially when they perceived the instructor's voice to be similar to their own or they felt that the car's appearance reflected their identity. This suggests that having too strong a social/personal connection with the virtual driving instructor is distracting to the driver and thus hinders safe driving.

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