ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Fire discovery sheds new light on 'hobbit' demise
• Mountaineering ants use body heat to warm nests
• Some surfaces are wetted by water, others are water-repellent: A new material can be both
• It's not just a grunt: Pigs really do have something to say
• Space team discovers universe is self-cleaning
• How planetary age reveals water content
• Cannabinoids remove plaque-forming Alzheimer's proteins from brain cells
• New artificial intelligence beats tactical experts in combat simulation

Fire discovery sheds new light on 'hobbit' demise Posted: 29 Jun 2016 01:59 PM PDT Crucial new evidence has revealed modern humans (Homo sapiens) were likely using fire at Liang Bua 41,000 years ago, narrowing the time gap between the last hobbits (Homo floresiensis) and the first modern humans at this site on the Indonesian island of Flores.

Mountaineering ants use body heat to warm nests Posted: 29 Jun 2016 10:58 AM PDT Underground army ants can keep their nests -- called bivouacs -- warm with their body heat; this social warming may enable fragile offspring to survive in chilly mountain forests, according to researchers.

Some surfaces are wetted by water, others are water-repellent: A new material can be both Posted: 29 Jun 2016 10:52 AM PDT Scientists have discovered a robust surface whose adhesive and wetting properties can be switched using electricity.

It's not just a grunt: Pigs really do have something to say Posted: 29 Jun 2016 07:03 AM PDT The grunts made by pigs vary depending on the pig's personality and can convey important information about the welfare of this highly social species, new research has found.

Space team discovers universe is self-cleaning Posted: 29 Jun 2016 07:03 AM PDT Astronomers have released a catalog of the hidden universe, which reveals the unseen sources of energy found over the last 12 billion years of cosmic history.

How planetary age reveals water content Posted: 29 Jun 2016 07:03 AM PDT Water is necessary for life as we know it, but too much water is bad for habitability. Therefore, to study the habitability of extrasolar planets, determining the abundance of water is a key element. Astronomers now show that the observation of exoplanets at different ages can be used to set statistical constraints on their water content -- an important result for future space missions.

Cannabinoids remove plaque-forming Alzheimer's proteins from brain cells Posted: 29 Jun 2016 06:56 AM PDT Scientists have found preliminary evidence that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and other compounds found in marijuana can promote the cellular removal of amyloid beta, a toxic protein associated with Alzheimer's disease.

New artificial intelligence beats tactical experts in combat simulation Posted: 27 Jun 2016 09:51 AM PDT Artificial intelligence recently won out during simulated aerial combat against US expert tacticians. Importantly, it did so using no more than the processing power available in a tiny, affordable computer (Raspberry Pi) that retails for as little as $35.

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• Humans artificially drive evolution of new species
• Engineers to use cyborg insects as biorobotic sensing machines
• 'Squishy' motors and wheels give soft robots a new ride
• Clandestine black hole may represent new population
• Lost hormone is found in starfish

Humans artificially drive evolution of new species Posted: 28 Jun 2016 07:17 PM PDT Species across the world are rapidly going extinct due to human activities, but humans are also causing rapid evolution and the emergence of new species. A new study summarizes the causes of humanmade speciation, and discusses why newly evolved species cannot simply replace extinct wild species.

Engineers to use cyborg insects as biorobotic sensing machines Posted: 28 Jun 2016 11:14 AM PDT A team of engineers is looking to capitalize on the sense of smell in locusts to create new biorobotic sensing systems that could be used in homeland security applications.

'Squishy' motors and wheels give soft robots a new ride Posted: 28 Jun 2016 09:28 AM PDT A small, squishy vehicle equipped with soft wheels rolls over rough terrain and runs under water. Future versions of the versatile vehicle might be suitable for search and rescue missions after disasters, deep space and planet exploration, and manipulating objects during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), according to its creators. Their most important innovation is a soft motor that provides torque without bending or extending its housing.

Clandestine black hole may represent new population Posted: 28 Jun 2016 04:22 AM PDT Astronomers have concluded that a peculiar source of radio waves thought to be a distant galaxy is actually a nearby binary star system containing a low-mass star and a black hole. This identification suggests there may be a vast number of black holes in our Galaxy that have gone unnoticed until now.

Lost hormone is found in starfish Posted: 28 Jun 2016 04:20 AM PDT Biologists have discovered that the evolutionary history of a hormone responsible for sexual maturity in humans is written in the genes of the humble starfish.

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• Meet RobERt, the dreaming detective for exoplanet atmospheres
• Moon discovered over dwarf planet Makemake in the Kuiper Belt
• Shampoo bottle that empties completely, every last drop
• Opal discovered in Antarctic meteorite
• Whistling wormholes discovered in the Caribbean
• Robots come to each other's aid when they get the signal
• Text Messaging with Smartphones Triggers a New Type of Brain Rhythm
• The Martian becomes reality: At least four crops grown on simulated Mars soil are edible
• Fastest-spinning brown-dwarf star is detected by its bursts of radio waves
• Seeds of black holes could be revealed by gravitational waves detected in space
• Ancient 'Deep Skull' from Borneo full of surprises
• 3-D printing produces cartilage from strands of bioink

Meet RobERt, the dreaming detective for exoplanet atmospheres Posted: 27 Jun 2016 06:46 PM PDT Machine-learning techniques that mimic human recognition and dreaming processes are being deployed in the search for habitable worlds beyond our solar system. A deep belief neural network, called RobERt (Robotic Exoplanet Recognition), has been developed by astronomers to sift through detections of light emanating from distant planetary systems and retrieve spectral information about the gases present in the exoplanet atmospheres.

Moon discovered over dwarf planet Makemake in the Kuiper Belt Posted: 27 Jun 2016 06:44 PM PDT Scientists have discovered an elusive, dark moon orbiting Makemake, one of the 'big four' dwarf planets populating the Kuiper Belt region at the edge of our solar system.

Shampoo bottle that empties completely, every last drop Posted: 27 Jun 2016 07:18 AM PDT Researchers have found a way to create the perfect texture inside plastic bottles to let soap products flow freely. The technique involves lining a plastic bottle with microscopic y-shaped structures that cradle the droplets of soap aloft above tiny air pockets, so that the soap never actually touches the inside of the bottle. The "y" structures are built up using much smaller nanoparticles made of silica, or quartz -- an ingredient in glass -- which, when treated further, won't stick to soap.

Opal discovered in Antarctic meteorite Posted: 27 Jun 2016 06:59 AM PDT Planetary scientists have discovered pieces of opal in a meteorite found in Antarctica, a result that demonstrates that meteorites delivered water ice to asteroids early in the history of the solar system.

Whistling wormholes discovered in the Caribbean Posted: 27 Jun 2016 06:59 AM PDT Scientists have discovered the Caribbean Sea works like a whistle. This finding will enable scientists to predict some sea level changes many months in advance, and may be an important factor in regulating how the Gulf Stream varies. This research has found the Caribbean Current flow is unstable, which causes it to shed eddies, or swirling currents of water hundreds of kilometers in diameter. This is similar to the way in which a jet of air sheds eddies when it hits the lip of a whistle.

Robots come to each other's aid when they get the signal Posted: 27 Jun 2016 06:56 AM PDT Sometimes all it takes to get help from someone is to wave at them, or point. Now the same is true for robots. Researchers have completed work on a project aimed at enabling robots to cooperate with one another on complex jobs, by using body language.

Text Messaging with Smartphones Triggers a New Type of Brain Rhythm Posted: 27 Jun 2016 06:53 AM PDT Sending text messages on a smartphone can change the rhythm of brain waves, according to a new study. People communicate increasingly via text messaging, though little is known on the neurological effects of smartphone use.

The Martian becomes reality: At least four crops grown on simulated Mars soil are edible Posted: 27 Jun 2016 06:53 AM PDT Scientists are working on growing crops on Mars and moon soil simulants. Just like the real Martian and moon soil these contain heavy metals in almost the same quantities. Four of the crops grown were tested for heavy metal content. No concentrations were detected that would be dangerous for human health. The four crops are therefore safe to eat and, for some heavy metals, the concentrations were even lower than in the crops grown in potting soil.

Fastest-spinning brown-dwarf star is detected by its bursts of radio waves Posted: 27 Jun 2016 06:50 AM PDT Astronomers have detected what may be the most rapidly rotating, ultra-cool, brown-dwarf star ever seen. The super-fast rotation period was measured by using the 305-meter Arecibo radio telescope -- the same telescope that was used to discover the first planets ever found outside our solar system. The detection emphasizes Arecibo's amazing sensitivity, which has the potential to measure the magnetic fields, which protect life, of potentially habitable planets around other stars.

Seeds of black holes could be revealed by gravitational waves detected in space Posted: 27 Jun 2016 06:50 AM PDT Gravitational waves captured by space-based detectors could help identify the origins of supermassive black holes, according to new computer simulations of the universe.

Ancient 'Deep Skull' from Borneo full of surprises Posted: 27 Jun 2016 06:48 AM PDT A new study of the 37,000-year old remains of the 'Deep Skull' -- the oldest modern human discovered in island South-East Asia -- has revealed this ancient person was not related to Indigenous Australians, as had been originally thought. The Deep Skull was also likely to have been an older woman, rather than a teenage boy, the research shows.

3-D printing produces cartilage from strands of bioink Posted: 27 Jun 2016 06:48 AM PDT Strands of cow cartilage substitute for ink in a 3-D bioprinting process that may one day create cartilage patches for worn out joints, according to engineers.

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• Giant Blobs of Rock, Deep Inside the Earth, Hold Important Clues About Our Planet
• This message will self-destruct
• Insects were already using camouflage 100 million years ago
• Gamble on your opponent's gaze if you want to win

Giant Blobs of Rock, Deep Inside the Earth, Hold Important Clues About Our Planet Posted: 24 Jun 2016 12:50 PM PDT Two massive blob-like structures lie deep within the Earth, roughly on opposite sides of the planet. The two structures, each the size of a continent and 100 times taller than Mount Everest, sit on the core, 1,800 miles deep, and about halfway to the center of the Earth. Researchers suggest these blobs are made of something different from the rest of Earth's mantle, and are determined to figure out what that is.

This message will self-destruct Posted: 24 Jun 2016 12:49 PM PDT In movies and television shows, audio tapes or other devices self-destruct after delivering the details of impossible missions. Scientists have taken it to a new level.

Insects were already using camouflage 100 million years ago Posted: 24 Jun 2016 12:47 PM PDT Those who go to a masked ball consciously slip into a different role, in order to avoid being recognized. Insects were already doing something very similar in the Cretaceous: They cloaked themselves in pieces of plants, grains of sand, or the remains of their prey, in order, for example, to be invisible to predators. Scientists hav now investigated such 'invisibility cloaks' encased in amber.

Gamble on your opponent's gaze if you want to win Posted: 21 Jun 2016 08:15 AM PDT Blackjack players who hold high-value cards tend to glance fleetingly to the right, whereas those with a lower-value hand do so spontaneously to the left. This is according to research on aspects of mental arithmetic.

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• How Make-Up Makes Men Admire but Other Women Jealous
• Scientists uncover route for finding out what makes individuals nice or nasty
• Turning sewage sludge into concrete
• Small brain, astounding performance: How elephantnose fish switch between electrical, visual sense
• Nanoscientists develop the 'ultimate discovery tool'
• Probing giant planets' dark hydrogen

How Make-Up Makes Men Admire but Other Women Jealous Posted: 24 Jun 2016 12:51 PM PDT Men think women with make-up on are more 'prestigious', while women think women who wear make-up are more 'dominant,' a psychology study has found.

Scientists uncover route for finding out what makes individuals nice or nasty Posted: 24 Jun 2016 12:47 PM PDT A scientist has helped develop an innovative mathematical model for exploring why some individuals evolve to be genetically programmed to be nice, while others stay nasty.

Turning sewage sludge into concrete Posted: 24 Jun 2016 11:05 AM PDT Dried sewage sludge could be recycled by adding it to cement to make concrete, report researchers in Malaysia. Disposing sludge left over from treating sewage water is a major challenge for wastewater plants in Malaysia, and as the population climbs, the problem is only expected to worsen.

Small brain, astounding performance: How elephantnose fish switch between electrical, visual sense Posted: 24 Jun 2016 07:02 AM PDT The elephantnose fish explores objects in its surroundings by using its eyes or its electrical sense -- sometimes both together. Zoologists have now found out how complex the processing of these sensory impressions is. With its tiny brain, the fish achieves performance comparable to that of humans or mammals.

Nanoscientists develop the 'ultimate discovery tool' Posted: 23 Jun 2016 12:01 PM PDT The discovery power of the gene chip is coming to nanotechnology. Researchers have figured out how to make combinatorial libraries of nanoparticles in a very controlled way. Some of the nanoparticle compositions have never been observed before on Earth. The tool they are developing could be used to rapidly test millions to billions of different nanoparticles at one time to zero in on the best particle for a specific use. Applications include catalysts, light-harvesting materials, pharmaceuticals and optoelectronic devices.

Probing giant planets' dark hydrogen Posted: 23 Jun 2016 09:30 AM PDT Hydrogen is the most-abundant element in the universe, but there is still so much we have to learn about it. One of the biggest unknowns is its transformation under the extreme pressures and temperatures found in the interiors of giant planets, where it is squeezed until it becomes liquid metal, capable of conducting electricity. New work measures the conditions under which hydrogen undergoes this transition in the lab and finds an intermediate 'dark hydrogen' state.

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• Evolutionary biologists show that sexual selection increases the number of species and impacts global diversity
• New research uncovers why an increase in probability feels riskier than a decrease
• Novel controller allows video gamer who lacks hands to compete with his feet
• Doubled sensitivity could allow gravitational wave detectors to reach deeper into space
• To tool or not to tool? Clever cockatoos make economic decisions about tool use
• In worldwide chemotaxis competition, researchers race cell lines to the finish line

Evolutionary biologists show that sexual selection increases the number of species and impacts global diversity Posted: 23 Jun 2016 09:30 AM PDT When you're a firefly, finding "the one" can change the world. Literally. A new study demonstrates that for fireflies, octopuses and other animals that choose mates via bioluminescent courtship, sexual selection increases the number of species -- thereby impacting global diversity.

New research uncovers why an increase in probability feels riskier than a decrease Posted: 23 Jun 2016 08:57 AM PDT New research uncovers why an increase in probability feels riskier than a decrease. The research falls under the realm of subjective probability, also known as likelihood or risk. While past research has looked at how people interpret single estimates of the probability for a future event, the focus of this research was on how estimates change over time.

Novel controller allows video gamer who lacks hands to compete with his feet Posted: 23 Jun 2016 08:23 AM PDT Engineering graduate students, one of whom lost his hands to meningitis, design and build a foot-activated video game controller.

Doubled sensitivity could allow gravitational wave detectors to reach deeper into space Posted: 23 Jun 2016 08:22 AM PDT Researchers report on improvements to what is called a squeezed vacuum source. Although not part of the original Advanced LIGO design, injecting the new squeezed vacuum source into the LIGO detector could help double its sensitivity. This would allow detection of gravitational waves that are far weaker or that originate from farther away than is possible now.

To tool or not to tool? Clever cockatoos make economic decisions about tool use Posted: 23 Jun 2016 07:09 AM PDT Cognitive biologists studied tool-related decisionmaking in an Indonesian cockatoo. They found that the animals seemed to carefully ponder about their choices: while doing so the animals scrutinized details such as differences in quality between the two food rewards, but also the functionality of the available tool as means to obtain the out-of reach food in the situation at hand.

In worldwide chemotaxis competition, researchers race cell lines to the finish line Posted: 22 Jun 2016 11:46 AM PDT Neutrophil-like cells must balance speed against chemotactic accuracy to win a chemotaxis maze race in the inaugural Dicty World Races, a worldwide competition.

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• The universe: Learning about the future from the distant past
• The universe is crowded with black holes, astronomers predict
• The world's oldest farmers were insects
• Particle zoo in a quantum computer
• Wild boars and wart hogs may have an internal compass
• Service robot Floka’s big debut

The universe: Learning about the future from the distant past Posted: 22 Jun 2016 11:54 AM PDT Our universe came to life nearly 14 billion years ago in the Big Bang -- a tremendously energetic fireball from which the cosmos has been expanding ever since. Today, space is filled with hundreds of billions of galaxies, including our solar system's own galactic home, the Milky Way. But how exactly did the infant universe develop into its current state, and what does it tell us about our future?

The universe is crowded with black holes, astronomers predict Posted: 22 Jun 2016 11:49 AM PDT Astronomers have presented one of the most complete models of matter in the universe and predict hundreds of massive black hole mergers each year observable with the second generation of gravitational wave detectors.

The world's oldest farmers were insects Posted: 22 Jun 2016 11:46 AM PDT An international team of researchers has discovered the oldest fossil evidence of agriculture, not by humans, but by insects.

Particle zoo in a quantum computer Posted: 22 Jun 2016 11:46 AM PDT Physicists in Innsbruck have realized the first quantum simulation of lattice gauge theories, building a bridge between high-energy theory and atomic physics. Research teams describe how they simulated the creation of elementary particle pairs out of the vacuum by using a quantum computer.

Wild boars and wart hogs may have an internal compass Posted: 22 Jun 2016 08:47 AM PDT New research suggests for the first time that wild boars and wart hogs have an internal magnetic compass that helps them orient themselves as they forage for food and inhabit new areas.

Service robot Floka’s big debut Posted: 22 Jun 2016 07:48 AM PDT What must an intelligent apartment provide in order to make everyday life safe, healthy, and comfortable? Robotics experts have developed the service robot Floka. Floka is fitted with a new "social" robotic head that was also developed at CITEC whose facial expressions can signal happiness, worry, interest, or anger.

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• Making computers reason and learn by analogy
• Astronomers find the first 'wind nebula' around a magnetar
• Present-day subsurface ocean on Pluto?
• An ocean lies a few kilometers beneath Saturn's moon Enceladus's icy surface
• Caribbean Sea acts like a whistle and can be 'heard' from space
• Massive vertebrae sheds new light on Alamosaurus sanjuanensis
• Understanding rogue ocean waves may be simple after all
• Made-to-order nanocages open possibilities of shipping cargo into living cells, building small chemical reactors

Making computers reason and learn by analogy Posted: 21 Jun 2016 12:50 PM PDT Using the power of analogy, a new structure-mapping engine gives computers the ability to reason like humans and even solve moral dilemmas.

Astronomers find the first 'wind nebula' around a magnetar Posted: 21 Jun 2016 12:49 PM PDT Astronomers have discovered a vast cloud of high-energy particles called a wind nebula around a rare ultra-magnetic neutron star, or magnetar, for the first time. The find offers a unique window into the properties, environment and outburst history of magnetars, which are the strongest magnets in the universe.

Present-day subsurface ocean on Pluto? Posted: 21 Jun 2016 10:25 AM PDT An updated thermal model for Pluto suggests that a liquid water ocean beneath the dwarf planet's ice shell is a fairly likely scenario, and that the ocean is probably still there today.

An ocean lies a few kilometers beneath Saturn's moon Enceladus's icy surface Posted: 21 Jun 2016 08:57 AM PDT With eruptions of ice and water vapor, and an ocean covered by an ice shell, Saturn's moon Enceladus is one of the most fascinating in the Solar System, especially as interpretations of data provided by the Cassini spacecraft have been contradictory until now. Astronomers recently proposed a new model that reconciles different data sets and shows that the ice shell at Enceladus's south pole may be only a few kilometers thick. This suggests that there is a strong heat source in the interior of Enceladus, an additional factor supporting the possible emergence of life in its ocean.

Caribbean Sea acts like a whistle and can be 'heard' from space Posted: 21 Jun 2016 08:15 AM PDT A study of the Caribbean Sea has revealed that, in the midst of all the noise of the ocean, this region behaves like a whistle, which blows so loudly that it can be 'heard' from space in the form of oscillations of the Earth's gravity field.

Massive vertebrae sheds new light on Alamosaurus sanjuanensis Posted: 21 Jun 2016 08:11 AM PDT The discovery nearly two decades ago of nine beautifully articulated vertebrae at Big Bend National Park sheds new light on a 66 million-year-old sauropod dinosaur native to Texas and the North American southwest called Alamosaurus sanjuanensis.

Understanding rogue ocean waves may be simple after all Posted: 21 Jun 2016 06:10 AM PDT An international team of scientists has developed a relatively simple mathematical explanation for the rogue ocean waves that can develop seemingly out of nowhere to sink ships and overwhelm oil platforms with walls of water as much as 25 meters high.

Made-to-order nanocages open possibilities of shipping cargo into living cells, building small chemical reactors Posted: 20 Jun 2016 04:14 PM PDT Researchers have designed and produced a self-assembling protein shell shaped like an icosahedron -- similar to those that encapsulate viruses. The achievement may open new avenues for engineering cargo-containing nano-cages to package and deliver drugs and vaccines directly into cells, or building small reactors to catalyze biochemical reactions. The shell is also amenable to genetic fusion, such as the addition of fluorescent proteins.

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• RedEye could let your phone see 24-7
• Silencing of gene affects people's social lives
• Newborn giant planet grazes its star
• Ultra-thin solar cells can easily bend around a pencil
• Strong 'electric wind' strips planets of oceans and atmospheres
• Astrophysicists release new study of one of the first stars

RedEye could let your phone see 24-7 Posted: 20 Jun 2016 01:11 PM PDT Researchers have just the thing for information overload: image-processing technology that sees all and remembers only what it should. RedEye could allow computers to continuously see what their owners see.

Silencing of gene affects people's social lives Posted: 20 Jun 2016 01:01 PM PDT Psychologists have found that the silencing of a specific gene may affect human social behavior, including a person's ability to form healthy relationships or to recognize the emotional states of others.

Newborn giant planet grazes its star Posted: 20 Jun 2016 08:25 AM PDT For the past 20 years, exoplanets known as 'hot Jupiters' have puzzled astronomers. These giant planets orbit 100 times closer to their host stars than Jupiter does to the Sun, which increases their surface temperatures. But how and when in their history did they migrate so close to their star? Now, an international team of astronomers has announced the discovery of a very young hot Jupiter orbiting in the immediate vicinity of a star that is barely two million years old -- the stellar equivalent of a week-old infant. This first-ever evidence that hot Jupiters can appear at such an early stage represents a major step forward in our understanding of how planetary systems form and evolve.

Ultra-thin solar cells can easily bend around a pencil Posted: 20 Jun 2016 08:25 AM PDT New flexible photovoltaics could power wearable electronics.

Strong 'electric wind' strips planets of oceans and atmospheres Posted: 20 Jun 2016 07:02 AM PDT Venus has an 'electric wind' strong enough to remove the components of water from its upper atmosphere, which may have played a significant role in stripping the planet of its oceans.

Astrophysicists release new study of one of the first stars Posted: 17 Jun 2016 09:04 AM PDT A research team has used the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope to study key regions of the ultraviolet spectrum of a star thought to have been enriched by elements from one of the first generation of stars.

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Predicting loaf volume without baking the bread Posted: 17 Jun 2016 06:59 PM PDT When it comes to baking bread, the bigger the loaf, the better. But to determine the baking performance of wheat flour, food scientists had to bake a loaf of bread. That may not be necessary, thanks to a new mathematical model that uses specific dough parameters to predict loaf volume. That saves time and money.

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• How black hole jets break out of their galaxies
• Unexpected Excess of Giant Planets in Star Cluster Messier 67
• Rush hour on Palmyra Atoll
• Using espresso machines to do chemistry

How black hole jets break out of their galaxies Posted: 17 Jun 2016 05:39 AM PDT A simulation of the powerful jets generated by supermassive black holes at the centres of the largest galaxies explains why some burst forth as bright beacons visible across the universe, while others fall apart and never pierce the halo of the galaxy. About 10 per cent of all galaxies with active nuclei – all presumed to have supermassive black holes within the central bulge – are observed to have jets of gas spurting in opposite directions from the core. The hot ionized gas is propelled by the twisting magnetic fields of the rotating black hole, which can be as large as several billion suns.

Unexpected Excess of Giant Planets in Star Cluster Messier 67 Posted: 17 Jun 2016 05:25 AM PDT Astronomers have found that there are far more planets of the hot Jupiter type than expected in a cluster of stars called Messier 67. This surprising result was obtained using a number of telescopes and instruments. The denser environment in a cluster will cause more frequent interactions between planets and nearby stars, which may explain the excess of hot Jupiters.

Rush hour on Palmyra Atoll Posted: 15 Jun 2016 10:43 AM PDT Halfway between Hawaii and American Samoa lies a group of small islands and inlets. Among them is Palmyra Atoll, an almost 5-square-mile ring of coral.

Using espresso machines to do chemistry Posted: 15 Jun 2016 08:16 AM PDT Many chemists are familiar with taking trips to the espresso machine while running late-night experiments, but until now these excursions were merely undertaken for the caffeine boost. A group recently reported, however, that espresso machines can quickly and inexpensively perform some complex chemistry experiments, such as testing for harmful compounds in the environment.

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