ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Measuring the Milky Way: One massive problem, one new solution
• 'Baby talk' can help songbirds learn their tunes
• 'Super Mario Brothers' is harder than NP-hard
• When it comes to claws, right-handed attracts the girls
• Was Planet 9 once an exoplanet, stolen by our sun?
• To strengthen an opinion, simply say it is based on morality

Measuring the Milky Way: One massive problem, one new solution Posted: 31 May 2016 03:24 PM PDT It is a galactic challenge, to be sure, but Gwendolyn Eadie is getting closer to an accurate answer to a question that has defined her early career in astrophysics: what is the mass of the Milky Way?

'Baby talk' can help songbirds learn their tunes Posted: 31 May 2016 01:52 PM PDT Adult songbirds modify their vocalizations when singing to juveniles in the same way that humans alter their speech when talking to babies. The resulting brain activity in young birds could shed light on speech learning and certain developmental disorders in humans, according to a study.

'Super Mario Brothers' is harder than NP-hard Posted: 31 May 2016 11:32 AM PDT Completing a game of 'Super Mario Brothers' can be hard -- very, very hard. That's the conclusion of a new paper that shows that the problem of solving a level in 'Super Mario Brothers' is as hard as the hardest problems in the 'complexity class' PSPACE.

When it comes to claws, right-handed attracts the girls Posted: 31 May 2016 05:26 AM PDT A tiny marine crustacean with a great big claw has shown that not only does size matter, but left or right-handedness (or in this case, left or right-clawedness) is important too.

Was Planet 9 once an exoplanet, stolen by our sun? Posted: 31 May 2016 05:22 AM PDT Astronomers show that it is highly likely that the so-called Planet 9 is an exoplanet. This would make it the first exoplanet to be discovered inside our own solar system. The theory is that our sun, in its youth some 4.5 billion years ago, stole Planet 9 from its original star.

To strengthen an opinion, simply say it is based on morality Posted: 31 May 2016 05:18 AM PDT Simply telling people that their opinions are based on morality will make them stronger and more resistant to counterarguments, a new study suggests.

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