ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Temperature helps drive the emergence of different personalities in spiders
• Large protein nanocages could improve drug design and delivery
• Scientists program cells to remember and respond to series of stimuli
• Atmospheric chemistry on paper
• Self-organizing smart materials that mimic swarm behavior
• Light-bulb moment for stock market behavior
• Students calculate how to build Star Trek photon torpedoes
• To protect yourself from malaria sleep with a chicken next to your bed
• Reading Harry Potter lowers Americans' opinions of Donald Trump, study finds
• Cosmetic therapy: The link between makeup and a down economy
• 'Jumping film' harnesses the power of humidity
• Computational design tool transforms flat materials into 3-D shapes
• Spit personality

Temperature helps drive the emergence of different personalities in spiders Posted: 21 Jul 2016 12:14 PM PDT Not a single aggressive spider was able to reproduce at 93 degrees Fahrenheit and most of them died at that temperature. But when researchers added docile spiders to the mix, the aggressive spiders thrived in that diverse community at that temperature.

Large protein nanocages could improve drug design and delivery Posted: 21 Jul 2016 12:12 PM PDT Using novel computational and biochemical approaches, scientists have designed and built from scratch 10 large protein icosahedra that are similar to viral capsids that carry viral DNA.

Scientists program cells to remember and respond to series of stimuli Posted: 21 Jul 2016 12:12 PM PDT Engineers have programmed cells to remember and respond to events. This approach to circuit design enables scientists to create complex cellular state machines and track cell histories.

Atmospheric chemistry on paper Posted: 21 Jul 2016 07:55 AM PDT Normally computers speed up calculations. But with his new pen-and-paper formula, a researcher gets his results thousands of times faster than using conventional computer codes. The astrophysicist calculates the abundances of molecules (known as atmospheric chemistry) in exoplanetary atmospheres. Ultimately, deciphering the abundances of molecules allows us to interpret if features in a spectrum are due to physics, geology or biology.

Self-organizing smart materials that mimic swarm behavior Posted: 21 Jul 2016 07:44 AM PDT Scientists have successfully demonstrated the self-organizing pattern formation in active materials at microscale with computer simulations.

Light-bulb moment for stock market behavior Posted: 21 Jul 2016 04:30 AM PDT Physicists have discovered that the timing of electronic orders on the stock market can be mathematically described in the same way as the lifetime of a light bulb.

Students calculate how to build Star Trek photon torpedoes Posted: 21 Jul 2016 04:28 AM PDT Physics students have boldly gone where no student has gone before -- by calculating one way to potentially build photon torpedoes seen in the Star Trek universe.

To protect yourself from malaria sleep with a chicken next to your bed Posted: 20 Jul 2016 06:51 PM PDT For the first time, scientists have shown that malaria-transmitting mosquitoes actively avoid feeding on certain animal species such as chickens, using their sense of smell. Odors emitted by species such as chickens could provide protection for humans at risk of mosquito-transmitted diseases, according to a study.

Reading Harry Potter lowers Americans' opinions of Donald Trump, study finds Posted: 20 Jul 2016 09:55 AM PDT Can Harry Potter defeat Donald Trump? A new study has found that Americans who read Harry Potter books hold a lower opinion of Donald Trump, even after controlling for many factors like party, gender, education, and age.

Cosmetic therapy: The link between makeup and a down economy Posted: 19 Jul 2016 01:18 PM PDT During tough economic times, women engage in the "lipstick effect," stocking up on cosmetics and beauty products. The phenomenon has occurred during every major recession in U.S. history and multiple explanations for it have been proposed, but new research shows that women's motivations during these economically challenging times have moved beyond women's instinctive need for a male provider and toward getting ahead at work.

'Jumping film' harnesses the power of humidity Posted: 18 Jul 2016 10:26 AM PDT Scientists have developed a film that curls up and straightens out autonomously when exposed to tiny, barely measurable changes in ambient humidity. When irradiated with ultraviolet light, which causes changes in the film's ability to absorb and desorb water, it can even 'jump' into the air.

Computational design tool transforms flat materials into 3-D shapes Posted: 18 Jul 2016 08:16 AM PDT A new computational design tool can turn a flat sheet of plastic or metal into a complex 3-D shape, such as a mask, a sculpture or even a lady's high-heel shoe. Researchers say the tool enables designers to fully and creatively exploit an unusual quality of certain materials -- the ability to expand uniformly in two dimensions.

Spit personality Posted: 13 Jul 2016 07:35 AM PDT In the name of spit science, Douglas Granger and his colleagues have collected saliva samples from a restless polar bear, a college marching band and Navy medics dodging bullets in simulated combat. The mouthwatering liquid is a gold mine of information, says Granger, an "oral fluid" expert. A fraction of a drop of spit can be used to measure stress, decipher relationship dynamics, predict heart trouble and even help football players train more effectively.

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