ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Long-awaited Hyperloop pod demonstrates magnetic levitation
• Scientists can listen to proteins by turning data into music
• Unexplainable activity in distant stars: New class of explosive events?
• Light speckles having a conversation
• Early humans used innovative heating techniques to make stone blades
• First Pluto, now this: Discovery of first binary-binary calls solar system formation into question
• African clawed frog genome contains two full sets of chromosomes from 2 two extinct ancestors

Long-awaited Hyperloop pod demonstrates magnetic levitation Posted: 20 Oct 2016 07:12 AM PDT The whirring sound of Hyperloop UC's hover engines filled the conference room as an anxious crowd shuffled closer for a better view. Would this student-designed prototype actually levitate? The answer came in a matter of moments as the eight miniature engines gained revolutions per minute -- emitting noises reminiscent of Star Wars sound effects -- and the 14-foot-long Hyperloop UC pod achieved roughly a quarter-inch of magnetic levitation.

Scientists can listen to proteins by turning data into music Posted: 20 Oct 2016 07:10 AM PDT Transforming data about the structure of proteins into melodies gives scientists a completely new way of analyzing the molecules that could reveal new insights into how they work -- by listening to them. A new study shows how musical sounds can help scientists analyze data using their ears instead of their eyes.

Unexplainable activity in distant stars: New class of explosive events? Posted: 20 Oct 2016 06:25 AM PDT Researcher pored through more than 10 years of existing Chandra X-ray Observatory data and found stars that repeatedly survive quick, massive surges in space energy. There are no such instances in our galaxy, as stars are destroyed by similar conditions.

Light speckles having a conversation Posted: 20 Oct 2016 06:21 AM PDT The amount of light passing through an opaque layer, can be enhanced using smart techniques. At the same time, the amount of reflected light diminishes, researchers show. It's as if light speckles have a conversation of their own.

Early humans used innovative heating techniques to make stone blades Posted: 20 Oct 2016 06:21 AM PDT Humans living in South Africa in the Middle Stone Age used advanced heating techniques that vastly improved living conditions during the era.

First Pluto, now this: Discovery of first binary-binary calls solar system formation into question Posted: 19 Oct 2016 01:25 PM PDT Everything we know about the formation of solar systems might be wrong, says two astronomers. They've discovered the first "binary--binary" -- two massive companions around one star in a close binary system, one so-called giant planet and one brown dwarf, or "failed star" The first, called MARVELS-7a, is 12 times the mass of Jupiter, while the second, MARVELS-7b, has 57 times the mass of Jupiter.

African clawed frog genome contains two full sets of chromosomes from 2 two extinct ancestors Posted: 19 Oct 2016 12:55 PM PDT Millions of years ago, one species of frog diverged into two species. Millions of years later, the two frogs became one again, but with a few extra chromosomes due to whole genome duplication. Such is the curious case of the African clawed frog, a frog whose genome contains nearly double the number of chromosomes as the related Western clawed frog.

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