ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Artificial leaf as mini-factory for drugs
• Scientists build bacteria-powered battery on single sheet of paper
• 'Glue' that makes plant cell walls strong could hold the key to wooden skyscrapers
• Addictive cravings still detectable after death
• Coffee-ring phenomenon explained in new theory
• Got to remember them all, Pokémon!

Artificial leaf as mini-factory for drugs Posted: 21 Dec 2016 08:12 AM PST To produce drugs sustainably and cheaply, anywhere you want. Whether in the middle of the jungle or even on Mars. A 'mini-factory' whereby sunlight can be captured to make chemical products. Inspired by the art of nature where leaves are able to collect enough sunlight to produce food, chemical engineers have presented such a scenario. Their prototype reactor is consciously shaped as a leaf

Scientists build bacteria-powered battery on single sheet of paper Posted: 21 Dec 2016 08:06 AM PST Researchers have created a bacteria-powered battery on a single sheet of paper that can power disposable electronics. The manufacturing technique reduces fabrication time and cost, and the design could revolutionize the use of bio-batteries as a power source in remote, dangerous and resource-limited areas.

'Glue' that makes plant cell walls strong could hold the key to wooden skyscrapers Posted: 21 Dec 2016 06:14 AM PST Molecules 10,000 times narrower than the width of a human hair could hold the key to making possible wooden skyscrapers and more energy-efficient paper production, according to new research. The study solves a long-standing mystery of how key sugars in cells bind to form strong, indigestible materials.

Addictive cravings still detectable after death Posted: 21 Dec 2016 06:01 AM PST A protein known as FosB in the reward centre of the brain alters in chronically ill people suffering from an addictive disorder (e.g. heroin addiction): it is genetically modified, split off and shortened. This modification under the stimulus of the drug results in the protein being more stable and therefore remaining longer in this part of the brain than in its original form – even as much as several weeks after withdrawal of the drug.  This means that a craving for this stimulus persists. This addictive craving is stored in a sort of "memory" function and, surprisingly, can still be detected after death.

Coffee-ring phenomenon explained in new theory Posted: 20 Dec 2016 02:55 PM PST The formation of a simple coffee stain has been the subject of complex study for decades, though it turns out that there remain some stones still to be turned. Researchers have modeled how a colloidal droplet evaporates and found a previously overlooked mechanism that more accurately determines the dynamics of particle deposition in evaporating sessile droplets, which has ramifications in many fields of today's technological world.

Got to remember them all, Pokémon! Posted: 20 Dec 2016 02:53 PM PST People can learn and remember more of a subject when they are already familiar with it, new research concludes. And the more familiar they are with the subject, the better they remember new information related to it, add the researchers.

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