ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Rare blurring of black hole light spotted
• Scared of crime? Science shows that healthy fear of crime is a good thing
• Awake within a dream: lucid dreamers show greater insight in waking life
• Antarctic insect's genome, newly sequenced, is smallest to date: Bare-bones genome is adaptation to deep freeze
• Geckos use toe hairs to turn stickiness on/off

Rare blurring of black hole light spotted Posted: 12 Aug 2014 11:20 AM PDT Scientists have captured an extreme and rare event in the regions immediately surrounding a supermassive black hole. A compact source of X-rays that sits near the black hole, called the corona, has moved closer to the black hole over a period of just days.

Scared of crime? Science shows that healthy fear of crime is a good thing Posted: 12 Aug 2014 09:23 AM PDT A healthy fear of crime is a good thing, a study by a criminologist says. The study suggests adolescents who are more fearful of crime are less apt to become victims and offenders of violent acts. Essentially, fearful youth tend to avoid potentially dangerous people, locations and activities such as drug-fueled parties, said the lead researcher.

Awake within a dream: lucid dreamers show greater insight in waking life Posted: 12 Aug 2014 09:18 AM PDT People who are aware they are asleep when they are dreaming have better than average problem-solving abilities, new research has discovered. Experts say that those who experience 'lucid dreaming' – a phenomena where someone who is asleep can recognize that they are dreaming – can solve problems in the waking world better than those who remain unaware of the dream until they wake up. The concept of lucid dreaming was explored in the 2010 film Inception, where the dreamers were able to spot incongruities within their dream. It is thought some people are able to do this because of a higher level of insight, meaning their brains detect they are in a dream because events would not make sense otherwise.

Antarctic insect's genome, newly sequenced, is smallest to date: Bare-bones genome is adaptation to deep freeze Posted: 12 Aug 2014 09:13 AM PDT Scientists who sequenced the genome of the Antarctic midge suspect the genome's small size – the smallest in insects described to date – can probably be explained by the midge's adaptation to its extreme living environment.

Geckos use toe hairs to turn stickiness on/off Posted: 12 Aug 2014 09:13 AM PDT If you've ever watched a gecko, you probably wondered about their uncanny ability to adhere to any surface -- including upside down. It turns out the little lizards can turn the "stickiness" of toe hairs on their feet on and off, which enables them to run at great speeds or cling to ceilings without expending much energy. Researchers describe new work exploring the subtleties of geckos' adhesion system mechanism.

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• Follow the radio waves to find hidden exomoons
• Reconstructions show how some of the earliest animals lived -- and died
• Trapped atmospheric waves triggering more weather extremes: Trend expected to continue
• Bioengineers create functional 3-D brain-like tissue: Tissue kept alive for months
• 'Worm pill' could ease autoimmune disease symptoms
• How fast you drive might reveal exactly where you are going
• Megascale icebergs ran aground near Greenland in last 800,000 years
• All-you-can-eat at the end of the universe: How early black holes could have grown to billions of times the mass of our sun
• Solving a sticky problem with fetal surgery using a glue inspired by the sandcastle worm

Follow the radio waves to find hidden exomoons Posted: 11 Aug 2014 02:02 PM PDT Scientists hunting for life beyond Earth have discovered more than 1,800 planets outside our solar system, or exoplanets, in recent years, but so far, no one has been able to confirm an exomoon. Now, physicists believe following a trail of radio wave emissions may lead them to that discovery.

Reconstructions show how some of the earliest animals lived -- and died Posted: 11 Aug 2014 02:02 PM PDT A bizarre group of uniquely shaped organisms known as rangeomorphs may have been some of the earliest animals to appear on Earth, uniquely suited to ocean conditions 575 million years ago. A new model has resolved many of the mysteries around the structure, evolution and extinction of these 'proto animals.'

Trapped atmospheric waves triggering more weather extremes: Trend expected to continue Posted: 11 Aug 2014 02:01 PM PDT Weather extremes in the summer -- such as the record heat wave in the United States that hit corn farmers and worsened wildfires in 2012 -- have reached an exceptional number in the last ten years. Human-made global warming can explain a gradual increase in periods of severe heat, but the observed change in the magnitude and duration of some events is not so easily explained.

Bioengineers create functional 3-D brain-like tissue: Tissue kept alive for months Posted: 11 Aug 2014 12:11 PM PDT Bioengineers have created three-dimensional brain-like tissue that functions like and has structural features similar to tissue in the rat brain and that can be kept alive in the lab for more than two months. The tissue could provide a superior model for studying normal brain function as well as injury and disease, and could assist in the development of new treatments for brain dysfunction.

'Worm pill' could ease autoimmune disease symptoms Posted: 11 Aug 2014 09:51 AM PDT Experts believe a molecule in parasitic worms could help explain why worm infections can effectively treat a range of autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. The study successfully identified peptides from parasitic worms that suppress the body's immune response. Researchers believe this could pave the way for a new drug containing the peptide to provide relief from the symptoms of autoimmune diseases.

How fast you drive might reveal exactly where you are going Posted: 11 Aug 2014 09:50 AM PDT Some drivers are letting auto insurance companies monitor their driving habits in return for a premium discount, but these drivers may not know that the information could reveal where they are driving. Engineers have shown that even without GPS or other location-sensing technology, a driver could reveal where he or she traveled with no more information than a starting location and a steady stream of data that shows how fast the person was driving.

Megascale icebergs ran aground near Greenland in last 800,000 years Posted: 11 Aug 2014 09:49 AM PDT Scientists have found between Greenland and Spitsbergen the scours left behind on the sea bed by gigantic icebergs. "Whenever icebergs run aground, they leave scours on the seabed. Depending on their depth and location, those markings may continue to exist over long periods of time," explained the lead author. Found at a depth of 1,200 metres, the newly found five lineaments are the deepest iceberg scours found to date in the Arctic. The scours are as much as four kilometres long and 15 metres in depth.

All-you-can-eat at the end of the universe: How early black holes could have grown to billions of times the mass of our sun Posted: 11 Aug 2014 09:48 AM PDT A new model shows how early black holes could have grown to billions of times the mass of our sun. These giant bodies -- quasars -- feed on interstellar gas, swallowing large quantities of it non-stop. Thus they reveal their existence: The light that is emitted by the gas as it is sucked in and crushed by the black hole's gravity travels for eons across the Universe until it reaches our telescopes. Looking at the edges of the Universe is therefore looking into the past. These far-off, ancient quasars appear to us in their "baby photos" taken less than a billion years after the Big Bang: monstrous infants in a young Universe.

Solving a sticky problem with fetal surgery using a glue inspired by the sandcastle worm Posted: 11 Aug 2014 09:43 AM PDT In creating an adhesive patterned after glue produced by the lowly underwater sandcastle worm, researchers are reporting that they may have solved the problem of premature births that sometimes result from fetal surgery. It also could open up numerous opportunities to safely perform more complex fetal surgeries in the future.

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• Water tractor beam: Complex waves generate flow patterns to manipulate floating objects
• Spectacular 3-D sketching system revolutionizes design interaction and collaboration
• Like cling wrap, new biomaterial can coat tricky burn wounds, block out infection

• Do women and men ride differently? Horses cannot tell the difference
• Grass really is greener on TV, computer screens, thanks to quantum dots

• Can a new species of frog have a doppelganger? Genetics say yes
• How fans mourn the death of popular TV series
• Diamonds are a quantum computer's best friend

Water tractor beam: Complex waves generate flow patterns to manipulate floating objects Posted: 10 Aug 2014 06:42 PM PDT Physicists have created a tractor beam on water, providing a radical new technique that could confine oil spills, manipulate floating objects or explain rips at the beach.

Spectacular 3-D sketching system revolutionizes design interaction and collaboration Posted: 10 Aug 2014 06:36 PM PDT Collaborative three-dimensional sketching is now possible thanks to a system known as Hyve-3D. The system is a full scale immersive 3D environment. Users create drawings on hand-held tables. They can then use the tablets to manipulate the sketches to create a 3D design within the space.

Like cling wrap, new biomaterial can coat tricky burn wounds, block out infection Posted: 10 Aug 2014 09:42 AM PDT Wrapping wound dressings around fingers and toes can be tricky, but for burn victims, guarding them against infection is critical. Today, scientists are reporting the development of novel, ultrathin coatings called nanosheets that can cling to the body's most difficult-to-protect contours and keep bacteria at bay. The materials has to date been tested on mice.

Do women and men ride differently? Horses cannot tell the difference Posted: 08 Aug 2014 08:07 AM PDT Scientists have analyzed how horses are affected by the sex of their riders. Various parameters of stress were determined in horses and their riders when they covered an obstacle course. The results were surprising: the level of stress on a horse is independent of whether a man or a woman is in the saddle. Furthermore, the stress responses of male and female riders are essentially the same.

Grass really is greener on TV, computer screens, thanks to quantum dots Posted: 08 Aug 2014 08:00 AM PDT High-tech specks called quantum dots could bring brighter, more vibrant color to mass market TVs, tablets, phones and other displays. A new technology called 3M quantum dot enhancement film (QDEF) that efficiently makes liquid crystal display (LCD) screens more richly colored is described by an expert.

Can a new species of frog have a doppelganger? Genetics say yes Posted: 07 Aug 2014 09:21 AM PDT Two look-alike frogs were shown by researchers to be separate species through genetic analysis. Recently, a Malaysian herpetologist puzzled over an unfamiliar orange-striped, yellow-speckled frog she'd live-caught in swampland on the Malay Peninsula. She showed the frog to a fellow herpetologist pursuing his doctorate in the United States. They wondered -- was this striking frog with an appearance unlike others nearby in the central peninsula an unidentified species?

How fans mourn the death of popular TV series Posted: 07 Aug 2014 09:15 AM PDT New research shows what profound effect the loss of popular TV series has on loyal consumers. Sadness often occurs due to the demise of beloved characters and over the inability to know "what happens next." Also, some fans feel a strong sense of loss surrounding the collapse of their social network of watchers who participated in group viewing and discussion for years, researchers report.

Diamonds are a quantum computer's best friend Posted: 07 Aug 2014 07:52 AM PDT The quantum computer is not yet quite around the corner: calculations show that to implement a useful quantum algorithm, billions of quantum systems have to be used. The elements of a newly proposed quantum computer concept, nitrogen atoms trapped in diamonds, could in principle be miniaturized and mass produced. This system could be to quantum computing what the transistor was for microelectronics.

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Water-polluting anxiety drug reduces fish mortality Posted: 07 Aug 2014 06:57 PM PDT A drug that is commonly used to treat anxiety in humans and which regularly finds its way into surface waters through wastewater effluence has been shown to reduce mortality rates in fish.

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• Photo editing algorithm changes weather, seasons automatically in your shots
• Best way to brush teeth? Even dentists, dental associations don't agree
• To eat or not to eat: New disposable biosensor may help physicians determine which patients can safely be fed following surgery
• Robot folds itself up and walks away: Demonstrates potential for sophisticated machines that build themselves
• Learning from origami to design new materials
• Gut microbes browse along gene buffet
• Water 'microhabitats' in oil show potential for extraterrestrial life, oil cleanup: Extremophilic ecosystems writ small
• The black hole at the birth of the Universe

Photo editing algorithm changes weather, seasons automatically in your shots Posted: 08 Aug 2014 09:40 AM PDT A computer algorithm enables users to instantly change the weather, time of day, season, or other features in outdoor photos with simple text commands. Machine learning and a clever database make it possible.

Best way to brush teeth? Even dentists, dental associations don't agree Posted: 08 Aug 2014 08:07 AM PDT Advice on how we should brush our teeth from dental associations and toothpaste companies is 'unacceptably inconsistent', finds new research. "The public needs to have sound information on the best method to brush their teeth," says the senior author of the study. "If people hear one thing from a dental association, another from a toothbrush company and something else from their dentist, no wonder they are confused about how to brush. In this study we found an unacceptably inconsistent array of advice from different sources.

To eat or not to eat: New disposable biosensor may help physicians determine which patients can safely be fed following surgery Posted: 07 Aug 2014 12:40 PM PDT A disposal, plastic listening device that attaches to the abdomen may help doctors definitively determine which post-operative patients should be fed and which should not, an invention that may improve outcomes, decrease healthcare costs and shorten hospital stays, according to a study. The device could also be used to help diagnose irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease, in addition to helping obese people learn by the sounds from their gut when they should or shouldn't eat to help them lose weight.

Robot folds itself up and walks away: Demonstrates potential for sophisticated machines that build themselves Posted: 07 Aug 2014 11:59 AM PDT A team of engineers used little more than paper and Shrinky dinks -- the classic children's toy that shrinks when heated -- to build a robot that assembles itself into a complex shape in four minutes flat, and crawls away without any human intervention. The advance demonstrates the potential to quickly and cheaply build sophisticated machines that interact with the environment, and to automate much of the design and assembly process.

Learning from origami to design new materials Posted: 07 Aug 2014 11:58 AM PDT A challenge increasingly important to physicists and materials scientists in recent years has been how to design controllable new materials that exhibit desired physical properties rather than relying on those properties to emerge naturally. Now physicists and polymer scientists are using origami-based folding methods for 'tuning' the fundamental physical properties of any type of thin sheet.

Gut microbes browse along gene buffet Posted: 07 Aug 2014 11:57 AM PDT A detailed examination of gene expression in the guts of mice raised under three different microbial conditions shows that the host organism controls which genes are made available to gut microbes at various portions of the intestine. Usage of particular genes is regulated by the microbes, but access to the genes is determined by the host.

Water 'microhabitats' in oil show potential for extraterrestrial life, oil cleanup: Extremophilic ecosystems writ small Posted: 07 Aug 2014 11:57 AM PDT An international team of researchers has found extremely small habitats that increase the potential for life on other planets while offering a way to clean up oil spills on our own. Looking at samples from the world's largest natural asphalt lake, they found active microbes in droplets as small as a microliter, which is about 1/50th of a drop of water.

The black hole at the birth of the Universe Posted: 07 Aug 2014 11:56 AM PDT The big bang poses a big question: if it was indeed the cataclysm that blasted our universe into existence 13.7 billion years ago, what sparked it? Three Perimeter Institute researchers have a new idea about what might have come before the big bang. It's a bit perplexing, but it is grounded in sound mathematics and is it testable?

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• Dramatic growth of grafted stem cells in rat spinal cord
• Astronomers find stream of gas, 2.6 million light years long
• Acute psychological stress promotes skin healing in mice
• Synthesis of structurally pure carbon nanotubes using molecular seeds
• Girls feel they must 'play dumb' to please boys, study shows

Dramatic growth of grafted stem cells in rat spinal cord Posted: 07 Aug 2014 09:17 AM PDT Scientists have reported that neurons derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells and grafted into rats after a spinal cord injury produced cells with 10s of thousands of axons extending virtually the entire length of the animals' central nervous system.

Astronomers find stream of gas, 2.6 million light years long Posted: 07 Aug 2014 07:50 AM PDT Astronomers and students have found a bridge of atomic hydrogen gas 2.6 million light years long between galaxies 500 million light years away. The stream of atomic hydrogen gas is the largest known, a million light years longer than a gas tail found in the Virgo Cluster by another Arecibo project a few years ago.

Acute psychological stress promotes skin healing in mice Posted: 07 Aug 2014 07:43 AM PDT Brief, acute psychological stress promoted healing in mouse models of three different types of skin irritations, in a new study. Scientists found that healing was brought about by the anti-inflammatory effects of glucocorticoids -- steroid hormones -- produced by the adrenal glands in response to stress.

Synthesis of structurally pure carbon nanotubes using molecular seeds Posted: 07 Aug 2014 07:43 AM PDT For the first time, researchers have succeeded in "growing" single-wall carbon nanotubes (CNT) with a single predefined structure -- and hence with identical electronic properties. And here is how they pulled it off: the CNTs "assembled themselves", as it were, out of tailor-made organic precursor molecules on a platinum surface. In future, CNTs of this kind may be used in ultra-sensitive light detectors and ultra-small transistors.

Girls feel they must 'play dumb' to please boys, study shows Posted: 05 Aug 2014 06:09 AM PDT Girls feel the need to play down their intelligence to not intimidate boys, concludes research by a sociologist. The research also found that boys aged 14 believed that girls their age should be less intelligent. "There are very strong pressures in society that dictate what is a proper man and a proper woman," argues the researcher. "Young people try to adapt their behavior according to these pressures to fit into society. One of the pressures is that ... being in a relationship with a woman who is more intelligent will undermine (males') masculinity."

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• Galapagos hawks hand down lice like family heirlooms
• Photon hunting in the twilight zone: Visual features of bioluminescent sharks
• Ion duet offers tunable module for quantum simulator
• Tortoises master touchscreen technology
• Biomotor discovered in many bacteria and viruses
• New material structures bend like microscopic hair
• Burrowing animals may have been key to stabilizing Earth's oxygen
• A breath reveals a hidden image in anti-counterfeit drug labels
• Angry bees: Insect aggression boosted by altering brain metabolism
• Our brains judge a face's trustworthiness, even when we can’t see it
• Just one simple question can identify narcissistic people
• Formerly conjoined twins celebrate 10 year anniversary of groundbreaking surgery

Galapagos hawks hand down lice like family heirlooms Posted: 06 Aug 2014 02:38 PM PDT Studying Galápagos hawks and their lice, biologists provide some of the first field evidence for co-divergence between parasites and hosts as a major driver of biodiversity. As the birds diversify into distinct populations on each island, their parasites diversify with them. The findings help explain the rapid rate of parasite evolution.

Photon hunting in the twilight zone: Visual features of bioluminescent sharks Posted: 06 Aug 2014 11:22 AM PDT The eyes of deep-sea bioluminescent sharks have a higher rod density when compared to non-bioluminescent sharks, according to a new study. This adaptation is one of many these sharks use to produce and perceive bioluminescent light in order to communicate, find prey, and camouflage themselves against predators.

Ion duet offers tunable module for quantum simulator Posted: 06 Aug 2014 10:45 AM PDT Physicists have demonstrated a pas de deux of atomic ions that combines the fine choreography of dance with precise individual control. The ion duet is a component for a flexible quantum simulator that could be scaled up in size and configured to model quantum systems of a complexity that overwhelms traditional computer simulations.

Tortoises master touchscreen technology Posted: 06 Aug 2014 09:49 AM PDT Tortoises have learned how to use touchscreens as part of a study which aimed to teach the animals navigational techniques. The brain structure of reptiles is very different to that of mammals, which use the hippocampus for spatial navigation.

Biomotor discovered in many bacteria and viruses Posted: 06 Aug 2014 09:48 AM PDT Nano-biotechnologists have reported the discovery of a new, third class of biomotor, unique in that it uses a "revolution without rotation" mechanism. These revolution biomotors are widespread among many bacteria and viruses.

New material structures bend like microscopic hair Posted: 06 Aug 2014 07:28 AM PDT Engineers have fabricated a new elastic material coated with microscopic, hairlike structures that tilt in response to a magnetic field.

Burrowing animals may have been key to stabilizing Earth's oxygen Posted: 06 Aug 2014 06:51 AM PDT Evolution of the first burrowing animals may have played a major role in stabilizing the Earth's oxygen reservoir, researchers hypothesize. The first burrowing animals significantly increased the extent to which oxygenated waters came into contact with ocean sediments. Exposure to oxygenated conditions caused the bacteria that inhabit such sediments to store phosphate in their cells. This caused an increase in phosphorus burial in sediments that had been mixed up by burrowing animals. This in turn triggered decreases in marine phosphate concentrations, productivity, organic carbon burial and ultimately oxygen.

A breath reveals a hidden image in anti-counterfeit drug labels Posted: 06 Aug 2014 06:39 AM PDT An outline of Marilyn Monroe's iconic face appeared on the clear, plastic film when a researcher fogs it with her breath. Scientists have developed a new high-tech label for fighting drug counterfeiting. While the researchers don't envision movie stars on medicine bottles, but they used Monroe's image to prove their concept.

Angry bees: Insect aggression boosted by altering brain metabolism Posted: 05 Aug 2014 07:12 PM PDT Scientists report they can crank up insect aggression simply by interfering with a basic metabolic pathway in the insect brain. Their study, of fruit flies and honey bees, shows a direct, causal link between brain metabolism -- how the brain generates the energy it needs to function -- and aggression.

Our brains judge a face's trustworthiness, even when we can’t see it Posted: 05 Aug 2014 07:07 PM PDT Our brains are able to judge the trustworthiness of a face even when we cannot consciously see it, a team of scientists has found. Their findings shed new light on how we form snap judgments of others.

Just one simple question can identify narcissistic people Posted: 05 Aug 2014 12:06 PM PDT Scientists have developed and validated a new method to identify which people are narcissistic: just ask them. In a series of 11 experiments involving more than 2,200 people of all ages, the researchers found they could reliably identify narcissistic people by asking them one question.

Formerly conjoined twins celebrate 10 year anniversary of groundbreaking surgery Posted: 04 Aug 2014 02:10 PM PDT Formerly conjoined twins Carl and Clarence Aguirre celebrated the tenth anniversary of their separation today with the medical team that successfully separated and cared for them. When Carl and Clarence arrived at Montefiore from the Philippines in September 2003, they were already dying from complications of their condition. Doctors believe that without the surgery, both boys would have died within 6-8 months. Ten years following the surgery, Clarence and Carl are happy 12-year-old boys, enjoying time in the seventh grade.

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