ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• 125-million-year-old mammal fossil reveals the early evolution of hair and spines
• Mathematicians find 'magic key' to drive Ramanujan's taxi-cab number
• Larger brains do not lead to high IQs, new meta-analysis finds
• What smacks into Ceres stays on Ceres, research suggests
• Shedding light on the growth of stars and black holes
• Exoskeleton to ensure an active old age
• How perfect is too perfect? Research reveals robot flaws are key to interacting with humans
• What does it take to escape the water? Plankton have clues
• Spectacular 'halos' of spiral galaxies

125-million-year-old mammal fossil reveals the early evolution of hair and spines Posted: 14 Oct 2015 10:45 AM PDT Discovered in Spain, the fossil of the newly described, 125-million-year old Spinolestes xenarthrosus is remarkably well-preserved, containing fur, hair follicles, hedgehog-like spines, organs and even a fungal skin infection. It pushes back the record of preserved mammalian hair and soft tissue by more than 60 million years.

Mathematicians find 'magic key' to drive Ramanujan's taxi-cab number Posted: 14 Oct 2015 10:24 AM PDT Taxi-cab numbers, among the most beloved integers in math, trace their origins to 1918 and what seemed like a casual insight by the Indian genius Srinivasa Ramanujan. Now mathematicians have discovered that Ramanujan did not just identify the first taxi-cab number -- 1729 -- and its quirky properties. He showed how the number relates to elliptic curves and K3 surfaces -- objects important today in string theory and quantum physics.

Larger brains do not lead to high IQs, new meta-analysis finds Posted: 14 Oct 2015 09:11 AM PDT Is brain size related to cognitive ability of humans? This question has captured the attention of scientists for more than a century. An international team of researchers provides no evidence for a causal role of brain size for IQ test performance. In a meta-analysis of data from more than 8000 participants, they show that associations between in vivo brain volume and IQ are small.

What smacks into Ceres stays on Ceres, research suggests Posted: 14 Oct 2015 07:59 AM PDT A new set of high-velocity impact experiments suggests that the dwarf planet Ceres may be something of a cosmic dartboard: projectiles that slam into it tend to stick. The findings could help explain characteristics of Ceres' surface.

Shedding light on the growth of stars and black holes Posted: 14 Oct 2015 06:03 AM PDT Astronomers have revealed a surprising similarity between the way in which astronomical objects grow including black holes, white dwarfs and young stars.

Exoskeleton to ensure an active old age Posted: 14 Oct 2015 05:54 AM PDT Researchers are creating portable robot skeletons for the elderly so they can continue to be active longer. Think of it as a tool, not as a robot, says researcher.

How perfect is too perfect? Research reveals robot flaws are key to interacting with humans Posted: 14 Oct 2015 05:51 AM PDT Humans are less likely to form successful working relationships with interactive robots if they are programmed to be too perfect, new research reveals.

What does it take to escape the water? Plankton have clues Posted: 14 Oct 2015 05:48 AM PDT Dolphins and whales may attract a lot of attention when they leap dramatically out of the water. But aquatic animals thousands of times smaller are accomplished jumpers, too.Their acrobatics often go unnoticed, but understanding them could help improve engineering processes, like oil refining and wastewater treatment, that rely on controlling the interaction of small particles with air-water interfaces.

Spectacular 'halos' of spiral galaxies Posted: 13 Oct 2015 10:55 AM PDT Astronomers have found the true extent of 'halos' consisting of cosmic rays and magnetic fields surrounding spiral galaxies.

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ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Sun-warmed dinosaurs may have been surprisingly good sprinters
• Sweden is on track to becoming the first cashless nation
• Sixth sense: How do we sense electric fields?
• Climate models used to explain formation of Mars valley networks
• Ancient human ear-orienting system could yield clues to hearing deficits in infants
• 'I am right for your child!' The key to winning over your future in-laws
• Feasts and food choices: Culinary habits of the Stonehenge builders

Sun-warmed dinosaurs may have been surprisingly good sprinters Posted: 13 Oct 2015 10:55 AM PDT Were dinosaurs really fast, aggressive hunters like the ones depicted in the movie 'Jurassic World'? Or did they have lower metabolic rates that made them move more like today's alligators and crocodiles? New research indicates that some dinosaurs, at least, had the capacity to elevate their body temperature using heat sources in the environment, such as the sun.

Sweden is on track to becoming the first cashless nation Posted: 13 Oct 2015 08:24 AM PDT Sweden is on its way to becoming the world's first cashless society, thanks to the country's embrace of IT, as well as a crackdown on organized crime and terror, according to a new study.

Sixth sense: How do we sense electric fields? Posted: 13 Oct 2015 08:21 AM PDT A variety of animals are able to sense and react to electric fields, and living human cells will move along an electric field, for example in wound healing. Now researchers have found the first actual 'sensor mechanism' that allows a living cell detect an electric field.

Climate models used to explain formation of Mars valley networks Posted: 13 Oct 2015 08:21 AM PDT The extensive valley networks on the surface of Mars were probably created by running water billions of years ago, but the source of that water is unknown. Now, researchers are using climate models to predict how greenhouse warming could be the source of the water.

Ancient human ear-orienting system could yield clues to hearing deficits in infants Posted: 13 Oct 2015 08:21 AM PDT Vestigial organs, such as the wisdom teeth in humans, are those that have become functionless through the course of evolution. Now, a psychologist studying vestigial muscles behind the ears in humans has determined that ancient neural circuits responsible for moving the ears, still may be responsive to sounds that attract our attention. Neuroscientists studying auditory function could use these ancient muscles to study positive emotions and infant hearing deficits.

'I am right for your child!' The key to winning over your future in-laws Posted: 13 Oct 2015 08:19 AM PDT The key to dealing with future in-laws who disapprove of your relationship may involve showing them what a good influence you are on their child, rather than manipulating them with gifts. An author shares the results of interviews with Greek-Cypriot children and parents and also finds that mothers may be more easily won over than fathers.

Feasts and food choices: Culinary habits of the Stonehenge builders Posted: 13 Oct 2015 07:32 AM PDT Archaeologists have revealed new insights into cuisine choices and eating habits at Durrington Walls -- a Late Neolithic monument and settlement site thought to be the residence for the builders of nearby Stonehenge during the 25th century BC.

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• Babies need free tongue movement to decipher speech sounds
• New optoelectronic probe enables communication with neural microcircuits
• Supercoiled DNA is far more dynamic than the 'Watson-Crick' double helix
• Epigenetic algorithm accurately predicts male sexual orientation

Babies need free tongue movement to decipher speech sounds Posted: 12 Oct 2015 03:08 PM PDT Inhibiting infants' tongue movements impedes their ability to distinguish between speech sounds, researchers have found. The study is the first to discover a direct link between infants' oral-motor movements and auditory speech perception.

New optoelectronic probe enables communication with neural microcircuits Posted: 12 Oct 2015 08:57 AM PDT The burgeoning field of optogenetics makes it possible for scientists to control brain activity using pulses of light. Now, researchers have developed an optoelectronic device which opens the possibility of bidirectional communication with the brain. The new technology enables stimulation of neural microcircuits with millisecond precision according to predescribed space-time maps while monitoring changes in neural activity across the targeted microcircuits.

Supercoiled DNA is far more dynamic than the 'Watson-Crick' double helix Posted: 12 Oct 2015 05:38 AM PDT Researchers have imaged in unprecedented detail the three-dimensional structure of supercoiled DNA, revealing that its shape is much more dynamic than the well-known double helix.

Epigenetic algorithm accurately predicts male sexual orientation Posted: 08 Oct 2015 11:16 AM PDT An algorithm using epigenetic information from just nine regions of the human genome can predict the sexual orientation of males with up to 70 percent accuracy, according to new research. Beyond the genetic information contained in DNA, the researchers examined patterns of DNA methylation across the genome in pairs of identical male twins.

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• Scientists produce shortest electron bunches ever by surfing plasma waves
• Researchers develop deep-learning method for computers to predict daily activities
• Threat posed by 'pollen thief' bees uncovered
• How small is the smallest? New record of the tiniest free-living insect provides precision

Scientists produce shortest electron bunches ever by surfing plasma waves Posted: 09 Oct 2015 12:55 PM PDT The shortest electron bunches ever produced have emerged in new research. The bunches were produced by focusing a high-power laser pulse into a supersonic helium gas jet. These 'bullets' of charged particles have a length that is one 300th of the breadth of a hair and travel at a speed close to that of light. They are also 10 times shorter than those produced from conventional accelerators.

Researchers develop deep-learning method for computers to predict daily activities Posted: 09 Oct 2015 12:54 PM PDT Researchers have developed a new method that teaches computers to 'see' and understand what humans do in a typical day using 40,000 images taken from an ego-centric camera.

Threat posed by 'pollen thief' bees uncovered Posted: 09 Oct 2015 12:54 PM PDT A new study has uncovered the secrets of 'pollen thief' bees -- which take pollen from flowers but fail to act as effective pollinators -- and the threat they pose to certain plant species.

How small is the smallest? New record of the tiniest free-living insect provides precision Posted: 08 Oct 2015 11:24 AM PDT The long-lasting search and debate around the size and identity of the world's smallest free-living insect seems to have now ended with the precise measurement and second record of the featherwing beetle species. Described in 1999, representatives of this minute beetle have recently been retrieved once again from fungus in Colombia. The smallest individual measured the astounding 0.325 mm.

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Shhh ... To make ocean conservation work we should keep the noise down Posted: 08 Oct 2015 07:14 AM PDT Quiet areas should be sectioned off in the oceans to give us a better picture of the impact human generated noise is having on marine animals, according to a new study.

Frogs resolve computing issues Posted: 07 Oct 2015 08:11 AM PDT When male Japanese tree frogs sing at the same time, the females cannot differentiate between them in order to choose the best one. Therefore, the would-be suitors have come to an agreement and sing one by one. This natural lyrical desynchronisation has inspired the development of computational algorithms which can be used to design wireless systems and analyse social networks such as Facebook or Twitter.

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• Could ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ happen?
• How the stick insect sticks (and unsticks) itself
• Edible love gifts may influence female behavior, suggests cricket study

Could ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ happen? Posted: 09 Oct 2015 05:32 AM PDT A researcher has produced a scientific study of the climate scenario featured in the disaster movie 'The Day After Tomorrow'. In the 2004 film, climate warming caused an abrupt collapse of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), leading to catastrophic events such as tornadoes destroying Los Angeles, New York being flooded and the northern hemisphere freezing. Although the scientific credibility of the film drew criticism from climate scientists, the scenario of an abrupt collapse of the AMOC, as a consequence of anthropogenic greenhouse warming, was never assessed with a state-of-the-art climate model.Now scientists have found that, for a period of 20 years, the earth will cool instead of warm if global warming and a collapse of the AMOC occur simultaneously.

How the stick insect sticks (and unsticks) itself Posted: 07 Oct 2015 05:43 AM PDT New research shows the fluid found on insects' feet does not help them adhere to vertical and inverted surfaces, as previously thought, but may in fact help them to unstick their feet more easily to allow greater control over their sticking power.

Edible love gifts may influence female behavior, suggests cricket study Posted: 06 Oct 2015 11:45 AM PDT Edible gifts given by male crickets to their female partners during mating contain unique proteins which could affect the females' behavior according to research. The scientists believe that some of the proteins contained in the nuptial gift prevent digestive enzymes in the female's gut from breaking down other active proteins in the gift. These protected proteins may then alter her reproductive physiology and make her less likely to mate with further males.

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ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Caution: Weird material shrinks when warm
• Wet paleoclimate of Mars revealed by ancient lakes at Gale Crater
• Inside-out plants let biologists watch how cellulose forms
• Machines have nothing on mom when it comes to listening
• Scientists build a digital piece of a rat's brain
• Popular crime shows may help reduce sexual assault
• More 'global' individuals contribute less
• A quantum simulator of impossible physics
• Perfectly accurate clocks turn out to be impossible
• Tiny ancient fossil from Spain shows birds flew over the heads of dinosaurs
• Why hasn't he/she replied yet?

Caution: Weird material shrinks when warm Posted: 08 Oct 2015 02:35 PM PDT Most materials swell when warm, and shrink when cool. But some weird materials do the opposite. Although thermal expansion, and the cracking and warping that often result, occurs everyday -- in buildings, electronics, and almost anything else exposed to wide temperature swings -- physicists have trouble explaining why solids behave that way. New research into a material that has negative thermal expansion may lead to a better understanding of why materials change volume with temperature at all.

Wet paleoclimate of Mars revealed by ancient lakes at Gale Crater Posted: 08 Oct 2015 12:29 PM PDT Scientists have described ancient water flows and lakes on Mars, and what this might mean about the ancient climate.

Inside-out plants let biologists watch how cellulose forms Posted: 08 Oct 2015 12:28 PM PDT Researchers have been able to watch the interior cells of a plant synthesize cellulose for the first time by tricking the cells into growing on the plant's surface, according to a new paper. Cellulose, the structural component of cell walls that enables plants to stay upright, is the most abundant biopolymer on earth. It's a critical resource for pulp and paper, textiles, building materials, and renewable biofuels.

Machines have nothing on mom when it comes to listening Posted: 08 Oct 2015 11:26 AM PDT More than 99% of the time, two words are enough for people with normal hearing to distinguish the voice of a close friend or relative amongst other voices. His study involved playing recordings to Canadian French speakers, who were asked to recognize on multiple trials which of the ten male voices they heard was familiar to them. "Merci beaucoup" turned out to be all they needed to hear.

Scientists build a digital piece of a rat's brain Posted: 08 Oct 2015 11:22 AM PDT If you want to learn how something works, one strategy is to take it apart and put it back together again. For 10 years, a global initiative called the Blue Brain Project has been attempting to do this digitally with a section of juvenile rat brain. The project presents a first draft of this reconstruction, which contains over 31,000 neurons, 55 layers of cells, and 207 different neuron subtypes.

Popular crime shows may help reduce sexual assault Posted: 08 Oct 2015 07:12 AM PDT Viewers of 'Law and Order' have a better grasp of sexual consent than viewers of other crime dramas such as 'CSI' or 'NCIS,' suggesting that individuals who watch programs in which sexual predators are punished may avoid sexual predatory behavior in real life, research suggests.

More 'global' individuals contribute less Posted: 08 Oct 2015 06:51 AM PDT The more individuals perceive themselves as "citizens of the world," the less likely they are to contribute to collective public goods and the more likely to hitch a "free ride" on the contributions of other citizens, new research indicates.

A quantum simulator of impossible physics Posted: 08 Oct 2015 05:40 AM PDT In an unusual experiment atoms are made to simulate absurd actions "as if they were actors in a quantum theater."

Perfectly accurate clocks turn out to be impossible Posted: 07 Oct 2015 08:09 AM PDT Can the passage of time be measured precisely, always and everywhere? The answer will upset many watchmakers. A team of physicists have just shown that when we are dealing with very large accelerations, no clock will actually be able to show the real passage of time, known as 'proper time.'

Tiny ancient fossil from Spain shows birds flew over the heads of dinosaurs Posted: 06 Oct 2015 11:24 AM PDT A new discovery documents the intricate arrangement of the muscles and ligaments that controlled the main feathers of the wing of an ancient bird, supporting the notion that at least some of the most ancient birds performed aerodynamic feats in a fashion similar to those of many living birds.

Why hasn't he/she replied yet? Posted: 05 Oct 2015 12:12 PM PDT A study probes how factors that affect how quickly people respond to email. The researchers are also able to predict when an email thread will fizzle out. When users first email each other, they mimic each other with regards to the length of emails, but as the email chain continues, this synchronicity drops off. In general, users are synchronized until the middle of the conversation. The researchers identify telltale signs that the person with whom you are emailing isn't going to respond again. A long delay in the final response signals to both parties that the conversation is probably over.

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