ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Age doesn't dull damselfly sex
• Astronomers bring a new hope to find 'Tatooine' planets
• Better chocolate with microbes: Same yeast used in beer, wine and bread
• Old astronomic riddle on the way to be solved: Absorption of starlight in space
• The secret to the sea sapphire's colors -- and invisibility
• With teeth like that, this pre-dinosaur vegetarian was no push over
• Jupiter twin discovered around solar twin
• You need this hole in the head -- to be smart

Age doesn't dull damselfly sex Posted: 15 Jul 2015 06:22 PM PDT Aging damselflies never lose their libidos and are just as likely as younger competitors to mate, scientists report. Although the life of the azure damselfly is actually quite short--most insects in the study died within a week of arriving at the pond--the sex is constant, the authors explain.

Astronomers bring a new hope to find 'Tatooine' planets Posted: 15 Jul 2015 01:06 PM PDT Sibling suns -- made famous in the "Star Wars" scene where Luke Skywalker gazes toward a double sunset -- and the planets around them may be more common than we've thought, and astronomers are presenting new ideas on how to find them.

Better chocolate with microbes: Same yeast used in beer, wine and bread Posted: 15 Jul 2015 10:08 AM PDT For decades, researchers have worked to improve cacao fermentation by controlling the microbes involved. Now, to their surprise, a team of Belgian researchers has discovered that the same species of yeast used in production of beer, bread, and wine works particularly well in chocolate fermentation.

Old astronomic riddle on the way to be solved: Absorption of starlight in space Posted: 15 Jul 2015 10:07 AM PDT Scientists were able to identify for the first time a molecule responsible for the absorption of starlight in space: the positively charged Buckminsterfullerene, or so-called football molecule.

The secret to the sea sapphire's colors -- and invisibility Posted: 15 Jul 2015 09:24 AM PDT Sapphirina, or sea sapphire, has been called 'the most beautiful animal you've never seen,' and it could be one of the most magical. Some of the tiny, little-known copepods appear to flash in and out of brilliantly colored blue, violet or red existence. Now scientists are figuring out the trick to their hues and their invisibility. The findings could inspire the next generation of optical technologies.

With teeth like that, this pre-dinosaur vegetarian was no push over Posted: 15 Jul 2015 08:26 AM PDT Head-butting and canine display during male-male combat first appeared some 270 million years ago. This is what researchers found when they conducted an updated in-depth study of the herbivorous mammalian ancestor, Tiarajudens eccentricus, discovered four years ago.

Jupiter twin discovered around solar twin Posted: 15 Jul 2015 07:36 AM PDT So far, exoplanet surveys have been most sensitive to planetary systems that are populated in their inner regions by massive planets, down to a few times the mass of the Earth. This contrasts with our Solar System, where there are small rocky planets in the inner regions and gas giants like Jupiter farther out.

You need this hole in the head -- to be smart Posted: 15 Jul 2015 06:12 AM PDT Researchers have shown that intelligence in animal species can be estimated by the size of the holes in the skull through which the arteries pass.

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• Curiosity rover finds evidence of Mars' primitive continental crust
• Earth's magnetosphere: Discovery of zebra stripes in space resolves a half-century mystery
• Nonmagnetic elements form unique magnet
• Growing beating cardiac tissue from stem cells: New model for early heart development
• Human hands may be more primitive than chimp's
• Acoustical metamaterial with near-zero density
• The last Viking and his 'magical' sword?
• Mathematical model gives fashion advice
• Memory-loss man case 'like nothing we have ever seen before'
• Bees with tiny transmitters on their backs show how disease harms the threatened insects

Curiosity rover finds evidence of Mars' primitive continental crust Posted: 14 Jul 2015 11:20 AM PDT The ChemCam laser instrument on NASA's Curiosity rover has turned its beam onto some unusually light-colored rocks on Mars, and the results are surprisingly similar to Earth's granitic continental crust rocks. This is the first discovery of a potential 'continental crust' on Mars.

Earth's magnetosphere: Discovery of zebra stripes in space resolves a half-century mystery Posted: 14 Jul 2015 10:15 AM PDT In the 1960s, NASA launched six satellites to study Earth's atmosphere, magnetosphere and the space between Earth and the moon. Using observations from those satellites, researchers have detected mysterious plasma waves in the Van Allen radiation belts, the donut-shaped rings surrounding Earth that contain high-energy particles trapped by the planet's magnetic field.

Nonmagnetic elements form unique magnet Posted: 14 Jul 2015 09:49 AM PDT How can two metals that are not magnetic combine to make a magnet? Scientists have found one answer in their creation of the first known itinerant antiferromagnet from nonmagnetic constituents.

Growing beating cardiac tissue from stem cells: New model for early heart development Posted: 14 Jul 2015 09:41 AM PDT Researchers have developed a template for growing beating cardiac tissue from stem cells, creating a system that could serve as a model for early heart development and as a drug-screening tool to make pregnancies safer. Scientists have mimicked human tissue formation by starting with stem cells genetically reprogrammed from adult skin tissue to form small chambers with beating human heart cells.

Human hands may be more primitive than chimp's Posted: 14 Jul 2015 08:30 AM PDT Human hands may be more primitive than chimp's. Human hand proportions have changed little from those of the last common ancestor (LCA) of chimpanzees and humans. These findings indicate that the structure of the modern human hand is largely primitive in nature, rather than the result of selective pressures in the context of stone tool-making.

Acoustical metamaterial with near-zero density Posted: 14 Jul 2015 08:30 AM PDT When a sound wave hits an obstacle and is scattered, the signal may be lost or degraded. But what if you could guide the signal around that obstacle, as if the interfering barrier didn't even exist? Recently, researchers created a material from polyethylene membranes that does exactly that.

The last Viking and his 'magical' sword? Posted: 14 Jul 2015 06:36 AM PDT Have you held the sword? Have you felt its weight? Have you felt how sharp and strong the blade is? A deadly weapon and symbol of power -- jewellery for a man, with 'magical properties'. The sword gave power to the warrior, but the warrior's strength could also be transferred to the sword. That is how they were bound together: man and weapon, warrior and sword.

Mathematical model gives fashion advice Posted: 14 Jul 2015 05:30 AM PDT Researchers have developed a mathematical model that is able to assess whether a person is fashionably dressed and to give advice on how to make the outfit more fashionable.

Memory-loss man case 'like nothing we have ever seen before' Posted: 14 Jul 2015 05:30 AM PDT A psychologist has described a unique case, new to science. A 38-year-old fit and healthy man suffered memory loss after a local anesthetic and root-canal treatment at his dentist. For the past decade he can only remember up to 90 minutes. Symptoms are akin to those depicted in movies such as Groundhog Day and Memento. And, there is no evidence that the treatment at the dentist can be blamed for his condition. He is fully aware of his identity and his personality did not change -- but every day the man thinks it is the day of his dental appointment.

Bees with tiny transmitters on their backs show how disease harms the threatened insects Posted: 14 Jul 2015 05:28 AM PDT Researchers are creating a buzz in bee research, gluing tiny transmitters to the backs of the insects for the first time. Biologists glued RFID chips to the backs of 960 bees, providing new insights into how disease affects the threatened insects.

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• Robotics and the law: When software can harm you
• One in four UK show dogs competing at Crufts is overweight
• Scientist works on taste, texture and color of lab-produced hamburger
• 3D printers poised to have major implications for food manufacturing
• Transistor built from a molecule and a few atoms
• From sticks to balls: The shape of bacteria is evolving to better adapt to the throat
• Male black widow spiders destroy female’s web to deter rivals

Robotics and the law: When software can harm you Posted: 13 Jul 2015 05:57 PM PDT Twenty years in, the law is finally starting to get used to the Internet. Now it is imperative that the law figure out how to deal effectively with the rise of robotics and artificial intelligence, an expert says.

One in four UK show dogs competing at Crufts is overweight Posted: 13 Jul 2015 05:54 PM PDT One in four dogs competing in the world's largest canine show (Crufts) is overweight, despite the perception that entrants are supposed to represent ideal specimens of their breed, reveals research.

Scientist works on taste, texture and color of lab-produced hamburger Posted: 13 Jul 2015 11:41 AM PDT A researcher is confident his recipe for his $300,000 cultured hamburger will not only come down in price but someday make it to market.

3D printers poised to have major implications for food manufacturing Posted: 13 Jul 2015 11:41 AM PDT The use of 3D printers has the potential to revolutionize the way food is manufactured within the next 10 to 20 years, impacting everything from how military personnel get food on the battlefield to how long it takes to get a meal from the computer to your table, according to new research.

Transistor built from a molecule and a few atoms Posted: 13 Jul 2015 09:22 AM PDT Physicists have used a scanning tunneling microscope to create a minute transistor consisting of a single molecule and a small number of atoms. The observed transistor action is markedly different from the conventionally expected behavior and could be important for future device technologies as well as for fundamental studies of electron transport in molecular nanostructures.

From sticks to balls: The shape of bacteria is evolving to better adapt to the throat Posted: 13 Jul 2015 09:20 AM PDT It's no coincidence that the earthworm's slender shape makes it perfect for weaving through narrow tunnels. Evolution molds the shapes of living creatures according to the benefits they offer. At the microscopic level, do the various shapes of bacteria also contribute to their survival? Does a spherical bacterium (coccus) have a better chance of infecting its host than its stick-shaped neighbor (bacillus)?

Male black widow spiders destroy female’s web to deter rivals Posted: 13 Jul 2015 06:53 AM PDT Male black widow spiders destroy large sections of the female's web during courtship and wrap it up in their own silk. New research shows that this home-wrecking behavior deters rival males, by making the female's web less attractive to them. Surprisingly, the females don't seem to mind the destruction. The authors of the study say the males' behavior could protect the female from harassment, enabling her to get on with parenting.

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Worms hitch rides on slugs when traveling to far flung places Posted: 12 Jul 2015 05:38 PM PDT Slugs and other invertebrates provide essential public transport for small worms in the search for food, according to new research.

What happens when cosmic giants meet galactic dwarfs? Posted: 12 Jul 2015 05:38 PM PDT According to a new study of more than 20,000 merging galaxies, when two different sized galaxies smash together, the larger galaxy stops the smaller one making new stars.

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Black hole bull's-eye revealed Posted: 09 Jul 2015 03:02 PM PDT What looks like a shooting target is actually an image of nested rings of X-ray light centered on an erupting black hole. On June 15, NASA's Swift satellite detected the start of a new outburst from V404 Cygni, where a black hole and a sun-like star orbit each other. Since then, astronomers around the world have been monitoring the ongoing light show.

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• Astronomers find a massive black hole that outgrew its galaxy
• New era in robotics: 3-D-printed robot is hard at heart, soft on the outside
• Basic computing elements created in bacteria
• With acoustic reflector, carnivorous pitcher plants advertise themselves to bats
• Huge new survey to shine light on dark matter
• Deceptive flowers: How flowers use scent, nectar to manipulate pollinators, herbivores
• Human color vision gives people ability to see nanoscale differences
• Neuroscientists establish brain-to-brain networks in primates, rodents

Astronomers find a massive black hole that outgrew its galaxy Posted: 09 Jul 2015 11:52 AM PDT Astronomers have spotted a super-sized black hole in the early universe that grew much faster than its host galaxy. The discovery runs counter to most observations about black holes, which are massive areas of space with extraordinarily strong gravity that can pull in anything -- even light. In most cases, black holes and their host galaxies expand at the same rate.

New era in robotics: 3-D-printed robot is hard at heart, soft on the outside Posted: 09 Jul 2015 11:51 AM PDT Engineers have created the first robot with a 3-D-printed body that transitions from a rigid core to a soft exterior. The idea of blending soft and hard materials into the robot's body came from nature.The rigid layers make for a better interface with the device's electronic brains and power sources. The soft layers make it less vulnerable to damage when it lands after jumping.

Basic computing elements created in bacteria Posted: 09 Jul 2015 10:24 AM PDT Researchers unveil a series of sensors, memory switches, and circuits that can be encoded in the common human gut bacterium. These basic computing elements will allow the bacteria to sense, memorize, and respond to signals in the gut, with future applications that might include the early detection and treatment of inflammatory bowel disease or colon cancer, they say.

With acoustic reflector, carnivorous pitcher plants advertise themselves to bats Posted: 09 Jul 2015 10:24 AM PDT In Borneo, some insectivorous bats have developed a rather intriguing relationship with carnivorous pitcher plants. The plants offer the bats a relatively cool place to roost, free of parasites and competition from other bats. In return, the bats keep the plants well fertilized with their droppings. Now, researchers show that the plants rely on special structures to reflect the bats' ultrasonic calls back to them.

Huge new survey to shine light on dark matter Posted: 09 Jul 2015 07:36 AM PDT The first results have been released from a major new dark matter survey of the southern skies using ESO's VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. The VST KiDS survey will allow astronomers to make precise measurements of dark matter, the structure of galaxy halos, and the evolution of galaxies and clusters. The first KiDS results show how the characteristics of the observed galaxies are determined by the invisible vast clumps of dark matter surrounding them.

Deceptive flowers: How flowers use scent, nectar to manipulate pollinators, herbivores Posted: 09 Jul 2015 07:30 AM PDT When plants advertise for pollinators they frequently also attract herbivores. Scientists have demonstrated in field trials that the flowers of the coyote tobacco Nicotiana attenuata are able to solve this dilemma. The researchers showed that when flowers produce both scent and nectar and are visited by three different pollinators, their outcrossing increases. Moreover, both floral traits influenced oviposition by the hawkmoth Manduca sexta.

Human color vision gives people ability to see nanoscale differences Posted: 09 Jul 2015 07:28 AM PDT Researchers have harnessed the human eye's color-sensing strengths to give the eye the ability to distinguish between objects that differ in thickness by no more than a few nanometers, about the width of a single virus.

Neuroscientists establish brain-to-brain networks in primates, rodents Posted: 09 Jul 2015 07:28 AM PDT Neuroscientists have introduced a new paradigm for brain-machine interfaces that investigates the physiological properties and adaptability of brain circuits, and how the brains of two or more animals can work together to complete simple tasks. These brain networks, or Brainets, were developed in rodents and primates.

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• Surfer-shaped waves found in near-Earth space
• Male koalas raise their voices to avoid conflict
• New horned dinosaur reveals evolution of nose horn in Triceratops family
• Biggest explosions in the universe powered by strongest magnets
• Why do puddles stop spreading?
• Bricks to build 'an Earth' found in every planetary system
• A black hole under the gravitational lens
• Magnetic storms and green skies on St Patrick’s Day: No problems for power grid

Surfer-shaped waves found in near-Earth space Posted: 08 Jul 2015 03:17 PM PDT The universe overflows with repeating patterns. From the smallest cells to the largest galaxies, scientists are often rewarded by observing similar patterns in vastly different places. One such pattern is the iconic surfer's waves seen on the ocean - a series of curled hills moving steadily in one direction. The shape has a simple cause. A fast fluid, say wind, moving past a slower one, say water, naturally creates this classic shape. Named Kelvin-Helmholtz waves in the late 1800s after their discoverers, these waves have since been discovered all over the universe: in clouds, in the atmospheres of other planets, and on the sun. Now two recently published articles highlight these shapely waves at the boundaries of near-Earth space.

Male koalas raise their voices to avoid conflict Posted: 08 Jul 2015 12:12 PM PDT A team of international scientists has tracked the love lives of koalas, uncovering some curious behaviors and finding that male koalas make their distinct bellows to avoid confrontation with competitors.The researchers have mapped what they believe to be the first-look inside the social system of a large group of wild koalas at St. Bees Island near Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia.

New horned dinosaur reveals evolution of nose horn in Triceratops family Posted: 08 Jul 2015 12:10 PM PDT Scientists have discovered a striking new species of horned dinosaur based on fossils collected from a bone bed in southern Alberta, Canada. Wendiceratops pinhornensis was approximately 6 meters long and weighed more than a ton. It lived about 79 million years ago, making it one of the oldest known members of the family of large-bodied horned dinosaurs that includes the famous Triceratops, the Ceratopsidae.

Biggest explosions in the universe powered by strongest magnets Posted: 08 Jul 2015 10:39 AM PDT Observations have for the first time demonstrated a link between a very long-lasting burst of gamma rays and an unusually bright supernova explosion. The results show that the supernova was not driven by radioactive decay, as expected, but was instead powered by the decaying super-strong magnetic fields around an exotic object called a magnetar.

Why do puddles stop spreading? Posted: 08 Jul 2015 09:33 AM PDT When you spill a bit of water onto a tabletop, the puddle spreads -- and then stops, leaving a well-defined area of water with a sharp boundary. There's just one problem: The formulas scientists use to describe such a fluid flow say that the water should just keep spreading endlessly. Everyone knows that's not the case -- but why? This mystery has now been solved -- and while this phenomenon might seem trivial, the finding's ramifications could be significant.

Bricks to build 'an Earth' found in every planetary system Posted: 08 Jul 2015 08:14 AM PDT Earth-like planets orbiting other stars in the Milky Way are three times more likely to have the same type of minerals as Earth than astronomers had previously thought. In fact, conditions for making the building blocks of Earth-like rocks are ubiquitous throughout the Milky Way.

A black hole under the gravitational lens Posted: 08 Jul 2015 08:12 AM PDT Turbulent processes take place close to supermassive black holes, which lurk in the centers of nearly all galaxies. They swallow up matter flowing in from the outside while at the same time producing so-called gas jets which shoot out into space in two opposite directions. Researchers have now succeeded in localizing the origin of the high-energy gamma radiation in such a jet: it apparently originates very close to the black hole. This discovery was made possible by a micro-gravitational lens effect that occurs by chance and selectively amplifies the light from different regions close to the black hole like a magnifying glass. An unusual observation method uncovers processes near the event horizon of a distant, massive monster.

Magnetic storms and green skies on St Patrick’s Day: No problems for power grid Posted: 07 Jul 2015 06:24 AM PDT On Saint Patrick's Day (17 March) the northern lights danced a lively green jig across the skies of Ireland and Britain. The source of these magnetic storms was not just one but two huge eruptions of electrically charged material from the Sun, which traveled through space at millions of kilometers an hour, colliding with the Earth's magnetic field.

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