ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Real reason turtles have shells: Burrowing tool
• Discovery of new strains of the HTLV-4 virus in hunters bitten by gorillas in Gabon
• Physicists blur the line between classical and quantum physics by connecting chaos and entanglement

Real reason turtles have shells: Burrowing tool Posted: 15 Jul 2016 02:13 PM PDT Scientists have discovered the real reason turtles have shells. While many thought turtle shells were for protection, new findings show that the shells were actually for digging underground to escape the harsh South African environment where these early proto turtles lived.

Discovery of new strains of the HTLV-4 virus in hunters bitten by gorillas in Gabon Posted: 13 Jul 2016 09:15 AM PDT Scientists have identified two new strains of the HTLV-4 virus in two hunters who were bitten by gorillas in Gabon. These findings support the notion that gorillas represent a major source of infectious agents that can be passed on to humans.

Physicists blur the line between classical and quantum physics by connecting chaos and entanglement Posted: 12 Jul 2016 10:01 AM PDT Using a small quantum system consisting of three superconducting qubits, researchers have uncovered a link between aspects of classical and quantum physics thought to be unrelated: classical chaos and quantum entanglement. Their findings suggest that it would be possible to use controllable quantum systems to investigate certain fundamental aspects of nature.

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• Soot may have killed off the dinosaurs and ammonites
• Garlic aroma found in breast milk
• Scientists move one step closer to creating an invisibility cloak
• Measuring oceans of activity in one drop of water
• Bacteria avoid age defects through collective behavior
• The Ouzo Effect under the magnifying glass
• Western-style diet linked to state-dependent memory inhibition

Soot may have killed off the dinosaurs and ammonites Posted: 15 Jul 2016 08:35 AM PDT A new hypothesis on the extinction of dinosaurs and ammonites at the end of the Cretaceous Period has been proposed by a research team.

Garlic aroma found in breast milk Posted: 15 Jul 2016 08:27 AM PDT Food chemists have found that garlic aroma is evident in the breast milk of women who have consumed garlic. This is caused by allyl methyl sulfide -- a metabolite which is first formed in a strong concentration during breastfeeding. Whether the aroma has an impact on which food preferences children develop and whether they like garlic in later life needs to be clarified by further research.

Scientists move one step closer to creating an invisibility cloak Posted: 15 Jul 2016 08:27 AM PDT Scientists have made an object disappear by using a material with nano-size particles that can enhance specific properties on the object's surface.

Measuring oceans of activity in one drop of water Posted: 14 Jul 2016 10:52 AM PDT You'll never look at a drop of water the same way. By measuring a water droplet with a resolution comparable with the scale of a single atom, scientists have determined that the droplet interface behaves like a miniature stormy sea even when it appears to be at rest.

Bacteria avoid age defects through collective behavior Posted: 14 Jul 2016 10:51 AM PDT Biophysics: As they age, more and more defects arise in most organisms. Researchers have discovered that microorganisms like bacteria can keep a colony young by practicing a common strategy for propagation. The same may be true for, for example, stem cells in humans.

The Ouzo Effect under the magnifying glass Posted: 14 Jul 2016 06:17 AM PDT Pour some water into your glass of ouzo or pastis, and the beverage will change from transparent to milky: this is the well-known 'Ouzo effect'. But what will happen if you simply place a drop of ouzo on a surface and wait? Scientists have studied the phenomena taking place, and distinguish four 'life phases' of the drop, within no more than a quarter of an hour.

Western-style diet linked to state-dependent memory inhibition Posted: 12 Jul 2016 06:24 AM PDT Obesity may ultimately be a disease of the brain, involving a progressive deterioration of various cognitive processes that influence eating. Researchers have now shown that memory inhibition -- the useful ability to 'block out' memories that are no longer useful, which depends on a brain area called the hippocampus -- is linked to dietary excess.

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• Cougars could save lives by lowering vehicle collisions with deer
• Newborn ducklings can acquire notions of 'same' and 'different'
• It's all in the genes: New research reveals why some chickens are resistant to bird flu
• Dark energy measured with record-breaking map of 1.2 million galaxies
• Black bear links real objects to computer images
• Terrified insect escapes a permanent tomb -- 50 million years ago
• Fish get arthritis, too
• Cave-dwelling fish could provide clues to staying healthy with diabetes
• Bird research suggests calling dinosaurs may have been tight-lipped

Cougars could save lives by lowering vehicle collisions with deer Posted: 14 Jul 2016 01:33 PM PDT A team of researchers has for the first time begun to quantify the economic and social impact of bringing back large carnivores. Using cougars and their value in reducing deer-vehicle collisions as a case study, the researchers found that within 30 years of cougars recolonizing the Eastern U.S., large cats could thin deer populations and reduce vehicle collisions by 22 percent -- each year preventing five human fatalities, 680 injuries and avoiding costs of $50 million.

Newborn ducklings can acquire notions of 'same' and 'different' Posted: 14 Jul 2016 12:18 PM PDT Scientists have shown that newly hatched ducklings can readily acquire the concepts of 'same' and 'different' -- an ability previously known only in highly intelligent animals such as apes, crows and parrots.

It's all in the genes: New research reveals why some chickens are resistant to bird flu Posted: 14 Jul 2016 09:07 AM PDT The genes of some chickens make them almost completely resistant to a serious strain of bird flu, new research has revealed. Until now, scientists around the world have paid little attention to the role the genetics of birds play in the transmission of flu, focusing instead on how the virus itself evolves and infects.

Dark energy measured with record-breaking map of 1.2 million galaxies Posted: 14 Jul 2016 08:07 AM PDT A team of hundreds of physicists and astronomers have announced results from the largest-ever, three-dimensional map of distant galaxies. The team constructed this map to make one of the most precise measurements yet of the dark energy currently driving the accelerated expansion of the Universe.

Black bear links real objects to computer images Posted: 14 Jul 2016 08:07 AM PDT American black bears may be able to recognize things they know in real life, such as pieces of food or humans, when looking at a photograph of the same thing. This is one of the findings of a study which involved a black bear called Migwan and a computer screen.

Terrified insect escapes a permanent tomb -- 50 million years ago Posted: 14 Jul 2016 07:02 AM PDT Thousands of insects, plants and other life forms have been found trapped in ancient amber deposits, but a new discovery shows a rarity of a different type -- the one that got away. This insect literally was frightened out of its skin.

Fish get arthritis, too Posted: 14 Jul 2016 07:01 AM PDT The very first bony fish on Earth was susceptible to arthritis, according to a new discovery that may fast-track therapeutic research in preventing or easing the nation's most common cause of disability. The finding contradicts the widely held belief that lubricated joints enabling mobility -- called synovial joints -- evolved as vertebrates ventured onto land.

Cave-dwelling fish could provide clues to staying healthy with diabetes Posted: 13 Jul 2016 07:12 AM PDT New findings reveal the genetic basis of how cavefish have adapted to their extreme environment, information that might one day lead to new kinds of treatments for diabetes and other diseases.

Bird research suggests calling dinosaurs may have been tight-lipped Posted: 11 Jul 2016 09:15 AM PDT Dinosaurs are often depicted in movies as roaring ferociously, but it is likely that some dinosaurs mumbled or cooed with closed mouths, according to a new study.

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ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Using wireless interface, operators control multiple drones by thinking of various tasks
• Shocking new role found for the immune system: Controlling social interaction
• Stellar outburst brings water snowline around a young star into view
• Playing action video games boosts visual motor skill underlying driving
• Analysis of ant colonies could improve network algorithms
• Advancing self-driving car design, other shared human- and machine-controlled systems
• Graphene-infused packaging is a million times better at blocking moisture
• Engineers develop octopus-inspired smart adhesive pads
• Boredom can lead to more extreme political views, researchers find

Using wireless interface, operators control multiple drones by thinking of various tasks Posted: 13 Jul 2016 11:37 AM PDT A researcher has discovered how to control multiple robotic drones using the human brain. A controller wears a skull cap outfitted with 128 electrodes wired to a computer. The device records electrical brain activity. If the controller moves a hand or thinks of something, certain areas light up. A wireless system sends the thought to the robots.

Shocking new role found for the immune system: Controlling social interaction Posted: 13 Jul 2016 11:31 AM PDT The immune system affects -- and even controls -- social behavior, a new study has found. Researchers discovered that blocking a single type of immune molecule made mouse brains go hyperactive and caused abnormal behavior; restoring it fixed both. The discovery could have enormous implications for neurological conditions such as autism and schizophrenia.

Stellar outburst brings water snowline around a young star into view Posted: 13 Jul 2016 11:30 AM PDT A violent outburst by the young star V883 Orionis has given astronomers using ALMA their first view of a water 'snowline' in a protoplanetary disk -- the transition point around the star where the temperature and pressure are low enough for water ice to form.

Playing action video games boosts visual motor skill underlying driving Posted: 13 Jul 2016 07:58 AM PDT Playing action-based video games may boost players' ability to coordinate incoming visual information with their motor control, a skill critical to many real-world behaviors including driving, new research shows.

Analysis of ant colonies could improve network algorithms Posted: 13 Jul 2016 07:58 AM PDT An analysis of ant colony behavior could yield better algorithms for network communication, say investigators. Biologists have long suspected that ants base their population-density estimates on the frequency with which they -- literally -- bump into other ants while randomly exploring their environments. That theory gets new support from a theoretical paper. The paper shows that observations from random exploration of the environment converge very quickly on an accurate estimate of population density. Indeed, they converge about as quickly as is theoretically possible.

Advancing self-driving car design, other shared human- and machine-controlled systems Posted: 13 Jul 2016 07:16 AM PDT Computer scientists have described a new approach to managing the challenge of transferring control between a human and an autonomous system.

Graphene-infused packaging is a million times better at blocking moisture Posted: 13 Jul 2016 07:12 AM PDT Plastic packaging might seem impenetrable -- and sometimes nearly impossible to remove -- but water molecules can still pass through. And this permeability to moisture can limit the lifespan of a product. To better protect goods such as electronics and medicines, scientists have developed a new kind of packaging that incorporates a single layer of graphene. Their material reduces by a million fold how much water can get through.

Engineers develop octopus-inspired smart adhesive pads Posted: 12 Jul 2016 08:02 AM PDT A team of Korean scientists has recently found a way to make building flexible pressure sensors easier -- by mimicking the suction cups on octopus's tentacles.

Boredom can lead to more extreme political views, researchers find Posted: 07 Jul 2016 08:54 AM PDT Boredom may be contributing to a widening of political views among voters, according to a new study. The findings are based on one experiment and two scientific surveys carried out in the Republic of Ireland.

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• The moral tipping point: Why it's hard to shake a bad impression
• DNA origami lights up a microscopic glowing Van Gogh
• Scientists move closer to developing therapeutic window to the brain
• Mantis shrimp roll their eyes to improve their vision
• Blue is an indicator of first star's supernova explosions: More than 13 billion years old
• Sharper than living matter permits
• How birds unlock their super-sense, ultraviolet vision
• 'Frankenstein' galaxy surprises astronomers

The moral tipping point: Why it's hard to shake a bad impression Posted: 12 Jul 2016 11:27 AM PDT People require more evidence to perceive improvement in someone's moral character than to perceive a decline, research shows. In other words, it is easier to become a sinner than a saint.

DNA origami lights up a microscopic glowing Van Gogh Posted: 12 Jul 2016 10:39 AM PDT A technique that allows humanmade DNA shapes to be placed wherever desired -- to within a margin of error of just 20 nanometers -- now removes a major hurdle for the large-scale integration of molecular devices on chips.

Scientists move closer to developing therapeutic window to the brain Posted: 12 Jul 2016 10:39 AM PDT Researchers are bringing their idea for a 'Window to the Brain' transparent skull implant closer to reality through the findings of two recent studies.

Mantis shrimp roll their eyes to improve their vision Posted: 12 Jul 2016 10:02 AM PDT Imagine rolling your eyes to help you see more clearly. Although it wouldn't work for humans, new research has shown mantis shrimp use eye rotations to enhance their polarization vision.

Blue is an indicator of first star's supernova explosions: More than 13 billion years old Posted: 12 Jul 2016 08:07 AM PDT Astronomers have discovered that the color of supernovae during a specific phase could be an indicator for detecting the most distant and oldest supernovae in the Universe -- more than 13 billion years old.

Sharper than living matter permits Posted: 12 Jul 2016 08:07 AM PDT Researchers have found a way to pinpoint the positions of individual molecules while at the same time measuring their activity and interactions in the same living cell. A dedicated cooling protocol on a microscope allows to pause cellular life at subzero temperatures, to let it continue to live again after warming.

How birds unlock their super-sense, ultraviolet vision Posted: 12 Jul 2016 06:33 AM PDT The ability of finches, sparrows, and many other birds to see a visual world hidden to us has just been explained.

'Frankenstein' galaxy surprises astronomers Posted: 12 Jul 2016 06:27 AM PDT About 250 million light-years away, there's a neighborhood of our universe that astronomers had considered quiet and unremarkable. But now, scientists have uncovered an enormous, bizarre galaxy possibly formed from the parts of other galaxies.

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• Germs add ripples to make 'groovy' graphene
• Nanotech 'tattoo' can map emotions and monitor muscle activity
• If life can make it here, it can make it anywhere
• Supercomputers fire lasers to shoot gamma ray beam
• Monkeys in Brazil 'have used stone tools for hundreds of years at least'
• It depends on the level of stiffness: Researchers investigate beetle penises

Germs add ripples to make 'groovy' graphene Posted: 11 Jul 2016 12:58 PM PDT Graphene, a two-dimensional wonder-material composed of a single layer of carbon atoms linked in a hexagonal chicken-wire pattern, has attracted intense interest for its phenomenal ability to conduct electricity. Now researchers have used rod-shaped bacteria -- precisely aligned in an electric field, then vacuum-shrunk under a graphene sheet -- to introduce nanoscale ripples in the material, causing it to conduct electrons differently in perpendicular directions.

Nanotech 'tattoo' can map emotions and monitor muscle activity Posted: 11 Jul 2016 12:58 PM PDT A new temporary 'electronic tattoo' that can measure the activity of muscle and nerve cells researchers is poised to revolutionize medicine, rehabilitation, and even business and marketing research.

If life can make it here, it can make it anywhere Posted: 11 Jul 2016 12:55 PM PDT If the origin of life is common on other worlds, the universe should be a cosmic zoo full of complex multicellular organisms. Scientists use the evolution of Earth life as a model to predict what humans might find living on distant planets and moons in a new paper.

Supercomputers fire lasers to shoot gamma ray beam Posted: 11 Jul 2016 12:13 PM PDT Supercomputer simulations have shown scientists a new way to generate controlled beam of gamma rays from lasers. Nearly one million CPU hours on Stampede and Lonestar HPC systems were needed for the particle-in-cell simulation. The Texas Petawatt Laser will use the simulations to guide experimental verification later in 2016. Gamma ray production would make possible basic science research and benefit society through brain imaging, cancer therapy, and anti-terrorist cargo scanning.

Monkeys in Brazil 'have used stone tools for hundreds of years at least' Posted: 11 Jul 2016 12:09 PM PDT New archaeological evidence suggests that Brazilian capuchins have been using stone tools to crack open cashew nuts for at least 700 years. Researchers say, to date, they have found the earliest archaeological examples of monkey tool use outside of Africa.

It depends on the level of stiffness: Researchers investigate beetle penises Posted: 07 Jul 2016 08:52 AM PDT The penis of the thistle tortoise beetle is as long as the beetle itself. Something that initially sounds exciting, can be complicated during mating. This is because the females also have a hyper-elongated sexual organ, which is additionally twisted in the shape of a spiral. How beetle reproduction can nevertheless be successful has now been investigated.

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Super-sniffer mice could detect land mines and decode human olfactory system Posted: 07 Jul 2016 10:11 AM PDT Researchers have created super-sniffer mice that have an increased ability to detect a specific odor, according to a new study. The mice, which can be tuned to have different levels of sensitivity to any smell by using mouse or human odor receptors, could be used as land-mine detectors or as the basis for novel disease sensors.

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