ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

An international team analyzed the atmosphere of one of the most extreme known planets in great detail. The results from this hot, Jupiter-like planet that was first characterized with the help of the CHEOPS space telescope, may help astronomers understand the complexities of many other exoplanets -- including Earth-like planets.

A research team has developed a material made of natural proteins that contracts autonomously.

The scientists who discovered all-female termite colonies have now ascertained how they came to exist. In doing so, they revealed how these powerful females potentially threaten other termites, as well as homeowners.

A new study finds that fish are far more likely to communicate with sound than generally thought.

Researchers have succeeded in observing the so-called Schwinger effect, an elusive process that normally occurs only in cosmic events. By applying high currents through specially designed graphene-based devices, the team succeeded in producing particle-antiparticle pairs from a vacuum.

The unique way that ground squirrels burn almost no energy when they hibernate -- with no loss of muscle mass -- has implications for space travel, biologists find.

The shape-shifting clouds of starling birds, the organization of neural networks or the structure of an anthill: nature is full of complex systems whose behaviors can be modeled using mathematical tools. The same is true for the labyrinthine patterns formed by the green or black scales of the ocellated lizard. A multidisciplinary team explains, thanks to a very simple mathematical equation, the complexity of the system that generates these patterns. This discovery contributes to a better understanding of the evolution of skin color patterns: the process allows for many different locations of green and black scales but always leads to an optimal pattern for the animal survival.

Popular belief has been that small dogs, such as Pomeranians and Chihuahuas, exist because once dogs were domesticated, humans wanted small, cute companions. But researchers now identify a genetic mutation in a growth hormone-regulating gene that corresponds to small body size in dogs that was present in wolves over 50,000 years ago, long before domestication.