ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

Researchers have developed an innovative terahertz imager microchip that can enable devices to detect and create images through obstacles that include fog, smoke, dust and snow.

Researchers found that the axis of rotation of a black hole in a binary system is tilted more than 40 degrees relative to the axis of stellar orbit. The finding challenges current theoretical models of black hole formation.

Axions are today's most popular candidate for dark matter, and numerous experiments are trying to detect them in microwave cavities where the axion should rarely convert into an electromagnetic wave. But a new simulation of the production of axions in the early universe provides a more refined mass estimate, and higher frequency for the EM wave, that is outside the range of these experiments. The new mass comes from adaptive mesh refinement in supercomputer simulations.

Stick insects that reproduce asexually cannot adapt as quickly in the course of evolution as sexually reproducing species, leading to a decrease in biological diversity, according to new research.

Researchers have developed a way to improve crop quality without needing to create special genetically modified plants. The new technique relies on a spray that introduces bioactive molecules into plant cells through their leaves and could be used to help crops resist pests or become more resistant to drought -- in less time and at less cost than genetically modifying crops.