ScienceDaily: Strange Science News


Unraveling a perplexing explosive process that occurs throughout the universe

Posted: 20 May 2022 03:12 PM PDT

Novel simulation brings extraordinary fast radio bursts into the laboratory in a way once thought impossible.

Mixing laser- and x-ray-beams

Posted: 20 May 2022 11:46 AM PDT

Unlike fictional laser swords, real laser beams do not interact with each other when they cross -- unless the beams meet within a suitable material allowing for nonlinear light-matter interaction. In such a case, wave mixing can give rise to beams with changed colors and directions.

Neuromorphic memory device simulates neurons and synapses

Posted: 20 May 2022 10:29 AM PDT

Researchers have reported a nano-sized neuromorphic memory device that emulates neurons and synapses simultaneously in a unit cell, another step toward completing the goal of neuromorphic computing designed to rigorously mimic the human brain with semiconductor devices.

Prehistoric feces reveal parasites from feasting at Stonehenge

Posted: 19 May 2022 05:45 PM PDT

Study of ancient faeces found at a settlement thought to have housed builders of the famous stone monument suggests that parasites got consumed via badly-cooked cow offal during epic winter feasts.

Discovery of 'ghost' fossils reveals plankton resilience to past global warming events

Posted: 19 May 2022 11:10 AM PDT

The 'ghost' fossils are imprints of single-celled plankton called coccolithophores and their discovery is changing our understanding of how plankton in the oceans are affected by climate change.

Ghostly 'mirror world' might be cause of cosmic controversy

Posted: 19 May 2022 10:27 AM PDT

New research suggests an unseen 'mirror world' of particles that interacts with our world only via gravity that might be the key to solving a major puzzle in cosmology today -- the Hubble constant problem. The Hubble constant is the rate of expansion of the universe today. Predictions for this rate are significantly slower than the rate found by our most precise local measurements. This discrepancy is one that many cosmologists have been trying to solve by changing our current cosmological model.

Watch dolphins line up to self-medicate skin ailments at coral 'clinics'

Posted: 19 May 2022 08:53 AM PDT

If a human comes down with a rash, they might go to the doctor and come away with some ointment to put on it. Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins get skin conditions, too, but they come about their medication by queuing up nose-to-tail to rub themselves against corals. Researchers now show that these corals have medicinal properties, suggesting that the dolphins are using the marine invertebrates to medicate skin conditions.

Are people swapping their cats and goldfish for praying mantises?

Posted: 19 May 2022 05:11 AM PDT

Praying mantises have gained recent popularity as pets, sold at animal fairs and pet markets, but also collected in the wild by a fast-growing community of hobbyists and professional marketers. An overview of this market's dynamics reports on both problems and opportunities of the pet mantis market, like the absence of regulations, but also the potential of a stronger collaboration between hobbyists and scientists for biodiversity conservation.

Puzzling features deep in Earth's interior illuminated

Posted: 19 May 2022 05:11 AM PDT

New research examines an unusual pocket of rock at the boundary layer with Earth's core, some three thousand kilometers beneath the surface.

Component for brain-inspired computing

Posted: 18 May 2022 10:07 AM PDT

Researchers have developed a new material for an electronic component that can be used in a wider range of applications than its predecessors. Such components will help create electronic circuits that emulate the human brain and that are more efficient at performing machine-learning tasks.

Physicists explain how type of aurora on Mars is formed

Posted: 18 May 2022 08:38 AM PDT

Researchers have learned how a type of aurora on Mars is formed. The physicists report discrete aurora form through the interaction of the solar wind and the crust at Mars' southern hemisphere.

It's a female bonobo's world: Ecologists propose new tools to assess sex and power among wild animals

Posted: 18 May 2022 08:33 AM PDT

In the wild, it might seem like male animals run the show. But researchers have laid a new framework to assess power distribution between the sexes, and its application has shown that in some animal species, females rule the roost and their paths to power look very different from that of their male counterparts'.

Researchers use galaxy as a 'cosmic telescope' to study heart of the young universe

Posted: 18 May 2022 08:33 AM PDT

A unique new instrument, coupled with a powerful telescope and a little help from nature, has given researchers the ability to peer into galactic nurseries at the heart of the young universe.

Astronauts may one day drink water from ancient moon volcanoes

Posted: 17 May 2022 06:04 PM PDT

If any humans had been alive 2 to 4 billion years ago, they may have looked up and seen a sliver of frost on the moon's surface. Some of that ice may still be hiding in craters on the lunar surface today.

Scientists see signs of traumatic brain injury in headbutting muskox

Posted: 17 May 2022 10:07 AM PDT

Scientists saw for the first time hallmarks of concussions and other head trauma in the brains of deceased headbutting animals -- muskoxen and bighorn sheep. The results may contradict the commonly-held belief that ramming animals do not suffer brain injuries and support the notion that studies on animals with brains evolutionarily similar to those of humans may help researchers understand and reduce traumatic brain injuries.

Major infrared breakthrough could lead to solar power at night

Posted: 17 May 2022 08:22 AM PDT

Using technology similar to night-vision goggles, researchers have developed a device that can generate electricity from thermal radiation.

Scent dogs detect coronavirus reliably from skin swabs

Posted: 17 May 2022 06:48 AM PDT

A recent study confirmed that scent detection dogs can be taught to identify individuals with a coronavirus infection from skin swabs. In the experimental set-up at Finland's Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport, the accuracy of the dogs in identifying the samples was 92 percent.

Chimpanzees combine calls to form numerous vocal sequences

Posted: 17 May 2022 06:48 AM PDT

Evidence of structured vocal sequences in wild chimpanzee communication provides insights into human language evolution.

Chemists synthesize psychotropic compound from rainforest tree

Posted: 12 May 2022 01:40 PM PDT

Scientists found a chemical from a rainforest tree that binds to opioid receptors in the brain and may have utility as an antidepressant or anti-anxiety drug.