ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

Biofuel scientists used an oddball molecule made by bacteria to develop a new class of sustainable biofuels powerful enough to launch rockets. The candidate molecules have greater projected energy density than any petroleum product, including the leading aviation and rocket fuels, JetA and RP-1.

An unusual ultra-faint dwarf galaxy has been discovered on the outer fringes of the Andromeda Galaxy thanks to the sharp eyes of an amateur astronomer. Follow-up by professional astronomers revealed that the dwarf galaxy -- Pegasus V -- contains very few heavier elements and is likely to be a fossil of the first galaxies.

Changes in the way that humans live and eat have resulted in tremendous alterations in the gut microbiome, especially over the past few decades. These changes have been linked to increased rates of asthma, allergies, diseases of the digestive system, type 2 diabetes, and other conditions. Scientists propose that we can combat these trends by having individuals bank samples of their own gut microbiota when they are young and healthy for potential use later in life in an autologous fecal microbiota transplant (FMT).

An ancient fossil reveals the earliest panda to survive solely on bamboo and the evolutionary history of panda's false thumbs.

Environmental sensors are a step closer to simultaneously sniffing out multiple gases that could indicate disease or pollution. Researchers combined laser writing and responsive sensor technologies to fabricate the first highly customizable microscale gas sensing devices.

A pair of Orca (Killer Whales) that have been terrorizing and killing Great White Sharks off the coast of South Africa since 2017 has managed to drive large numbers of the sharks from their natural aggregation site.

The gut 'microbiomes' of long-dead animals could give researchers surprising insights into how climate change and other factors have shaped the Rocky Mountains and other ecosystems over decades.

Winemaking practices in coastal Italy during the Roman period involved using native grapes for making wine in jars waterproofed with imported tar pitch, according to a new study.

Sensing with levitated nanoparticles has so far been limited by the precision of position measurements. Now, researchers have demonstrated a new method for optical interferometry in which light scattered by a particle is reflected by a mirror. This opens up new possibilities for using levitated particles as sensors, in particular, in quantum regimes.