ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• In a first, NASA measures wind speed on a brown dwarf
• Black rhinos eavesdrop on the alarm calls of hitchhiking oxpeckers to avoid humans
• Looking for dark matter
• Hormone produced in starved leaves stimulates roots to take up nitrogen
• Thanks to 'flexoskeletons,' these insect-inspired robots are faster and cheaper to make
• 3D-printed corals could improve bioenergy and help coral reefs
• Synchrotron X-ray sheds light on some of the world's oldest dinosaur eggs
• Archaeologists on a 5,000-year-old egg hunt
• Doubts about basic assumption for the universe

In a first, NASA measures wind speed on a brown dwarf Posted: 09 Apr 2020 11:24 AM PDT Not quite planets and not quite stars, brown dwarfs are cosmic in-betweeners. Learning about their atmospheres could help us understand giant planets around other stars.

Black rhinos eavesdrop on the alarm calls of hitchhiking oxpeckers to avoid humans Posted: 09 Apr 2020 08:05 AM PDT In Swahili, red-billed oxpeckers are called Askari wa kifaru, or 'the rhino's guard.' Now, an article suggests that this indigenous name rings true: red-billed oxpeckers may behave like sentinels, sounding an alarm to potential danger. By tracking wild black rhinos, researchers found that those carrying oxpeckers were far better at sensing and avoiding humans than those without the hitchhiking bird.

Looking for dark matter Posted: 09 Apr 2020 06:39 AM PDT Dark matter is thought to exist as 'clumps' of tiny particles that pass through the earth, temporarily perturbing some fundamental constants. A new article sets out two novel methods for measuring these tiny changes and thus detecting dark matter. Both use already existing experimental infrastructure.

Hormone produced in starved leaves stimulates roots to take up nitrogen Posted: 09 Apr 2020 06:39 AM PDT A new study has highlighted the extraordinary ability of plants to communicate between their shoots and roots to prevent starvation.

Thanks to 'flexoskeletons,' these insect-inspired robots are faster and cheaper to make Posted: 09 Apr 2020 06:39 AM PDT Engineers have developed a new method that doesn't require any special equipment and works in just minutes to create soft, flexible, 3D-printed robots. The structures were inspired by insect exoskeletons, which have both soft and rigid parts -- the researchers called their creations 'flexoskeletons.'

3D-printed corals could improve bioenergy and help coral reefs Posted: 09 Apr 2020 05:56 AM PDT Researchers have designed bionic 3D-printed corals that could help energy production and coral reef research.

Synchrotron X-ray sheds light on some of the world's oldest dinosaur eggs Posted: 09 Apr 2020 05:56 AM PDT Scientists have reconstructed the skulls of some of the world's oldest known dinosaur embryos in 3D, using powerful and non-destructive synchrotron techniques. They found that the skulls develop in the same order as those of today's crocodiles, chickens, turtles and lizards.

Archaeologists on a 5,000-year-old egg hunt Posted: 08 Apr 2020 03:47 PM PDT Scientists are closer to cracking a 5,000-year-old mystery surrounding the ancient trade and production of decorated ostrich eggs. Long before Fabergé, ornate ostrich eggs were highly prized by the elites of Mediterranean civilizations during the Bronze and Iron Ages, but to date little has been known about the complex supply chain behind these luxury goods.

Doubts about basic assumption for the universe Posted: 08 Apr 2020 07:21 AM PDT No matter where we look, the same rules apply everywhere in space: countless calculations of astrophysics are based on this basic principle. A recent study, however, has thrown this principle into question. Should the measured values be confirmed, this would toss many assumptions about the properties of the universe overboard.

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