ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• 'Poisoned arrow' defeats antibiotic-resistant bacteria
• Super water-repellent materials are now durable enough for the real world
• Discovery of ancient super-eruptions indicates the Yellowstone hotspot may be waning
• Synthetic red blood cells mimic natural ones, and have new abilities
• Next-generation cockroach-inspired robot is small but mighty
• First optical measurements of Milky Way's Fermi Bubbles probe their origin
• Ultra-bright X-ray source awakens near a galaxy not so far away
• Scientists discover what an armored dinosaur ate for its last meal
• Astronomers capture a pulsar 'powering up'
• Two lefties make a right -- if you are a one-in-a-million garden snail

'Poisoned arrow' defeats antibiotic-resistant bacteria Posted: 03 Jun 2020 10:25 AM PDT Poison is lethal all on its own -- as are arrows -- and together, they can take down the strongest opponents. Researchers have found an antibiotic that simultaneously punctures bacterial walls and destroys folate within their cells -- killing like a poisoned arrow -- while proving immune to antibiotic resistance.

Super water-repellent materials are now durable enough for the real world Posted: 03 Jun 2020 10:25 AM PDT Superhydrophobic materials have long promised surfaces that never needed cleaning, or medical equipment that no microbe could ever possibly stick to -- but have always been let down by the fact they are very easily damaged. A new armor-plated water repelling material can withstand anything the scientists throw at it.

Discovery of ancient super-eruptions indicates the Yellowstone hotspot may be waning Posted: 03 Jun 2020 10:25 AM PDT Researchers report two newly identified super-eruptions associated with the Yellowstone hotspot track, including what they believe was the volcanic province's largest and most cataclysmic event. The results indicate the hotspot, which today fuels the famous geysers, mudpots, and fumaroles in Yellowstone National Park, may be waning in intensity.

Synthetic red blood cells mimic natural ones, and have new abilities Posted: 03 Jun 2020 09:29 AM PDT Scientists have tried to develop synthetic red blood cells that mimic the favorable properties of natural ones, such as flexibility, oxygen transport and long circulation times. Now, researchers have made synthetic red blood cells that have all of the cells' natural abilities, plus a few new ones.

Next-generation cockroach-inspired robot is small but mighty Posted: 03 Jun 2020 09:29 AM PDT Dubbed HAMR-JR, a new microrobot is a half-scale version of the cockroach-inspired Harvard Ambulatory Microrobot or HAMR. About the size of a penny, HAMR-JR can perform almost all of the feats of its larger-scale predecessor, making it one of the most dexterous microrobots to date.

First optical measurements of Milky Way's Fermi Bubbles probe their origin Posted: 03 Jun 2020 09:05 AM PDT Astronomers have for the first time measured the Fermi Bubbles in the visible light spectrum. The Fermi Bubbles are two enormous outflows of high-energy gas that emanate from the Milky Way and the finding refines our understanding of the properties of these mysterious blobs.

Ultra-bright X-ray source awakens near a galaxy not so far away Posted: 03 Jun 2020 09:05 AM PDT A new ultra-bright source of X-rays has awakened in between our galactic neighbors the Magellanic Clouds, after a 26-year slumber. This is the second-closest such object known to date, with a brightness greater than a million Suns.

Scientists discover what an armored dinosaur ate for its last meal Posted: 03 Jun 2020 07:45 AM PDT More than 110 million years ago, a lumbering 1,300-kilogram, armor-plated dinosaur ate its last meal, died, and was washed out to sea in what is now northern Alberta. This ancient beast then sank onto its thorny back, churning up mud in the seabed that entombed it -- until its fossilized body was discovered in a mine near Fort McMurray in 2011.

Astronomers capture a pulsar 'powering up' Posted: 03 Jun 2020 07:45 AM PDT Astronomers have, for the first time, observed the full, 12-day process of material spiraling into a distant neutron star, triggering an X-ray outburst thousands of times brighter than our Sun.

Two lefties make a right -- if you are a one-in-a-million garden snail Posted: 03 Jun 2020 07:05 AM PDT A global campaign to help find a mate for a left-coiling snail called 'Jeremy' has enabled scientists to understand how mirror-image garden snails are formed. The findings show that the rare left-spiraling shell of some garden snails is usually a development accident, rather than an inherited condition.

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