ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• ALMA shows volcanic impact on Io's atmosphere
• Smile, wave: Some exoplanets may be able to see us, too
• A flexible color-changing film inspired by chameleon skin
• How do snakes 'see' in the dark? Researchers have an answer
• This white paint keeps surfaces cooler than surroundings, even under direct sunlight
• This beetle can survive getting run over by a car. Engineers are figuring out how
• What cold lizards in Miami can tell us about climate change resilience

ALMA shows volcanic impact on Io's atmosphere Posted: 21 Oct 2020 01:39 PM PDT New radio images from ALMA show for the first time the direct effect of volcanic activity on the atmosphere of Jupiter's moon Io.

Smile, wave: Some exoplanets may be able to see us, too Posted: 21 Oct 2020 11:09 AM PDT Three decades after astronomer Carl Sagan suggested that Voyager 1 snap Earth's picture from billions of miles away - resulting in the iconic Pale Blue Dot photograph - two astronomers now offer another unique cosmic perspective: Some exoplanets - planets from beyond our own solar system - have a direct line of sight to observe Earth's biological qualities from far, far away.

A flexible color-changing film inspired by chameleon skin Posted: 21 Oct 2020 10:01 AM PDT Chameleons can famously change their colors to camouflage themselves, communicate and regulate their temperature. Scientists have tried to replicate these color-changing properties for stealth technologies, anti-counterfeiting measures and electronic displays, but the materials have limitations. Now, researchers have developed a flexible film that changes color in response to stretching, pressure or humidity.

How do snakes 'see' in the dark? Researchers have an answer Posted: 21 Oct 2020 10:01 AM PDT Certain species of snake -- think pit vipers, boa constrictors and pythons, among others -- are able to find and capture prey with uncanny accuracy, even in total darkness. Now scientists have discovered how these creatures are able to convert the heat from organisms that are warmer than their ambient surroundings into electrical signals, allowing them to 'see' in the dark.

This white paint keeps surfaces cooler than surroundings, even under direct sunlight Posted: 21 Oct 2020 08:23 AM PDT Scientists have developed a white paint that cools below the temperature of its ambient surroundings even under direct sunlight. Their research demonstrates a radiative cooling technology that could be used in commercial paints, that could be less expensive to manufacture, and that passively reflects 95.5% of sunlight that reaches its surface back into outer space.

This beetle can survive getting run over by a car. Engineers are figuring out how Posted: 21 Oct 2020 08:23 AM PDT Getting run over by a car is not a near-death experience for the diabolical ironclad beetle. How the beetle survives could inspire the development of new materials with the same herculean toughness, engineers show.

What cold lizards in Miami can tell us about climate change resilience Posted: 21 Oct 2020 05:51 AM PDT When temperatures go below a critical limit, sleeping lizards lose their grip and fall out of trees. But when researchers collected the scaled survivors of a record cold snap, they discovered that a Miami lizard community responded in an unexpected way: all of them could now tolerate cold temperatures down to about 42 degrees Fahrenheit, regardless of their species' previous ability to withstand cold.

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