ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Dark storm on Neptune reverses direction, possibly shedding a fragment
• Saturn moon, Enceladus, could support life in its subsurface ocean
• Astronomers detect possible radio emission from exoplanet
• New type of atomic clock keeps time even more precisely
• A pair of lonely planet-like objects born like stars
• Device mimics life's first steps in outer space
• 'Chaotic' way to create insectlike gaits for robots
• Mummified baboons shine new light on the lost land of Punt
• Researchers use origami to solve space travel challenge

Dark storm on Neptune reverses direction, possibly shedding a fragment Posted: 16 Dec 2020 03:36 PM PST Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope watched a mysterious dark vortex on Neptune abruptly steer away from a likely death on the giant blue planet.

Saturn moon, Enceladus, could support life in its subsurface ocean Posted: 16 Dec 2020 12:52 PM PST Using data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, scientists modeled chemical processes in the subsurface ocean of Saturn's moon Enceladus. The studies indicate the possibility that a varied metabolic menu could support a potentially diverse microbial community in the liquid water ocean beneath the moon's icy facade.

Astronomers detect possible radio emission from exoplanet Posted: 16 Dec 2020 10:47 AM PST By monitoring the cosmos with a radio telescope array, an international team of scientists has detected radio bursts emanating from the constellation Boötes. The signal could be the first radio emission collected from a planet beyond our solar system.

New type of atomic clock keeps time even more precisely Posted: 16 Dec 2020 08:33 AM PST A newly-designed atomic clock uses entangled atoms to keep time even more precisely than its state-of-the-art counterparts. The design could help scientists detect dark matter and study gravity's effect on time.

A pair of lonely planet-like objects born like stars Posted: 16 Dec 2020 08:32 AM PST An international research team has discovered an exotic binary system composed of two young planet-like objects, orbiting around each other from a very large distance. Although these objects look like giant exoplanets, they formed in the same way as stars, proving that the mechanisms driving star formation can produce rogue worlds in unusual systems deprived of a Sun.

Device mimics life's first steps in outer space Posted: 15 Dec 2020 10:12 AM PST A new device promises insight into how the building blocks of life form in outer space. It mimics how molecules come together in the freezing darkness of interstellar space.

'Chaotic' way to create insectlike gaits for robots Posted: 15 Dec 2020 08:20 AM PST Researchers are embracing chaos and nonlinear physics to create insectlike gaits for tiny robots -- complete with a locomotion controller to provide a brain-machine interface. Biology and physics are permeated by universal phenomena fundamentally grounded in nonlinear physics, and it inspired the researchers' work. The group now describes using a system of three nonlinear differential equations as a building block for central pattern generators to control the gait of a robotic insect.

Mummified baboons shine new light on the lost land of Punt Posted: 15 Dec 2020 05:20 AM PST Ancient Punt was a major trading partner of Egyptians for at least 1,100 years. It was an important source of luxury goods, including incense, gold, and living baboons. Located somewhere in the southern Red Sea region in either Africa or Arabia, scholars have debated its geographic location for more than 150 years. A new study tracing the geographic origins of Egyptian mummified baboons provides new insight into Punt's location, demonstrating the tremendous nautical range of early Egyptian seafarers.

Researchers use origami to solve space travel challenge Posted: 15 Dec 2020 05:20 AM PST Researchers have used the ancient Japanese art of paper folding to possibly solve a key challenge for outer space travel - how to store and move fuel to rocket engines. The researchers have developed an origami-inspired, folded plastic fuel bladder that doesn't crack at super cold temperatures and could someday be used to store and pump fuel.

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