ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

---

• Martian global dust storm ended winter early in the south
• Anatomy of the red planet: Mars-quakes reveal interior
• Unravelling the knotty problem of the Sun's activity
• Eyes wide shut: How newborn mammals dream the world they're entering
• Clever cockatoos learn through social interaction
• Planetary shields will buckle under stellar winds from their dying stars
• New 3D images of shark intestines show they function like Nikola Tesla's valve
• Antimatter from laser pincers
• 'Backpacking' hedgehogs take permanent staycation
• Spotted: An exoplanet with the potential to form moons
• New study reveals previously unseen star formation in Milky Way
• Exoskeletons have a problem: They can strain the brain
• New quantum research gives insights into how quantum light can be mastered
• SuperBIT: A low-cost balloon-borne telescope to rival Hubble
• Bleak cyborg future from brain-computer interfaces if we're not careful

Martian global dust storm ended winter early in the south Posted: 22 Jul 2021 04:50 PM PDT A dust storm that engulfed Mars in 2018 destroyed a vortex of cold air around the planet's south pole and brought an early spring to the hemisphere. By contrast, the storm caused only minor distortions to the polar vortex in the northern hemisphere and no dramatic seasonal changes.

Anatomy of the red planet: Mars-quakes reveal interior Posted: 22 Jul 2021 01:30 PM PDT Researchers have been able to use seismic data to look inside Mars for the first time. They measured the crust, mantle and core and narrowed down their composition.

Unravelling the knotty problem of the Sun's activity Posted: 22 Jul 2021 01:30 PM PDT A new approach to analysing the development of magnetic tangles on the Sun has led to a breakthrough in a longstanding debate about how solar energy is injected into the solar atmosphere before being released into space, causing space weather events. The first direct evidence that field lines become knotted before they emerge at the visible surface of the Sun has implications for our ability to predict the behavior of active regions and the nature of the solar interior.

Eyes wide shut: How newborn mammals dream the world they're entering Posted: 22 Jul 2021 11:20 AM PDT As a newborn mammal opens its eyes for the first time, it can already make visual sense of the world around it. But how does this happen before they have experienced sight?

Clever cockatoos learn through social interaction Posted: 22 Jul 2021 11:20 AM PDT Scientists have shown that cockatoos, an iconic Australian bird species, learn from each other a unique skill -- lifting garbage bin lids to gather food. The research confirms that cockatoos spread this novel behavior through social learning. This behavior by cockatoos is actually learnt, rather than a result of genetics.

Planetary shields will buckle under stellar winds from their dying stars Posted: 22 Jul 2021 09:12 AM PDT Any life identified on planets orbiting white dwarf stars almost certainly evolved after the star's death, says a new study that reveals the consequences of the intense and furious stellar winds that will batter a planet as its star is dying.

New 3D images of shark intestines show they function like Nikola Tesla's valve Posted: 22 Jul 2021 08:30 AM PDT For more than a century, researchers have relied on flat sketches of sharks' digestive systems to discern how they function -- and how what they eat and excrete impacts other species in the ocean. Now, researchers have produced a series of high-resolution, 3D scans of intestines from nearly three dozen shark species that will advance the understanding of how sharks eat and digest their food.

Antimatter from laser pincers Posted: 22 Jul 2021 08:30 AM PDT An international physics team has proposed a new concept that may allow selected cosmic extreme processes to be studied in the laboratory in the future. A special setup of two high-intensity laser beams could create conditions similar to those found near neutron stars, for example. An antimatter jet is generated and accelerated very efficiently, as the experts report.

'Backpacking' hedgehogs take permanent staycation Posted: 22 Jul 2021 08:30 AM PDT New research has been examining how alpine-based hedgehogs hibernate from a different perspective - their backs.

Spotted: An exoplanet with the potential to form moons Posted: 22 Jul 2021 08:29 AM PDT New high-resolution observations clearly show a moon-forming region around exoplanet PDS 70c. The observations have allowed astronomers to determine the ring-shaped region's size and mass for the first time.

New study reveals previously unseen star formation in Milky Way Posted: 22 Jul 2021 08:28 AM PDT A new survey of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, combines the capabilities of the Very Large Array and the Effelsberg telescope in Germany to provide astronomers with valuable new insights into how stars much more massive than the Sun are formed.

Exoskeletons have a problem: They can strain the brain Posted: 21 Jul 2021 02:26 PM PDT Exoskeletons - wearable devices used by workers on assembly lines or in warehouses to alleviate stress on their lower backs - may compete with valuable resources in the brain while people work, canceling out the physical benefits of wearing them, a new study suggests.

New quantum research gives insights into how quantum light can be mastered Posted: 21 Jul 2021 02:26 PM PDT A team of scientists proposes that modulated quantum metasurfaces can control all properties of photonic qubits, a breakthrough that could impact the fields of quantum information, communications, sensing and imaging, as well as energy and momentum harvesting.

SuperBIT: A low-cost balloon-borne telescope to rival Hubble Posted: 21 Jul 2021 07:24 AM PDT Astronomersand engineers are building a new kind of astronomical telescope. SuperBIT flies above 99.5% of the Earth's atmosphere, carried by a helium balloon the size of a football stadium. The telescope will make its operational debut next April and when deployed should obtain high-resolution images rivaling those of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Bleak cyborg future from brain-computer interfaces if we're not careful Posted: 20 Jul 2021 08:44 AM PDT The most promising method to achieve real-world BCI applications is through electroencephalography, a method of monitoring the brain's electrical activity. EEG-based BCIs will require a number of technological advances prior to widespread use, but more importantly, they will raise a variety of social, ethical, and legal concerns. Researchers conducted a review of modern commercial brain-computer interface devices and discuss the primary technological limitations and humanitarian concerns of these devices.

You are subscribed to email updates from Strange & Offbeat News -- ScienceDaily. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States