ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

---

• Neurobiology: How mice see the world
• Why does Mercury have such a big iron core? Magnetism!
• Insect-sized robot navigates mazes with the agility of a cheetah
• Solving a long-standing mystery about the desert's rock art canvas
• Same dance, different species: How natural selection drives common behavior of lizards
• Observation, simulation, and AI join forces to reveal a clear universe
• How ethane-consuming archaea pick up their favorite dish

Neurobiology: How mice see the world Posted: 02 Jul 2021 12:43 PM PDT Researchers have developed an open-source camera system that images natural habitats as they appear to rodents.

Why does Mercury have such a big iron core? Magnetism! Posted: 02 Jul 2021 12:43 PM PDT A new study disputes the prevailing hypothesis on why Mercury has a big core relative to its mantle. For decades, scientists argued that hit-and-run collisions blew away much of Mercury's rocky mantle and left the big, dense, metal core inside. But new research reveals that collisions are not to blame -- instead, the density, mass and iron content of a rocky planet's core is influenced by its distance from the sun's magnetic field.

Insect-sized robot navigates mazes with the agility of a cheetah Posted: 02 Jul 2021 12:42 PM PDT Engineers have created an insect-scale robot that can swerve and pivot with the agility of a cheetah, giving it the ability to traverse complex terrain and quickly avoid unexpected obstacles. Small, robust robots like these could be ideal for conducting search and rescue operations or investigating other hazardous situations, such as scoping out potential gas leaks.

Solving a long-standing mystery about the desert's rock art canvas Posted: 02 Jul 2021 12:42 PM PDT Petroglyphs are carved in a material called rock varnish, the origins of which have been debated for years. Now, scientists argue it's the result of bacteria and an adaptation that protects them from the desert sun's harsh rays.

Same dance, different species: How natural selection drives common behavior of lizards Posted: 02 Jul 2021 08:45 AM PDT A surprising study on the behavior of unrelated lizards in very different parts of the world has demonstrated how evolution can lead to different species learning the same skills. The study documents how the Anolis lizard species in the Caribbean, and the Draco lizard species in Southeast Asia, have solved the challenge of communicating with one another to defend territories and attract mates.

Observation, simulation, and AI join forces to reveal a clear universe Posted: 02 Jul 2021 08:45 AM PDT Astronomers have developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) technique to remove noise in astronomical data due to random variations in galaxy shapes. After extensive training and testing on large mock data created by supercomputer simulations, they then applied this new tool to actual data from Japan's Subaru Telescope and found that the mass distribution derived from using this method is consistent with the currently accepted models of the Universe.

How ethane-consuming archaea pick up their favorite dish Posted: 02 Jul 2021 08:45 AM PDT Hot vents in the deep sea are home to microbes that feed on ethane. Now researchers have succeeded in finding an important component in the microbial conversion of the gas. They were able to decode the structure of the enzyme responsible for the ethane fixation.

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