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Thursday, June 9, 2022

ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

Ground-breaking number of brown dwarfs discovered
Scientists craft living human skin for robots
'Fantastic giant tortoise,' believed extinct, confirmed alive in the Galápagos
Europe's largest land predator unearthed on the Isle of Wight

Ground-breaking number of brown dwarfs discovered

Posted: 09 Jun 2022 10:19 AM PDT

Brown dwarfs, mysterious objects that straddle the line between stars and planets, are essential to our understanding of both stellar and planetary populations. However, only 40 brown dwarfs could be imaged around stars in almost three decades of searches. An international team has directly imaged a remarkable four new brown dwarfs thanks to a new innovative search method.

Scientists craft living human skin for robots

Posted: 09 Jun 2022 10:19 AM PDT

From action heroes to villainous assassins, biohybrid robots made of both living and artificial materials have been at the center of many sci-fi fantasies, inspiring today's robotic innovations. It's still a long way until human-like robots walk among us in our daily lives, but scientists are bringing us one step closer by crafting living human skin on robots. The new method not only gave a robotic finger skin-like texture, but also water-repellent and self-healing functions.

'Fantastic giant tortoise,' believed extinct, confirmed alive in the Galápagos

Posted: 09 Jun 2022 10:19 AM PDT

A tortoise from a Galápagos species long believed extinct has been found alive. Fernanda, named after her Fernandina Island home, is the first of her species identified in more than a century. Geneticist successfully extracted DNA from a specimen collected from the same island more than a century ago and confirmed that Fernanda and the museum specimen are members of the same species and genetically distinct from all other Galápagos tortoises.

Europe's largest land predator unearthed on the Isle of Wight

Posted: 09 Jun 2022 05:22 AM PDT

Palaeontologists have identified the remains of one of Europe's largest ever land-based hunters: a dinosaur that measured over 10m long and lived around 125 million years ago.

Wednesday, June 8, 2022

ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

Bizarre meat-eating dinosaur joins 'Rogues' Gallery' of giant predators from classic fossil site in Egypt's Sahara Desert
Rapid-fire fast radio burst shows hot space between galaxies
Particle accelerator region revealed inside a solar flare
'Ugly' reef fishes are most in need of conservation support

Bizarre meat-eating dinosaur joins 'Rogues' Gallery' of giant predators from classic fossil site in Egypt's Sahara Desert

Posted: 08 Jun 2022 01:14 PM PDT

The fossil of a still-unnamed species provides the first known record of the abelisaurid group of theropods from a middle Cretaceous-aged (approximately 98 million years old) rock unit known as the Bahariya Formation, which is exposed in the Bahariya Oasis of the Western Desert of Egypt.

Rapid-fire fast radio burst shows hot space between galaxies

Posted: 08 Jun 2022 01:13 PM PDT

A recently discovered, rare and persistent rapid-fire fast radio burst source -- sending out an occasional and informative cosmic ping from more than 3.5 billion light years away -- helps to reveal the secrets of the broiling hot space between the galaxies.

Particle accelerator region revealed inside a solar flare

Posted: 08 Jun 2022 10:36 AM PDT

A new study offers direct evidence showing where near-light speed particle acceleration occurs inside the largest explosion known in the solar system, the solar flare.

'Ugly' reef fishes are most in need of conservation support

Posted: 07 Jun 2022 11:24 AM PDT

What's the relationship between people's perception of beauty and animals' conservation needs? According to a machine-learning study, the reef fishes that people find most beautiful tend to be the lowest priority for conservation support.

ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

Strange radio burst raises new questions
Yoyo stars responsible for off-center bubbles
Creating artificial intelligence that acts more human by 'knowing that it knows'

Strange radio burst raises new questions

Posted: 08 Jun 2022 08:24 AM PDT

A highly active repeating Fast Radio Burst is raising new questions about the nature of such objects, and also raising doubts about their usefulness as cosmic yardsticks.

Yoyo stars responsible for off-center bubbles

Posted: 08 Jun 2022 06:14 AM PDT

Astronomers have developed a new code to simulate the formation of a cluster of baby stars. Comparison with the well-known real case of the Orion Nebula shows that its off-center bubble of ionized gas was caused by a massive star that was pushed out of the newborn cluster but is now falling back in.

Creating artificial intelligence that acts more human by 'knowing that it knows'

Posted: 03 Jun 2022 07:01 AM PDT

Development of metamemory in AI system allows it to adjust its understanding based on what it already knows, learning and evolving based on its environment as humans do.

Tuesday, June 7, 2022

ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

Earth's magnetic poles not likely to flip anytime soon
Detecting new particles around black holes with gravitational waves
Colossal collisions linked to solar system science
Bacterial cellulose could enable microbial life on Mars
All wound up: A reversible molecular whirligig
Color-changing mouse model allows researchers to non-invasively study deep tissues
The weird musical dynamics of a lava lake on Kilauea volcano
Turn up the beat! Groovy rhythm improves cognitive performance in groove enjoyers

Earth's magnetic poles not likely to flip anytime soon

Posted: 07 Jun 2022 09:09 AM PDT

The emergence of a mysterious area in the South Atlantic where the geomagnetic field strength is decreasing rapidly, has led to speculation that Earth is heading towards a magnetic polarity reversal. However, a new study that pieces together evidence stretching back 9,000 years, suggests that the current changes aren't unique, and that a reversal may not be in the cards after all.

Detecting new particles around black holes with gravitational waves

Posted: 07 Jun 2022 09:09 AM PDT

Clouds of ultralight particles can form around rotating black holes. A team of physicists now show that these clouds would leave a characteristic imprint on the gravitational waves emitted by binary black holes.

Colossal collisions linked to solar system science

Posted: 07 Jun 2022 09:09 AM PDT

A new study shows a deep connection between some of the largest, most energetic events in the universe and much smaller, weaker ones powered by our own Sun.

Bacterial cellulose could enable microbial life on Mars

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 03:12 PM PDT

An international research team has investigated the chances of survival of kombucha cultures under Mars-like conditions. Kombucha is known as a drink, sometimes called tea fungus or mushroom tea, which is produced by fermenting sugared tea using kombucha cultures -- a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. Although the simulated Martian environment destroyed the microbial ecology of the kombucha cultures, surprisingly, a cellulose-producing bacterial species survived.

All wound up: A reversible molecular whirligig

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 03:12 PM PDT

Over the last few decades, researchers have built minuscule molecular machines that rotate or shuttle other molecules. However, it's difficult to determine the mechanical work and forces that these tiny contraptions produce, which is important when using them as nanorobots or in artificial muscles. Now researchers report molecular motors that twist and untwist like whirligig toys -- enabling the measurement of the energy and torque of their rotations.

Color-changing mouse model allows researchers to non-invasively study deep tissues

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 11:54 AM PDT

Biomedical and genetic engineers have developed a process to change the color of a mouse's tissue to better image its internal physiology. The approach will help researchers isolate and remove sources of strong background noise in biomedical images, giving them unprecedented access to observe, influence and image biological processes with a swiftly developing imaging technique called photoacoustic imaging.

The weird musical dynamics of a lava lake on Kilauea volcano

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 11:28 AM PDT

Before its big burst in 2018, Kilauea spent ten years erupting more gently. Research gives new insights into the volcano's longstanding lava lake, one feature of this eruption.

Turn up the beat! Groovy rhythm improves cognitive performance in groove enjoyers

Posted: 27 May 2022 07:12 AM PDT

Researchers found that music with a groove can enhance executive function and brain activity in relevant brain regions. However, this effect was only observed in individuals who reported that the music elicited a strong groove sensation and who felt more clear-headed after listening. These findings could lead to new strategies for enhancing cognitive function in normal and patient populations, such as accessible and effective exercise programs (enriched exercise).

Monday, June 6, 2022

ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

Researchers create 'time machine' simulations studying the lifecycle of ancestor galaxy 'cities'

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 08:15 AM PDT

Researchers have created time machine-like simulations recreate the full life cycle of some of the largest collections of galaxies observed in the distant universe 11 billion years ago.

Sunday, June 5, 2022

ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

Nanostructured fibers can impersonate human muscles
New research shows long-term personality traits influence problem-solving in zebra finches
How plesiosaurs swam underwater
Snake, lizard T cell mystery

Nanostructured fibers can impersonate human muscles

Posted: 03 Jun 2022 12:33 PM PDT

Researchers have created a new type of fiber that can perform like a muscle actuator, in many ways better than other options that exist today. And, most importantly, these muscle-like fibers are simple to make and recycle.

New research shows long-term personality traits influence problem-solving in zebra finches

Posted: 03 Jun 2022 09:49 AM PDT

Zebra finches innovate solutions to novel foraging tasks, where sometimes success is related to personality type.

How plesiosaurs swam underwater

Posted: 03 Jun 2022 07:01 AM PDT

Plesiosaurs are characterized by four uniform flippers. It was possible to reconstruct whether they used these in a rowing or flying motion underwater thanks to a combination of paleontological and engineering methods.

Snake, lizard T cell mystery

Posted: 25 May 2022 07:29 AM PDT

The intriguing Australian sleepy lizard has raised new questions about vertebrate immunity after the surprise discovery of the evolutionary disappearance of genes needed for some T cell production in squamates. Researchers conclude taht it's likely that all squamates (snakes and lizards) are missing one set of T lymphocyte cells -- paving the way for new research into what these T cells do in other animals, including humans.

Thursday, June 2, 2022

ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

Hydrofoils: Major climate benefits when ships 'fly' over the surface

Posted: 02 Jun 2022 06:51 AM PDT

Soon, electric passenger ferries skimming above the surface across the seas may become a reality. A research team has created a unique method for further developing hydrofoils that can significantly increase the range of electric vessels and reduce the fuel consumption of fossil-powered ships by 80 per cent.

Time crystals 'impossible' but obey quantum physics

Posted: 02 Jun 2022 06:51 AM PDT

Scientists have created a 'time-crystal' a two-body system in an experiment that seems to bend the laws of physics. A 'two-level system' is a basic building block of a quantum computer. Time crystals could perhaps be used to build quantum devices that work at room temperature. Time crystals were long believed to be impossible because they are made from atoms in never-ending motion. The discovery shows that not only can time crystals be created, but they have potential to be turned into useful devices.