ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• To 'think outside the box,' think outside the box
• Scientists produce world's first magnetic soap
• Ancient domesticated dog skull found in Siberian cave: 33,000 years old
• Mighty mesh: Extracellular matrix identified as source of spreading in biofilms
• Homeless heavy drinkers imbibe less when housing allows alcohol
• Worm seeks worm: Chemical cues drive aggregation in nematodes

To 'think outside the box,' think outside the box Posted: 23 Jan 2012 02:58 PM PST Want to think outside the box? Try actually thinking outside of a box. In a new study, researchers had students think up solutions to problems while acting out various metaphors about creative thinking and found that the instructions actually worked.

Scientists produce world's first magnetic soap Posted: 23 Jan 2012 02:48 PM PST Scientists have developed a soap, composed of iron rich salts dissolved in water, that responds to a magnetic field when placed in solution. The soap's magnetic properties were shown to result from tiny iron-rich clumps that sit within the watery solution. The generation of this property in a fully functional soap could calm concerns over the use of soaps in oil-spill clean ups and revolutionize industrial cleaning products.

Ancient domesticated dog skull found in Siberian cave: 33,000 years old Posted: 23 Jan 2012 12:25 PM PST A 33,000-year-old dog skull unearthed in a Siberian mountain cave presents some of the oldest known evidence of dog domestication and indicates that modern dogs may be descended from multiple ancestors, with advancing glaciers thwarting early domestication efforts.

Mighty mesh: Extracellular matrix identified as source of spreading in biofilms Posted: 23 Jan 2012 08:55 AM PST New research explains how bacterial biofilms expand to form slimy mats on teeth, pipes, surgical instruments, and crops.

Homeless heavy drinkers imbibe less when housing allows alcohol Posted: 19 Jan 2012 01:32 PM PST A study of a controversial housing project that allows chronically homeless people with severe alcohol problems to drink in their apartments found that during their first two years in the building residents cut their heavy drinking by 35 percent.

Worm seeks worm: Chemical cues drive aggregation in nematodes Posted: 12 Jan 2012 07:06 AM PST Scientists have long seen evidence of social behavior among many species of animals. Dolphins frolic together and lions live in packs. And, right under our feet, it appears that nematodes are having their own little gatherings in the soil. Until recently, it was unknown how the worms communicate to one another when it's time to come together. Now, researchers have identified, for the first time, the chemical signals that promote aggregation.

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