ScienceDaily: Strange Science News |
- 'Cry' of a shredded star heralds a new era for testing relativity
- Vaporizing Earth in computer simulations to aid search for super-Earths
- Animation research could offer unparalleled control of characters without skeletons
- Deep-sea squid can 'jettison arms' as defensive tactic
- How elephants produce their deep 'voices': Same physical mechanism produces vocalizations in elephants and humans
- Cuckoo tricks to beat the neighborhood watch
- Multiple husbands serve as child support and life insurance in some cultures
- Within reach: Engineers to add arms and hands to unmanned aerial vehicles
- Smart wirelessly controlled power outlets
- Usain Bolt could break his own record with the help of altitude and the wind
- How do you make the perfect sandcastle? A little water can give you a five meter high castle
- Skin cancer identified for the first time in wild fish populations, beneath ozone layer hole
- Rewarding work for butterflies
| 'Cry' of a shredded star heralds a new era for testing relativity Posted: 02 Aug 2012 03:39 PM PDT Last year, astronomers discovered a quiescent black hole in a distant galaxy that erupted after shredding and consuming a passing star. Now researchers have identified a distinctive X-ray signal observed in the days following the outburst that comes from matter on the verge of falling into the black hole. |
| Vaporizing Earth in computer simulations to aid search for super-Earths Posted: 02 Aug 2012 12:32 PM PDT Scientists have vaporized the Earth -- if only by simulation, that is mathematically and inside a computer. They weren't just practicing their evil overlord skills. By baking model Earths, they are trying to figure out what astronomers should see when they look at the atmospheres of super-Earths in a bid to learn the planets' compositions. |
| Animation research could offer unparalleled control of characters without skeletons Posted: 02 Aug 2012 12:32 PM PDT Computer-generated characters have become so lifelike in appearance and movement that the line separating reality is almost imperceptible at times. But while bipeds and quadrupeds have reigned supreme in CG animation, attempts to create and control their skeleton-free cousins using similar techniques has proved time-consuming and laborious. Researchers have found a possible solution to this challenge by developing a way to simulate and control movement of computer-generated characters without a skeletal structure. |
| Deep-sea squid can 'jettison arms' as defensive tactic Posted: 02 Aug 2012 12:04 PM PDT A researcher has observed a never-before-seen defensive strategy used by a small species of deep-sea squid in which the animal counter-attacks a predator and then leaves the tips of its arms attached to the predator as a distraction. |
| Posted: 02 Aug 2012 11:15 AM PDT Elephants rely on the same mechanism that produces speech in humans (and the vocalizations of many other mammals) to hit the extremely low notes they use to communicate. |
| Cuckoo tricks to beat the neighborhood watch Posted: 02 Aug 2012 11:15 AM PDT To minimize the chance of being recognized and thus attacked by the birds they are trying to parasitize, female cuckoos have evolved different guises. |
| Multiple husbands serve as child support and life insurance in some cultures Posted: 02 Aug 2012 09:26 AM PDT Marrying multiple husbands at the same time, or polyandry, creates a safety net for women in some cultures, according to a recent study. Extra husbands ensure that women's children are cared for even if their fathers die or disappear. Although polyandry is taboo and illegal in the United States, certain legal structures, such as child support payments and life insurance, fill the same role for American women that multiple husbands do in other cultures. |
| Within reach: Engineers to add arms and hands to unmanned aerial vehicles Posted: 02 Aug 2012 09:23 AM PDT Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), such as those used by the military for surveillance and reconnaissance, could be getting a hand –- and an arm -– from engineers as part of a project to investigate adding dexterous limbs to the aircrafts. The project, whose subject harkens to the hovering android iconography of sci-fi movies, could be a step toward the use of UAVs for emergency response and search and rescue scenarios. |
| Smart wirelessly controlled power outlets Posted: 02 Aug 2012 08:13 AM PDT Many homeowners dream of being able to wash a load of laundry when the photovoltaic panels on the roof are delivering a maximum of electricity, even when they are not at home. A new Internet-enabled power outlet will soon allow users to control household appliances via their smartphone, and reduce their energy costs into the bargain. |
| Usain Bolt could break his own record with the help of altitude and the wind Posted: 02 Aug 2012 07:12 AM PDT Imagine the following situation. The 100 meters finals in the London Olympic Games. The Jamaican Usain Bolt wins. Up to this point everything sounds normal except for the fact that he would break his own record again with a time of 9.48 seconds. According to the New Zealand researchers, this would be his record if there were a two meter per second tailwind (maximum allowable wind) and the race took place at an altitude of 999 meters. The 100 meter final will take place on Sunday at London 2012. |
| How do you make the perfect sandcastle? A little water can give you a five meter high castle Posted: 02 Aug 2012 07:11 AM PDT All children who build sandcastles on the beach know that in addition to sand you also need to add a little water to prevent the structure from collapsing. But why is this? The function of water in sandcastles is to form small 'bridges' which make the grains of sand stick together, thus increasing the solidity of the structure. The researchers show that the optimum amount of water is very small (only a few per cent). If this optimum concentration is used, sandcastles reaching five meters in height can be built. |
| Skin cancer identified for the first time in wild fish populations, beneath ozone layer hole Posted: 01 Aug 2012 03:51 PM PDT Scientists identify melanoma in the coral trout, a species found on the Great Barrier Reef and directly beneath the world's largest hole in the ozone layer. |
| Rewarding work for butterflies Posted: 01 Aug 2012 06:37 AM PDT Butterflies learn faster when a flower is rewarding than when it is not, and females have the edge over males when it comes to speed of learning with rewards. This research is thought to be the first to investigate and compare the speed at which insects learn from both rewarding and non-rewarding experiences. |
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