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Friday, October 26, 2012

ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

ScienceDaily: Strange Science News


New study brings a doubted exoplanet 'back from the dead'

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 02:46 PM PDT

A second look at data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is reanimating the claim that the nearby star Fomalhaut hosts a massive exoplanet. The study suggests that the planet, named Fomalhaut b, is a rare and possibly unique object that is completely shrouded by dust.

Fossils of first feathered dinosaurs from North America discovered: Clues on early wing uses

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 12:03 PM PDT

The first ornithomimid specimens preserved with feathers, recovered from 75 million-year-old rocks in the badlands of Alberta, Canada has been described.

Size does matter in sexual selection, at least among beetles

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 10:09 AM PDT

The size of genital spines has a measurable effect on sexual success in beetles, according to a recent article.

Galactic snack time: Stream of stars slowly being ingested by the Milky Way

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 10:09 AM PDT

Yale astronomers have caught the Milky Way having a snack. Using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, they have discovered a band, or stream, of stars believed to be the remnant of an ancient star cluster slowly being ingested by the Milky Way, Earth's home galaxy.

Now the mobile phone goes emotional

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 08:29 AM PDT

ForcePhone is a mobile synchronous haptic communication system. During phone calls, users can squeeze the side of the device and the pressure level is mapped to vibrations on the recipient's device. Computer scientists indicate that an additional haptic channel of communication can be integrated into mobile phone calls using a pressure to vibrotactile mapping with local and remote feedback.

NASA spacecraft sees huge burp at Saturn after large storm

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 07:52 AM PDT

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has tracked the aftermath of a rare massive storm on Saturn. Data reveal record-setting disturbances in the planet's upper atmosphere long after the visible signs of the storm abated, in addition to an indication the storm was more forceful than scientists previously thought.

Sleep-deprived bees have difficulty relearning

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 06:55 AM PDT

Everyone needs sleep and sleep is key to memory formation, so how does sleep help us to alter preformed memories? Answering this question is impossible in humans, but when researchers in Germany tested the effect of sleep deprivation on bee brains, they discovered that the insects could not modify their memories. So bee brains could teach us how we modify well-established memories.

Did the changing climate shrink Europe's ancient hippos?

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 06:54 AM PDT

Giant German hippopotamuses wallowing on the banks of the Elbe are not a common sight. Yet 1.8 million years ago hippos were a prominent part of European wildlife, when mega-fauna such as woolly mammoths and giant cave bears bestrode the continent. Now palaeontologists believe that the changing climate during the Pleistocene Era may have forced Europe's hippos to shrink to pygmy sizes before driving them to warmer climes.

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