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Thursday, February 20, 2014

ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

ScienceDaily: Strange Science News


Battery small enough to be injected, energetic enough to track salmon

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 11:33 AM PST

Scientists have created a microbattery that packs twice the energy compared to current microbatteries used to monitor the movements of salmon. The battery is just slightly larger than a long grain of rice, however is not the world's smallest battery. Engineers have created batteries far tinier than the width of a human hair, but those smaller batteries don't hold enough energy to power acoustic fish tags. The new battery is small enough to be injected into an organism and holds much more energy than similar-sized batteries.

Bats inspire 'micro air vehicle' designs: Small flying vehicles, complete with flapping wings, may now be designed

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 08:42 AM PST

By exploring how creatures in nature are able to fly by flapping their wings, researchers hope to apply that knowledge toward designing small flying vehicles known as "micro air vehicles" with flapping wings.

Blu-ray player detects microorganisms and toxins on discs

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 08:05 AM PST

In addition to storing films, optical discs can be used to detect microorganisms, toxins, allergens and tumoral biomarkers. Blu-ray technology has allowed researchers to develop a way to find out if a sample contains Salmonella or toxic substances. This simple and cheap analytical system may be applied to clinical diagnosis and environmental monitoring.

Asian elephants reassure others in distress: First empirical evidence of consolation in elephants

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 07:10 AM PST

Asian elephants console others who are in distress, using physical touches and vocalizations, new research shows. The findings are the first empirical evidence of consolation in elephants. Consolation behavior is rare in the animal kingdom, with empirical evidence previously provided only for the great apes, canines and certain corvids.

Computer arranges pictures based on artistic features

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 07:07 AM PST

Until now, if a nature photographer wanted to arrange pictures of various butterflies systematically based on color or size to create an illustrated book, a lot of time was needed: The artist would have to arrange the individual pictures of the animals on the computer by hand to bring them into the requested order. Suitable software that would have been able to arrange pictures automatically based on certain characteristics did not exist. Researchers have now developed a method that makes it possible to arrange numerous pictures very fast.

Beauty and bacteria: Slim, attractive men have less nasal bacteria than heavy men

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 07:07 AM PST

Do attractive traits tell us anything about a person's reproductive health? New research reveals a link between Body Mass Index (BMI) and the amount of bacteria colonizing noses. The results show that heavier men harbor more potentially pathogenic species of bacteria in their nose, compared with slimmer, more traditionally attractive men.

Infected Tasmanian devils reveal how cancer cells evolve in response to humans

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 07:07 AM PST

Tasmanian Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD) has ravaged the world's largest carnivorous marsupial since it emerged in 1996, resulting in a population decline of over 90%. Conservation work to defeat the disease has including removing infected individuals from the population and new research explains how this gives us a unique opportunity to understand how human selection alters the evolution of cancerous cells. DFTD is an asexually reproducing clonal cell line, which during the last 16 years has been exposed to negative effects as infected devils, approximately 33% of the population, have been removed from one site, the Forestier Peninsula, in Tasmania between 2006 and 2010.

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