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Monday, March 24, 2014

ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

ScienceDaily: Strange Science News


Electric 'thinking cap' controls learning speed

Posted: 23 Mar 2014 02:19 PM PDT

Caffeine-fueled cram sessions are routine occurrences on any college campus. But what if there was a better, safer way to learn new or difficult material more quickly? What if "thinking caps" were real? Scientists have now shown that it is possible to selectively manipulate our ability to learn through the application of a mild electrical current to the brain, and that this effect can be enhanced or depressed depending on the direction of the current.

Engineers design 'living materials': Hybrid materials combine bacterial cells with nonliving elements that emit light

Posted: 23 Mar 2014 12:21 PM PDT

Inspired by natural materials such as bone -- a matrix of minerals and other substances, including living cells -- engineers have coaxed bacterial cells to produce biofilms that can incorporate nonliving materials, such as gold nanoparticles and quantum dots. These "living materials" combine the advantages of live cells, which respond to their environment, produce complex biological molecules, and span multiple length scales, with the benefits of nonliving materials, which add functions such as conducting electricity or emitting light.

Study on element could change ballgame on radioactive waste

Posted: 23 Mar 2014 12:17 PM PDT

Groundbreaking work by a team of chemists on a fringe element of the periodic table could change how the world stores radioactive waste and recycles fuel. The element is called californium -- Cf if you're looking at the Periodic Table of Elements -- and it's what researchers called "wicked stuff."

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