ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Cutting the cord on soft robots: Machine walks through snow, flames and can be run over by cars
• Alien life search: Spotting atmospheric chemistry of alien worlds devoid of life
• Scientists report first semiaquatic dinosaur, Spinosaurus: Massive predator was more than 9 feet longer than largest T. rex
• Ceramics don't have to be brittle: Incredibly light, strong materials recover original shape after being smashed
• 'Hot Jupiters' provoke their own host suns to wobble
• 'Talking' and 'listening' to atoms: Scientists make acoustic waves couple to an artificial atom
• Secrets of animal weapons revealed
• You can classify words in your sleep
• Our microbes are a rich source of drugs
• Owls provides clues on how humans focus attention
• World's largest DNA origami created
• Sunshine can act as 'driver' for suicide
• Is the pattern of brain folding a 'fingerprint' for schizophrenia?
• Ozone nano-bubble water: Potential treatment for severe gum infections

Cutting the cord on soft robots: Machine walks through snow, flames and can be run over by cars Posted: 11 Sep 2014 03:07 PM PDT Engineers have developed the world's first untethered soft robot -- and demonstrated that the quadruped, which can literally stand up and walk away from its designers, can walk through snow, fire and even be run over by a car. The hope is that such robots might one day serve as a search and rescue tool following disasters.

Alien life search: Spotting atmospheric chemistry of alien worlds devoid of life Posted: 11 Sep 2014 03:07 PM PDT Astronomers searching the atmospheres of alien worlds for gases that might be produced by life can't rely on the detection of just one type, such as oxygen, ozone, or methane, because in some cases these gases can be produced non-biologically, according to extensive simulations. Researchers have carefully simulated the atmospheric chemistry of alien worlds devoid of life thousands of times over a period of more than four years, varying the atmospheric compositions and star types.

Scientists report first semiaquatic dinosaur, Spinosaurus: Massive predator was more than 9 feet longer than largest T. rex Posted: 11 Sep 2014 11:27 AM PDT Scientists today unveiled what appears to be the first truly semiaquatic dinosaur, Spinosaurus aegyptiacus. New fossils of the massive Cretaceous-era predator reveal it adapted to life in the water some 95 million years ago, providing the most compelling evidence to date of a dinosaur able to live and hunt in an aquatic environment. The fossils also indicate that Spinosaurus was the largest known predatory dinosaur to roam the Earth, measuring more than nine feet longer than the world's largest Tyrannosaurus rex specimen.

Ceramics don't have to be brittle: Incredibly light, strong materials recover original shape after being smashed Posted: 11 Sep 2014 10:54 AM PDT Materials scientists have developed a method for creating new structural materials by taking advantage of the unusual properties that solids can have at the nanometer scale. They have used the method to produce a ceramic (e.g., a piece of chalk or a brick) that contains about 99.9 percent air yet is incredibly strong and can recover its original shape after being smashed by more than 50 percent.

'Hot Jupiters' provoke their own host suns to wobble Posted: 11 Sep 2014 10:54 AM PDT Blame the 'hot Jupiters.' These large, gaseous exoplanets can make their suns wobble when they wend their way through their own solar systems to snuggle up against their suns, according to new research.

'Talking' and 'listening' to atoms: Scientists make acoustic waves couple to an artificial atom Posted: 11 Sep 2014 10:54 AM PDT Scientists have used sound to communicate with an artificial atom. They can thereby demonstrate phenomena from quantum physics with sound taking on the role of light.

Secrets of animal weapons revealed Posted: 11 Sep 2014 09:59 AM PDT From antlers to horns, humans have long been fascinated by animals' ability to defend themselves with their natural-born weapons. But until now, no studies have directly tested whether those weapons perform better at the animals' own style of fighting than they would using the fighting style of another species. Researchers recently discovered each species' weapons are structurally adapted to meet their own functional demands of fighting.

You can classify words in your sleep Posted: 11 Sep 2014 09:58 AM PDT When people practice simple word classification tasks before nodding off -- knowing that a 'cat' is an animal or that 'flipu' isn't found in the dictionary, for example -- their brains will unconsciously continue to make those classifications even in sleep. The findings show that some parts of the brain behave similarly whether we are asleep or awake and pave the way for further studies on the processing capacity of our sleeping brains, the researchers say.

Our microbes are a rich source of drugs Posted: 11 Sep 2014 09:42 AM PDT Bacteria that normally live in and upon us have genetic blueprints that enable them to make thousands of molecules that act like drugs, and some of these molecules might serve as the basis for new human therapeutics, according to new research.

Owls provides clues on how humans focus attention Posted: 11 Sep 2014 09:42 AM PDT Research with barn owls reveals how the brain decides what it should pay attention to among competing external events.

World's largest DNA origami created Posted: 11 Sep 2014 06:47 AM PDT Researchers have created the world's largest DNA origami, which are nanoscale constructions with applications ranging from biomedical research to nanoelectronics. DNA origami are self-assembling biochemical structures that are made up of two types of DNA.

Sunshine can act as 'driver' for suicide Posted: 11 Sep 2014 06:33 AM PDT Long spells of sunshine -- as demonstrated by many scientific studies -- can have a positive impact on the human mind and can have a helpful effect for people with depression. Things are very different at the start of a spell of nice weather, however. During the first days of sunshine, the internal unrest and increased activity can act as a driver for some at-risk people to commit suicide.

Is the pattern of brain folding a 'fingerprint' for schizophrenia? Posted: 11 Sep 2014 06:29 AM PDT Anyone who has seen pictures or models of the human brain is aware that the outside layer, or cortex, of the brain is folded in an intricate pattern of "hills", called gyri, and "valleys", called sulci. It turns out that the patterns of cortical folding are largely consistent across healthy humans, broadly speaking. However, disturbances in cortical folding patterns suggest deeper disturbances in brain structure and function..

Ozone nano-bubble water: Potential treatment for severe gum infections Posted: 10 Sep 2014 06:37 PM PDT A powerful new antiseptic agent, called ozone nano-bubble water, holds promise for the treatment of periodontitis, or severe gum infections, according to new research.

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