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Thursday, March 29, 2012

ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

ScienceDaily: Strange Science News


Two-in-one device uses sewage as fuel to make electricity and clean the sewage

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 05:36 PM PDT

Scientists have described a new and more efficient version of an innovative device the size of a washing machine that uses bacteria growing in municipal sewage to make electricity and clean up the sewage at the same time. Commercial versions of the two-in-one device could be a boon for the developing world and water-short parts of the U.S.

With you in the room, bacteria counts spike -- by about 37 million bacteria per hour

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 02:22 PM PDT

A person's mere presence in a room can add 37 million bacteria to the air every hour -- material largely left behind by previous occupants and stirred up from the floor -- according to new research.

Ripping electrons from their cores: Physicists mix two lasers to create light at many frequencies

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 11:28 AM PDT

Physicists have seen the light, and it comes in many different colors. By aiming high- and low-frequency laser beams at a semiconductor, the researchers caused electrons to be ripped from their cores, accelerated, and then smashed back into the cores they left behind. This recollision produced multiple frequencies of light simultaneously.

Viral disease -- particularly from herpes -- gaining interest as possible cause of coral decline

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 06:09 AM PDT

As corals continue to decline in abundance around the world, researchers are turning their attention to a possible cause that's almost totally unexplored -- viral disease. It appears that corals harbor many different viruses -- particularly herpes. They also are home to the adenoviruses and other viral families that can cause human colds and gastrointestinal disease.

Exploding dinosaur hypothesis implodes

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 06:08 AM PDT

A pregnant ichthyosaur female that perished 182 million years ago puzzled researchers for quite some time: The skeleton of the extinct marine reptile is almost immaculately preserved and the fossilized bones of the mother animal lie largely in their anatomical position. The bones of the ichthyosaur embryos, however, are a different story: For the most part, they lie scattered outside the body of the mother. Such peculiar bone arrangements are repeatedly found in ichthyosaur skeletons. According to the broadly accepted scientific doctrine, this is the result of exploding carcasses: Putrefaction gases produced during the decomposition process cause the carcass to swell and burst. However, sedimentologists, paleontologists and forensic scientists have now managed to dispel the myth of exploding dinosaur carcasses. 

Wind turbines that learn like humans

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 12:29 PM PDT

A control algorithm inspired by human memory may increase wind turbine efficiency while requiring less computational power than other control methods.

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