ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Iconic New Zealand reptile shows chewing is not just for mammals
• 21st century bloodletting reduces cardiovascular risk
• Mathematicians can conjure matter waves inside an invisible hat
• Three percent of US executions since 1900 were botched, study finds
• 16th-century Korean mummy provides clue to hepatitis B virus genetic code
• Evil eyebrows and pointy chin of a cartoon villain make our ‘threat’ instinct kick in
• Beetle flight: Flapping protective wings increase lift
• Inequality dates back to Stone Age: Earliest evidence yet of differential access to land
• T cells 'hunt' parasites like animal predators seek prey, a new study reveals

Iconic New Zealand reptile shows chewing is not just for mammals Posted: 29 May 2012 06:17 PM PDT The tuatara, an iconic New Zealand reptile, chews its food in a way unlike any other animal on the planet -- challenging the widespread perception that complex chewing ability is closely linked to high metabolism.

21st century bloodletting reduces cardiovascular risk Posted: 29 May 2012 06:16 PM PDT It seems that  while the practice of bloodletting throughout history had little or no effect on most diseases, and the practice was abandoned in the 19th century, new research demonstrates that blood donation has real benefits for obese people with metabolic syndrome. Two sessions of bloodletting were enough to improve blood pressure and markers of cardiovascular disease.

Mathematicians can conjure matter waves inside an invisible hat Posted: 29 May 2012 03:27 PM PDT Mathematicians have devised an amplifier that can boost light, sound or other waves while hiding them inside an invisible container.

Three percent of US executions since 1900 were botched, study finds Posted: 29 May 2012 10:34 AM PDT Of approximately 9,000 executions that took place from 1900 to 2011, 270 of them involved some problem, according to a new study. Researchers created a database of all the "departures from the protocol of killing someone sentenced to death" in the past 111 years.

16th-century Korean mummy provides clue to hepatitis B virus genetic code Posted: 29 May 2012 07:22 AM PDT The discovery of a mummified Korean child with relatively preserved organs enabled an Israeli-South Korean scientific team to conduct a genetic analysis on a liver biopsy which revealed a unique hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype C2 sequence common in Southeast Asia.

Evil eyebrows and pointy chin of a cartoon villain make our ‘threat’ instinct kick in Posted: 29 May 2012 04:46 AM PDT Why do the evil eyebrows and pointy chin of a cartoon villain make our 'threat' instinct kick in? Psychologists have found that a downward pointing triangle can be perceived to carry threat just like a negative face in a crowd.

Beetle flight: Flapping protective wings increase lift Posted: 29 May 2012 04:38 AM PDT The forewings of beetles, the elytra, are hardened structures which protect the insect's flying wings and body. The function of the forewings in flight has been questioned, which is what prompted researchers to study how the forewings and the underlying flying wings work in dung beetles. The researchers studied the air flow created by the wings when the beetles fly in a wind tunnel.

Inequality dates back to Stone Age: Earliest evidence yet of differential access to land Posted: 28 May 2012 12:49 PM PDT Hereditary inequality began over 7,000 years ago in the early Neolithic era, with new evidence showing that farmers buried with tools had access to better land than those buried without.

T cells 'hunt' parasites like animal predators seek prey, a new study reveals Posted: 27 May 2012 12:38 PM PDT By pairing an intimate knowledge of immune-system function with a deep understanding of statistical physics, a cross-disciplinary team has arrived at a surprising finding: T cells use a movement strategy to track down parasites that is similar to strategies that predators such as monkeys, sharks and bluefin tuna use to hunt their prey.

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