ScienceDaily: Strange Science News |
- Proximity of new planets stuns even astronomers
- Study of phase change materials could lead to better computer memory
- Researchers tune the strain in graphene drumheads to create quantum dots
- Immune system molecule weaves cobweb-like nanonets to snag Salmonella, other intestinal microbes
- Elephant seals help uncover slower-than-expected Antarctic melting
- Spiders enlisted in fight against woodworms: Could they also help control malaria?
- The 'Truman Show' delusion: Life as a reality TV show
- How cheetahs outpace greyhounds
- I want to know where love is: First brain map of love and desire
| Proximity of new planets stuns even astronomers Posted: 21 Jun 2012 12:23 PM PDT One is a rocky planet 1.5 times the size of Earth. The other is a gaseous world nearly four times Earth's size. Together they form a spectacular system in which two planets orbit closer to each other than any yet discovered.  |
| Study of phase change materials could lead to better computer memory Posted: 21 Jun 2012 12:15 PM PDT Memory devices for computers require a large collection of components that can switch between two states, which represent the ones and zeros of binary language. Engineers hope to make next-generation chips with materials that distinguish between these states by physically rearranging their atoms into different phases. Researchers have now provided new insight into how this phase change happens, which could help engineers make memory storage devices faster and more efficient.  |
| Researchers tune the strain in graphene drumheads to create quantum dots Posted: 21 Jun 2012 12:15 PM PDT Researchers have shown that they can tune the strain in graphene suspended like drumheads over microscopic holes in a substrate of silicon oxide using the tip of an advanced scanning probe microscope and a conducting plate below the substrate. Tuning the strain enabled the group to create areas in the graphene where electrons behaved as though they were confined to quantum dots.  |
| Immune system molecule weaves cobweb-like nanonets to snag Salmonella, other intestinal microbes Posted: 21 Jun 2012 12:15 PM PDT Scientists have found that human alpha-defensin 6 (HD6) -- a key component of the body's innate defense system -- binds to microbial surfaces and forms "nanonets" that surround, entangle and disable microbes, preventing bacteria from attaching to or invading intestinal cells.  |
| Elephant seals help uncover slower-than-expected Antarctic melting Posted: 21 Jun 2012 11:13 AM PDT A team of scientists have drilled holes through an Antarctic ice shelf, the Fimbul Ice Shelf, to gather the first direct measurements regarding melting of the shelf's underside. A group of elephant seals, outfitted with sensors that measure salinity, temperature, and depth sensors added fundamental information to the scientists' data set, which led the researchers to conclude that parts of eastern Antarctica are melting at significantly lower rates than current models predict.  |
| Spiders enlisted in fight against woodworms: Could they also help control malaria? Posted: 21 Jun 2012 09:55 AM PDT Property owners who need to banish destructive woodworm could have an eight-legged alternative to chemical sprays that are potentially dangerous and only partially effective. They could enlist the aid of very special spiders that will seek and devour the destructive grubs. And a further, exciting possibility is that malaria could be curtailed by the creatures.  |
| The 'Truman Show' delusion: Life as a reality TV show Posted: 21 Jun 2012 09:54 AM PDT Over the last decade, millions of words have been written about the effect of 'Reality TV' on our cultural and social lives. Much less discussed are the possible interior ramifications such forms of broadcasting can have on our minds. A vital new investigation into this subject has just been published.  |
| How cheetahs outpace greyhounds Posted: 21 Jun 2012 04:09 AM PDT Cheetahs are the high-performance sports cars of the animal kingdom, but how do they outstrip other elite athletes when using the same sprint technique? Biologists compared the performance of captive cheetahs and greyhounds and found that in addition to increasing their stride frequency, the cheetahs spend longer in contact with the ground, probably to protect their limbs from stress fractures at high speed.  |
| I want to know where love is: First brain map of love and desire Posted: 20 Jun 2012 07:10 AM PDT Thanks to modern science, we know that love lives in the brain, not in the heart. But where in the brain is it – and is it in the same place as sexual desire? A recent international study is the first to draw an exact map of these intimately linked feelings.  |
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