ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Scrub jays react to their dead, bird study shows: 'Funerals' can last for up to half an hour
• Sliding metals show fluidlike behavior, new clues to wear
• Texas frontier scientists who uncovered state’s fossil history had role in epic Bone Wars
• Body heat, fermentation drive new drug-delivery 'micropump'
• Extreme Life Forms Might be Able to Survive on Eccentric Exoplanets
• World’s first transformable historic organ can span centuries
• At least 200,000 tons of oil and gas from Deepwater Horizon spill consumed by Gulf bacteria
• World's smallest fossil footprints: Small amphibian roamed Earth 315 million years ago
• Engineers built a supercomputer from 64 Raspberry Pi computers and Lego
• Invader of the invader: Tiny crustaceans found on red swamp crayfish
• Who (and what) can you trust? How non-verbal cues can predict a person's (and a robot's) trustworthiness
• High-temperature superconductivity induced in a semiconductor with Scotch tape
• Stem cell researchers use gene therapy to restore immune systems in 'Bubble Boy' disease
• Aussie wasp on the hunt for redback spiders
• Crows react to threats in human-like way
• Toothpicks and surgical swabs can wreak havoc in the gut when inadvertently swallowed or left behind after surgery
• 'Doctor' or 'darling' -- Subtle differences of speech: Brain signals tell who someone is talking to
• Princesses become warriors: Young queens of leafcutter ants change roles if they cannot reproduce
• Serious games could be integrated into surgical training subject to validation

Scrub jays react to their dead, bird study shows: 'Funerals' can last for up to half an hour Posted: 11 Sep 2012 01:20 PM PDT Western scrub jays summon others to screech over the body of a dead jay, according to new research. The birds' cacophonous 'funerals' can last for up to half an hour.

Sliding metals show fluidlike behavior, new clues to wear Posted: 11 Sep 2012 12:19 PM PDT Researchers have discovered a swirling fluid-like behavior in a solid piece of metal sliding over another, providing new insights into the mechanisms of wear and generation of machined surfaces that could help improve the durability of metal parts.

Texas frontier scientists who uncovered state’s fossil history had role in epic Bone Wars Posted: 11 Sep 2012 12:19 PM PDT In the late 1800s, furious fossil speculation across the American West escalated into a high-profile national feud. In a new study, vertebrate paleontologist Louis L. Jacobs expands knowledge of how the infamous Bone Wars touched Texas through two Lone Star scientists, geologist Robert T. Hill, the Father of Texas geology, and naturalist Jacob Boll. Jacobs' study taps 13 newly discovered historic letters archived at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, and a German ode translated into English.

Body heat, fermentation drive new drug-delivery 'micropump' Posted: 11 Sep 2012 12:19 PM PDT Researchers have created a new type of miniature pump activated by body heat that could be used in drug-delivery patches powered by fermentation.

Extreme Life Forms Might be Able to Survive on Eccentric Exoplanets Posted: 11 Sep 2012 12:09 PM PDT Astronomers have discovered a veritable rogues' gallery of odd exoplanets -- from scorching hot worlds with molten surfaces to frigid ice balls. And while the hunt continues for the elusive "blue dot" -- a planet with roughly the same characteristics as Earth -- new research reveals that life might actually be able to survive on some of the many exoplanetary oddballs that exist.

World’s first transformable historic organ can span centuries Posted: 11 Sep 2012 10:26 AM PDT Cornell University's new baroque organ has become the world's first organ with multiple historic wind systems. The $2 million organ is the culmination of more than seven years of research, and more than two years of work by 21st-century craftsmen, who used authentic 17th- and early 18th-century methods to build the instrument.

At least 200,000 tons of oil and gas from Deepwater Horizon spill consumed by Gulf bacteria Posted: 11 Sep 2012 09:53 AM PDT Researchers have found that, over a period of five months following the disastrous 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill, naturally-occurring bacteria that exist in the Gulf of Mexico consumed and removed at least 200,000 tons of oil and natural gas that spewed into the deep Gulf from the ruptured well-head.

World's smallest fossil footprints: Small amphibian roamed Earth 315 million years ago Posted: 11 Sep 2012 09:51 AM PDT A new set of fossil footprints discovered in Joggins, Nova Scotia, have been identified as the world's smallest known fossil vertebrate footprints. The footprints belonged to a small amphibian which would have roamed Earth 315 million years ago, a creature not unlike a salamander.

Engineers built a supercomputer from 64 Raspberry Pi computers and Lego Posted: 11 Sep 2012 09:51 AM PDT Computational engineers have built a supercomputer from 64 Raspberry Pi computers and Lego. The son of one of the professors (aged 6) provided specialist support on Lego and system testing.

Invader of the invader: Tiny crustaceans found on red swamp crayfish Posted: 11 Sep 2012 09:51 AM PDT The invader of the invader has been discovered for the first time in Europe. The small ostracod Ankylocythere sinuosa measures no more than half a millimeter in length and lives on other crayfish. And, Spanish scientists have discovered it for the first time in Europe. The finding suggests that it arrived along with the invader crayfish Procambarus clarkii some 30 years ago but it is still unknown whether it can invade other crustacean species or whether it benefits or damages the expansion of the already established red swamp crayfish.

Who (and what) can you trust? How non-verbal cues can predict a person's (and a robot's) trustworthiness Posted: 11 Sep 2012 08:30 AM PDT People face this predicament all the time -- can you determine a person's character in a single interaction? Can you judge whether someone you just met can be trusted when you have only a few minutes together? And if you can, how do you do it? Using a robot named Nexi, psychologists have figured out the answer.

High-temperature superconductivity induced in a semiconductor with Scotch tape Posted: 11 Sep 2012 08:28 AM PDT An international team has developed a simple new technique using Scotch poster tape that has enabled them to induce high-temperature superconductivity in a semiconductor for the first time. The method paves the way for novel new devices that could be used in quantum computing and to improve energy efficiency.

Stem cell researchers use gene therapy to restore immune systems in 'Bubble Boy' disease Posted: 11 Sep 2012 08:16 AM PDT Stem cell researchers have found that a gene therapy regimen can safely restore immune systems to children with so-called "Bubble Boy" disease, a life threatening condition that if left untreated can be fatal within one to two years.

Aussie wasp on the hunt for redback spiders Posted: 11 Sep 2012 07:29 AM PDT Researchers say a small native wasp that scientists had forgotten about for more than 200 years is now making a name for itself -- as a predator of Australia's most common dangerous spider, the redback.

Crows react to threats in human-like way Posted: 11 Sep 2012 06:17 AM PDT Crows and humans share the ability to recognize faces and associate them with negative and positive feelings. The way the brain activates during that process is something the two species also appear to share, according to new research.

Toothpicks and surgical swabs can wreak havoc in the gut when inadvertently swallowed or left behind after surgery Posted: 11 Sep 2012 06:17 AM PDT A woman developed severe blood poisoning (sepsis) and a liver abscess, after inadvertently swallowing a toothpick, which perforated her gullet and lodged in a lobe of her liver, reveals a case study.

'Doctor' or 'darling' -- Subtle differences of speech: Brain signals tell who someone is talking to Posted: 11 Sep 2012 06:12 AM PDT Human speech comes in countless varieties: When people talk to close friends or partners, they talk differently than when they address a physician. These differences in speech are quite subtle and hard to pinpoint. In a new study, researchers report that they were able to tell from brain signals who a person was talking to. This discovery could contribute to the further development of speech synthesizers for patients with severe paralysis.

Princesses become warriors: Young queens of leafcutter ants change roles if they cannot reproduce Posted: 11 Sep 2012 06:12 AM PDT Biologists have discovered that queens of the ant genus Acromyrmex are flexible in the event that they cannot found their own colony. The queens of other species die as soon as they can no longer fulfill their life's task. The unsuccessful Acromyrmex queens, on the other hand, change their entire repertoire of behavior and help defend and tend to their mother colony, as the scientists report.

Serious games could be integrated into surgical training subject to validation Posted: 11 Sep 2012 06:12 AM PDT Serious gaming can be used to enhance surgical skills, but games developed or used to train medical professionals need to be validated before they are integrated into teaching methods, according to a new paper.

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