ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Immune systems of healthy adults 'remember' germs to which they've never been exposed
• For ant pupae, status means being heard
• 'Zombie' cells may outperform live ones as catalysts and conductors
• Blame it on Barney: Student perceptions of an upright tyrannosaurus rex remain obsolete
• Device made of DNA inserted into bacterial cell works like a diagnostic computer

Immune systems of healthy adults 'remember' germs to which they've never been exposed Posted: 07 Feb 2013 10:16 AM PST It's established dogma that the immune system develops a "memory" of a microbial pathogen, with a correspondingly enhanced readiness to combat that microbe, only upon exposure to it -- or to its components though a vaccine. But a discovery casts doubt on that dogma. This research offers a possible clue as to why kids eat dirt.

For ant pupae, status means being heard Posted: 07 Feb 2013 10:15 AM PST For young ants at the pupal stage of life -- caught between larva and adulthood -- status is all about being heard. The findings add to evidence that ants can communicate abstract information through sound in addition to chemical cues.

'Zombie' cells may outperform live ones as catalysts and conductors Posted: 07 Feb 2013 08:46 AM PST A simple technique uses silica to coat a living cell both inside and outside. The process forms a near-perfect replica of the cell's structure, down to the tiniest organelle. The resulting model, heated, creates nature-sculpted nanotools with components far stronger than when built out of flesh.

Blame it on Barney: Student perceptions of an upright tyrannosaurus rex remain obsolete Posted: 07 Feb 2013 08:45 AM PST Ask a college student to sketch a Tyrannosaurus rex, and he or she will probably draw an upright, tail-dragging creature with tiny arms. An 8-year-old will draw something similar. They're wrong, of course. The terrible T. rex, an agile, dynamic predator, never went upright. In fact, T. Rex tarried horizontal. So why are students' perceptions of the T. rex stalled in the early 1900s? A research team sought answers after years of anecdotally observing students drawing the T. rex incorrectly.

Device made of DNA inserted into bacterial cell works like a diagnostic computer Posted: 07 Feb 2013 04:42 AM PST A biological device made of DNA inserted into a bacterial cell works like a tiny diagnostic computer.

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