ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Maya Long Count calendar and European calendar linked using carbon-14 dating
• Enzymes from horse feces could hold secrets to streamlining biofuel production
• 'Seeing' the flavor of foods before tasting them
• What happens in the brain to make music rewarding?
• Self-medication in animals much more widespread than believed
• NASA Mars Orbiter images may show 1971 Soviet lander
• Information technology amplifies irrational group behavior
• Chickens with bigger gizzards are more efficient
• Lady flies can decide who will father their young
• Molecular 'superglue' based on flesh-eating bacteria
• Restoring paretic hand function via an artificial neural connection bridging spinal cord injury
• Archaeologists shine new light on Easter Island statue
• Innovative self-cooling, thermoelectric system consumes no electricity

Maya Long Count calendar and European calendar linked using carbon-14 dating Posted: 11 Apr 2013 04:49 PM PDT The Maya are famous for their complex, intertwined calendric systems, and now one calendar, the Maya Long Count, is empirically calibrated to the modern European calendar, according to an international team of researchers.

Enzymes from horse feces could hold secrets to streamlining biofuel production Posted: 11 Apr 2013 04:46 PM PDT Stepping into unexplored territory in efforts to use corn stalks, grass and other non-food plants to make biofuels, scientists have now described the discovery of a potential treasure-trove of candidate enzymes in fungi thriving in the feces and intestinal tracts of horses.

'Seeing' the flavor of foods before tasting them Posted: 11 Apr 2013 04:40 PM PDT The eyes sometimes have it, beating out the tongue, nose and brain in the emotional and biochemical balloting that determines the taste and allure of food, a scientist said at a recent meeting. He described how people sometimes "see" flavors in foods and beverages before actually tasting them.

What happens in the brain to make music rewarding? Posted: 11 Apr 2013 11:30 AM PDT A new study reveals what happens in our brain when we decide to purchase a piece of music when we hear it for the first time. The study pinpoints the specific brain activity that makes new music rewarding and predicts the decision to purchase music.

Self-medication in animals much more widespread than believed Posted: 11 Apr 2013 11:27 AM PDT It's been known for decades that animals such as chimpanzees seek out medicinal herbs to treat their diseases. But in recent years, the list of animal pharmacists has grown much longer, and it now appears that the practice of animal self-medication is a lot more widespread than previously thought, according to ecologists.

NASA Mars Orbiter images may show 1971 Soviet lander Posted: 11 Apr 2013 10:33 AM PDT Hardware from a spacecraft that the Soviet Union landed on Mars in 1971 might appear in images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. While following news about Mars and NASA's Curiosity rover, Russian citizen enthusiasts found four features in a five-year-old image from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that resemble four pieces of hardware from the Soviet Mars 3 mission: the parachute, heat shield, terminal retrorocket and lander. A follow-up image by the orbiter from last month shows the same features.

Information technology amplifies irrational group behavior Posted: 11 Apr 2013 09:40 AM PDT Web tools and social media are our key sources of information when we make decisions as citizens and consumers. But these information technologies can mislead us by magnifying social processes that distort facts and make us act contrary to our own interests. Companies such as Google and Facebook have designed algorithms that are intended to filter away irrelevant information -- known as information selection -- so that we are only served content that fits our clicking history. Researchers say this is, from a democratic perspective, a problem as you may never in your online life encounter views or arguments that contradict your worldview.

Chickens with bigger gizzards are more efficient Posted: 11 Apr 2013 08:02 AM PDT According to animal scientists, farmers could further protect the environment by breeding chickens with larger digestive organs. This research could solve a major problem in poultry production.

Lady flies can decide who will father their young Posted: 11 Apr 2013 08:01 AM PDT Female flies choose whose sperm they want based on male mating effort. Females in the animal kingdom have many methods available to them to help bias male paternity. One such process is displayed by Euxesta bilimeki, a species of Ulidiid fly, whose females expel and then consume male ejaculate after copulation.

Molecular 'superglue' based on flesh-eating bacteria Posted: 11 Apr 2013 07:58 AM PDT In a classic case of turning an enemy into a friend, scientists have engineered a protein from flesh-eating bacteria to act as a molecular "superglue" that promises to become a disease fighter.

Restoring paretic hand function via an artificial neural connection bridging spinal cord injury Posted: 11 Apr 2013 04:56 AM PDT Scientists have investigated the effects of introducing a novel artificial neural connection which bridged a spinal cord lesion in a paretic monkey. This allowed the monkey to electrically stimulate the spinal cord through controlled brain activity and thereby to restore volitional control of the paretic hand.

Archaeologists shine new light on Easter Island statue Posted: 11 Apr 2013 04:56 AM PDT Archaeologists have used the latest in digital imaging technology to record and analyze carvings on the Easter Island statue Hoa Hakananai'a.

Innovative self-cooling, thermoelectric system consumes no electricity Posted: 11 Apr 2013 04:54 AM PDT Researchers have produced a prototype of a self-cooling thermoelectric device that achieves "free" cooling of over 30ºC in devices that give off heat. It is a piece of equipment that acts as a traditional cooler but which consumes no electricity because it obtains the energy it needs to function from the very heat that has to be dissipated.

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