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Friday, July 5, 2013

ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

ScienceDaily: Strange Science News


Antifreeze, cheap materials may lead to low-cost solar energy

Posted: 04 Jul 2013 07:08 AM PDT

A process combining some comparatively cheap materials and the same antifreeze that keeps an automobile radiator from freezing in cold weather may be the key to making solar cells that cost less and avoid toxic compounds, while further expanding the use of solar energy.

Hawkmoths use ultrasound to combat bats

Posted: 04 Jul 2013 07:08 AM PDT

For years, pilots flying into combat have jammed enemy radar to get the drop on their opponents. It turns out that moths can do it, too.

Bacteria communicate to help each other resist antibiotics

Posted: 04 Jul 2013 06:51 AM PDT

New research unravels a novel means of communication that allows bacteria such as Burkholderia cenocepacia (B. cenocepacia) to resist antibiotic treatment. B. cenocepacia is an environmental bacterium that causes devastating infections in patients with cystic fibrosis.

Cockatoos 'pick' puzzle box locks: Cockatoos show technical intelligence on a five-lock problem

Posted: 04 Jul 2013 06:51 AM PDT

A species of Indonesian parrot can solve complex mechanical problems that involve undoing a series of locks one after another, revealing new depths to physical intelligence in birds.

Archaeologists unearth carved head of Roman god in ancient rubbish dump

Posted: 04 Jul 2013 06:50 AM PDT

An 1,800-year-old carved stone head of what is believed to be a Roman god has been unearthed in an ancient rubbish dump in Northern England.

Spider webs more effective at ensnaring charged insects

Posted: 04 Jul 2013 06:50 AM PDT

Flapping bees build up a charge of several hundred volts, enough to electrostatically draw pollen from a flower. But researchers have discovered a downside to being charged: it attracts spider silk and increases the chance that the bee or any insect will be snared by a web as it passes by. Perhaps, they say, the more flexible silk of an orb's spiral evolved to allow wind and electrostatic charge to improve capture success.

Live fast, die young: Long-lived mice are less active, biologists find

Posted: 04 Jul 2013 06:46 AM PDT

Female mice with a high life expectancy are less active and less explorative. They also eat less than their fellow females with a lower life expectancy. Behavioral biologists reveal that there is a correlation between longevity and personality for female house mice, and a minimum amount of boldness is necessary for them to survive. 

Earliest evidence of using flower beds for burial found in Raqefet Cave in Mt. Carmel

Posted: 04 Jul 2013 06:43 AM PDT

The earliest evidence of using flower beds for burial, dating back to 13,700 years ago, was discovered in Raqefet Cave in Mt. Carmel in northern Israel. In four different graves from the Natufian period, dating back to 13,700-11,700 years ago, dozens of impressions of Salvia plants and other species of sedges and mints (the Lamiaceae family), were found under human skeletons.

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