ScienceDaily: Strange Science News |
- Biologists confirm role of sperm competition in formation of new species
- How to make ceramics that bend without breaking: Self-deploying medical devices?
- Water glides freely across 'nanodrapes' made from the world's thinnest material
- Do beetles have maternal instincts?
- Singing mice protect their turf with high-pitched tunes
- Quitting smoking easier for social media users
- Robotic fabrication in timber construction
- False alarm on hepatitis virus highlights challenges of pathogen sleuthing
- Torrent frogs use toes, belly, thighs to hold tight under waterfall-like conditions
- Getting an expected award music to the brain's ears
- Why do you want to 'eat' the baby? Strange urge could have biological underpinnings
| Biologists confirm role of sperm competition in formation of new species Posted: 26 Sep 2013 05:50 PM PDT Female promiscuity -- something that occurs in a majority of species, including humans -- results in the ejaculates from two or more males overlapping within her reproductive tract. When this happens, sperm compete for fertilization of the female's eggs. In addition, the female has the opportunity to bias fertilization of her eggs in favor of one male's sperm over others.  |
| How to make ceramics that bend without breaking: Self-deploying medical devices? Posted: 26 Sep 2013 11:31 AM PDT New materials could lead to actuators on a chip and self-deploying medical devices. Ceramics are not known for their flexibility: they tend to crack under stress. But researchers have just found a way around that problem -- for very tiny objects, at least. The team has developed a way of making minuscule ceramic objects that are not only flexible, but also have a "memory" for shape: When bent and then heated, they return to their original shapes.  |
| Water glides freely across 'nanodrapes' made from the world's thinnest material Posted: 26 Sep 2013 11:29 AM PDT Engineering researchers have developed a new drape made from graphene -- the thinnest material known to science -- which can enhance the water-resistant properties of materials with rough surfaces. These "nanodrapes" are less than a nanometer thick, chemically inert, and provide a layer of protection without changing the properties of the underlying material.  |
| Do beetles have maternal instincts? Posted: 26 Sep 2013 07:30 AM PDT A new study of the natural history of Neotropical leaf beetles in the subfamily Chrysomelinae reveals that females in two genera and multiple species show indisputable signs of maternal instincts. Mothers were caught actively defending eggs and larvae, with tactics ranging from quite aggressive to more passive between the species.  |
| Singing mice protect their turf with high-pitched tunes Posted: 26 Sep 2013 07:30 AM PDT Two species of tawny brown singing mice that live deep in the mountain cloud forests of Costa Rica and Panama set their boundaries by emitting high-pitched trills, researchers have discovered.  |
| Quitting smoking easier for social media users Posted: 26 Sep 2013 07:28 AM PDT Smoking is a major public health problem, killing approximately 443,000 people every year in the United States. Quitting smoking can have a profound effect on a person's health, but it is also one of the hardest addictions to kick. A recent paper reports that people who engage in health specific social networking sites found it easier to quit smoking.  |
| Robotic fabrication in timber construction Posted: 26 Sep 2013 07:26 AM PDT Researchers are developing a lightweight timber construction system combining robotic prefabrication with computational design and simulation processes, as well as three-dimensional surveying technologies used in engineering geodesy. Their goal is to develop innovative, performative and sustainable construction systems made from wood, which also expand the repertoire of architectural expression in timber construction.  |
| False alarm on hepatitis virus highlights challenges of pathogen sleuthing Posted: 26 Sep 2013 07:23 AM PDT A report by scientists on a new hepatitis virus earlier this year was a false alarm, according to the researchers who correctly identified the virus as a contaminant present in a type of glassware used in many research labs.  |
| Torrent frogs use toes, belly, thighs to hold tight under waterfall-like conditions Posted: 25 Sep 2013 03:54 PM PDT Torrent frogs use their toes, belly, and thighs to attach to rough, wet, and steep surfaces. In a multipart study, researchers compared the attachment abilities of two species: torrent frogs (Staurois guttatus) and tree frogs (Rhacophorus pardalis). They found that the torrent frog is better able to attach to extremely wet, steep, and rough surfaces due to its superior attachment abilities.  |
| Getting an expected award music to the brain's ears Posted: 25 Sep 2013 03:52 PM PDT A new study suggests that the auditory cortex does more than just process sound. When study subjects were expecting a reward and received it, or weren't expecting a reward and were right, this area lit up on brain scans.  |
| Why do you want to 'eat' the baby? Strange urge could have biological underpinnings Posted: 23 Sep 2013 06:22 AM PDT What woman has not wanted to gobble up a baby placed in her arms, even if the baby is not hers? This reaction, which most everyone has noticed or felt, could have biological underpinnings related to maternal functions. For the first time, an international team of researchers has found evidence of this phenomenon in the neural networks associated with reward.  |
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