ScienceDaily: Strange Science News |
- Stressed-out trees boost sugary rewards to ant defenders
- Early bird catches the worm - for dinner
- Clay may have been birthplace of life on Earth, new study suggests
- NASA researchers to flying insects: 'Bug off! '
- Galaxy growth examined like rings of a tree
- How pigeons may smell their way home
- A single-atom light switch: New switch is powerful tool for quantum information and quantum communication
- Do you want the good news or the bad news first?
- Knife-wielding robot trains for grocery checkout job using new coactive learning technique
- New ligament discovered‬ in the human knee
- Intelligent training with a fitness shirt and an e-bike
| Stressed-out trees boost sugary rewards to ant defenders Posted: 05 Nov 2013 02:13 PM PST When water is scarce, Ecuador laurel trees ramp up their investment in a syrupy treat that sends resident ant defenders into overdrive, protecting the trees from defoliation by leaf-munching pests.  |
| Early bird catches the worm - for dinner Posted: 05 Nov 2013 12:27 PM PST Birds, such as great and blue tits, scout for food in the morning but only return to eat it in late afternoon to maximize their chances of evading predators in the day without starving to death overnight.  |
| Clay may have been birthplace of life on Earth, new study suggests Posted: 05 Nov 2013 10:20 AM PST Clay -- a seemingly infertile blend of minerals -- might have been the birthplace of life on Earth. Or at least of the complex biochemicals that make life possible, biological engineers report.  |
| NASA researchers to flying insects: 'Bug off! ' Posted: 05 Nov 2013 09:27 AM PST When flying insects get in the way of an airplane's wing during takeoff or landing, it's not just the bugs that suffer. Those little blasts of bug guts disrupt the laminar -- or smooth -- flow of air over the airplane's wings, creating more drag on the airplane and contributing to increased fuel consumption. That's why a group of researchers at NASA's Langley Research Center -- the "bug team" -- recently ran several flight tests of coatings that may one day reduce the amount of bug contamination on the wings of commercial aircraft.  |
| Galaxy growth examined like rings of a tree Posted: 05 Nov 2013 08:38 AM PST Galaxies outlive trees by billions of years, making their growth impossible to see. But like biologists reading tree rings, astronomers can read the rings in a galaxy's disk to unravel its past. Using data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), scientists have acquired more evidence for the "inside-out" theory of galaxy growth, showing that bursts of star formation in central regions were followed one to two billion years later by star birth in the outer fringes.  |
| How pigeons may smell their way home Posted: 05 Nov 2013 07:35 AM PST Homing pigeons are extraordinary navigators, but how they manage to find their way back to their lofts is still debated. To navigate, birds require a 'map' (to tell them home is south, for example) and a 'compass' (to tell them where south is), with the sun and the Earth's magnetic field being the preferred compass systems. A new paper provides evidence that the information pigeons use as a map is in fact available in the atmosphere: odors and winds allow them to find their way home.  |
| Posted: 05 Nov 2013 07:35 AM PST With just a single atom, light can be switched between two fiber optic cables. Such a switch enables quantum phenomena to be used for information and communication technology.  |
| Do you want the good news or the bad news first? Posted: 05 Nov 2013 06:31 AM PST There's good news and there's bad news. Which do you want to hear first? That depends on whether you are the giver or receiver of bad news, and if the news-giver wants the receiver to act on the information.  |
| Knife-wielding robot trains for grocery checkout job using new coactive learning technique Posted: 05 Nov 2013 05:15 AM PST Engineers have taught a robot to work in a mock-supermarket checkout line, modifying a Baxter robot from Rethink Robotics in Boston to "coactively learn" from humans and make adjustments while an action is in progress.  |
| New ligament discovered‬ in the human knee Posted: 05 Nov 2013 05:13 AM PST Two knee surgeons have discovered a previously unknown ligament in the human knee. This ligament appears to play an important role in patients with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears.  |
| Intelligent training with a fitness shirt and an e-bike Posted: 05 Nov 2013 05:12 AM PST Fabric manufacturers are experiencing a revolution at present: if clothing previously offered protection against the cold, rain, and snow, the trend now is toward intelligent, proactive, high-tech textiles like self-cleaning jackets, gloves that recognize toxins, and ski anoraks with integrated navigational devices to make life easier for those wearing them. Clever clothing like this is being developed.  |
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