ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Light pollution impairs rainforest regeneration: Seed-dispersing bats avoid feeding in light polluted areas
• Outside the body our memories fail us
• A shocking diet: Researchers describe microbe that 'eats' electricity
• Computer system simulates the behavior of tax evaders
• Scents and sustainability: Renewable sources for artificial scents and flavors
• Smokers' brains biased against negative images of smoking
• Dropped your toast? Five-second food rule exists, new research suggests
• Weirdness in cosmic web of the universe: Faint strings of galaxies in 'empty' space arranged in way never before seen
• The dark side of fair play: Why would evolution let spite stick around?
• Blue paint on Japanese bullet trains can inhibit bacterial growth

Light pollution impairs rainforest regeneration: Seed-dispersing bats avoid feeding in light polluted areas Posted: 10 Mar 2014 06:06 PM PDT Increasing light pollution in tropical habitats could be hampering regeneration of rainforests because of its impact on nocturnal seed-dispersers. These new findings show that seed-dispersing bats avoid feeding in light-polluted areas.

Outside the body our memories fail us Posted: 10 Mar 2014 12:21 PM PDT New research demonstrates for the first time that there is a close relationship between body perception and the ability to remember. For us to be able to store new memories from our lives, we need to feel that we are in our own body. According to researchers, the results could be of major importance in understanding the memory problems that psychiatric patients often exhibit.

A shocking diet: Researchers describe microbe that 'eats' electricity Posted: 10 Mar 2014 11:40 AM PDT Researchers have shown that the commonly found bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris can use natural conductivity to pull electrons from minerals located remotely in soil and sediment while remaining at the surface, where they absorb the sunlight needed to produce energy.

Computer system simulates the behavior of tax evaders Posted: 10 Mar 2014 08:17 AM PDT Researchers have developed a computer model which, in different situations, simulates the behavior of taxpayers when faced with the possibility of committing tax evasion. The simulator analyzes the factors motivating tax evasion and allows to determine which measures are effective in reducing it, such as an improvement in tax inspections by increasing their frequency and efficacy.

Scents and sustainability: Renewable sources for artificial scents and flavors Posted: 10 Mar 2014 07:23 AM PDT Fresh banana, a waft of flowers, blueberry: the scents in some labs are a little sweeter than most. Researchers are engineering bacteria to make esters -- molecules widely used as scents and flavorings, and also as basic feedstock for chemical processes from paints to fuels.

Smokers' brains biased against negative images of smoking Posted: 10 Mar 2014 07:22 AM PDT What if the use of a product influenced your perception of it, making you even more susceptible to its positive aspects and altering your understanding of its drawbacks? This is precisely what happens with cigarettes in chronic smokers, according to a recent study.

Dropped your toast? Five-second food rule exists, new research suggests Posted: 10 Mar 2014 07:22 AM PDT Food picked up just a few seconds after being dropped is less likely to contain bacteria than if it is left for longer periods of time, according to new research. The findings suggest there may be some scientific basis to the '5 second rule' -- the urban myth about it being fine to eat food that has only had contact with the floor for five seconds or less. The study, undertaken by final year biology students monitored the transfer of the common bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus from a variety of indoor floor types (carpet, laminate and tiled surfaces) to toast, pasta, biscuit and a sticky sweet when contact was made from 3 to 30 seconds.

Weirdness in cosmic web of the universe: Faint strings of galaxies in 'empty' space arranged in way never before seen Posted: 10 Mar 2014 06:06 AM PDT Australian astronomers have shown galaxies in the vast empty regions of the universe are actually aligned into delicate strings, according to new research. Using data from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey, the astronomers found that the small number of galaxies inside these voids are arranged in a new way never seen before.

The dark side of fair play: Why would evolution let spite stick around? Posted: 07 Mar 2014 01:59 PM PST We often think of playing fair as an altru­istic behavior. We're sac­ri­ficing our own poten­tial gain to give others what they deserve. What could be more self­less than that? But new research sug­gests another, darker origin behind the kindly act of fairness. An expert in the evolution of spite has investigated possible explanations for fair behavior that hadn't been considered before.

Blue paint on Japanese bullet trains can inhibit bacterial growth Posted: 07 Mar 2014 01:58 PM PST Using an artificial protein that contains metal, researchers were able to inhibit the growth of a pathogenic bacterium prevalent in hospitals which cause diseases to humans and has a high resistance to antibiotics.

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