ScienceDaily: Quirky - April 09, 2025
Top quirky research news
Scientists merge two 'impossible' materials into new artificial structure
An international team has merged two lab-synthesized materials into a synthetic quantum structure once thought impossible to exist and produced an exotic structure expected to provide insights that could lead to new materials at the core of quantum computing.
Life recovered rapidly at site of dino-killing asteroid: A hydrothermal system may have helped
About 66 million years ago, an asteroid slammed into the planet, wiping out all non-avian dinosaurs and about 70% of all marine species. But the crater it left behind in the Gulf of Mexico was a literal hotbed for life enriching the overlying ocean for at least 700,000 years, according to new research.
New research finds fluorescence in feathers of long-eared owls
Researchers report their discovery of fluorescent pigments in the feathers of Long-eared Owls, that can only be seen by humans with the help of ultraviolet light.
Do 'completely dark' dark matter halos exist?
Every galaxy is thought to form at the center of a dark matter halo. Stars are formed when gravity within dark matter halos draws in gas, but astrophysicists don't know whether star-free dark matter halos exist. An Diego astrophysicist has calculated the mass below which halos fail to form.
In Guatemala, painted altar found at Tikal adds new context to mysterious Maya history
Just steps from the center of Tikal, a 2,400-year-old Maya city in the heart of modern-day Guatemala, a global team of researchers has unearthed a buried altar that could unlock the secrets of a mysterious time of upheaval in the ancient world. The altar, built around the late 300s A.D., is decorated with four painted panels of red, black and yellow depicting a person wearing a feathered headdress and flanked by shields or regalia. The face has almond-shaped eyes, a nose bar and a double earspool. It closely resembles other depictions of a deity dubbed the 'Storm God' in central Mexico.
Tiny, soft robot flexes its potential as a life saver
A tiny, soft, flexible robot that can crawl through earthquake rubble to find trapped victims or travel inside the human body to deliver medicine may seem like science fiction, but an international team is pioneering such adaptable robots by integrating flexible electronics with magnetically controlled motion.
Researchers have successfully demonstrated the UK's first long-distance ultra-secure transfer of data over a quantum communications network, including the UK's first long-distance quantum-secured video call.
Chatbot opens computational chemistry to nonexperts
A web platform uses a chatbot to enable any chemist -- including undergraduate chemistry majors -- to configure and execute complex quantum mechanical simulations through chatting.
Rare crystal shape found to increase the strength of 3D-printed metal
Researchers have found special atomic patterns called quasicrystals in 3D-printed aluminum alloys. Quasicrystals increase the strength of 3D-printed aluminum, the researchers discovered, making it possible to use in lightweight, high-strength objects such as airplane parts. Once thought impossible, quasicrystals led to a 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Saturn's moon Titan could harbor life, but only a tiny amount, study finds
Despite its uniquely rich inventory of organic molecules, Saturn's largest moon, Titan, may be able to support only a minuscule amount of biomass, if life exists on the moon, according to a study using bioenergetic modeling.
The new season of The Last of Us has a spore-ting chance at realism
The Last of Us is back on April 13 and this season is more realistic than ever. The trailer for the hit HBO series appears to show the 'zombie fungus' cordyceps infecting humans by releasing air-borne spores, instead of through tentacles -- closer to scientific reality. And it's not the only thing the show gets right.
What if we find nothing in our search for life beyond Earth?
What if we spend decades building advanced telescopes to search for life on other planets and come up emptyhanded? A recent study exploring what we can learn about life in the universe -- even if we don't detect signs of life or habitability. Using advanced statistical modeling, the research team sought to explore how many exoplanets scientists should observe and understand before declaring that life beyond Earth is either common or rare.
Hot Schrödinger cat states created
Quantum states can only be prepared and observed under highly controlled conditions. A research team has now succeeded in creating so-called hot Schrodinger cat states in a superconducting microwave resonator. The study shows that quantum phenomena can also be observed and used in less perfect, warmer conditions.
Astronomers discover doomed pair of spiralling stars on our cosmic doorstep
Astronomers have discovered an extremely rare, high mass, compact binary star system only ~150 light years away. These two stars are on a collision course to explode as a type 1a supernova, appearing 10 times brighter than the moon.
Revealing capillaries and cells in living organs with ultrasound
While medical centers use ultrasound daily, so far this technology has not been capable of observing body tissues at the scale of cells. Physicists have now developed a microscopy technique based on ultrasound to reveal capillaries and cells across living organs -- something that wasn't possible before.
Estrogen and progesterone stimulate the body to make opioids
Female hormones can suppress pain by making immune cells near the spinal cord produce opioids, a new study has found. This stops pain signals before they get to the brain. The discovery could help with developing new treatments for chronic pain. It may also explain why some painkillers work better for women than men and why postmenopausal women experience more pain.
Western diet causes inflammation, traditional African food protects
A switch of just two weeks from a traditional African diet to a Western diet causes inflammation, reduces the immune response to pathogens, and activates processes associated with lifestyle diseases. Conversely, an African diet rich in vegetables, fiber, and fermented foods has positive effects. This study highlights the significant impact of diet on the immune system and metabolism.
Solar wave squeezed Jupiter's magnetic shield to unleash heat
A solar wind event from 2017 that hit Jupiter and compressed its magnetosphere created a hot region spanning half Jupiter's circumference.
Solar cells made of moon dust could power future space exploration
The same dirt that clings to astronauts' boots may one day keep their lights on. Researchers created solar cells made out of simulated Moon dust. The cells convert sunlight into energy efficiently, withstand radiation damage, and mitigate the need for transporting heavy materials into space, offering a potential solution to one of space exploration's biggest challenges: reliable energy sources.
Monkeys are world's best yodellers -- new research
A new study has found that the world's finest yodellers aren't from Austria or Switzerland, but the rainforests of Latin America. The research provides significant new insights into the diverse vocal sounds of non-human primates, and reveals for the first time how certain calls are produced. The researchers have discovered that special anatomical structures called vocal membranes allow monkeys to introduce 'voice breaks' to their calls. These have the same rapid transitions in frequency heard in Alpine yodelling, or in Tarzan's famous yell, but cover a much wider frequency range.
Smartphone photo sensors transformed into an unprecedented resolution antimatter camera
Scientists have repurposed smartphone camera sensors to create a detector capable of tracking antiproton annihilations in real time with unprecedented resolution. This new device can pinpoint antiproton annihilations with a resolution of about 0.6 micrometers, a 35-fold improvement over previous real-time methods.
Galaxies die earlier than expected
For a long time, scientists thought that only actively star-forming galaxies should be observed in the very early Universe. The James Webb space telescope now reveals that galaxies stopped forming stars earlier than expected. A recent discovery deepens the tension between theoretical models of cosmic evolution and actual observations. Among hundreds of spectra obtained with the Webb program RUBIES, the team has found a record-breaking galaxy that had already stopped forming stars during an epoch where galaxies are normally growing very rapidly.
Asteroid impact threat estimates improved for the Earth and the Moon
An international team is currently closely tracking the near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4. The impact probability estimates for the year 2032 has been reduced from a peak of 3 percent to below 0.001 percent.
Biodegradable fake fingernails make manicures more sustainable
A new kind of press-on nails come in all shapes and colors -- and when you're done with them, you can melt them down and reuse the materials to make your next look.
Insight from one of Milky Way's most extreme environments
In new images, scientists have gotten the closest look yet at Sagittarius C -- a 'stellar nursery' where clouds of gas and dust have collapsed to form thousands of new stars.
Miso made in space tastes nuttier
Miso is a traditional Japanese condiment made by fermenting cooked soybeans and salt. Researchers successfully made miso on the International Space Station (ISS). They found that the miso smelled and tasted similar to miso fermented on Earth -- just with a slightly nuttier, more roasted flavor. The team hopes this research will help broaden the culinary options available to astronauts, improving the quality of life for long-term space travelers.
First ancient genomes from the Green Sahara deciphered
An international team has sequenced the first ancient genomes from the so-called Green Sahara, a period when the largest desert in the world temporarily turned into a humid savanna-like environment. By analyzing the DNA of two 7,000-year-old naturally mummified individuals excavated in the Takarkori rock shelter in southwestern Libya, the team showed that they belonged to a long-isolated and now extinct North African human lineage.
Sound frequencies of stars sing of our galaxy's past and future
Researchers interrogated the 'sounds' of a cluster of stars within the Milky Way, uncovering a new technique for astrophysicists to probe the universe and learn more about its evolution.
Thank you putting these new science findings in this newsletter the fascination with Guatemala ruins is a must see if my lifetime