ScienceDaily: Quirky - June 12, 2024
Top quirky research news
Wind from black holes may influence development of surrounding galaxies
Clouds of gas in a distant galaxy are being pushed faster and faster -- at more than 10,000 miles per second -- out among neighboring stars by blasts of radiation from the supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center. It's a discovery that helps illuminate the way active black holes can continuously shape their galaxies by spurring on or snuffing out the development of new stars.
How do supermassive black holes get super massive?
By combining forefront X-ray observations with state-of-the-art supercomputer simulations of the buildup of galaxies over cosmic history, researchers have provided the best modeling to date of the growth of the supermassive black holes found in the centers of galaxies.
Image: NASA Images/Shutterstock.com
3D-printed mini-actuators can move small soft robots, lock them into new shapes
Researchers have demonstrated miniature soft hydraulic actuators that can be used to control the deformation and motion of soft robots that are less than a millimeter thick. The researchers have also demonstrated that this technique works with shape memory materials, allowing users to repeatedly lock the soft robots into a desired shape and return to the original shape as needed.
Scientists spot more Milky Way-like galaxies in early universe
Scientists are peering into the past and uncovering new clues about the early universe. Since light takes a long time to travel through space, they are now able to see how galaxies looked billions of years ago. The astronomers have discovered that spiral galaxies were more common in the early universe than previously thought. The scientists found that nearly 30% of galaxies have a spiral structure about 2 billion years after the universe formed. The discovery provides a significant update to the universe's origin story as previously told using data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.
Research on the visual rabbit illusion takes a leap forward
Researchers have discovered new variations of an illusion created when we see three rapid flashes in our side vision. Regardless of the position of the second flash, the illusion causes the brain to perceive the flashes in a straight line, with the second near the midpoint. The findings suggest that our brain processes the flashes as a whole, rather than independently, showing that later events determine our perception of past location.
Virus-like nanoparticles control the multicellular organization and reproduction of host bacteria
Researchers have discovered that virus-like nanoparticles can promote the multicellular organization and reproduction of host bacteria. These particles, which are evolutionarily related to phages (viruses that infect bacteria), contain an enzyme that helps shape the multicellular architecture and ultimately enhances morphological differentiation.
Origins of fast radio bursts come into focus through polarized light
What scientists previously thought about where Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) come from is just the tip of the iceberg. A new study details the properties of polarized light from 128 non-repeating FRBs and reveals mysterious cosmic explosions that originated in far-away galaxies, similar to our own Milky Way.
Algae offer real potential as a renewable electricity source
The need to transition away from fossil fuels to more sustainable energy production is critical. That's why a team of researchers is looking at a potential power source that not only produces no carbon emissions but removes carbon as it works: algae.
Would astronauts' kidneys survive a roundtrip to Mars?
The structure and function of the kidneys is altered by space flight, with galactic radiation causing permanent damage that would jeopardise any mission to Mars, according to a new study led by researchers from UCL.
New technique could help build quantum computers of the future
Researchers have demonstrated a new method that could enable the large-scale manufacturing of optical qubits. The advance could bring us closer to a scalable quantum computer.
Trash-sorting robot mimics complex human sense of touch
Researchers are breaking through the difficulties of robotic recognition of various common, yet complex, items. Their layered sensor is equipped with material detection at the surface and pressure sensitivity at the bottom, with a porous middle layer sensitive to thermal changes. An efficient cascade classification algorithm rules out object types in order, from easy to hard, starting with simple categories like empty cartons before moving on to orange peels or scraps of cloth.
How did a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way come to be?
Crater 2, located approximately 380,000 light years from Earth, is one of the largest satellite galaxies of the Milky Way. Extremely cold and with slow-moving stars, Crater 2 has low surface brightness. How this galaxy originated remains unclear. A team of physicists now offers an explanation.
Lone Star State: Tracking a low-mass star as it speeds across the Milky Way
Astronomers have discovered a rare hypervelocity L subdwarf star racing through the Milky Way. More remarkably, this star may be on a trajectory that causes it to leave the Milky Way altogether.
NASA's Webb opens new window on supernova science
Peering deeply into the cosmos, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is giving scientists their first detailed glimpse of supernovae from a time when our universe was just a small fraction of its current age. A team using Webb data has identified 10 times more supernovae in the early universe than were previously known. A few of the newfound exploding stars are the most distant examples of their type, including those used to measure the universe's expansion rate.
Researchers engineer new approach for controlling thermal emission
If a material absorbs light, it will heat up. That heat must go somewhere, and the ability to control where and how much heat is emitted can protect or even hide such devices as satellites. An international team of researchers has published a novel method for controlling this thermal emission in Science.
Four-legged, dog-like robot 'sniffs' hazardous gases in inaccessible environments
Nightmare material or truly man's best friend? A team of researchers equipped a dog-like quadruped robot with a mechanized arm that takes air samples from potentially treacherous situations, such as an abandoned building or fire. The robot dog walks samples to a person who screens them for potentially hazardous compounds.
Protocol for creating 'wired miniature brains'
Researchers have developed -- and shared -- a process for creating brain cortical organoids -- essentially miniature artificial brains with functioning neural networks.
Hubble finds surprises around a star that erupted 40 years ago
Astronomers have used new data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the retired SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) as well as archival data from other missions to revisit one of the strangest binary star systems in our galaxy -- 40 years after it burst onto the scene as a bright and long-lived nova. A nova is a star that suddenly increases its brightness tremendously and then fades away to its former obscurity, usually in a few months or years.
Researchers demonstrate the first chip-based 3D printer
Researchers have demonstrated the first chip-based 3D printer, a tiny device that emits reconfigurable beams of visible light into a well of resin that rapidly cures into a solid shape. The advance could enable a 3D printer small enough to fit in the palm of a person's hand.
Webb telescope reveals asteroid collision in neighboring star system
Astronomers have captured what appears to be a snapshot of a massive collision of giant asteroids in Beta Pictoris, a neighboring star system known for its early age and tumultuous planet-forming activity.
Researchers create skin-inspired sensory robots to provide medical treatment
Scientists have created innovative soft robots equipped with electronic skins and artificial muscles, allowing them to sense their surroundings and adapt their movements in real-time.
Astrophysicists calculate the likelihood that Earth was exposed to cold, harsh interstellar clouds, a phenomenon not previously considered in geologic climate models.
Novel Genetic Clock discovers oldest known marine plant
An international research team has discovered the oldest known marine plant using a novel genetic clock. This 1400-year-old seagrass clone from the Baltic Sea dates back to the Migration Period. The research project is a significant step towards better understanding and protecting marine ecosystems.
Elephants have names for each other like people do, new study shows
Wild African elephants address each other with name-like calls, a rare ability among nonhuman animals, according to a new study. Researchers used machine learning to confirm that elephant calls contained a name-like component identifying the intended recipient, a behavior they suspected based on observation. The study suggests elephants do not imitate the receiver's call to address one another but instead use arbitrary vocal labels like humans.
In a significant first, researchers detect water frost on solar system's tallest volcanoes
An international team of planetary scientists has detected patches of water frost sitting atop the Tharsis volcanoes on Mars, which are not only the tallest volcanic mountains on the Red Planet but in the entire solar system.
Galactic bloodlines: Many nearby star clusters originate from only three 'families'
Astronomers have deciphered the formation history of young star clusters, some of which we can see with the naked eye at night. The team reports that most nearby young star clusters belong to only three families, which originate from very massive star-forming regions. This research also provides new insights into the effects of supernovae (violent explosions at the end of the life of very massive stars) on the formation of giant gas structures in galaxies like our Milky Way.
Lake under Mars ice cap unlikely
Researchers have provided a simple and comprehensive -- if less dramatic -- explanation for bright radar reflections initially interpreted as liquid water beneath the ice cap on Mars' south pole.
Tiny new species of great ape lived in Germany 11 million years ago
Ancient apes in Germany co-existed by partitioning resources in their environment, according to a new study.
A new study reveals that marine cyanobacteria communicate
A breakthrough study changes the way we understand cyanobacteria, which are essential for the sustenance of life. The study shows that these organisms do not operate in isolation, but rather physically interact through membrane-nanotubes, which function as exchange bridges between cells.
A research team has developed a liquid metal-based electronic logic device that mimics the intelligent prey-capture mechanism of Venus flytraps. Exhibiting memory and counting properties, the device can intelligently respond to various stimulus sequences without the need for additional electronic components. The intelligent strategies and logic mechanisms in the device provide a fresh perspective on understanding 'intelligence' in nature and offer inspiration for the development of 'embodied intelligence'.
Exotic black holes could be a byproduct of dark matter
In the first quintillionth of a second, the universe may have sprouted microscopic black holes with enormous amounts of nuclear charge, MIT physicists propose. The gravitational pull from these tiny, invisible objects could potentially explain all the dark matter that we can't see today.
People feel more connected to 'tweezer-like' bionic tools that don't resemble human hands
Some say the next step in human evolution will be the integration of technology with flesh. Now, researchers have used virtual reality to test whether humans can feel embodiment -- the sense that something is part of one's body -- toward prosthetic 'hands' that resemble a pair of tweezers. They report that participants felt an equal degree of embodiment for the tweezer-hands and were also faster and more accurate in completing motor tasks in virtual reality than when they were equipped with a virtual human hand.
Planet-forming disks around very low-mass stars are different
Using the James Webb Space Telescope, a team of astronomers studied the properties of a planet-forming disk around a young and very low-mass star. The results reveal the richest hydrocarbon composition seen to date in a protoplanetary disk, including the first extrasolar detection of ethane and a relatively low abundance of oxygen-bearing species. By including previous similar detections, this finding confirms a trend of disks around very low-mass stars to be chemically distinct from those around more massive stars like the Sun, influencing the atmospheres of planets forming there.
Researchers solve 2,000-year-old mystery of the shipworm
They bedeviled ancient Greek navies, helped shipwreck Christopher Columbus, aided in the sinking of the Spanish Armada and caused the wharves in San Francisco Bay to collapse into the sea, but until now, scientists have been unable to pinpoint exactly how shipworms -- a family of mollusks -- are able to cause such damage. A team of researchers has discovered that a population of symbiotic microbes, living in an overlooked sub-organ of the gut called the 'typhlosole,' have the ability to secrete the enzymes needed to digest lignin -- the toughest part of wood.
Flapping frequency of birds, insects, bats and whales described by universal equation
A single universal equation can closely approximate the frequency of wingbeats and fin strokes made by birds, insects, bats and whales, despite their different body sizes and wing shapes, researchers report in a new study.
Fishy mystery of marine reptile solved
The identity of a prehistoric marine reptile has finally been revealed after experts discovered that some of its remains actually belonged to fish.
Blood sausages and yak milk: Bronze Age cuisine of Mongolian nomads unveiled
Bronze cauldrons were used by the inhabitants of the Mongolian steppe around 2,700 years ago to process animal blood and milk. This is shown by a protein analysis of archaeological finds from this period.
Babies use 'helpless' infant period to learn powerful foundation models, just like ChatGPT
Babies' brains are not as immature as previously thought, rather they are using the period of postnatal 'helplessness' to learn powerful foundation models similar to those underpinning generative Artificial Intelligence, according to a new study.
'Missing' early sea sponges discovered
Geobiologists reported a 550 million-year-old sea sponge that had been missing from the fossil record. The discovery sheds new light on a conundrum that has stumped zoologists and paleontologists for years.
'Weird' new planet retained atmosphere despite nearby star's relentless radiation
A rare exoplanet that should have been stripped down to bare rock by its nearby host star's intense radiation somehow grew a puffy atmosphere instead -- the latest in a string of discoveries forcing scientists to rethink theories about how planets age and die in extreme environments. Nicknamed 'Phoenix' for its ability to survive its red giant star's radiant energy discovered planet illustrates the vast diversity of solar systems and the complexity of planetary evolution -- especially at the end of stars' lives.