ScienceDaily: Quirky - May 08, 2024
Top quirky research news
This sound-suppressing silk can create quiet spaces
Researchers developed a silk fabric, which is barely thicker than a human hair, that can suppress unwanted noise and reduce noise transmission in a large room.
Seeking medical insights in the physics of mucus
Understanding how mucus changes, and what it changes in response to, can help diagnose illnesses and develop treatments. Researchers develop a system to grow mucus-producing intestinal cells and study the characteristics of the mucus in different conditions. The process involves growing a layer of intestinal cells on a laboratory plate exposed to air. These cells produce a layer of mucus that the researchers can easily access for testing. Using a magnetic wire, they can measure the consistency of the mucus without affecting its properties, and the platform can explore the effects of pathogens and help develop medications to combat them.
Caterbot? Robatapillar? It crawls with ease through loops and bends
Engineers created a catapillar-shaped robot that splits into segments and reassembles, hauls cargo, and crawls through twisting courses.
Venus has almost no water: A new study may reveal why
Billions of years ago, Venus may have harbored as much water as Earth. Today, almost all of it has disappeared. A new study may help to explain why.
Image: Venus, NASA Images/Shutterstock.com
Astronomers observe elusive stellar light surrounding ancient quasars
Astronomers observed the elusive starlight surrounding some of the earliest quasars in the universe. The findings may shed light on how the earliest supermassive black holes became so massive despite having a relatively short amount of cosmic time in which to grow.
New discoveries about Jupiter's magnetosphere
New discoveries about Jupiter could lead to a better understanding of Earth's own space environment and influence a long-running scientific debate about the solar system's largest planet.
Did a magnetic field collapse trigger the emergence of animals?
Researchers uncovered compelling evidence that Earth's magnetic field was in a highly unusual state when the macroscopic animals of the Ediacaran Period -- 635 to 541 million years ago -- diversified and thrived. Their study raises the question of whether these fluctuations in Earth's ancient magnetic field led to shifts in oxygen levels that may have been crucial to the proliferation of life forms millions of years ago.
Stretchable e-skin could give robots human-level touch sensitivity
A stretchy electronic skin could equip robots and other devices with the same softness and touch sensitivity as human skin, opening up new possibilities to perform tasks that require a great deal of precision and control of force.
Random robots are more reliable
New algorithm encourages robots to move more randomly to collect more diverse data for learning. In tests, robots started with no knowledge and then learned and correctly performed tasks within a single attempt. New model could improve safety and practicality of self-driving cars, delivery drones and more.
Researchers succeeded in conducting an almost perfect quantum teleportation despite the presence of noise that usually disrupts the transfer of quantum state.
This highly reflective black paint makes objects more visible to autonomous cars
Driving at night might be a scary challenge for a new driver, but with hours of practice it soon becomes second nature. For self-driving cars, however, practice may not be enough because the lidar sensors that often act as these vehicles' 'eyes' have difficulty detecting dark-colored objects. New research describes a highly reflective black paint that could help these cars see dark objects and make autonomous driving safer.
Wild orangutan treats wound with pain-relieving plant
A wild orangutan was observed applying a plant with known medicinal properties to a wound, a first for a wild animal.
Webb telescope probably didn't find life on an exoplanet -- yet
Recent reports of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope finding signs of life on a distant planet understandably sparked excitement. A new study challenges this finding, but also outlines how the telescope might verify the presence of the life-produced gas.
75,000-year-old female Neanderthal from cave where species buried their dead
A new documentary has recreated the face of a 75,000-year-old female Neanderthal whose flattened skull was discovered and rebuilt from hundreds of bone fragments by a team of archaeologists and conservators.
Researchers have discovered a potential 'cosmic glitch' in the universe's gravity, explaining its strange behavior on a cosmic scale.
Marriage of synthetic biology and 3D printing produces programmable living materials
Scientists are harnessing cells to make new types of materials that can grow, repair themselves and even respond to their environment. These solid 'engineered living materials' are made by embedding cells in an inanimate matrix that's formed in a desired shape. Now, researchers have 3D printed a bioink containing plant cells that were then genetically modified, producing programmable materials. Applications could someday include biomanufacturing and sustainable construction.
Earth-like environment likely on ancient Mars
A research team using the ChemCam instrument onboard NASA's Curiosity rover discovered higher-than-usual amounts of manganese in lakebed rocks within Gale Crater on Mars, which indicates that the sediments were formed in a river, delta, or near the shoreline of an ancient lake.
Time zones and tiredness strongly influence NBA results, study of 25,000 matches shows
The body clock has a significant impact on the performance of NBA players. Data shows vastly better win ratio for home teams from the Western Time Zone Area (PDT) when playing an EDT team, compared to vice versa.