ScienceDaily: Quirky - September 18, 2024
Top quirky research news
New understanding of the limits on nano-noise
Thanks to nanoscale devices as small as human cells, researchers can create groundbreaking material properties, leading to smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient electronics. However, to fully unlock the potential of nanotechnology, addressing noise is crucial. A research team has taken a significant step toward unraveling fundamental constraints on noise, paving the way for future nanoelectronics.
A wobble from Mars could be sign of dark matter
Watching for changes in Mars' orbit over time could be new way to detect passing dark matter, according to researchers.
Image: petrroudny43/Shutterstock.com
More black holes than expected in the early universe
With the help of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, an international team of scientists has found more black holes in the early universe than has previously been reported. The new result can help scientists understand how supermassive black holes were created.
Beneath the brushstrokes, van Gogh's sky is alive with real-world physics
Van Gogh's brushstrokes in 'The Starry Night' create an illusion of sky movement so convincing it led researchers to wonder how closely it aligns with the physics of real skies. Marine sciences and fluid dynamics specialists analyzed the painting to uncover what they call the hidden turbulence in the artwork. They used brushstrokes to examine the shape, energy, and scaling of atmospheric characteristics of the otherwise invisible atmosphere and used the relative brightness of the varying paint colors as a stand-in for the kinetic energy of physical movement.
New species of wasp 'hidden in plain sight' discovered by researchers
Creating a buzz, a biologist's research has led to the discovery of a new parasitic wasp species with unusual biology in the Eastern U.S., opening doors for future research in fundamental biological processes.
Astronomers detect black hole 'starving' its host galaxy to death
Astronomers have used the NASA/ESA James Webb Space Telescope to confirm that supermassive black holes can starve their host galaxies of the fuel they need to form new stars.
New 'grumpy' fish species discovered in the Red Sea
Scientists have discovered a new species of fish, the 'grumpy dwarfgoby'. Found among coral reefs in the Red Sea, it has large canines and a fierce expression, even though it is only 2 cm long. Its existence highlights the region's rich biodiversity, but also stresses the need for conservation efforts as climate change causes major disturbances to the reef's ecosystem.
Early dark energy could resolve cosmology's two biggest puzzles
Physicists propose that a mysterious force known as early dark energy could solve two of the biggest puzzles in cosmology and fill in some major gaps in our understanding of how the early universe evolved.
Energy transmission in quantum field theory requires information
An international team of researchers has found a simple relationship between the rates of energy and information transmission across an interface connecting two quantum field theories.
Bacteria work together to thrive in difficult conditions
In a new study, researchers have determined through both statistical analysis and in experiments that soil pH is a driver of microbial community composition -- but that the need to address toxicity released during nitrogen cycling ultimately shapes the final microbial community.
Huge gamma-ray burst collection 'rivals 250-year-old Messier catalog'
Hundreds of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been recorded as part of an enormous global effort so extensive it 'rivals the catalog of deep-sky objects created by Messier 250 years ago', astronomers say. GRBs are the most violent explosions in the Universe, releasing more energy than the Sun would in 10 billion years. They occur when either a massive star dies or two neutron stars merge.
How El Nino and mega ocean warming caused the greatest-ever mass extinction
Mega ocean warming El Nino events were key in driving the largest extinction of life on planet Earth some 252 million years ago, according to new research. The study has shed new light on why the effects of rapid climate change in the Permian-Triassic warming were so devastating for all forms of life in the sea and on land.
Climate-change-triggered 2023 mega-landslide caused Earth to vibrate for nine days
A landslide in a remote part of Greenland caused a 200 meter (650 foot) mega-tsunami that sloshed back and forth across a fjord for nine days, generating vibrations throughout Earth, according to a new study. The study concluded that this movement of water was the cause of a mysterious, global seismic signal that lasted for nine days and puzzled seismologists in September 2023.
Invisibility cloaks? Wave scattering simulation unlocks potential for advanced metamaterials
Could invisibility cloaks become a reality? New research brings this science fiction concept a step closer, with a breakthrough software package that simulates how waves interact with complex materials.
Trilobite fossils from upstate New York reveal 'extra' set of legs
A new study finds that a trilobite species with exceptionally well-preserved fossils from upstate New York has an additional set of legs underneath its head. The research suggests that having a fifth pair of head appendages might be more widespread among trilobites than once thought and helps researchers better understand how trilobite heads are segmented.
New fossil fish species scales up evidence of Earth's evolutionary march
Climate change and asteroids are linked with animal origin and extinction -- and plate tectonics also seems to play a key evolutionary role, 'groundbreaking' new fossil research reveals. The discovery of an exceptionally well preserved ancient primitive Devonian coelacanth fish in remote Western Australia has been linked to a period of heightened tectonic activity, or movement in the Earth's crust, according to the new study.
Hair-thin wire to help simulate cosmic conditions
Extreme conditions prevail inside stars and planets. The pressure reaches millions of bars, and it can be several million degrees hot. Sophisticated methods make it possible to create such states of matter in the laboratory -- albeit only for the blink of an eye and in a tiny volume. So far, this has required the world's most powerful lasers, and the opportunities for experiments are correspondingly rare. A research team has now succeeded in creating and observing extreme conditions with a much smaller laser.
NASA's Webb peers into the extreme outer galaxy
Astronomers have directed NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to examine the outskirts of our Milky Way galaxy. Scientists call this region the Extreme Outer Galaxy due to its location more than 58,000 light-years away from the Galactic Center. (For comparison, Earth is approximately 26,000 light-years from the center.)
Powered by renewable energy, microbes turn CO2 into protein and vitamins
Researchers can harvest protein and vitamin B9 from microbes by feeding them nothing much more than hydrogen, oxygen, and CO2. The technology runs on renewable energy to produce a sustainable, micronutrient-enriched protein alternative that may one day make it to our plates.
Quantum researchers cause controlled 'wobble' in the nucleus of a single atom
Researchers have been able to initiate a controlled movement in the very heart of an atom. They caused the atomic nucleus to interact with one of the electrons in the outermost shells of the atom. This electron could be manipulated and read out through the needle of a scanning tunneling microscope. The research offers prospects for storing quantum information inside the nucleus, where it is safe from external disturbances.
Researchers discover building blocks that could 'revolutionize computing'
A research team has made a major discovery by designing molecules that could revolutionize computing.
Research reveals reality of Ice Age teen puberty
Landmark new research shows Ice Age teens from 25,000 years ago went through similar puberty stages as modern-day adolescents.
Self-medicating gorillas and traditional healers provide clues for new drug discovery
Four plants consumed by wild gorillas in Gabon and used by local communities in traditional medicine show antibacterial and antioxidant properties, researchers report.
Researchers have developed a flexible, durable electronic prototype that can harvest energy from body heat and turn it into electricity that can be used to power small electronics, such as batteries, sensors or LEDs. This device is also resilient -- it still functions even after being pierced several times and then stretched 2,000 times.
Microscale robot folds into 3D shapes and crawls
Researchers have created microscale robots less than 1 millimeter in size that are printed as a 2D hexagonal 'metasheet' but, with a jolt of electricity, morph into preprogrammed 3D shapes and crawl.
Ancient DNA from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) refutes best-selling population collapse theory
Rapa Nui (Easter Island) with its gigantic statues and treeless landscape has fascinated researchers for centuries. A new genetic study disproves the popular theory that the Rapanui population collapsed as a result of an 'ecocide' and shows that the Rapanui admixed with Indigenous Americans centuries before Europeans arrived on the island.
Mirror, mirror, in my tank, who's the biggest fish of all?
Researchers have demonstrated that bluestreak cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) checked their body size in a mirror before choosing whether to attack fish that were slightly larger or smaller than themselves, saying it was the first time for a non-human animal to be demonstrated to possess some mental states that are elements of private self-awareness.
Scientists expand the genetic alphabet to create new proteins
It's a dogma taught in every introductory biology class: Proteins are composed of combinations of 20 different amino acids, arranged into diverse sequences like words. But researchers trying to engineer biologic molecules with new functions have long felt limited by those 20 basic building blocks and strived to develop ways of putting new building blocks -- called non-canonical amino acids -- into their proteins. Now, scientists have designed a new paradigm for easily adding non-canonical amino acids to proteins.
Astronomers track bubbles on star's surface
Astronomers have captured images of a star other than the Sun in enough detail to track the motion of bubbling gas on its surface. The images of the star, R Doradus, were obtained in July and August 2023. They show giant, hot bubbles of gas, 75 times the size of the Sun, appearing on the surface and sinking back into the star's interior faster than expected.
Researchers combine the power of AI and the connectome to predict brain cell activity
With maps of the connections between neurons and artificial intelligence methods, researchers can now do what they never thought possible: predict the activity of individual neurons without making a single measurement in a living brain.
Flightless parrot in New Zealand developed different feather colors to evade predatory birds
Aotearoa New Zealand's flightless parrot, the k k p , evolved two different color types to potentially help them avoid detection by a now-extinct apex predator, researchers report.