Strange & Offbeat News -- ScienceDaily

One step closer to artificial photosynthesis and 'solar fuels' Posted: 09 Mar 2015 12:55 PM PDT A new thin-film coating solves a major problem in the development of artificial photosynthetic systems that can replicate the natural process of photosynthesis to harness sunlight to generate fuels.

Electrons in slow motion Posted: 09 Mar 2015 09:41 AM PDT At the origin of the properties of high-temperature superconductors lies a phenomenon that is too fast to be observed experimentally with conventional methods. Scientists have applied a sophisticated experimental technique, something like a moviola film-editing system, to slow down and analyze the structure of the process, thereby improving knowledge of these materials and bringing their technological applications a step closer.

Secrets of surfaces' wrinkling, folding, creasing and delaminating are unraveled Posted: 09 Mar 2015 08:09 AM PDT The process of wrinkle formation is familiar to anyone who has ever sat in a bathtub a little too long. But exactly why layered materials sometimes form one kind of wrinkly pattern or another -- or even other variations, such as creases, folds, or delaminated buckles -- has now been explained at a fundamental level.

Love, love me do: Male beetles that have more sex are more insecure, study shows Posted: 09 Mar 2015 07:28 AM PDT Males that mate more often are more insecure about their social status than those mating less, according to new research on the behavior of burying beetles. The study provides new evidence that the social sensitivity of male behaviour is linked to how often male beetles mate.

Saving Chilean mummies from climate change Posted: 09 Mar 2015 06:32 AM PDT At least two thousand years before the ancient Egyptians began mummifying their pharaohs, a hunter-gatherer people called the Chinchorro living along the coast of modern-day Chile and Peru developed elaborate methods to mummify not just elites but all types of community members--men, women, children, and even unborn fetuses. Radiocarbon dating as far back as 5050 BC makes them the world's oldest human-made mummies.

Bioengineers put human hearts on a chip to aid drug screening Posted: 09 Mar 2015 05:30 AM PDT Researchers have created a 'heart-on-a-chip' that effectively uses human cardiac muscle cells derived from adult stem cells to model how a human heart reacts to cardiovascular medications. The system could one day replace animal models to screen for the safety and efficacy of new drugs.

Are you a descendant of Genghis Khan? Millions of modern men descendants of 11 Asian dynastic leaders Posted: 09 Mar 2015 05:29 AM PDT Millions of modern Asian men are descended from 11 powerful dynastic leaders who lived up to 4,000 years ago -- including Mongolian warlord Genghis Khan, according to a new study. Researchers examined the male-specific Y chromosome, which is passed from father to son, in more than 5,000 Asian men belonging to 127 populations.

Strained thumb from texting? Biomechanical simulations show how tablets and smartphones stress joints and muscles Posted: 09 Mar 2015 05:28 AM PDT Spending hours on a computer or sending lots of text messages on a mobile phone can result in a stiff neck and sometimes even a strained thumb. Computer scientists have developed a procedure that simulates in a lifelike manner which muscles and joints are put under particular strain when using IT devices. It also demonstrates the speed and accuracy with which a user can operate a device. The method developed by the researchers uses cameras to capture the motion of a test subject and then projects these movements onto a model of the human body.

New paint makes tough self-cleaning surfaces Posted: 05 Mar 2015 12:21 PM PST A new paint that makes robust self-cleaning surfaces has been developed. The coating can be applied to clothes, paper, glass and steel and when combined with adhesives, maintains its self-cleaning properties after being wiped, scratched with a knife and scuffed with sandpaper.