Strange & Offbeat News -- ScienceDaily

High-tech gas sensing capsules for better gut health Posted: 12 Mar 2015 10:07 AM PDT High-tech gas sensing capsules that can send data from inside the gut direct to a mobile phone have been developed by scientists, opening new possibilities for diagnosis, treatment and health analysis.

Some genes 'foreign' in origin and not from our ancestors Posted: 12 Mar 2015 09:33 AM PDT Many animals, including humans, acquired essential 'foreign' genes from microorganisms co-habiting their environment in ancient times, according to new research. The study challenges conventional views that animal evolution relies solely on genes passed down through ancestral lines, suggesting that, at least in some lineages, the process is still ongoing.

Mind reading: Spatial patterns of brain activity decode what people taste Posted: 12 Mar 2015 09:33 AM PDT Scientists have revealed how taste is encoded in patterns of neural activity in the human brain.

Underground ocean on Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede Posted: 12 Mar 2015 08:21 AM PDT Identifying liquid water on other worlds, big or small, is crucial in the search for habitable planets beyond Earth. Though the presence of an ocean on Ganymede has been long predicted based on theoretical models, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope found the best evidence for it. Hubble was used to watch aurorae glowing above the moon's icy surface. The aurorae are tied to the moon's magnetic field, which descends right down to Ganymede's core. A saline ocean would influence the dynamics of the magnetic field as it interacts with Jupiter's own immense magnetic field, which engulfs Ganymede. Because telescopes can't look inside planets or moons, tracing the magnetic field through aurorae is a unique way to probe the interior of another world.

Engineers create chameleon-like artificial 'skin' that shifts color on demand Posted: 12 Mar 2015 07:07 AM PDT Borrowing a trick from nature, engineers have created an incredibly thin, chameleon-like material that can be made to change color -- on demand -- by simply applying a minute amount of force.

'Chaotic Earths': Some habitable exoplanets could experience wildly unpredictable climates Posted: 12 Mar 2015 06:21 AM PDT Astronomers have delved into possible planetary systems where a gravitational nudge from one planet with just the right orbital configuration and tilt could have a mild to devastating effect on the orbit and climate of another, possibly habitable world.

How parents may help create their own little narcissists Posted: 09 Mar 2015 11:50 AM PDT Children whose parents think they're God's gift to the world do tend to outshine their peers -- in narcissism. Results showed that parents who "overvalued" their children when the study began ended up with children who scored higher on tests of narcissism later on. Overvalued children were described by their parents in surveys as "more special than other children" and as kids who "deserve something extra in life," for example.