Strange & Offbeat News -- ScienceDaily

Chemists develop new way to make cost-effective material for electricity storage Posted: 06 Mar 2015 11:45 AM PST Researchers have found a new way to make state-of-the-art materials for energy storage using a cheap lamp from the hardware store.

Self driving cars could free up rush hour traffic Posted: 06 Mar 2015 10:26 AM PST With the growing popularity of care share programs, self-driving technology could be a game changer for urban traffic systems. A new study looks at how the Swedish capital's transport grid could be transformed. A fleet of shared self-driving cars in Stockholm could reduce rush hour traffic volumes by 14 cars for every shared vehicle, according to researchers.

Urine power to light camps in disaster zones Posted: 06 Mar 2015 08:19 AM PST A toilet, conveniently situated near the Student Union Bar at the University of the West of England, is proving that urine can generate electricity.

Novel mechanism to explain high elevation of Denver area Posted: 06 Mar 2015 07:27 AM PST Researchers have proposed a new way to explain how the High Plains got so high. Water trapped deep below Earth's crust may have flooded the lower crust, creating buoyancy and lift.

Melting glaciers create noisiest places in ocean, study says Posted: 06 Mar 2015 07:26 AM PST Researchers measure underwater noise in Alaskan and Antarctic fjords and find them to be the noisiest places in the ocean. This leads researchers to ask how animals such as whales and seals use the noise and what will happen to fjord ecosystems once the glaciers recede and the noise disappears.

'Habitable' planet GJ 581d previously dismissed as noise probably does exist Posted: 06 Mar 2015 07:26 AM PST A new report has dismissed claims made last year that the first super-Earth planet discovered in the habitable zone of a distant star was 'stellar activity masquerading as planets.' The researchers are confident the planet named GJ 581d, identified in 2009 orbiting the star Gliese 581, does exist, and that last year's claim was triggered by inadequate analysis of the data.

New flexible films for touch screen applications achieve longer lasting display Posted: 06 Mar 2015 07:25 AM PST Today, touch screens are everywhere, from smart phones and tablets, to computer monitors, to interactive digital signage and displays. Many touch screens are made of layered thin (billionths of a meter thick) films of indium-tin oxide, an inorganic material that is electrically conductive, which allows electrical signals to travel from the "touch" to the edges of the display, where they are sensed by the device--as well as optically transparent. But these and other inorganic materials have a downside, as anyone who has ever dropped their smart phone knows: they are brittle and shatter easily. The solution? Make the screens flexible and durable without sacrificing any of their electrical or optical properties. Researchers have now created thin sheets of hybrid materials that may enable the next generation of consumer electronics.

Sap-feeding butterflies join ranks of natural phenomenon, the Golden Ratio Posted: 06 Mar 2015 07:25 AM PST Researchers observed that the coiling action of the butterfly proboscis, a tube-like 'mouth' that many butterflies and moths use to feed on fluids, resembled a spiral similar to that of the Golden Ratio, and decided to investigate.

Black holes and dark sector explained by quantum gravity Posted: 06 Mar 2015 06:16 AM PST A quantum version of General Relativity demonstrates that dark energy and dark matter are different manifestations of gravity. The theory calculates the precise value of the cosmological constant, derives the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation, gives a quantum description of Black Holes and calculates the baryonic mass content of the observable universe.

A new way to control information by mixing light and sound Posted: 06 Mar 2015 06:16 AM PST For once, slower is better in a new piece of technology. Scientists have developed a new, radio frequency processing device that allows information to be controlled more effectively, opening the door to a new generation of signal processing on microchips. One of the keys to the technology involves slowing information down.

Mice don't need the cortex to sing their songs Posted: 06 Mar 2015 04:37 AM PST The human language is unique in that we can refer to objects, events and ideas. The combination of syllables and words enables humans to generate an infinite number of expressions. An important prerequisite for language is the ability to imitate sounds, i.e. to store acquired acoustic information and to use this for one's own vocal production. Cortical structures in the brain play a crucial role in this. While songbirds and certain marine mammals are capable of such vocal learning, there is very little evidence for vocal learning in terrestrial mammals -- not even in our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees. Nonhuman primate vocal production is largely restricted to an innate repertoire of sounds.

Loss of money for refusing a bribery generates more excitement than accepting it Posted: 03 Mar 2015 04:53 AM PST The decision taken before an offer of a bribery causes a greater physiological arousal in those who choose to act against their own economic interests and reject it than in those who choose to accept it. This is what can be deduced from the study on physiological and behavioral aspects of corruption, which also reveals a major tendency to act ethically and shows the effectiveness of the threat of a possible punishment when curbing corrupt attitudes.

Bigger, brighter billboards? Large-surface light-emitting plastic film created Posted: 03 Mar 2015 04:49 AM PST Based on OLED technology and implemented by means of a printing machine, a new method allows for patterned and flexible light-emitting surfaces on advertising displays, info signs and lighting fixtures, for instance. The method also enables transparent smart surfaces to be attached to window panels or packaging.