ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• New species of metal-eating plant discovered in the Philippines
• Experiencing letters as colors: New insights into synesthesia
• Love makes you strong: Romantic relationships help neurotic people stabilize their personality
• Teaching robots right from wrong
• Mummy-making wasps discovered in Ecuador

New species of metal-eating plant discovered in the Philippines Posted: 09 May 2014 10:00 AM PDT Scientists have discovered a new plant species with an unusual lifestyle -- it eats nickel for a living -- accumulating up to 18,000 ppm of the metal in its leaves without itself being poisoned, says the lead author of a new report. Such an amount is a hundred to a thousand times higher than in most other plants.

Experiencing letters as colors: New insights into synesthesia Posted: 09 May 2014 04:41 AM PDT Scientists studying the bizarre phenomenon of synasthesia – best described as a "union of the senses" whereby two or more of the five senses that are normally experienced separately are involuntarily and automatically joined together – have made a new breakthrough in their attempts to understand the condition.

Love makes you strong: Romantic relationships help neurotic people stabilize their personality Posted: 09 May 2014 04:41 AM PDT It is springtime and they are everywhere: Newly enamored couples walking through the city hand in hand, floating on cloud nine. Yet a few weeks later the initial rush of romance will have dissolved and the world will not appear as rosy anymore. Nevertheless, love and romance have long lasting effects.

Teaching robots right from wrong Posted: 09 May 2014 04:39 AM PDT Researchers are teaming with the U.S. Navy to explore technology that would pave the way for developing robots capable of making moral decisions. Scientists will explore the challenges of infusing autonomous robots with a sense for right, wrong, and the consequences of both.

Mummy-making wasps discovered in Ecuador Posted: 08 May 2014 08:10 AM PDT Field work in the cloud forests of Ecuador has resulted in the discovery of 24 new species of Aleiodes wasps that mummify caterpillars. Among the 24 new insect species described by Shimbori and Shaw, several were named after famous people including the comedians and television hosts Jimmy Fallon, John Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Ellen DeGeneres, as well as the Ecuadorian artist Eduardo Kingman, American poet Robert Frost, and Colombian singer and musician, Shakira.

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