ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Unusual fish larva linked to new species of sea bass from Curacao
• Human learning altered by electrical stimulation of dopamine neurons
• Novel technique enables air-stable water droplet networks
• Get it over with: People choose more difficult tasks to get jobs done more quickly
• A tiny, toothy catfish with bulldog snout defies classification
• Complex interplay between alcohol, social behavior illuminated by fish study
• Odd planet, so far from its star: Gas giant 155 light years from our solar system
• Mechanisms as minds: Creating a tensegrity robot that can move
• Living near foreclosed property linked to higher blood pressure
• Analyzing sperm cells to learn about animal infidelity, evolution
• Why exercise may not help obese shed much weight: Exercise can elevate stress response and make it more difficult to become slim

Unusual fish larva linked to new species of sea bass from Curacao Posted: 13 May 2014 02:52 PM PDT Identifying larval stages of marine fishes in the open ocean is difficult because the young fishes often bear little or no resemblance to the adults they will become. Confronted with a perplexing fish larva collected in the Florida Straits, scientists turned to DNA barcoding, which yielded an unexpected discovery -- a match between the mysterious fish larva and adults of a new species of sea bass discovered off the coast of Curacao.

Human learning altered by electrical stimulation of dopamine neurons Posted: 13 May 2014 02:50 PM PDT Stimulation of a certain population of neurons within the brain can alter the learning process, according to a team of neuroscientists and neurosurgeons. A new report describes for the first time that human learning can be modified by stimulation of dopamine-containing neurons in a deep brain structure known as the substantia nigra.

Novel technique enables air-stable water droplet networks Posted: 13 May 2014 01:16 PM PDT A simple new technique to form interlocking beads of water in ambient conditions could prove valuable for applications in biological sensing, membrane research and harvesting water from fog.

Get it over with: People choose more difficult tasks to get jobs done more quickly Posted: 13 May 2014 11:21 AM PDT Putting off tasks until later, or procrastination, is a common phenomenon -- but new research suggests that pre-crastination -- hurrying to complete a task as soon as possible -- may also be common. The new findings suggest that people often opt to begin a task as soon as possible just to get it off their plate, even if they have to expend more physical effort to do so.

A tiny, toothy catfish with bulldog snout defies classification Posted: 13 May 2014 10:27 AM PDT Kryptoglanis shajii is a strange fish -- and the closer scientists look, the stranger it gets. This small subterranean catfish sees the light of day and human observers only rarely, when it turns up in springs, wells and flooded rice paddies. Scientists have recently provided a detailed description of this fish's bizarre bone structures.

Complex interplay between alcohol, social behavior illuminated by fish study Posted: 13 May 2014 10:26 AM PDT Research is helping unravel the complex interplay between alcohol and social behavior. In what may be the first experiment to allow ethanol-exposed and untreated zebrafish to swim freely together, those exposed to certain alcohol concentrations nearly doubled their swimming speeds when in a group --suggesting that the presence of peers substantially impacts social behavior. Most remarkably, unexposed fish modulated their behavior in the presence of a shoalmate exposed to alcohol.

Odd planet, so far from its star: Gas giant 155 light years from our solar system Posted: 13 May 2014 08:31 AM PDT A gas giant has been added to the short list of exoplanets discovered through direct imaging. It is located around GU Psc, a star three times less massive than the Sun and located in the constellation Pisces.

Mechanisms as minds: Creating a tensegrity robot that can move Posted: 13 May 2014 06:11 AM PDT Before a signal even reaches your brain, your fingers can adjust the tension required to lift an object with their tendons. It's a mechanism (fingers) acting as a mind -- a phenomenon called morphological computation that scientists are exploring with tensegrity robots.

Living near foreclosed property linked to higher blood pressure Posted: 12 May 2014 06:40 PM PDT This study provides the first evidence that foreclosed properties may increase neighbors' blood pressure. Neighborhood environment is an important social determinant of cardiovascular health, including blood pressure. The scale of the recent U.S. housing crisis has prompted the public health community to seek a better understanding of how foreclosure activity might impact health. The number of foreclosures spiked in the United States in 2007-10 when more than 6 million homeowners fell behind on their mortgages and banks took ownership of the homes, or foreclosed.

Analyzing sperm cells to learn about animal infidelity, evolution Posted: 12 May 2014 07:15 AM PDT The analyzing of sperm cells to learn more about bird evolution and behavior is a new area of research. "To understand sexual infidelity in species, interpreting DNA is not enough. We also need to look at the shape and behavior of the sperm cells. Sperm research has opened up a completely new world to us," says one researcher.

Why exercise may not help obese shed much weight: Exercise can elevate stress response and make it more difficult to become slim Posted: 12 May 2014 07:14 AM PDT The obese are advised to do physical exercise. But this can increase their physiological stress responses, and thereby make it more difficult to slim, according to a new study. This research may provide an explanation for the difficulties which many people encounter in losing weight despite energetic keep-fit efforts.

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