ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

---

• Babbling brooks adding to climate change?
• Personal judgments swayed by group opinion, but only for three days
• Tiny muscles help bats fine-tune flight, stiffen wing skin
• Aggressive behavior observed after alcohol-related priming
• Rhythmic bursts of electrical activity from cells in ear teach brain how to hear
• Too cute to resist: Do whimsical products make consumers overspend?
• Cancer avatars for personalized medicine help researchers find genomic signatures of cancers

Babbling brooks adding to climate change? Posted: 23 May 2014 04:23 PM PDT Studying stream bubbles isn't exactly a walk in the park. What, with the mud and ticks, the long days hiking and swimming through mucky streams, the sun exposure and scratching brush. But in the end, it may prove to be insightful. The bubbles coming from freshwater sources, new research suggests, may be a key and currently unaccounted for source of methane, the second-largest greenhouse gas contributor to human-driven global climate change.

Personal judgments swayed by group opinion, but only for three days Posted: 23 May 2014 11:54 AM PDT We all want to feel like we're free-thinking individuals, but there's nothing like the power of social pressure to sway an opinion. New research suggests that people do change their own personal judgments so that they fall in line with the group norm, but the change only seems to last about three days.

Tiny muscles help bats fine-tune flight, stiffen wing skin Posted: 23 May 2014 11:53 AM PDT Bats appear to use a network of hair-thin muscles in their wing skin to control the stiffness and shape of their wings as they fly, according to a new study. The finding provides new insight about the aerodynamic fine-tuning of membrane wings, both natural and human-made.

Aggressive behavior observed after alcohol-related priming Posted: 22 May 2014 07:49 AM PDT It has been well documented by previous research that the consumption of alcohol is directly linked to an increase in aggression and other behavioral extremes. But can simply seeing alcohol-related words have a similar effect on aggressive behavior? Researchers say yes. The study's result suggest that simply being exposed to alcohol-related words makes aggressive thoughts more accessible, thereby coloring interpretation of an ambiguous event and prompting an aggressive response.

Rhythmic bursts of electrical activity from cells in ear teach brain how to hear Posted: 21 May 2014 10:35 AM PDT A precise rhythm of electrical impulses transmitted from cells in the inner ear coaches the brain how to hear, according to a new study. The ear generates spontaneous electrical activity to trigger a response in the brain before hearing actually begins, said the study's senior investigator.

Too cute to resist: Do whimsical products make consumers overspend? Posted: 21 May 2014 10:32 AM PDT Babies are cute. Kittens are cute. But for some people, products that emphasize baby features like chubby cheeks and large eyes cause them to be more careful and restrained. According to a new study, products that are cute in a playful and whimsical way can bring out more indulgent behavior.

Cancer avatars for personalized medicine help researchers find genomic signatures of cancers Posted: 21 May 2014 10:31 AM PDT Computer simulations of cancer cells – cancer avatars – have been used by researchers to identify drugs most likely to kill cancer cells isolated from patients' brain tumors. The findings may help researchers stratify cancer patients for clinical trials according to their cancers' genomic signatures and predicted sensitivities to different cancer drugs.

You are subscribed to email updates from Strange & Offbeat News -- ScienceDaily To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610