ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Diamond planets may be more common than astronomers thought
• Supertasters do not have particularly high density of taste buds on tongue, crowdsourcing shows
• A habitable environment on Martian volcano?
• Autonomous airboats monitor hippo dung in Kenya's Mara River basin
• Light-colored butterflies and dragonflies thriving as European climate warms
• Using thoughts to control airplanes
• Molecules do the triple twist

Diamond planets may be more common than astronomers thought Posted: 27 May 2014 07:05 PM PDT Carbon-rich planets may be more common than previously thought, according to new research. Some of these planets, all located far beyond Earth's solar system, could contain vast deposits of graphite or diamonds, and their apparent abundance prompts new questions about the implications of carbon-intense environments for climate, plate tectonics, and other geological processes, as well as for life.

Supertasters do not have particularly high density of taste buds on tongue, crowdsourcing shows Posted: 27 May 2014 01:18 PM PDT Science crowdsourcing was used to disprove a widely held theory that 'supertasters' owe their special sensitivity to bitter tastes to an usually high density of taste buds on their tongue, according to a new study.

A habitable environment on Martian volcano? Posted: 27 May 2014 12:47 PM PDT The Martian volcano Arsia Mons may have been home to one of the most recent habitable environments yet found on the Red Planet, geologists say. The research shows that volcanic eruptions beneath a glacial ice sheet would have created substantial amounts of liquid water on Mars's surface around 210 million years ago. Where there was water, there is the possibility of past life.

Autonomous airboats monitor hippo dung in Kenya's Mara River basin Posted: 27 May 2014 09:45 AM PDT Small, autonomous airboats, disguised to look like crocodiles, helped scientists measure water quality this spring in Kenya's Mara River. An estimated 4,000 hippos use the river as a toilet with potentially deadly effects for fish living downriver.

Light-colored butterflies and dragonflies thriving as European climate warms Posted: 27 May 2014 08:49 AM PDT Butterflies and dragonflies with lighter colors are out-competing darker-colored insects in the face of climate change. Scientists have shown that as the climate warms across Europe, communities of butterflies and dragonflies consist of more lighter coloured species. Darker coloured species are retreating northwards to cooler areas, but lighter coloured species are also moving their geographical range north as Europe gets warmer.

Using thoughts to control airplanes Posted: 27 May 2014 07:14 AM PDT Pilots of the future could be able to control their aircraft by merely thinking commands. Scientists have now demonstrated the feasibility of flying via brain control -- with astonishing accuracy.

Molecules do the triple twist Posted: 27 May 2014 05:54 AM PDT They are three-dimensional and yet single-sided: Moebius strips. These twisted objects have only one side and one edge and they put our imagination to the test. Scientists have now succeeded in designing the world's first triply twisted molecule. Because of their peculiar quantum mechanical properties these structures are interesting for applications in molecular electronics and optoelectronics.

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