ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Why is the Sun's atmosphere so much hotter than its surface? Nanoflares
• Society bloomed with gentler personalities and more feminine faces: Technology boom 50,000 years ago correlated with less testosterone
• 'Active' surfaces control what's on them: Scientists develop treated surfaces that can actively control how fluids or particles move
• Explaining the fascinating shape of freezing droplets
• Superconductors: Physical link to strange electronic behavior
• Groundbreaking research maps cultural history by mapping mobility of notable intellectuals
• The 'memory' of starvation is in your genes
• A mathematical theory proposed by Alan Turing in 1952 can explain the formation of fingers
• In high-stakes soccer, goalkeepers exhibit 'gambler's fallacy'

Why is the Sun's atmosphere so much hotter than its surface? Nanoflares Posted: 01 Aug 2014 02:11 PM PDT Scientists have recently gathered some of the strongest evidence to date to explain what makes the sun's outer atmosphere so much hotter than its surface. The new observations of the small-scale extremely hot temperatures are consistent with only one current theory: something called nanoflares -- a constant peppering of impulsive bursts of heating, none of which can be individually detected -- provide the mysterious extra heat.

Society bloomed with gentler personalities and more feminine faces: Technology boom 50,000 years ago correlated with less testosterone Posted: 01 Aug 2014 02:11 PM PDT Scientists have shown that human skulls changed in ways that indicate a lowering of testosterone levels at around the same time that culture was blossoming. Heavy brows were out, rounder heads were in. Technological innovation, making art and rapid cultural exchange probably came at the same time that we developed a more cooperative temperament by dialing back aggression with lower testosterone levels.

'Active' surfaces control what's on them: Scientists develop treated surfaces that can actively control how fluids or particles move Posted: 01 Aug 2014 07:50 AM PDT Researchers have developed a new way of making surfaces that can actively control how fluids or particles move across them. The work might enable new kinds of biomedical or microfluidic devices, or solar panels that could automatically clean themselves of dust and grit.

Explaining the fascinating shape of freezing droplets Posted: 01 Aug 2014 07:43 AM PDT A water droplet deposited onto an icecold surface clearly has more effect than a drop in the ocean: the droplet will freeze in a peculiar way, forming a pointy tip. Scientists have found an explanation for this remarkable shape. Insight into this process is also useful for understanding processes like 3-D printing.

Superconductors: Physical link to strange electronic behavior Posted: 31 Jul 2014 05:16 PM PDT Scientists have new clues this week about one of the baffling electronic properties of the iron-based high-temperature superconductor barium iron nickel arsenide. Scientists have the first evidence, based on sophisticated neutron measurements, of a link between magnetic properties and the material's tendency, at sufficiently low temperatures, to become a better conductor of electricity in some directions than in others.

Groundbreaking research maps cultural history by mapping mobility of notable intellectuals Posted: 31 Jul 2014 12:00 PM PDT New research presents a pioneering approach to understanding European and North American cultural history by mapping out the mobility patterns of notable intellectuals over a 2,000-year span.

The 'memory' of starvation is in your genes Posted: 31 Jul 2014 11:58 AM PDT Epigenetic 'experiments' -- changes resulting from external rather than genetic influences -- suggest that the body's physiological responses to hardship could be inherited, although the underlying mechanism has been a mystery. Now researchers have discovered a genetic mechanism that passes on the body's response to starvation to subsequent generations of worms, with potential implications for humans also exposed to starvation and other physiological challenges.

A mathematical theory proposed by Alan Turing in 1952 can explain the formation of fingers Posted: 31 Jul 2014 11:58 AM PDT Researchers have shown that BMP and WNT proteins are the so-called 'Turing molecules' for creating embryonic fingers. Findings explain why polydactyly -- the development of extra fingers or toes -- is relatively common in humans, affecting up to one in 500 births, and confirms a fundamental theory first proposed by the founding father of computer science, Alan Turing, back in 1952.

In high-stakes soccer, goalkeepers exhibit 'gambler's fallacy' Posted: 31 Jul 2014 11:57 AM PDT When goalkeepers are pitted against multiple kickers in tense penalty shootouts, their attempts to dive for the ball show a predictable pattern that kickers would do well to exploit. After kickers repeatedly kick in one direction, goalkeepers become increasingly likely to dive in the opposite direction, according to an analysis of all 361 kicks from the 37 penalty shootouts that occurred in World Cup and Union of European Football Associations Euro Cup matches over a 36-year period.

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