ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Snails tell of the rise and fall of the Tibetan Plateau
• The universal 'anger face': Each element makes you look physically stronger and more formidable
• Home is where the microbes are
• Electric current to brain boosts memory: May help treat memory disorders from stroke, Alzheimer's, brain injury
• Mystery solved: 'Sailing stones' of Death Valley seen in action for the first time
• From water to land and back, the mosquitofish is on a roll

Snails tell of the rise and fall of the Tibetan Plateau Posted: 29 Aug 2014 05:38 AM PDT The rise of the Tibetan plateau -- the largest topographic anomaly above sea level on Earth -- is important for both its profound effect on climate and its reflection of continental dynamics. Scientists have now employed a cutting-edge geochemical tool -- "clumped" isotope thermometry -- using modern and fossil snail shells to investigate the uplift history of the Zhada basin in southwestern Tibet.

The universal 'anger face': Each element makes you look physically stronger and more formidable Posted: 28 Aug 2014 03:48 PM PDT The next time you get really mad, take a look in the mirror. See the lowered brow, the thinned lips and the flared nostrils? That's what social scientists call the "anger face," and it appears to be part of our basic biology as humans. Now, researchers have identified the functional advantages that caused the specific appearance of the anger face to evolve.

Home is where the microbes are Posted: 28 Aug 2014 11:27 AM PDT A person's home is their castle, and they populate it with their own subjects: millions and millions of bacteria. Scientists have detailed the microbes that live in houses and apartments. The results shed light on the complicated interaction between humans and the microbes that live on and around us. Mounting evidence suggests that these microscopic, teeming communities play a role in human health and disease treatment and transmission.

Electric current to brain boosts memory: May help treat memory disorders from stroke, Alzheimer's, brain injury Posted: 28 Aug 2014 11:27 AM PDT Stimulating a region in the brain via non-invasive delivery of electrical current using magnetic pulses, called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, improves memory. The discovery opens a new field of possibilities for treating memory impairments caused by conditions such as stroke, early-stage Alzheimer's disease, traumatic brain injury, cardiac arrest and the memory problems that occur in healthy aging.

Mystery solved: 'Sailing stones' of Death Valley seen in action for the first time Posted: 28 Aug 2014 11:19 AM PDT Racetrack Playa is home to an enduring Death Valley mystery. Littered across the surface of this dry lake, also called a "playa," are hundreds of rocks -- some weighing as much as 320 kilograms (700 pounds) -- that seem to have been dragged across the ground, leaving synchronized trails that can stretch for hundreds of meters.

From water to land and back, the mosquitofish is on a roll Posted: 27 Aug 2014 05:35 PM PDT Some fish will leap out of water to escape a predator, but biologists have observed that the mosquitofish chooses the most energy-efficient method for returning -- a finding that has evolutionary implications.

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