Cool Science - A long lost church, Frankensaurus and dream engineering - Science presented us some noteworthy stories this week. Check these out.
11. Cyborg Cockroaches!
Researchers say they've figured out a way to create cyborg, remote-controlled cockroaches, hoping one day the resilient creatures could be steered into disaster zones to gather information and look for survivors.
Video footage from the experiments at North Carolina State University shows the part-robot roaches being directed along a curving path via remote control. The researchers say they attached a lightweight chip with a wireless receiver and transmitter onto Madagascar hissing cockroaches and wired a microcontroller to the insects' antennae and cerci - the sensory organs on the bug's abdomen that cause it to run away from danger.
10. Yangtze River Runs Red
Credit: Image via Shutterstock
A stretch of China's longest river has abruptly turned the colour of tomato juice, and officials say they don't know why.
Residents of the southwestern city of Chongqing first noticed that the Yangtze River, called the "golden waterway," had a spreading stain on its reputation yesterday (Sept. 6).
9. Climate Sceptics More Apt to Believe Conspiracies
A study suggesting climate change deniers also tend to hold general beliefs in conspiracy theories has sparked accusations of a conspiracy on climate change-denial blogs.
The research, which will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Psychological Science, surveyed more than 1,000 readers of science blogs regarding their beliefs regarding global warming. The results revealed that people who tend to believe in a wide array of conspiracy theories are more likely to reject the scientific consensus that the Earth is heating up.
8. Spider Venom May Help Erectile Dysfunction
Credit: Dr. Morley Read, Shutterstock
A toxin synthesized from the venom of a spider may offer an alternative to today's erectile dysfunction drugs, a new study suggests.
The toxin, unpoetically named PnTx2-6, comes from the bite of the Brazilian wandering spider (Phoneutria nigriventer). In humans, a bite from a wandering spider is very painful. What's more, male victims may find themselves with priapism, or unrelenting and painful erection. It was this symptom, turning up in emergency rooms after spider bites in Brazil, that first alerted researchers to the potential of PnTx2-6 as an erectile dysfunction (ED) drug.
7. Is Disputed Dino a Frankensaurus?
As if being a fearsome, 70-million-year-old predator wasn't enough, the dinosaur at the centre of an international ownership dispute is being called a Frankenstein.
The reason: Attorneys maintain that the fossilized skeleton is made up of bits from multiple dinosaurs belonging to the same species. In response, the federal judge in the case referred to the dinosaur as a kind of "Frankenstein model" of dinosaur parts, according to media reports from Wednesday (Sept. 5).
6. Lost Church Found Under Parking Lot
The hunt for King Richard III's grave is heating up, with archaeologists announcing today (Sept. 5) that they have located the church where the king was buried in 1485.
"The discoveries so far leave us in no doubt that we are on the site of Leicester's Franciscan Friary, meaning we have crossed the first significant hurdle of the investigation," Richard Buckley, the lead archaeologist on the dig, said in a statement.
5. Quantum Teleportation Record Set
Physicists have "teleported" quantum information farther than ever in a new study reported Wednesday (Sept. 5).
This kind of teleportation isn't quite what Scotty was "beaming up" on television's Star Trek, but it does represent a kind of magic of its own. While Star Trek's teleporters transport people from place to place instantaneously, quantum teleportation sends information.
4. Engineering Dreams
Credit: Phase4Photography | Shutterstock
The dream of modifying a person's dreams has just gotten a step closer, as MIT scientists were able to manipulate what lab rats "saw" in their sleep using audio cues.
Scientists have known that during sleep, a part of the brain called the hippocampus "replays" the day's events in a process that might help solidify a person's memories. The same has been shown in rats that dream about running through mazes after a day's work in a lab at MIT.
3. World's Smallest Mountain Range
Rising almost 2,000 feet (610 meters) above the flat agricultural fields of the Great Valley of central California, the Sutter Buttes present a striking contrast to the land around them in this photo taken by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station on July 29.
The Buttes are yellowish tan in the middle of the image, surrounded by green farmland. Urban areas such as Yuba City, California - located 11 miles (18 kilometres) to the southeast - appear as light to dark grey stippled regions.
2. Drunks Detected by Thermal Camera
A picture of your face could reveal that you're drunk. But it won't be the droopy eyes and drool that give you away.
A new study reports that a thermal camera could detect drunkenness in the temperature of the face.
1. Men & Women See the World Differently
Credit: IKO, Shutterstock
Guys' eyes are more sensitive to small details and moving objects, while women are more perceptive to colour changes, according to a new vision study that suggests men and women actually do see things differently.
"As with other senses, such as hearing and the olfactory system, there are marked sex differences in vision between men and women," researcher Israel Abramov, of the City University of New York (CUNY), said in a statement. Research has shown women have more sensitive ears and sniffers than men.
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