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Categories: Chemistry: General, Offbeat: General
Published Scientists develop strong yet reusable adhesive from smart materials



Scientists have developed a smart, reusable adhesive more than ten times stronger than a gecko's feet adhesion, pointing the way for development of reusable superglue and grippers capable of holding heavy weights across rough and smooth surfaces. The research team found a way to maximize the adhesion of the smart adhesives by using shape-memory polymers, which can stick and detach easily when needed simply by heating them. This smart adhesive can support extremely heavy weights, opening new possibilities for robotic grippers that allow humans to scale walls effortlessly, or climbing robots that can cling onto ceilings for survey or repair applications.
Published Fixin' to be flexitarian: Scrap fish and invasive species can liven up vegetables



Greening the way we eat needn't mean going vegetarian. A healthy, more realistic solution is to adopt a flexitarian diet where seafoods add umami to 'boring' vegetables. A gastrophysicist puts mathematical equations to work in calculating the umami potential of everything from seaweed and shrimp paste to mussels and mackerel.
Published T. Rex not as smart as previously claimed



Dinosaurs were likely as smart as reptiles but not as intelligent as monkeys.
Published Probing the effects of interplanetary space on asteroid Ryugu



Samples reveal evidence of changes experienced by the surface of asteroid Ryugu, some probably due to micrometeoroid bombardment.
Published The end of the quantum tunnel



Quantum mechanical effects such as radioactive decay, or more generally: 'tunneling', display intriguing mathematical patterns. Researchers now show that a 40-year-old mathematical discovery can be used to fully encode and understand this structure.
Published Test reveals mice think like babies



Are mice clever enough to be strategic? A neuroscientist who studies learning in humans and animals, and who has long worked with mice, wondered why rodents often performed poorly in tests when they knew how to perform well. With a simple experiment, and by acting as 'a little bit of a mouse psychologist,' he and his team figured it out.
Published Getting dynamic information from static snapshots



Researchers have created TopicVelo, a powerful new method of using the static snapshots from scRNA-seq to study how cells and genes change over time. This will help researchers better study how embryos develop, cells differentiate, cancers form, and the immune system reacts.
Published Ancient Maya blessed their ballcourts



Using environmental DNA analysis, an international team of researchers identified a collection of plants used in ceremonial rituals in the ancient Maya city of Yaxnohcah in Mexico. The plants, known for their religious associations and medicinal properties, were discovered beneath a plaza floor where a ballcourt was built.
Published More efficient molecular motor widens potential applications



Light-driven molecular motors were first developed nearly 25 years ago. However, making these motors do actual work proved to be a challenge. In a new paper, scientists describe improvements that bring real-life applications closer.
Published Barley plants fine-tune their root microbial communities through sugary secretions



Different types of barley recruit distinct communities of soil microbes to grow around their roots by releasing a custom mix of sugars and other compounds, according to a new study.
Published With hybrid brains, these mice smell like a rat



Mice lacking an olfactory system have had their sense of smell restored with neurons from rats, the first time scientists have successfully integrated the sensory apparatus of one species into another.
Published Scientists released long-term data of ground solar-induced fluorescence to improve understanding of canopy-level photosynthesis



A recent study utilized ground-based instruments to measure solar-induced fluorescence (SIF) that reflect plant health and photosynthesis.
Published The longer spilled oil lingers in freshwater, the more persistent compounds it produces



Oil is an important natural resource for many industries, but it can lead to serious environmental damage when accidentally spilled. While large oil spills are highly publicized, every year there are many smaller-scale spills into lakes, rivers and oceans. The longer that oil remains in freshwater, the more chemical changes it undergoes, creating products that can persist in the environment.
Published Key to efficient and stable organic solar cells



A team of researchers has made a significant breakthrough in the field of organic photovoltaics.
Published 'Like a nanoscopic Moon lander': Scientists unlock secret of how pyramidal molecules move across surfaces



Scientists have watched a molecule move across a graphite surface in unprecedented detail. It turns out this particular molecule moves like a Moon lander -- and the insights hold potential for future nanotechnologies.
Published How do birds flock? Researchers do the math to reveal previously unknown aerodynamic phenomenon



How do birds fly in a coordinated and seemingly effortless fashion? Part of the answer lies in precise, and previously unknown, aerodynamic interactions, reports a team of mathematicians. Its breakthrough broadens our understanding of wildlife, including fish, who move in schools, and could have applications in transportation and energy.
Published Cells may possess hidden communication system



Cells constantly navigate a dynamic environment, facing ever-changing conditions and challenges. But how do cells swiftly adapt to these environmental fluctuations? A new study is answering that question by challenging our understanding of how cells function. A team of researchers suggests that cells possess a previously unknown information processing system that allows them to make rapid decisions independent of their genes.
Published These giant, prehistoric salmon had tusk-like teeth



Oncorhynchus rastrosus, a giant species of salmon that lived in the North American Pacific Northwest a few million years ago, sported a pair of front teeth that projected out from the sides of its mouth like tusks, according to a new study.
Published Color variants in cuckoos: The advantages of rareness



Every cuckoo is an adopted child -- raised by foster parents, into whose nest the cuckoo mother smuggled her egg. The cuckoo mother is aided in this subterfuge by her resemblance to a bird of prey. There are two variants of female cuckoos: a gray morph that looks like a sparrowhawk, and a rufous morph. Male cuckoos are always gray.
Published Why can't robots outrun animals?



Robotics engineers have worked for decades and invested many millions of research dollars in attempts to create a robot that can walk or run as well as an animal. And yet, it remains the case that many animals are capable of feats that would be impossible for robots that exist today.