Electric Maple Trees

Research reveals that maple trees generate a small amount of electricity. Potato's can also transmit electricity but such experiments use electrodes of two different metals to set up a charge difference thereby allowing electricity to flow. In the maple tree study, electrodes of the same material generated a steady voltage of a few hundred millivolts (far less than 1.5 volt AA battery).

Pigeons Whistle for Safety

Research reveals that pigeon wing-flapping creates distinct whistles, warning flock-mates when taking off or when escaping predators. Scientists recorded the sounds crested pigeons wings made during a routine liftoff and during an emergency takeoff. The sound produced during dangerous moments includes a distinctive whistle. That noise scatters a flock of pigeons as quick as the shadow of a predator.

Champagne like Ocean

Researchers found surfactant (molecular compounds) concentrations higher at the surface of a glass of champagne than in the champagne itself.

In ocean air, surfactants are dragged along with bubbles in ocean waves. When bubbles burst, the surfactants break into aerosols that give ocean air its odor. A champagne glass is a small "ocean," but the bubbles bring more pleasing aerosols to the surface.

Science of Cheese

See short documentary.

Obama vs. Osama

UPENN linguistics professor Mark Liberman explains that the common slip between "Obama" and "Osama" is due to the "syntactic category rule" (SCR) phenomenon and "priming."

SCR occurs when two words are confused for one another and occur when nouns replace nouns, verbs replace verbs, etc. If "Obama" were an adjective, not a noun, we probably wouldn't confuse "Obama" with the noun "Osama."

"Priming" (which seems to be an evolutionary adaptation) is when your brain makes certain words more accessible when they resemble (sound, meaning) words you frequently hear. So when we've read/heard/thought about hospitals, "doctor" and "nurse" will be recognized quicker and more likely to be used in a slip of the tongue.

The Birther Beef

Research into "implicit social cognition" reveals that white Americans inherently regard white Europeans as more "American" than non-whites. This may help explain why so many believe President Obama is not a born American. In the study, white Americans actually thought white Europeans like Hugh Grant were more American than Asian-American Connie Chung. Similar research in 2008 found whites thought former British PM Tony Blair was more American than President Obama.

Phone Use Indicates Social Network

Social network researchers gave subjects cell phones that recorded call information, text messages and how physically close callers were to their contacts. Researchers inferred which contacts were friends with 95% accuracy. Sometimes, patterns revealed a friendship in the making months before people considered each other friends. The data could also predict job satisfaction: people who spend all day on the phone with friends are generally unhappy with work.