My picks from ScienceDaily

Today's crop of science news is particularly fascinating and I wish I had time to devote a whole post to each item. Hopefully, some of my SciBlings or other science bloggers will write something more about these new studies:

Contrary To Common Wisdom, Scientist Discovers Some Mammals Can Smell Objects Under Water:

For some time, Kenneth Catania had noticed that the star-nosed moles he studies blow a lot of bubbles as they swim around underwater. But it wasn't until recently that he really paid attention to this behavior and, when he did, he discovered that the moles were blowing bubbles in order to smell underwater objects. "This came as a total surprise because the common wisdom is that mammals can't smell underwater,' says the assistant professor of biology. "When mammals adapt to living in water, their sense of smell usually degenerates. The primary example of this are the cetaceans -- whales and dolphins -- many of which have lost their sense of smell."

Snuggling Skunks: Is It Better To Brave Winter Alone Or In A Group?:

A fascinating new study in the January/February 2007 issue of Physiological and Biochemical Zoology looks at the benefits of huddling vs. solitude, comparing strategies used by striped skunks to get through long, cold winters in northern climates. While most male skunks den underground alone during the winter, a group of female skunks will often snuggle together with one male in communal dens.

Yeen Ten Hwang (University of Western Ontario) and coauthors found that skunks that choose to go it alone reach torpor -- the state during which an animal reduces its metabolism and lowers its temperature to save energy and conserve water -- almost ten times more every day. Indeed, the researchers were surprised to find that male skunks who huddle with females do not enter torpor at all, perhaps staying physically alert to defend the den.

Dinosaurs: Stones Did Not Help With Digestion:

The giant dinosaurs had a problem. Many of them had narrow, pointed teeth, which were more suited to tearing off plants rather than chewing them. But how did they then grind their food? Until recently many researchers have assumed that they were helped by stones which they swallowed. In their muscular stomach these then acted as a kind of 'gastric mill'. But this assumption does not seem to be correct, as scientists at the universities of Bonn and Tübingen have now proved.

Durable Critters Providing Insight For Human Egg Preservation:

A tiny, six-legged critter that suspends all biological activity when the going gets tough may hold answers to a better way to cryopreserve human eggs, researchers say. Tardigrades, also called water bears, can survive Himalayan heights or ocean depths as long as they have moisture. When they don't, they produce a sugar, trehalose, slowly dehydrate and essentially cease functioning until the rain comes, says Dr. Ali Eroglu, reproductive biologist and cryobiologist at the Medical College of Georgia.

Go To Church And Breathe Easier:

"Pulmonary function is an important indicator of respiratory and overall health, yet little is known about the psychosocial factors that might predict pulmonary function. At the same time, religious activity is emerging as a potential health promoting factor, especially among the elderly. We wanted to determine whether there was a connection between the two," Maselko said.