Two things send our Uncanny Valley creepiness meter straight to red - realistic robots that flirt and anything that laughs. 

Realistic laughing is actually not trivial. We see it in real life, we can often tell when someone is fake laughing. On computers it is even more off-putting. Scholars at the Numediart Institute of the University of Mons are members of a project called ILHAIRE - The Science Of Laughter, which seeks a better understanding of laughter features in order to incorporate them into interactive systems. 

Some long non-coding RNAs can give rise to small proteins that have biological functions, according to a recent study that describes how researchers have used ribosome profiling to identify several hundred long non-coding RNAs that may give rise to small peptides.

A new study of gamma-ray light may lead to evidence of dark matter, a hypothetical blanket term for whatever must make up most of the material universe.

Using publicly available data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, scholars at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Chicago have created new maps and they believe their maps show that the galactic center produces more high-energy gamma rays than can be explained by known sources.

They believe this excess emission is consistent with some forms of dark matter.

Since the discovery of microRNAs, these small ribonucleotides have been implicated in a broad range of cellular processes(1). MicroRNAs typically work as inhibitory gate-keepers to keep the expression of numerous genes in check(1). They do so by binding to the 3’ untranslated region of target messenger RNAs (mRNAs) that encode specific genes, and consequently preventing the translation of these mRNAs into their corresponding protein products.

The top prize in the annual Purdue Student Soybean Product Innovation Contest went to Carmen Valverde-Paniagua of Chihuahua, Mexico, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering, Nicole Raley Devlin of Rockville, Md., a doctoral student in chemical engineering, and Yanssen Tandy of Jarkarta, Indonesia, a senior student in chemical engineering (team name S3D Innovations) for their invention of Filasoy, a next generation 3D printing material. 

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Life Science Technologies, in collaboration with Osaka City University and Kansai University of Welfare Sciences, have used functional PET imaging to show that levels of neuroinflammation, or inflammation of the nervous system, are higher in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome than in healthy people.

Chronic fatigue syndrome, which is also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis, is a debilitating condition characterized by chronic, profound, and disabling fatigue. Unfortunately, the causes are not well understood.

A new paper has linked unhealthy weight control behavior, like vomiting and diet pills, to indoor tanning among high school students.

Another supposed problem for middle class white girls? Not so, say the authors in the Journal of Developmental&Behavioral Pediatrics, the association is even stronger for males.

Stephen M. Amrock, SM, and Michael Weitzman, MD, of the New York University School of Medicine say that indoor tanning might identify a group of teens at increased risk of eating disorders.

A UNIVERSITY of Huddersfield criminologist who has been working closely with authorities in London to cut crime on one of the world's busiest transport systems will appear before a House of Commons select committee to describe his findings. Dr Andrew Newton is also forming links with overseas experts so that their research can make public transport systems around the world safer places to travel.

By analysing crime patterns on the London Underground, which carries more than one billion passengers a year, Dr Newton is able to draw conclusions about the environment of stations and how they can help or hinder crime, such as pickpocketing. There are also important lessons to be learned about the policing of the Tube system and the areas that surround stations.

SAN DIEGO — Given omega 6 fatty acid's reputation for promoting cancer — at least in animal studies — researchers are examining the role that antioxidants play in blocking the harmful effects of this culprit, found in many cooking oils. After all, antioxidants are supposed to prevent DNA damage. But employing antioxidants could backfire, say researchers at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.

In their study, being reported at the AACR Annual Meeting 2015, researchers found that vitamin E actually increased specific damage linked to omega 6 fatty acids. The vitamin promoted the formation of an "adduct," a structure that links a chemical to DNA, and which may cause mutations.

Right now a doomed gas cloud is edging ever closer to the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. These black holes feed on gas and dust all the time, but astronomers rarely get to see mealtime in action.

Northwestern University's Daryl Haggard has been closely watching the little cloud, called G2, and the black hole, called Sgr A*, as part of a study that should eventually help solve one of the outstanding questions surrounding black holes: How exactly do they achieve such supermassive proportions?