If you were hoping we’d be conversing with aliens by now…keep hoping. In the mean time, check out some of the more offbeat scientific discoveries in the first half of 2011.

The first quarter of 2011 has provided us with numerous examples of innovation and breakthroughs in science, although not every discovery has the potential to transform humankind. Here we look at some of the more offbeat scientific discoveries reported so far this year.

“Cause” of Baldness Identified (January)
Researchers say they have discovered what they believe is the cause of male pattern baldness. It is not simply a lack of hair, but rather a problem with the new hair that is grown, a study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation in January indicated. Although bald areas had the same number of hair-making stem cells as normal scalp in the study, there were fewer of a more mature type called the progenitor cell. “The researchers surmised that balding may arise from a problem with stem-cell activation rather than the numbers of stem cells in follicles,” an announcement of the findings states. “In male pattern balding, hair follicles actually shrink; they don’t disappear. The hairs are essentially microscopic on the bald part of the scalp compared to other spots.” Simply put: You may just have hair so small it appears invisible to the naked eye.

_{Baldness is not simply a lack of hair, but rather a problem
with the new hair that is made, researchers say.
Credit: iStockPhoto/JimVallee}

Also of Note in January:

• Swine Flu Survivors May Have Super Immune Systems
• Two-Headed Shark Embryo Found

Asteroid’s Close Encounter with Earth (February)
An asteroid all but buzzed Earth in February, when a meter-sized asteroid called 2011 CQ1 was spotted zipping only 5,480 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. That is the closest near miss on record, beating the previous record holder, a rock that buzzed Earth in 2004 called 2004 FU162, by a few hundred kilometers, New Scientist reported. The close Earth approach changed the asteroid’s flight path by about 60 degrees, according to NASA. “Short of collisions with a planet, that’s the biggest orbital change ever recorded by observers,” New Scientist noted. “It was large enough to shift the asteroid from one category of objects into another.”

_{The closest near miss on record.
Credit: NASA}

Also of Note in February:

• Controlling Your Bladder Decreases Impulsive Choices
• How a Fake Smile Can be Bad for Your Health

Naps May Boost Your Brainpower (March)
To every nap lover’s delight, it turns out that sleeping may play a larger role in learning than previously thought, according to a study published in the journal Current Biology in March. Researchers at the University of California-Berkeley subjected 44 healthy young adults to a rigorous memorizing task during two different times of day. Half the group was allowed to take a 90-minute nap between the two tests, while the other half stayed awake throughout the day. The experiment found that the ability to memorize new information deteriorated for those who had remained awake throughout the day, while those who had napped not only performed better than the waking group, but actually improved their capability for learning, indicating that sleep had refreshed their memory capacity.

_{Electrical impulses linked to sleep spindles loop through memory-related
regions of the brain’s temporal lobe.
Credit: UC Berkeley}

Also of Note in March:

• Sleepwalkers Replay Day’s Learning
• Cats are Bigger Threat to Birds than Wind Turbines

Leprosy Linked to Armadillos (April)
Leprosy has been around since Biblical times, and while it may be rare among humans in the United States, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine last month suggests the disease may find its way to people through Dasypus novemcinctus, or the nine-banded armadillo. Using genetic sequencing, researchers found that infected armadillos captured in five southern states had the same strain of Mycobacterium leprae, the agent that causes leprosy, as that found in some patients from southern states diagnosed with the disease. Scientists discovered the strain of the bacterium was nearly identical in human and animal samples.

_{Study confirms that this animal can transmit leprosy to humans.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons}

Also of Note in April:

• Chemistry Keeps Beer Fresher, Longer
• Long Work Hours May Increase Heart Disease Risk

Another Planetary Home for Humans (May)
French researchers believe they have discovered the first habitable planet outside our solar system. A mere 20 light years away, Gliese 581d has a mass at least seven times that of Earth and is about twice our planet’s size, according to a study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters this month. It orbits the red dwarf star Gliese 581 in the so-called Goldilocks zone (not too hot; not too cold), making the temperature sufficient for water to exist in liquid form. “With a dense carbon dioxide atmosphere — a likely scenario on such a large planet — the climate of Gliese 581d is not only stable against collapse but warm enough to have oceans, clouds and rainfall,” an announcement of the findings notes. Initially dismissed as a candidate in the hunt for life when spotted in 2007, a new kind of computer model shows the planet has surprising potential. Its atmosphere would store heat well, thanks to its dense CO₂, and the red starlight from Gliese 581 would also penetrate the planet’s atmosphere and warm the surface.

_{Schematic of the model used to study Gliese 581d. Red/blue shading
indicate hot/cold surface temperatures, while the arrows show wind
velocities at 2 km height in the atmosphere.
Credit: LMD/CNRS}

Also of Note in May:

• Chimps are Self-Aware
• How Rain Messes with Bat Flight

Here’s looking forward to even more groundbreaking scientific discoveries in the second half of 2011.

Earlier

A Year of Odd, Dumb and Strange Things

Another Year of Odd, Dumb and Strange Things