ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• TV as thin as a sheet of paper? Printable flexible electronics just became easier with stable electrodes
• State of Himalayan glaciers less alarming than feared
• Strange cousins: Molecular alternatives to DNA, RNA offer new insight into life’s origins
• Atomic blockade: Technique efficiently creates single photons for quantum information processing
• Aspirin: New evidence is helping explain additional health benefits and open potential for new uses
• Ravens remember relationships they had with others
• How social interaction and teamwork led to human intelligence
• Boundary between electronics and biology is blurring: First proof of ferroelectricity in simplest amino acid
• Solar cell that also shines: Luminescent 'LED-type' design breaks efficiency record
• World's first handmade cloned transgenic sheep born in China
• Distinct 'God spot' in the brain does not exist, study shows
• Cells in normal tissue seem to have 'personal space' issues; Factor in maintaining healthy tissue
• Brain-activated muscle stimulation restores monkeys' hand movement after paralysis
• Photoreceptor transplant restores vision in mice

TV as thin as a sheet of paper? Printable flexible electronics just became easier with stable electrodes Posted: 19 Apr 2012 11:31 AM PDT Researchers have introduced what appears to be a universal technique to reduce the work function of a conductor. Their use in printable electronics can pave the way for lower cost and more flexible devices.

State of Himalayan glaciers less alarming than feared Posted: 19 Apr 2012 11:31 AM PDT Several hundreds of millions of people in Southeast Asia depend, to varying degrees, on the freshwater reservoirs of the Himalayan glaciers. Consequently, it is important to detect the potential impact of climate changes on the Himalayan glaciers at an early stage. Glaciologists now reveal that the glaciers in the Himalayas are declining less rapidly than was previously thought. However, the scientists see major hazard potential from outbursts of glacial lakes.

Strange cousins: Molecular alternatives to DNA, RNA offer new insight into life’s origins Posted: 19 Apr 2012 11:31 AM PDT Scientists have been investigating properties of so-called xenonucleic acids or XNAs. They have demonstrated for the first time that six of these unnatural nucleic acid polymers are capable of sharing information with DNA. One of these XNAs, a molecule referred to as anhydrohexitol nucleic acid or HNA, was capable of undergoing directed evolution and folding into biologically useful forms.

Atomic blockade: Technique efficiently creates single photons for quantum information processing Posted: 19 Apr 2012 11:31 AM PDT Using lasers to excite just one atom from a cloud of ultra-cold rubidium gas, physicists have developed a new way to rapidly and efficiently create single photons for potential use in optical quantum information processing -- and in the study of dynamics and disorder in certain physical systems.

Aspirin: New evidence is helping explain additional health benefits and open potential for new uses Posted: 19 Apr 2012 11:29 AM PDT Researchers have discovered that salicylate, the active ingredient in aspirin, directly increases the activity of the protein AMPK (AMP-activated protein kinase), a key player in regulating cell growth and metabolism. Salicylate, which is derived from willow bark, and is the active ingredient in aspirin, is believed to be one of the oldest drugs in the world with first reports of its use dating back to an Egyptian papyrus in 1543 BC.

Ravens remember relationships they had with others Posted: 19 Apr 2012 10:25 AM PDT In daily life we remember faces and voices of several known individuals. Similarly, mammals have been shown to remember calls and faces of known individuals after a number of years. Ravens have now been found to differentiate individuals based on familiarity. Additionally, scientists discovered that ravens can remember the closeness they had with others for three years.

How social interaction and teamwork led to human intelligence Posted: 19 Apr 2012 10:25 AM PDT Scientists have discovered proof that the evolution of intelligence and larger brain sizes can be driven by cooperation and teamwork, shedding new light on the origins of what it means to be human.

Boundary between electronics and biology is blurring: First proof of ferroelectricity in simplest amino acid Posted: 19 Apr 2012 09:15 AM PDT The boundary between electronics and biology is blurring with the first detection of ferroelectric properties in an amino acid called glycine.

Solar cell that also shines: Luminescent 'LED-type' design breaks efficiency record Posted: 19 Apr 2012 08:30 AM PDT To produce the maximum amount of energy, solar cells are designed to absorb as much light from the sun as possible. Now researchers have suggested -- and demonstrated -- a counter-intuitive concept: solar cells should be designed to be more like LEDs, able to emit light as well as absorb it.

World's first handmade cloned transgenic sheep born in China Posted: 19 Apr 2012 07:24 AM PDT Scientists have made a significant breakthrough in animal cloning. The world's first transgenic sheep produced with a simplified technique, handmade cloning, was successfully born on March 26, 2012.

Distinct 'God spot' in the brain does not exist, study shows Posted: 19 Apr 2012 06:12 AM PDT Scientists have speculated that the human brain features a "God spot," one distinct area of the brain responsible for spirituality. Now, researchers have completed research that indicates spirituality is a complex phenomenon, and multiple areas of the brain are responsible for the many aspects of spiritual experiences.

Cells in normal tissue seem to have 'personal space' issues; Factor in maintaining healthy tissue Posted: 19 Apr 2012 06:12 AM PDT Cells in normal tissue seem to have "personal space" issues. They know how much space they like, and if things get too tight, some cells are forced to leave. Researchers have found that normal epithelium tissue ejects living cells to maintain a steady population and ease overcrowding, a discovery has the potential to reveal what goes awry in cancer when cells do not turnover, but instead pile up.

Brain-activated muscle stimulation restores monkeys' hand movement after paralysis Posted: 18 Apr 2012 10:50 AM PDT An artificial connection between the brain and muscles can restore complex hand movements in monkeys following paralysis, according to a new study. The neuroprosthesis uses a brain-computer interface to control electrical stimulation of muscles and restore hand movement after temporary paralysis.

Photoreceptor transplant restores vision in mice Posted: 18 Apr 2012 10:50 AM PDT Scientists have shown for the first time that transplanting light-sensitive photoreceptors into the eyes of visually impaired mice can restore their vision.

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