ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Tiny structure gives big boost to solar power
• What happens to plant growth when you remove gravity?
• World's big trees are dying: Alarming increase in death rates among trees 100-300 years old
• Little telescope spies gigantic galaxy clusters
• Silver nanocubes make super light absorbers, hold great potential for solar cells
• How calorie restriction influences longevity: Protecting cells from damage caused by chronic disease
• Gene network illuminates stress, mutation and adaptation responses
• Drought in the Horn of Africa delays migrating birds
• 'Time reversal' research may open doors to future tech
• Feeling disgust may enhance our ability to detect impurities
• European Romani exodus began 1,500 years ago, DNA evidence shows
• Protein linking exercise to bigger, stronger muscles discovered; Finding might lead to new therapies for muscle-wasting diseases
• Flexible silicon solar-cell fabrics may soon become possible
• NASA-NOAA satellite reveals new views of Earth at night

Tiny structure gives big boost to solar power Posted: 06 Dec 2012 05:34 PM PST Researchers have found a simple and economic way to nearly triple the efficiency of organic solar cells, the cheap and flexible plastic devices that many scientists believe could be the future of solar power.

What happens to plant growth when you remove gravity? Posted: 06 Dec 2012 05:31 PM PST It is well known that plant growth patterns are influenced by a variety of stimuli, gravity being one amongst many. On Earth plant roots exhibit characteristic behaviors called 'waving' and 'skewing', which were thought to be gravity-dependent events. However, Arabidopsis plants grown on the International Space Station (ISS) have demonstrated this theory wrong, according to a new study: root 'waving' and 'skewing' occur in spaceflight plants independently of gravity.

World's big trees are dying: Alarming increase in death rates among trees 100-300 years old Posted: 06 Dec 2012 01:25 PM PST The largest living organisms on the planet, the big, old trees that harbor and sustain countless birds and other wildlife, are dying. In a new report, ecologists warns of an alarming increase in death rates among trees 100-300 years old in many of the world's forests, woodlands, savannahs, farming areas and even in cities.

Little telescope spies gigantic galaxy clusters Posted: 06 Dec 2012 01:00 PM PST Our solar system, with its colorful collection of planets, asteroids and comets, is a fleck in the grander cosmos. Hundreds of billions of solar systems are thought to reside in our Milky Way galaxy, which is itself just a drop in a sea of galaxies. The rarest and largest of galaxy groupings, called galaxy clusters, can be the hardest to find. That's where NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) can help. The mission's all-sky infrared maps have revealed one distant galaxy cluster and are expected to uncover thousands more.

Silver nanocubes make super light absorbers, hold great potential for solar cells Posted: 06 Dec 2012 12:36 PM PST Microscopic metallic cubes could unleash the enormous potential of metamaterials to absorb light, leading to more efficient and cost-effective large-area absorbers for sensors or solar cells, researchers have found.

How calorie restriction influences longevity: Protecting cells from damage caused by chronic disease Posted: 06 Dec 2012 11:20 AM PST Scientists have identified a novel mechanism by which a type of low-carb, low-calorie diet -- called a "ketogenic diet" -- could delay the effects of aging. This fundamental discovery reveals how such a diet could slow the aging process and may one day allow scientists to better treat or prevent age-related diseases, including heart disease, Alzheimer's disease and many forms of cancer.

Gene network illuminates stress, mutation and adaptation responses Posted: 06 Dec 2012 11:20 AM PST Scientists have studied the puzzling response of bacteria to stress and the mutations that result. Now they can put together the pieces of that puzzle, describing most of the members of an elaborate gene network that functions in causing mutations during repair of double-stranded breaks in the DNA of stressed cells.

Drought in the Horn of Africa delays migrating birds Posted: 06 Dec 2012 11:20 AM PST The catastrophic drought last year in the Horn of Africa affected millions of people but also caused the extremely late arrival into northern Europe of several migratory songbird species, a new study shows. Details of the migration route was revealed by data collected from small back-packs fitted on birds showing that the delay resulted from an extended stay in the Horn of Africa.

'Time reversal' research may open doors to future tech Posted: 06 Dec 2012 09:43 AM PST Imagine a cell phone charger that recharges your phone remotely without even knowing where it is; a device that targets and destroys tumors, wherever they are in the body; or a security field that can disable electronics, even a listening device hiding in a prosthetic toe, without knowing where it is. While these applications remain only dreams, researchers have come up with a sci-fi seeming technology that one day could make them real. Using a "time-reversal" technique, the team has discovered how to transmit power, sound or images to a "nonlinear object" without knowing the object's exact location or affecting objects around it.

Feeling disgust may enhance our ability to detect impurities Posted: 06 Dec 2012 09:23 AM PST From an evolutionary standpoint, experiencing the intense, visceral sense of revulsion that comes with disgust presumably helps us to avoid contaminants that can make us sick or even kill us. But new research suggests that disgust not only helps us to avoid impurities, it may also make us better able to see them.

European Romani exodus began 1,500 years ago, DNA evidence shows Posted: 06 Dec 2012 09:19 AM PST Despite their modern-day diversity of language, lifestyle, and religion, Europe's widespread Romani population shares a common, if complex, past. It all began in northwestern India about 1,500 years ago, according to a new study that offers the first genome-wide perspective on Romani origins and demographic history.

Protein linking exercise to bigger, stronger muscles discovered; Finding might lead to new therapies for muscle-wasting diseases Posted: 06 Dec 2012 09:17 AM PST Scientists have isolated a previously unknown protein in muscles that spurs their growth and increased power following resistance exercise. They suggest that artificially raising the protein's levels might someday help prevent muscle loss caused by cancer, prolonged inactivity in hospital patients, and aging.

Flexible silicon solar-cell fabrics may soon become possible Posted: 06 Dec 2012 06:47 AM PST For the first time, a silicon-based optical fiber with solar-cell capabilities has been developed that is capable of being scaled up to many meters in length. The research opens the door to the possibility of weaving together solar-cell silicon wires to create flexible, curved, or twisted solar fabrics.

NASA-NOAA satellite reveals new views of Earth at night Posted: 05 Dec 2012 12:18 PM PST Scientists have unveiled an unprecedented new look at our planet at night. A global composite image, constructed using cloud-free night images from a new NASA and NOAA satellite, shows the glow of natural and human-built phenomena across the planet in greater detail than ever before.

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