ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• 'Pac-Man' moons: Cassini finds a video gamers' paradise at Saturn
• Ancient microbes found living beneath the icy surface of Antarctic lake
• Using biomarkers from prehistoric human feces to track settlement and agriculture
• Watermelon genome decoded: Scientists find clues to disease resistant watermelons
• Use of stem cells in personalized medicine
• Flexible, low-voltage circuits made using nanocrystals
• New device hides, on cue, from infrared cameras
• Model sheds light on chemistry that sparked origin of life
• Funneling the sun's energy

'Pac-Man' moons: Cassini finds a video gamers' paradise at Saturn Posted: 26 Nov 2012 12:11 PM PST You could call it "Pac-Man, the Sequel." Scientists with NASA's Cassini mission have spotted a second feature shaped like the 1980s video game icon in the Saturn system, this time on the moon Tethys. (The first was found on Mimas in 2010). The pattern appears in thermal data obtained by Cassini's composite infrared spectrometer, with warmer areas making up the Pac-Man shape.

Ancient microbes found living beneath the icy surface of Antarctic lake Posted: 26 Nov 2012 12:10 PM PST A pioneering study reveals, for the first time, a viable community of bacteria that survives and ekes out a living in a dark, salty and subfreezing environment beneath nearly 20 meters of ice in one of Antarctica's most isolated lakes.

Using biomarkers from prehistoric human feces to track settlement and agriculture Posted: 26 Nov 2012 12:10 PM PST Geoscientists have used a biomarker from human feces in a new way to establish the first human presence, the arrival of grazing animals and human population dynamics in a landscape.

Watermelon genome decoded: Scientists find clues to disease resistant watermelons Posted: 26 Nov 2012 12:10 PM PST Scientists have sequenced the watermelon genome — information that could dramatically accelerate watermelon breeding toward production of a more nutritious, tastier and more resistant fruit.

Use of stem cells in personalized medicine Posted: 26 Nov 2012 12:10 PM PST Researchers report concrete steps in the use of human stem cells to test how diseased cells respond to drugs. Their success highlights a pathway toward faster, cheaper drug development for some genetic illnesses, as well as the ability to pre-test a therapy's safety and effectiveness on cultured clones of a patient's own cells.

Flexible, low-voltage circuits made using nanocrystals Posted: 26 Nov 2012 11:30 AM PST Electronic circuits are typically integrated in rigid silicon wafers, but flexibility opens up a wide range of applications in a world where electronics are becoming more pervasive. Finding materials with the right mix of performance and manufacturing cost, however, remains a challenge. Now researchers have shown that nanoscale particles, or nanocrystals, of the semiconductor cadmium selenide can be "printed" or "coated" on flexible plastics to form high-performance electronics.

New device hides, on cue, from infrared cameras Posted: 26 Nov 2012 10:13 AM PST Now you see it, now you don't. A new device can absorb 99.75 percent of infrared light that shines on it. When activated, it appears black to infrared cameras.

Model sheds light on chemistry that sparked origin of life Posted: 26 Nov 2012 10:13 AM PST The question of how life began on a molecular level has been a longstanding problem in science. However, recent mathematical research sheds light on a possible mechanism by which life may have gotten a foothold in the chemical soup that existed on the early Earth.

Funneling the sun's energy Posted: 26 Nov 2012 08:07 AM PST Engineers propose a new way of harnessing photons for electricity, with the potential for capturing a wider spectrum of solar energy.

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