ScienceDaily: Most Popular News

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• Move over, silicon, there's a new circuit in town
• Family violence leaves genetic imprint on children
• Single dose of century-old drug approved for sleeping sickness reverses autism-like symptoms in mice
• Quantum biology: Algae evolved to switch quantum coherence on and off
• Hunt for extraterrestrial life gets massive methane boost
• Bacteria evade human immune system with a burst of mutations during initial infection

Move over, silicon, there's a new circuit in town Posted: 17 Jun 2014 01:43 PM PDT When it comes to electronics, silicon will now have to share the spotlight. Scientists have now overcome a major issue in carbon nanotube technology by developing a flexible, energy-efficient hybrid circuit combining carbon nanotube thin film transistors with other thin film transistors. This hybrid could take the place of silicon as the traditional transistor material used in electronic chips, since carbon nanotubes are more transparent, flexible, and can be processed at a lower cost.

Family violence leaves genetic imprint on children Posted: 17 Jun 2014 07:25 AM PDT Children in homes affected by violence, suicide, or the incarceration of a family member have significantly shorter telomeres -— a cellular marker of aging -- than those in stable households. The study suggests that the home environment is an important intervention target to reduce the biological impacts of adversity in the lives of young children.

Single dose of century-old drug approved for sleeping sickness reverses autism-like symptoms in mice Posted: 17 Jun 2014 07:24 AM PDT In a further test of a novel theory that suggests autism is the consequence of abnormal cell communication, researchers report that an almost century-old drug approved for treating sleeping sickness also restores normal cellular signaling in a mouse model of autism, reversing symptoms of the neurological disorder in animals that were the human biological age equivalent of 30 years old.

Quantum biology: Algae evolved to switch quantum coherence on and off Posted: 16 Jun 2014 12:15 PM PDT Scientists have discovered how algae that survive in very low levels of light are able to switch on and off a weird quantum phenomenon that occurs during photosynthesis. The function in the algae of this quantum effect, known as coherence, remains a mystery, but it is thought it could help them harvest energy from the sun much more efficiently. Working out its role in a living organism could lead to advances such as better organic solar cells.

Hunt for extraterrestrial life gets massive methane boost Posted: 16 Jun 2014 12:15 PM PDT A powerful new model to detect life on planets outside of our solar system more accurately than ever before has been developed by researchers. The new model focuses on methane, the simplest organic molecule, widely acknowledged to be a sign of potential life. The new model has been tested and verified by successfully reproducing in detail the way in which the methane in failed stars, called brown dwarfs, absorbs light.

Bacteria evade human immune system with a burst of mutations during initial infection Posted: 16 Jun 2014 06:36 AM PDT Bacteria that cause ulcers launch a burst of mutations during the initial stages of infection, allowing them to evade the human immune system, new research reveals. The study shows, for the first time, and in real-time, the interplay between the human immune system and invading bacteria that allows the bacteria to counter the immune response by quickly evolving.

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