ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• World record solar cell with 44.7% efficiency
• Enormous catalog of more than 300,000 nearby galaxies
• Global warming is likely to increase severe thunderstorm conditions in U.S., research finds
• Wind and rain belts to shift north as planet warms: Redistribution of rainfall could make Middle East, Western US and Amazonia drier
• Math explains history: Simulation accurately captures the evolution of ancient complex societies
• Stretchable, foldable transparent electronic display created
• Human brain tumor cells erased in mice
• More archeological treasures found in Southern Turkey: Statue head of goddess Aphrodite, mosaic temple floor, more evidence of Roman influence
• Optical properties of a novel kind of magnetism probed
• Chasing the 'black holes' of the ocean
• Scientists closer to universal flu vaccine after pandemic 'natural experiment'

World record solar cell with 44.7% efficiency Posted: 23 Sep 2013 05:42 PM PDT Researchers in Germany report a new world record for the conversion of sunlight into electricity using a new solar cell structure with four solar subcells. A new record efficiency of 44.7% was measured at a concentration of 297 suns, indicating that 44.7% of the solar spectrum's energy, from ultraviolet through to the infrared, is converted into electrical energy. The achievement is being hailed as a major step towards reducing the costs of solar electricity.

Enormous catalog of more than 300,000 nearby galaxies Posted: 23 Sep 2013 05:03 PM PDT More than 83,000 volunteer citizen scientists. Over 16 million galaxy classifications. Information on more than 300,000 galaxies. This is what you get when you ask the public for help in learning more about our universe.

Global warming is likely to increase severe thunderstorm conditions in U.S., research finds Posted: 23 Sep 2013 12:55 PM PDT Severe thunderstorms, often exhibiting destructive rainfall, hail and tornadoes, are one of the primary causes of catastrophic losses in the United States. New climate models suggest a robust increase in these types of storms across the country.

Wind and rain belts to shift north as planet warms: Redistribution of rainfall could make Middle East, Western US and Amazonia drier Posted: 23 Sep 2013 12:55 PM PDT As humans continue to heat the planet, a northward shift of Earth's wind and rain belts could make a broad swath of regions drier, including the Middle East, American West and Amazonia, while making Monsoon Asia and equatorial Africa wetter, says a new study.

Math explains history: Simulation accurately captures the evolution of ancient complex societies Posted: 23 Sep 2013 12:55 PM PDT The question of how human societies evolve from small groups to the huge, anonymous and complex societies of today has been answered mathematically, accurately matching the historical record on the emergence of complex states in the ancient world.

Stretchable, foldable transparent electronic display created Posted: 23 Sep 2013 11:37 AM PDT Imagine an electronic display nearly as clear as a window, or a curtain that illuminates a room, or a smartphone screen that doubles in size, stretching like rubber. Now imagine all of these being made from the same material. Researchers have developed a transparent, elastic organic light-emitting device, or OLED, that could one day make all these possible.

Human brain tumor cells erased in mice Posted: 23 Sep 2013 11:35 AM PDT Working with mice, researchers have discovered that weeks of treatment with a repurposed FDA-approved drug halted the growth of -- and ultimately left no detectable trace of -- brain tumor cells taken from adult human patients.

More archeological treasures found in Southern Turkey: Statue head of goddess Aphrodite, mosaic temple floor, more evidence of Roman influence Posted: 23 Sep 2013 09:38 AM PDT Shoveling and sweeping to expose still-hidden portions of a 1,600-square-foot marble mosaic that dates to Roman times, an archeological team this past summer unearthed a new treasure in southern Turkey. Lying face down in more than a millennium of soil was a life-size marble head, the remnant of a sculpture of the goddess Aphrodite – still beautiful, though scarred by chips on its nose and face.

Optical properties of a novel kind of magnetism probed Posted: 23 Sep 2013 08:41 AM PDT Using low-frequency laser pulses, a team of researchers has carried out the first measurements that reveal the detailed characteristics of a unique kind of magnetism found in a mineral called herbertsmithite. In this material, the magnetic elements constantly fluctuate, leading to an exotic state of fluid magnetism called a "quantum spin liquid." This is in contrast to conventional magnetism, found in materials called ferromagnets -- where all of the magnetic forces align in the same direction, reinforcing each other -- or antiferromagnets, where adjacent magnetic elements align in opposite directions, leading to complete cancellation of the material's overall magnetic field.

Chasing the 'black holes' of the ocean Posted: 23 Sep 2013 08:41 AM PDT Some of the largest ocean eddies on Earth are mathematically equivalent to the mysterious black holes of space. These eddies are so tightly shielded by circular water paths that nothing caught up in them escapes. The mild winters experienced in Northern Europe are thanks to the Gulf Stream, which makes up part of those ocean currents spanning the globe that impact on the climate. However, our climate is also influenced by huge eddies of over 150 kilometres in diameter that rotate and drift across the ocean. Their number is reportedly on the rise in the Southern Ocean, increasing the northward transport of warm and salty water. Intriguingly, this could moderate the negative impact of melting sea ice in a warming climate.

Scientists closer to universal flu vaccine after pandemic 'natural experiment' Posted: 22 Sep 2013 12:50 PM PDT Scientists have moved closer to developing a universal flu vaccine after using the 2009 pandemic as a natural experiment to study why some people seem to resist severe illness. Researchers asked volunteers to donate blood samples just as the swine flu pandemic was getting underway and report any symptoms they experienced over the next two flu seasons. They found that those who avoided severe illness had more CD8 T cells, a type of virus-killing immune cell, in their blood at the start of the pandemic.

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