Science X Newsletter Week 12

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Here is your customized Phys.org Newsletter for week 12:

	Chemists claim to have solved riddle of how life began on Earth (Phys.org)—A team of chemists working at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, at Cambridge in the UK believes they have solved the mystery of how it was possible for life to begin on Earth over four billion years ago. In their paper published in the journal Nature Chemistry, the team describes how they were able to map reactions that produced two and three-carbon sugars, amino acids, ribonucleotides and glycerol—the material necessary for metabolism and for creating the building blocks of proteins and ribonucleic acid molecules and also for allowing for the creation of lipids that form cell membranes.
	Detection of mini black holes at the LHC could indicate parallel universes in extra dimensions (Phys.org)—The possibility that other universes exist beyond our own universe is tantalizing, but seems nearly impossible to test. Now a group of physicists has suggested that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the largest particle collider in the world, may be able to uncover the existence of parallel universes, should they exist.
	Confirming Einstein, scientists find 'spacetime foam' not slowing down photons from faraway gamma-ray burst (Update) One hundred years after Albert Einstein formulated the general theory of relativity, an international team has proposed another experimental proof. In a paper published today in Nature Physics, researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Open University of Israel, Sapienza University of Rome, and University of Montpellier in France, describe a proof for one of the theory's basic assumptions: the idea that all light particles, or photons, propagate at exactly the same speed.
	Dawn breaks over distant Ceres ... and perhaps signs of habitability NASA's Dawn spacecraft is about to start its investigation of the largest member of the asteroid belt, 1 Ceres. It will take detailed images of the dwarf planet, and produce a geological map of its entire surface. But even before the spacecraft has reached its optimum orbit, the preliminary results just released are already surprising and delighting planetary scientists.
	Researchers develop revolutionary 3D printing technology A 3D printing technology developed by Silicon Valley startup, Carbon3D Inc., enables objects to rise from a liquid media continuously rather than being built layer by layer as they have been for the past 25 years, representing a fundamentally new approach to 3D printing. The technology, to appear as the cover article in the March 20 print issue of Science, allows ready-to-use products to be made 25 to 100 times faster than other methods and creates previously unachievable geometries that open opportunities for innovation not only in health care and medicine, but also in other major industries such as automotive and aviation.
	Men's preference for certain body types has evolutionary roots A psychology study from The University of Texas at Austin sheds new light on today's standards of beauty, attributing modern men's preferences for women with a curvy backside to prehistoric influences.
	Anthropologist offers possible explanation for collapse of ancient city of Teotihuacan (Phys.org) —Linda Manzanilla, an anthropologist with Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México has published a paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, offering a possible explanation for the collapse of the early central Mexican city of Teotihuacan—she believes it was due to clashes between groups with differing economic interests.
	Inexpensive, efficient bi-metallic electrocatalysts may open floodgates for hydrogen fuel University of Delaware researchers have discovered a cheap and efficient catalyst for converting water to hydrogen fuel (known as hydrogen evolution), a vital step in making hydrogen a viable and sustainable energy source.
	Dew Collector: Greenhouse for food growth, water In Ethiopia, the University of Gondar's Faculty of Agriculture is actively involved in real-life problems that are familiar to many farmers on the continent. The university is pursuing research as well as development efforts and toward that end has entered links with an organization called Roots Up. The latter says it will build a workshop on the campus for farmers living nearby and facing tough issues and harsh living conditions. The organization said the center will be made out of "Earthbags."
	Scientists invent new way to control light, critical for next gen of super fast computing A device resembling a plastic honeycomb yet infinitely smaller than a bee's stinger can steer light beams around tighter curves than ever before possible, while keeping the integrity and intensity of the beam intact.
	Curcumin proved effective at combating cancer WA scientists have helped re-affirm that curcumin, a chemical compound found in turmeric, is a safe and promising treatment for most cancers and other inflammation-driven diseases.
	Research uncovers flawed IQ scoring system Queen's University professor Allyson Harrison has uncovered anomalies and issues with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV), one of the most widely used intelligence tests in the world. IQ scores are used to predict educational success, to help identify intellectual disabilities or intellectual giftedness and to establish whether a person has a specific learning disability.
	Study raises questions about cause of global ice ages A new international study casts doubt on the leading theory of what causes ice ages around the world—changes in the way the Earth orbits the sun.
	Scientists develop cool process to make better graphene A new technique invented at Caltech to produce graphene—a material made up of an atom-thick layer of carbon—at room temperature could help pave the way for commercially feasible graphene-based solar cells and light-emitting diodes, large-panel displays, and flexible electronics.
	Real-time holographic displays one step closer to reality Researchers from the University of Cambridge have designed a new type of pixel element and demonstrated its unique switching capability, which could make three-dimensional holographic displays possible.
	Two languages offer two 'minds' for bilinguals (Medical Xpress)—If you meet someone who speaks another language that you do not understand, you may not just miss what is being said but what is being perceived. Prof. Panos Athanasopoulos of Lancaster University works in areas of experimental psycholinguistics, cognitive linguistics, bilingual cognition, linguistic and cultural relativity, first, second and additional language learning—all of which indicate that language learning today is being studied and measured by scientists in ways that go beyond handling vocabulary and sentence structure.
Scientists move closer to 'two for one deal' on solar cell efficiency The underlying mechanism behind an enigmatic process called "singlet exciton fission", which could enable the development of significantly more powerful solar cells, has been identified by scientists in a new study.
	Planets in the habitable zone around most stars, calculate researchers Astronomers have discovered thousands of exoplanets in our galaxy, the Milky Way, using the Kepler satellite and many of them have multiple planets orbiting the host star. By analysing these planetary systems, researchers from the Australian National University and the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen have calculated the probability for the number of stars in the Milky Way that might have planets in the habitable zone. The calculations show that billions of the stars in the Milky Way will have one to three planets in the habitable zone, where there is the potential for liquid water and where life could exist. The results are published in the scientific journal, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
	A pinch of baking soda for better vision? Bicarbonate (baking soda) makes sparkling water sparkle, causes bread to rise, absorbs odors and can be used for cleaning all sorts of stuff, including your teeth. In the body, it plays essential roles in buffering pH, aiding in digestion and neutralizing lactic acid produced during physical exertion. Much of the bicarbonate in our bodies comes from carbon dioxide, which is produced as a waste product in all cells, although some is ingested with carbonated beverages and certain types of foods.
	Researchers change human leukemia cells into harmless immune cells Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered that when a certain aggressive leukemia is causing havoc in the body, the solution may be to force the cancer cells to grow up and behave.

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