Science X Newsletter Week 14

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Here is your customized Science X Newsletter for week 14:

	Graphene sieve turns seawater into drinking water Graphene-oxide membranes have attracted considerable attention as promising candidates for new filtration technologies. Now the much sought-after development of making membranes capable of sieving common salts has been achieved.
	Atmosphere around super-Earth detected Astronomers have detected an atmosphere around the super-Earth GJ 1132b. This marks the first detection of an atmosphere around a low-mass super-Earth, in terms of radius and mass the most Earth-like planet around which an atmosphere has yet been detected. Thus, this is a significant step on the path towards the detection of life on an exoplanet. The team, which includes researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, used the 2.2-m ESO/MPG telescope in Chile to take images of the planet's host star, GJ 1132, and measured the slight decrease in brightness as the planet and its atmosphere absorbed some of the starlight while passing directly in front of their host star.
	The Star Wars 'superlaser' may no longer be sci-fi In a world-leading study researchers at Macquarie University have proven a method for multiplying laser power using diamond, demonstrating that a laser similar to the Star Wars 'superlaser' may no longer remain in science fiction.
	New insight into proving math's million-dollar problem: the Riemann hypothesis (Update) (Phys.org)—Researchers have discovered that the solutions to a famous mathematical function called the Riemann zeta function correspond to the solutions of another, different kind of function that may make it easier to solve one of the biggest problems in mathematics: the Riemann hypothesis. If the results can be rigorously verified, then it would finally prove the Riemann hypothesis, which is worth a $1,000,000 Millennium Prize from the Clay Mathematics Institute.
	Low-calorie sweeteners promote fat accumulation in human fat Low-calorie, artificial sweeteners appear to play havoc with the body's metabolism, and large consumption of these sugar substitutes could promote fat accumulation, especially in people who are already obese, preliminary research suggests. The study results will be presented Monday at ENDO 2017, the Endocrine Society's 99th annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.
	Study identifies 'night owl' gene variant If you've been a night owl all your life and mornings are your nemesis, you may be able to blame a gene mutation for all those late nights.
	Man moves paralyzed legs using device that stimulates spinal cord Mayo Clinic researchers used electrical stimulation on the spinal cord and intense physical therapy to help a man intentionally move his paralyzed legs, stand and make steplike motions for the first time in three years.
	Archaeologist explains innovation of 'fluting' ancient stone weaponry Approximately 13,500 years after nomadic Clovis hunters crossed the frozen land bridge from Asia to North America, researchers are still asking questions and putting together clues as to how they not only survived in a new landscape with unique new challenges but adapted with stone tools and weapons to thrive for thousands of years.
	Mysterious bursts of energy do come from outer space Fast Radio Bursts present one of modern astronomy's greatest mysteries: what or who in the Universe is transmitting short bursts of radio energy across the cosmos?
	Scientists watch a molecule protect itself from radiation damage When the molecules that carry the genetic code in our cells are exposed to harm, they have defenses against potential breakage and mutations.
	Cassini mission prepares for 'grand finale' at Saturn NASA's Cassini spacecraft, in orbit around Saturn since 2004, is about to begin the final chapter of its remarkable story. On Wednesday, April 26, the spacecraft will make the first in a series of dives through the 1,500-mile-wide (2,400-kilometer) gap between Saturn and its rings as part of the mission's grand finale.
	Marmite may be brain food, study says In a world bitterly divided into pro- and anti-Marmite factions, lovers of the tangy British spread have found support from an unexpected quarter: brain science.
	How octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish defy genetics' 'central dogma' Octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish often do not follow the genetic instructions in their DNA to the letter. Instead, they use enzymes to pluck out specific adenosine RNA bases (some of As, out of the As, Ts, Gs, and Us of RNA) that codes for proteins and replace them with a different base, called Inosine. This process—called "RNA editing"—is rarely used to recode proteins in most animals, but octopuses and their kin edit RNA base pairs in over half of their transcribed genes. When researchers did experiments to quantify and characterize the extent of this RNA editing across cephalopod species, they found evidence that this genetic strategy has profoundly constrained evolution of the cephalopod genome. The study appears in Cell on April 6.
	Brexit 1.0: Scientists find evidence of Britain's original separation from Europe Researchers have found evidence of how ancient Britain separated from Europe, which happened in two stages, they report today in Nature Communications.
	New device produces hydrogen peroxide for water purification Limited access to clean water is a major issue for billions of people in the developing world, where water sources are often contaminated with urban, industrial and agricultural waste. Many disease-causing organisms and organic pollutants can be quickly removed from water using hydrogen peroxide without leaving any harmful residual chemicals. However, producing and distributing hydrogen peroxide is a challenge in many parts of the world.
	Chemists find that hookah tobacco heated electronically kills 70 percent more lung cells than traditional charcoal Hookah-tobacco users might want to rethink how they heat up their water pipes, based on research by chemists at the University of Cincinnati.
	How the brain reacts to sleep deprivation In a new study, scientists from Forschungszentrum Jülich together with partners from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have investigated the molecular changes with which the human brain reacts to exceptionally long wake phases. The test subjects stayed awake for 52 hours and then had their brains scanned at Jülich's PET Centre. Subsequently, they were taken to DLR in Cologne, where – monitored by the scientists – they were able to catch up on their sleep for 14 hours.
	Ridding the oceans of plastics by turning the waste into valuable fuel Billions of pounds of plastic waste are littering the world's oceans. Now, a Ph.D. organic chemist and a sailboat captain report that they are developing a process to reuse certain plastics, transforming them from worthless trash into a valuable diesel fuel with a small mobile reactor. They envision the technology could someday be implemented globally on land and possibly placed on boats to convert ocean waste plastic into fuel to power the vessels.
	Book purchases of liberals and conservatives reveal partisan division Reader preferences for liberal or conservative political books also attract them to different types of science books, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Chicago and Yale and Cornell universities. The result supports observations that the divisiveness of politics in the United States has spread to scientific communication as well, endangering the role of science as politically neutral ground.
	Crystalline material could replace silicon to double efficiency of solar cells A new material has been shown to have the capability to double the efficiency of solar cells by researchers at Purdue University and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

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