Science X Newsletter Week 08

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Here is your customized Science X Newsletter for week 08:

	Plants colonized the Earth 100 million years earlier than previously thought For the first four billion years of Earth's history, our planet's continents would have been devoid of all life except microbes.
	Add-on clip turns smartphone into fully operational microscope Australian researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics (CNBP) have developed a 3D printable 'clip-on' that can turn any smartphone into a fully functional microscope.
	Some black holes erase your past In the real world, your past uniquely determines your future. If a physicist knows how the universe starts out, she can calculate its future for all time and all space.
	Gates says billionaires should pay 'significantly' more taxes Bill Gates says he has paid more than $10 billion in taxes over a lifetime but billionaires like him should pay "significantly" more because they benefit more from the system.
	Improved Hubble yardstick gives fresh evidence for new physics in the universe Astronomers have used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to make the most precise measurements of the expansion rate of the universe since it was first calculated nearly a century ago. Intriguingly, the results are forcing astronomers to consider that they may be seeing evidence of something unexpected at work in the universe.
	Largest study of its kind finds alcohol use biggest risk factor for dementia Alcohol use disorders are the most important preventable risk factors for the onset of all types of dementia, especially early-onset dementia. This according to a nationwide observational study, published in The Lancet Public Health journal, of over one million adults diagnosed with dementia in France.
	Study identifies traces of indigenous 'Taino' in present-day Caribbean populations A thousand-year-old tooth has provided genetic evidence that the so-called "Taíno", the first indigenous Americans to feel the full impact of European colonisation after Columbus arrived in the New World, still have living descendants in the Caribbean today.
	Google AI can predict heart disease by looking at pictures of the retina I can look into your eyes to see straight to your heart.
	Schizophrenia a side effect of human development Schizophrenia may have evolved as an "unwanted side effect" of the development of the complex human brain, a new study has found.
	Amateur astronomer captures rare first light from massive exploding star Thanks to lucky snapshots taken by an amateur astronomer in Argentina, scientists have obtained their first view of the initial burst of light from the explosion of a massive star.
	DNA gets away: Scientists catch the rogue molecule that can trigger autoimmunity A research team has discovered the process - and filmed the actual moment - that can change the body's response to a dying cell. Importantly, what they call the 'Great Escape' moment may one day prove to be the crucial trigger for autoimmune diseases like arthritis.
	The 'loudness' of our thoughts affects how we judge external sounds The "loudness" of our thoughts—or how we imagine saying something—influences how we judge the loudness of real, external sounds, a team of researchers from NYU Shanghai and NYU has found.
	Second successful human-animal hybrid: sheep embryo with human cells Carrying forward the results of a team that created a pig/human hybrid last year, a team led by researchers at Stanford University has created a sheep/human hybrid. The team has not published a paper on their efforts as yet, but recently gave a presentation outlining their work at this year's American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Texas.
	Using a laser to wirelessly charge a smartphone safely across a room Although mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones let us communicate, work and access information wirelessly, their batteries must still be charged by plugging them in to an outlet. But engineers at the University of Washington have for the first time developed a method to safely charge a smartphone wirelessly using a laser.
	Unconventional superconductor may be used to create quantum computers of the future With their insensitivity to decoherence, Majorana particles could become stable building blocks of quantum computers. The problem is that they only occur under very special circumstances. Now, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have succeeded in manufacturing a component that is able to host the sought-after particles.
	Surprising new study redraws family tree of domesticated and 'wild' horses There are no such things as "wild" horses anymore.
	8000-year old underwater burial site reveals human skulls mounted on poles A team of researchers with Stockholm University and the Cultural Heritage Foundation has uncovered the remains of a number of Mesolithic people in an underwater grave in a part of what is now Sweden. In their paper published in the journal Antiquity, the group describes the site where the remains were found, the condition of the remains and also offer some possible explanations for the means by which the remains found their way to the underwater burial site.
	On second thought, the Moon's water may be widespread and immobile A new analysis of data from two lunar missions finds evidence that the Moon's water is widely distributed across the surface and is not confined to a particular region or type of terrain. The water appears to be present day and night, though it's not necessarily easily accessible.
	'Memtransistor' brings world closer to brain-like computing Computer algorithms might be performing brain-like functions, such as facial recognition and language translation, but the computers themselves have yet to operate like brains.
	Researchers turn light upside down Researchers from CIC nanoGUNE (San Sebastian, Spain) and collaborators have reported in Science the development of a so-called hyperbolic metasurface on which light propagates with completely reshaped wafefronts. This scientific achievement toward more precise control and monitoring of light is highly interesting for miniaturizing optical devices for sensing and signal processing.

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