ScienceDaily: Top Science News

Meteorite may represent 'bulk background' of Mars' battered crust Posted: 30 Jan 2015 11:23 AM PST NWA 7034, a meteorite found a few years ago in the Moroccan desert, is like no other rock ever found on Earth. It's been shown to be a 4.4 billion-year-old chunk of the Martian crust, and according to a new analysis, rocks just like it may cover vast swaths of Mars.

Heat waves becoming more prominent in urban areas, research reveals Posted: 30 Jan 2015 07:25 AM PST The world's urban areas have experienced significant increases in heat waves over the past 40 years, according to new research. These prolonged periods of extreme hot days have significantly increased in over 200 urban areas across the globe between 1973 and 2012, and have been most prominent in the most recent years on record.

Why do zebras have stripes? Temperature counts Posted: 30 Jan 2015 06:29 AM PST One of nature's fascinating questions is how zebras got their stripes. A team of life scientists has found at least part of the answer: The amount and intensity of striping can be best predicted by the temperature of the environment in which zebras live.

Crystal light: New family of light-converting materials points to cheaper, more efficient solar power and LEDs Posted: 29 Jan 2015 02:03 PM PST Engineers have shone new light on an emerging family of solar-absorbing materials that could clear the way for cheaper and more efficient solar panels and LEDs. The materials, called perovskites, are particularly good at absorbing visible light, but had never been thoroughly studied in their purest form: as perfect single crystals. Using a new technique, researchers grew large, pure perovskite crystals and studied how electrons move through the material as light is converted to electricity.