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“If we were to draw energy from a typical AA battery based on this design, it would last for a billion years.” — Sungsik Lee, PhD, in the journal Science.


Schematic cross-section of an Indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (IGZO) thin-film transistor [inset: schematic illustrations of atomic structures for less compensated (left) and more compensated (right) IGZO films, respectively] (credit: Sungsik Lee and Arokia Nathan/Science)

The transistors can be produced at low temperatures and can be printed on almost any material, such as glass, plastic, polyester fabrics, and paper.

Similar to a computer in sleep mode, the new transistor harnesses a tiny “leakage” of electrical current, known as “near-off-state current.” This leak at the point of contact between the metal and semiconducting components of a transistor, the “Schottky barrier,” is normally an undesirable characteristic of all transistors.

A team of astronomers believes that strange signals emanating from a cluster of stars are actually aliens trying to tell the universe they exist.

The study, which appeared in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, analyzed the odd beams of light from 234 stars — a fraction of the 2.5 million that were observed.

The bizarre beacons led the paper’s authors, Ermanno F. Borra and Eric Trottier from Laval University in Quebec, to conclude that it’s “probably” aliens.

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A brown pebble discovered on an English beach more a decade ago is actually the world’s first known example of a fossilized dinosaur brain, scientists have confirmed.

The remarkable find is thought to have come from a large plant-eater such as the Iguanodon, which walked the earth about 133 million years ago.

It is believed the creature must have died near water with its head buried in sediment in a swamp or boggy ground, allowing its brain to be “pickled” and preserved.

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Scientists in the US claim to have discovered a natural compound found in avocado, broccoli and cucumber that has “remarkable anti-ageing effects in mice” — and could also work on humans.

The researchers, who have started clinical trials involving a small group of people, said older mice given the compound, called NMN, in their water saw an array of beneficial effects.

Their level of physical activity increased, bone density and muscles improved, the immune system and liver performed better, their eyesight improved and they even lost weight.

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On October 19 in 1982, John DeLorean, the man behind one of the most sought after cars ever made, was arrested with 55 pounds of cocaine worth $24 million.

However, what could have been the end for his DMC-12 was only the beginning of a journey that literally stood the test of time and 1985 brought this car _Back to the Future_.

Ten years later, in 1995, the new DeLorean Motor Company (DMC) started to restore and repair the originals using the leftover parts. They also streamlined designs based on the original engineering drawings. But these days, DMC is finally trying to produce new, but very familiar DMC-12s.

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