Washington, Nov 15 : Scientists have determined that to understand how life began on Earth, it is important to study the chemistry that preceded early life, as well as studying Mars.

These two new approaches for understanding how life started on our planet were discussed at a European Science Foundation (ESF) and COST ‘Frontiers of Science’ conference in Sicily, which was held recently.

The first applies complex systems theory to the chemistry that preceded early life. The second involves studying Mars, which may yield ample evidence about what Earth was like when life evolved.

Washington, November 11 : A contact lens solution loses its anti-fungal properties when exposed to high temperatures, according to a new study.

Published in the Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals, the study involved the same contact lens solution that was implicated in the epidemic of the eye infection Fusarium keratitis, which occurred between 2004 and 2006.

Background information in the article suggests that Bausch & Lomb launched in 2004 its ReNu with MoistureLoc, which contains an antimicrobial agent not found in other solutions.

London, Nov 11 : Scientists at UCLA''s California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) have come up with a new method for the large-scale production of graphene sheets, which are used as nanomaterial.

Graphene is created when graphite is reduced down to a one-atom-thick sheet, which can be used as electrodes for solar cells, for use in sensors, as the anode electrode material in lithium batteries and as efficient zero-band-gap semiconductors.

London, Nov 11 : A coroner has declared three 700-year-old coins, which were found in a field in Flintshire, north-east Wales, as treasure.

John Gittins, Deputy Coroner for North East Wales, declared the coins treasure under the Treasure Act 1996.

According to a report by BBC News, the silver pennies date back to between 1307 and 1314, to the reigns of both Edward I and his son Edward II.

Washington, Nov 10 : Researchers have developed a new type of small-scale electric power generator able to produce alternating current by the stretching and releasing of zinc oxide wires.

These zinc oxide wires are encapsulated in a flexible plastic substrate with two ends bonded.

The new "flexible charge pump" generator is the fourth generation of devices designed to produce electrical current by using the piezoelectric properties of zinc oxide structures to harvest mechanical energy from the environment.

The new generator can produce an oscillating output voltage of up to 45 millivolts, converting nearly seven percent of the mechanical energy applied directly to the zinc oxide wires into electricity.