Today's Top Science News:

Two-step chemical process turns raw biomass into biofuel

(PhysOrg.com) -- Taking a chemical approach, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a two-step method to convert the cellulose in raw biomass into a promising biofuel. The process, which is described in the Wednesday, Feb. 11 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, is unprecedented in its use of untreated, inedible biomass as the starting material.

Research Highlights Potential for Improved Solar Cells

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of Los Alamos researchers led by Victor Klimov has shown that carrier multiplication—when a photon creates multiple electrons—is a real phenomenon in tiny semiconductor crystals and not a false observation born of extraneous effects that mimic carrier multiplication. The research, explained in a recent issue of Accounts of Chemical Research, shows the possibility of solar cells that create more than one unit of energy per photon.

Unexpected discovery could impact on future climate models

(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers have made an unexpected find using a polarimeter (an instrument used to measure the wave properties of light) funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), that has the potential to affect future climate models.

Google's PowerMeter Will Help Reduce Energy Consumption (Video)

(Physorg.com) -- Google.org has announced "PowerMeter", a platform that will help users track their home electricity usage in real-time on their home computer. This platform will receive data from "smart meters" and other electricity management devices that will collect detailed data on energy consumption.

Swift, Fermi probe fireworks from a flaring gamma-ray star (Video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers using NASA's Swift satellite and Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope are seeing frequent blasts from a stellar remnant 30,000 light-years away. The high-energy fireworks arise from a rare type of neutron star known as a soft-gamma-ray repeater. Such objects unpredictably send out a series of X-ray and gamma-ray flares.