Four-stranded DNA, a database of alien planets, a new super-chemical to kill hospital bugs and a byzantine gamma-radiation blast.

ENGADGET: Alt-week 1.26.13: quadruple DNA helixes, Byzantine mutants and battling hospital bugs

Based on their findings, they were able to extrapolate that more of the stars also probably had super-Earths, based on gravitational analyses, though the planets were not definitively detected.

FORBES: No, Scientists Did Not Find 10 Billion Earth-Like Planets In The Galaxy

"First, this icy 'super-Earth' dominates the region around its star that in our Solar System is populated by the gas-giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn, " he said.

BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | Planet hunters find 'super-Earth'