Kamis, 11 November 2010

ScienceDaily Technology Headlines

for Thursday, November 11, 2010

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Saturn is on a cosmic dimmer switch, Cassini reveals (November 11, 2010) -- Like a cosmic light bulb on a dimmer switch, Saturn emitted gradually less energy each year from 2005 to 2009, according to observations by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. But unlike an ordinary bulb, Saturn's southern hemisphere consistently emitted more energy than its northern one. On top of that, energy levels changed with the seasons and differed from the last time a spacecraft visited in the early 1980s. ... > full story

Novel metamaterial vastly improves quality of ultrasound imaging (November 11, 2010) -- A new copper "metamaterial" can overcome some of the limitations of acoustic microscopes and imagers, including ultrasound imagers. Researchers have designed and built a metamaterial that improves the picture quality of sonography by a factor of 50. The material, composed of copper tubes, resonantly channels evanescent acoustic waves to a detector, capturing more detail than is carried by propagating sound waves. ... > full story

Cancer news articles may contribute to confusion about cancer (November 10, 2010) -- New research shows that most online news stories about cancer contain language that likely contributes to public uncertainty about the disease -- a significant finding, given that at least one-third of Americans seek health information online. ... > full story

Computer-automated monitoring system may help identify medical devices with potential safety risks (November 10, 2010) -- Implementation in Massachusetts of a computer-automated safety surveillance system of clinical outcomes registries for cardiovascular devices resulted in the identification of a drug-releasing stent that had significantly higher rates of major adverse cardiac events than similar stents, according to a new study. ... > full story

Nanopore array allows simultaneous tests in search for new drugs (November 10, 2010) -- A novel nanopore array structure can be used to monitor the transport kinetics of membrane proteins by fluorescence microscopy. Due to the parallel design of the nanopore chip, a large number of samples can be analyzed simultaneously. ... > full story

Astronomers find 'snooker' star system (November 10, 2010) -- Astronomers have discovered an unusual star system which looks like, and may even once have behaved like, a game of snooker. ... > full story

Couple's numeracy skills linked to greater family wealth, study finds (November 10, 2010) -- Couples who score well on a simple test of numeracy ability accumulate more wealth by middle age than couples who score poorly on such a test, according to a new study of married couples in the United States. ... > full story

Oil will run dry 90 years before substitutes roll out, study predicts (November 10, 2010) -- At the current pace of research and development, global oil will run out 90 years before replacement technologies are ready, says a new study based on stock market expectations. ... > full story

How the dragon got its 'snap': Computer modeling and experimental genetics combined to work out complex shapes of organs (November 10, 2010) -- Scientists are pioneering a powerful combination of computer modelling and experimental genetics to work out how the complex shapes of organs found in nature are produced by the interacting actions of genes. Their findings will influence our thinking about how these complex shapes have evolved. ... > full story

Portable microwave sensors for measuring vital signs (November 10, 2010) -- Current medical techniques for monitoring the heart rate and other vital signs use electrodes attached to the body, which are impractical for patients who want to move around. Researchers in Japan have developed a new technique to disconnect people from their electrodes by using microwaves. ... > full story

Researchers aim to harvest solar energy from pavement to melt ice, power streetlights (November 10, 2010) -- The heat radiating off roadways has long been a factor in explaining why city temperatures are often considerably warmer than nearby suburban or rural areas. Now a team of engineering researchers is examining methods of harvesting that solar energy to melt ice, power streetlights, illuminate signs, heat buildings and potentially use it for many other purposes. ... > full story

Global warming reduces available wind energy, new research finds (November 10, 2010) -- A switch to wind energy will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions -- and reduce the global warming they cause. But there's a catch, according to a new study: rising temperatures decrease wind speeds, making for less power bang for the wind turbine buck. ... > full story

New method for simple fabrication of microperforated membranes (November 10, 2010) -- Microscopically porous polymer membranes have numerous applications in microfluidics, where they can act as filters, masks for surface patterning, and even as components in 3-D devices. A simple new method allows chemists to fabricate free-standing polymer membranes with neatly patterned holes as small as 10 microns. ... > full story

Taking movies beyond Avatar -- for under £100 (November 10, 2010) -- A new development in virtual cameras at the University of Abertay Dundee is developing the pioneering work of James Cameron’s blockbuster Avatar using a Nintendo Wii-like motion controller – all for less than £100. ... > full story

Foucault revisited: Argentinean scientists show how to build a pendulum for any classroom (November 10, 2010) -- A Foucault pendulum is a simple device for observing the Earth's rotation. While such pendulums have been around for more than 150 years and are a staple of the modern science museum, they are generally large and unwieldy. Now a group of researchers from Argentina has developed a new type of compact pendulum. ... > full story

Sensor on Mars rover to measure radiation environment (November 9, 2010) -- About eight months before the NASA rover Curiosity touches down on Mars in August 2012, the mission's science measurements will begin much closer to Earth. ... > full story

Getting to know the Sun advances fusion research: Coaxial helicity injection could make fusion reactors cheaper (November 9, 2010) -- A method known as coaxial helicity injection could eliminate an expensive component in tokamaks, leading to a more economical fusion reactor. ... > full story

Offshore wind farms: Low loss solutions for transferring current (November 9, 2010) -- Using wind energy where the wind blows strongest makes perfect sense as long as the energy can be readily transported to where it is needed. The first offshore plants are already being erected, and many more are planned. But the farther they are away from the coast, the more urgent becomes the problem of transferring the current with as low a loss as possible. Over long distances, this is possible only with direct current. ... > full story

NASA's Fermi telescope finds giant structure in our galaxy (November 9, 2010) -- NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has unveiled a previously unseen structure centered in the Milky Way. The feature spans 50,000 light-years and may be the remnant of an eruption from a supersized black hole at the center of our galaxy. ... > full story

New way of detecting concealed radioactive material: Sniffing out dirty bombs via electromagnetic breakdown of air (November 9, 2010) -- Researchers in Maryland have proposed a scheme for detecting a concealed source of radioactive material without searching containers one by one. The concept is based on the gamma-ray emission from the radioactive material that would pass through the shipping container walls and ionize the surrounding air. ... > full story

Hyper-texting and hyper-networking linked to health risks for teens (November 9, 2010) -- Texting while driving can be a deadly combination for anyone. Yet, new data reveal that the dangers of excessive texting among teens are not limited to the road. Hyper-texting and hyper-networking are now giving rise to a new health risk category for this age group. ... > full story

Engineered plants make potential precursor to raw material for plastics (November 9, 2010) -- Scientists report engineering a plant that produces industrially relevant levels of compounds that could potentially be used to make plastics. ... > full story

CERN completes transition to lead-ion running at the Large Hadron Collider (November 9, 2010) -- Four days is all it took for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) operations team at CERN to complete the transition from protons to lead ions in the LHC. After extracting the final proton beam of 2010 on Nov. 4, commissioning the lead-ion beam was underway by early afternoon. First collisions were recorded Nov. 7, and stable running conditions marked the start of physics with heavy ions on Nov. 8. ... > full story

Parents should talk about math early and often with their children -- even before preschool, report finds (November 9, 2010) -- The amount of time parents spend talking about numbers has a much bigger impact on how young children learn mathematics than was previously known. For example, children whose parents talked more about numbers were much more likely to understand the number principle that states that the size of a set of objects is determined by the last number reached when counting the set. ... > full story

Energy harvesting: Nanogenerators grow strong enough to power small conventional electronic devices (November 9, 2010) -- Researchers have reached a significant milestone in their development of nanometer-scale generators that harvest mechanical energy from the environment using an array of tiny nanowires: the ability to power conventional electronic devices such as liquid-crystal displays. ... > full story

Plasma as a fast optical switch (November 9, 2010) -- Physicists are presenting new research on a laser that uses relativistic effects to turn otherwise opaque plasma transparent, creating an ultra-fast optical switch useful in next-generation particle accelerators. ... > full story

Bars kill spiral galaxies, astronomers and volunteers discover (November 9, 2010) -- With the help of the army of volunteers working on the Galaxy Zoo 2 'citizen science' project, an international team of scientists has discovered that the bars found in many spiral galaxies could be helping to kill them off. ... > full story

Children find their own way to solve arithmetic problems (November 9, 2010) -- Children with learning difficulties can benefit from being encouraged to find their own way to solve arithmetic problems, according to new research. ... > full story

Vacuum arcs spark new interest (November 9, 2010) -- Whenever two pieces of metal at different voltages are brought near each other, as when an appliance is plugged into a live socket, there is a chance there will be an arc between them. Most of the arcs people see are a breakdown of the gas between the metal surfaces, but this type of breakdown can also occur in a vacuum. This vacuum breakdown, which until recently has not been well understood, has implications for applications from particle accelerators to fusion reactors. ... > full story

The many faces of the shear Alfvén wave: 3-D movies are no longer just for Hollywood blockbusters (November 9, 2010) -- When physicists probe the mysteries of plasma, the fourth state of matter, they often discover phenomena of striking beauty. Much as when the Hubble Space Telescope sent back vivid images from space of ionized gas clouds (an interstellar plasma!), new 3-D images of shear Alfvén waves are delighting both scientists and a new generation of science enthusiasts. ... > full story

Easy fabrication of non-reflecting and self-cleaning silicon and plastic surfaces (November 9, 2010) -- Scientists specializing in microfabrication and microfludics have developed a new and rapid method for fabrication of non-reflecting and self-cleaning surfaces. Surface properties are based on the nanostructured surface. ... > full story

Graphene gets a Teflon makeover (November 9, 2010) -- Scientists have created a new material which could replace or compete with Teflon in thousands of everyday applications. The researchers believe that fluorographene -- a flat, crystal version of Teflon and is mechanically as strong as graphene -- could be used as a thinner, lighter version of Teflon, and also find applications in electronics, such as for new types of LED devices. ... > full story

Large Hadron Collider throws lead (November 9, 2010) -- The Large Hadron Collider at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) near Geneva, Switzerland, enters a new phase of operations Nov. 4. Scientists will stop running streams of protons through the machine and begin running lead atoms, stripped of their electrons, around the ring so that they smash into each other. ... > full story

Close-up of hidden galaxies with new cosmic zoom lenses (November 8, 2010) -- Astronomers have discovered a new way of locating a natural phenomenon that acts like a zoom lens and allows astronomers to peer at galaxies in the distant and early Universe. These results are from the very first data taken as part of the "Herschel-ATLAS" project, the largest imaging survey conducted so far with the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory. ... > full story

Nanoparticles' journey from lungs into body chronicled: Insights into pulmonary drug delivery, air pollution control (November 8, 2010) -- Using a novel, real-time imaging system, scientists have tracked a group of near-infrared fluorescent nanoparticles from the airspaces of the lungs, into the body and out again, providing a description of the characteristics and behavior of these minute particles which could be used in developing therapeutic agents to treat pulmonary disease, as well as offering a greater understanding of the health effects of air pollution. ... > full story

Greater food insecurity from recession poses increased risk to low income individuals with diabetes (November 8, 2010) -- The economic recession impacts many aspects of our lives including an increase incidence of food insecurity. For diseases like diabetes, in which nutrition and menu planning play a key role in treatment, food insecurity can be devastating. Researchers explore how technology advancement in the form of telemedicine can provide cost-effective ways to treat those with diabetes experiencing food insecurity. ... > full story

Taming thermonuclear plasma with a snowflake (November 8, 2010) -- Physicists are one step closer to solving one of the grand challenges of magnetic fusion research -- how to reduce the effect that the hot plasma has on fusion machine walls (or how to tame the plasma-material interface). ... > full story

Simulating black hole radiation with lasers: Lasers produce the first Hawking radiation ever detected (November 8, 2010) -- Hawking radiation from black holes is very dim, and unlikely to be detected any time soon. Now researchers have created a laboratory experiment that produces detectable Hawking radiation with a laser. ... > full story

Solar-powered device affordable, reliable tool to measure blood pressure (November 8, 2010) -- A new solar powered, automated blood pressure monitoring device was equally accurate as the standard device that measures systolic blood pressure. The device was favored by health professionals and patients when tested in Africa. The new device eliminates the need for batteries, which are expensive and scarce in low economic settings. ... > full story

Computer program recognizes human emotions from conversation analysis (November 8, 2010) -- Researchers in Spain have developed a computer program capable of human emotion recognition from automated voice analysis. The software has also been used to program robots participating in the world robot soccer league (RoboCupSoccer). ... > full story

How physical environment influences stem cell development (November 8, 2010) -- Recent research reveals how physical qualities -- and not only chemical ones – may have an influence in determining how adult stem cells from the bone marrow develop into differentiated ones. The finding represents an important step in understanding the mechanisms that direct and regulate the specialization of stem cells from their undefined state. ... > full story

How oscillators -- common electronic components -- get in sync or fall out of sync (November 8, 2010) -- Understanding conditions that cause oscillators to fall in or out of synchronization is necessary to achieve the optimal functioning of oscillator networks that underlie many technologies. The transition from synchronization to desynchronization is the subject of a new investigation by a team of Japanese scientists. ... > full story

'Super-hero' material stretched into a possible electronics revolution (November 8, 2010) -- It's the Clark Kent of oxide compounds, and -- on its own -- it is pretty boring. But slice europium titanate nanometers thin and physically stretch it, and then it takes on super hero-like properties that could revolutionize electronics, according to new research. ... > full story

Rice hulls a sustainable drainage option for greenhouse growers (November 8, 2010) -- Greenhouse plant growers can substitute rice hulls for perlite in their media without the need for an increase in growth regulators, according to a new study. ... > full story

'e-Learning' report shows online professional development aids teachers and students (November 8, 2010) -- Teachers who completed extensive online professional development showed improvement in their knowledge and skills, which translated into modest learning gains for their students, according to a five-year study involving more than 300 teachers and 7,000 students in 13 states. ... > full story

Mathematical model may result in better environment measures for the Baltic (November 8, 2010) -- Eutrophication of the Baltic Sea has clear negative effects, such as dead bottoms and massive blooms of cyanobacteria. But high plankton production can also have positive effects on acidification. Researchers in Sweden have shown that it is possible to work out the aggregate effects of various environmental measures. ... > full story

Elastic electronics: Rules for fabrication of ordered monolayers of semiconducting polymers have been established (November 8, 2010) -- Displays thin like paper, rolled into a tube and other equally futuristic devices will not be created without organic electronics. Creating flexible electronic systems requires knowledge of polymer properties and conditions in which they become self-organized. Scientists have now managed to determine how thin layers of highly ordered polymers can be created -- a key element in the production process of organic electronic systems. ... > full story

NASA's EPOXI flyby reveals new insights into comet features (November 8, 2010) -- NASA's EPOXI mission spacecraft successfully flew past comet Hartley 2 on Nov. 4, 2010. Scientists say initial images from the flyby provide new information about the comet's volume and material spewing from its surface. ... > full story


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