ScienceDaily Technology Headlines
for Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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Bioengineers provide adult stem cells with simultaneous chemical, electrical and mechanical cues (November 17, 2010) -- Bioengineers have achieved the "Triple Crown" of stem cell culture -- they created an artificial environment for stem cells that simultaneously provides the chemical, mechanical and electrical cues necessary for stem cell growth and differentiation. Building better microenvironments for nurturing stem cells is critical for realizing the promises of stem-cell-based regenerative medicine, including cartilage for joint repair, cardiac cells for damaged hearts, and healthy skeletal myoblasts for muscular dystrophy patients. ... > full story
New device detects insects in stored wheat (November 17, 2010) -- A laboratory milling device for improving stored grain management has been developed by agricultural scientists. The system, called the "insect-o-graph," can detect internal insects in wheat that are not visible to the eye or that cannot be detected by usual grading methods. ... > full story
How do folded structures form? (November 16, 2010) -- What do the convolutions of the brain, the emergence of wrinkles, the formation of mountain chains, and fingerprints have in common? All these structures, albeit very different, result from the same process: the compression of a 'rigid membrane'. Scientists have now shed light on one of the mysteries underlying the formation of such folded structures. This work will make it possible to better understand and thus predict their emergence. ... > full story
Major fusion advance: Breakthrough could help reduce heating of plasma container walls (November 16, 2010) -- Researchers have taken steps toward practical fusion energy through better understanding of the physics that governs the interaction between plasmas and the material walls of the vessels that contain them. ... > full story
Risk factors that lead to bicycling injuries in city traffic (November 16, 2010) -- The streets of New York City can be dangerous for bicyclists, but they can be especially risky for young adult male bicyclists who don't wear helmets, have too much to drink, or are listening to music through earphones, a group of investigators report. ... > full story
New safety switch prevents explosions due to electrical sparks (November 16, 2010) -- In most cases, a spectacular accident must first occur in order to make the public aware of a problem that lurks continually in many areas of industry: the danger of explosions due to electrical sparks. The simplest method to prevent such explosions is called "Intrinsic Safety". The intention is to prevent ignitable sparks from even being created. Up to now, this has only been possible with small devices having a power of up to approx. 2 Watts - thus, above all, in process measuring and control technique. A new concept increases this limit now up to 50 Watts and thus makes application possible in many more technical fields. ... > full story
Astronomers discover merging star systems that might explode (November 16, 2010) -- Sometimes when you're looking for one thing, you find something completely different and unexpected. In the scientific endeavor, such serendipity can lead to new discoveries. Today, researchers who found the first hypervelocity stars escaping the Milky Way announced that their search also turned up a dozen double-star systems. Half of those are merging and might explode as supernovae in the astronomically near future. ... > full story
Artificial retina more capable of restoring normal vision; animal study shows including retina’s neural 'code' improved prosthetic (November 16, 2010) -- Researchers have developed an artificial retina that has the capacity to reproduce normal vision in mice. While other prosthetic strategies mainly increase the number of electrodes in an eye to capture more information, this study concentrated on incorporating the eye's neural "code" that converts pictures into signals the brain can understand. ... > full story
New bandages change color if infections arise (November 16, 2010) -- Wounds have to be regularly checked, to make sure any complications in the healing process are detected at an early stage. A new material will make it possible to check wounds without changing the dressing: If an infection arises, the material changes its color. ... > full story
Engineers test effects of fire on steel structures (November 16, 2010) -- Researchers are studying the effects of fire on steel structures, such as buildings and bridges, using a one-of-a-kind heating system and a specialized laboratory for testing large beams and other components. ... > full story
'Space-time cloak' to conceal events (November 16, 2010) -- Scientists have developed a recipe for manipulating the speed of light as it passes over an object, making it theoretically possible to "cloak" the object's movement so that an observer doesn't notice, according to a new article. ... > full story
Robo-op marks new world first for heart procedure (November 16, 2010) -- The world's first remote heart procedure, using a robotic arm alongside 3-D mapping, is due to take place. It comes six months after the first ever remote catheter ablation procedure using the Amigo Robotic Catheter System was performed. ... > full story
Robotic-assisted surgery appears safe for complicated pancreatic procedures (November 16, 2010) -- A study involving 30 patients suggests that robotic-assisted surgery involving complex pancreatic procedures can be performed safely in a high-volume facility, according to a new report. ... > full story
Light technology to combat hospital infections (November 16, 2010) -- Researchers have developed a pioneering lighting system that can decontaminate air and exposed surfaces in hospitals and other clinical environments. The technology decontaminates the air and exposed surfaces by bathing them in a narrow spectrum of visible-light wavelengths, known as HINS-light. ... > full story
Adapted MRI scan improves picture of changes to the brain (November 16, 2010) -- Standard MRI scans have so far been unable to produce satisfactory images of nerve bundles. However, this is now possible using an MRI technique called Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI). A researcher in the Netherlands has succeeded in improving the DTI method, enabling him to produce more accurate images of the damage that radiotherapy and chemotherapy cause in young leukemia patients. ... > full story
Small assist device used in emergency case as twin, heart booster pumps for first time in US (November 16, 2010) -- Medical researchers recently implanted a patient with two of the smallest experimental ventricular assist devices currently available for study in humans. ... > full story
Tests show bright future for gadonanotubes in stem cell tracking (November 16, 2010) -- Gadonanotubes are beginning to show positive results. A new study has determined GNTs are effective in helping doctors track stems cells through the body by making them 40 times better than standard contrast agents used in magnetic resonance imaging. Contrast agents help doctors spot signs of disease or damage in MR images. ... > full story
Video game-based therapy helps stroke patients recover study (November 16, 2010) -- Repeated exercise, even in a virtual environment, helped stroke patients improve arm and hand function, according to a new human study of an interactive video game-based therapy. ... > full story
'Racetrack' magnetic memory could make computer memory 100,000 times faster (November 15, 2010) -- Imagine a computer equipped with shock-proof memory that's 100,000 times faster and consumes less power than current hard disks. EPFL Professor Mathias Kläui is working on a new kind of "Racetrack" memory -- a high-volume, ultra-rapid non-volatile read-write magnetic memory that may soon make such a device possible. ... > full story
Microsensors offer first look at whether cell mass affects growth rate (November 15, 2010) -- Researchers are using a new kind of microsensor to answer one of the weightiest questions in biology -- the relationship between cell mass and growth rate. Each microsensor is a small, suspended platform with a resonance frequency that changes as the cells on it grow heavier. Researchers tacked individual cells' masses and divisions over time and found that the cells they studied did grow faster as they grew heavier, rather than growing at the same rate throughout the cell cycle. ... > full story
New tech to help protect bridges, other infrastructure from scour (November 15, 2010) -- New technology allows engineers to assess the scour potential of soils at various depths and on-site for the first time -- which will help evaluate the safety of civil infrastructure before and after storm events. Scour, or erosion of soil around structures due to water flow, is responsible for a wide range of critical infrastructure failures -- from unstable bridges to the levees that gave way in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. ... > full story
Performing blood counts automatically (November 15, 2010) -- If a blood count is abnormal, a medical laboratory scientist has to manually perform a differential blood count analysis. This costs time and money. A computer-assisted blood cell analysis system has recently been launched on the market and does just this. ... > full story
NASA's Chandra finds youngest nearby black hole (November 15, 2010) -- Astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have found evidence of the youngest black hole known to exist in our cosmic neighborhood. The 30-year-old black hole provides a unique opportunity to watch this type of object develop from infancy. ... > full story
New standard proposed for supercomputing (November 15, 2010) -- A new supercomputer rating system has been developed. The rating system, Graph500, tests supercomputer ability to analyze large, graph-based structures that link the huge number of data points present in biological, social and security problems. The intent is to influence computer makers to build computers with the architecture to deal with these increasingly complex problems. ... > full story
Google queries and stock market volumes: Financial markets and Internet's 'swarm intelligence' linked, researchers find (November 15, 2010) -- Financial markets and the 'swarm intelligence' of the internet are linked, according to a new study that analyzed search engine query data. ... > full story
Quantum memory for communication networks of the future (November 15, 2010) -- Researchers have succeeded in storing quantum information using two 'entangled' light beams. Quantum memory or information storage is a necessary element of future quantum communication networks. ... > full story
Nanoscale light sensor compatible with 'Etch-a-Sketch' nanoelectronic platform (November 15, 2010) -- Researchers have overcome one of nanotechnology's most daunting challenges by creating a nanoscale light sensor that can be combined with near-atomic-size electronic circuitry to produce hybrid optic and electronic devices. ... > full story
Updated software uses combination testing to catch bugs fast and easy (November 15, 2010) -- Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have released an updated version of a computer system testing tool that can cut costs by more efficiently finding flaws. A tutorial on using the tool accompanies the new release. ... > full story
Researchers develop light technology to combat hospital infections (November 15, 2010) -- A pioneering lighting system that can kill hospital superbugs -- including MRSA and C. difficile -- has been developed by researchers in Scotland. The technology decontaminates the air and exposed surfaces by bathing them in a narrow spectrum of visible-light wavelengths, known as HINS-light. ... > full story
Proteins in motion: World’s largest video database of proteins for the pharmaceutical industry published (November 15, 2010) -- After four years of conducting intensive supercomputer calculations, scientists in Spain have presented the world’s largest database of protein motions. Called MoDEL, this new database holds more than 1,700 proteins and is partially accessible through the Internet to researchers worldwide. MoDEL has been developed to study the basic biology of proteins and to accelerate and facilitate the design of new pharmaceutical agents. ... > full story
Synchrotron reveals human children outpaced Neanderthals by slowing down (November 15, 2010) -- Human childhood is considerably longer than chimpanzees, our closest-living ape relatives. A multinational team of specialists, applied cutting-edge synchrotron X-ray imaging to resolve microscopic growth in 10 young Neanderthal and Homo sapiens fossils. ... > full story
Coronal mass ejections: Scientists unlock the secrets of exploding plasma clouds on the Sun (November 14, 2010) -- The Sun sporadically expels trillions of tons of million-degree hydrogen gas in explosions called coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Such clouds are enormous in size (spanning millions of miles) and are made up of magnetized plasma gases, so hot that hydrogen atoms are ionized. Now, using data from the twin-satellite STEREO mission, scientists have demonstrated for the first time that the observed motion of erupting plasma clouds driven by magnetic forces can be correctly explained by a theoretical model. ... > full story
Mathematical equation calculates cost of walking for first time (November 14, 2010) -- Why do tall people burn less energy per kilogram when walking than shorter ones do, and how much energy does walking require? These are basic questions that doctors, trainers, fitness buffs and weight-watchers would all like to have answered, and now researchers from Texas have derived a fundamental equation to calculate how much energy walkers use, based simply on height and weight, which has direct applications across all walks of life. ... > full story
Mathematical model of the life cycle of red blood cells may predict risk of anemia (November 14, 2010) -- Mathematicians have developed a mathematical model reflecting how red blood cells change in size and hemoglobin content during their four-month lifespan. The model, which uses data from routinely performed blood tests, may be able to predict the development of anemia up to two months before it can be detected by standard measurements. ... > full story
Nanostructured materials repel water droplets before they have a chance to freeze (November 14, 2010) -- Engineers have designed and demonstrated ice-free nanostructured materials that literally repel water droplets before they even have the chance to freeze. The finding could lead to a new way to help keep airplane wings, buildings, powerlines, and even entire highways free and clear of ice during the worst winter weather. ... > full story
X-ray imaging advances efforts to harness nuclear fusion: More accurate simulations could lead to 'break-even' fusion (November 14, 2010) -- A new X-ray imaging capability has taken pictures of a critical instability at the heart of Sandia's huge Z accelerator. The effort may help remove a major impediment in the worldwide, multi-decade, multi-billion dollar effort to harness nuclear fusion to generate electrical power from sea water. ... > full story
Discovery could reveal secrets of ancient Martian and terrestrial atmospheres (November 13, 2010) -- Chemists have uncovered a new chemical reaction on tiny particulates in the atmosphere that could allow scientists to gain a glimpse from ancient rocks of what the atmospheres of the Earth and Mars were like hundreds of millions years ago. ... > full story
Better student performance with peer learning (November 13, 2010) -- Engineering students with average grades from upper secondary school can manage difficult courses just as well as students with high grades. At least, if a group of them meet an older student once a week during the first semester to discuss and solve maths problems and other difficult exercises from their courses, according to new research. ... > full story
Quantum computers easier to build: Can tolerate faulty or missing components, researchers say (November 13, 2010) -- Quantum computers should be much easier to build than previously thought, because they can still work with a large number of faulty or even missing components, according to researchers. This surprising discovery brings scientists one step closer to designing and building real-life quantum computing systems -- devices that could have enormous potential across a wide range of fields, from drug design, electronics, and even code-breaking. ... > full story
New forms of highly efficient, flexible nanogenerator technology (November 12, 2010) -- Can a heart-implanted micro-robot operate permanently? Can cell phones and tiny robots implanted in the heart operate without having their batteries charged? Such advances may be possible in the near future, thanks to new forms of highly efficient, flexible nanogenerator technology. ... > full story
Formation of bulge on far side of moon explained (November 12, 2010) -- A new study shows that the lunar far side highlands may be the result of tidal forces acting early in the moon's history when its solid outer crust floated on an ocean of liquid rock. ... > full story
All-optical transistor: Controling the flow of light with a novel optical transistor (November 12, 2010) -- Researchers have discovered a method for coupling photons and mechanical vibrations that could have numerous applications in telecommunications and quantum information technologies. ... > full story
Scientists ping key material in sonar, closes gap on structural mystery (November 12, 2010) -- Using a neutron beam as a probe, researchers have begun to reveal the crystal structure of a compound essential to technologies ranging from sonar to computer memory. Their recent work provides long-sought insight into just how a widely used material of modern technology actually works. ... > full story
'Toxic toy crisis' requires fresh solutions, experts say (November 12, 2010) -- Manufacturer recalls of toys, promotional drinking glasses, and other children's products constitute an ongoing "toxic toys crisis" that requires banning potentially harmful ingredients in these products and other changes in policy and practices, a new analysis concludes. ... > full story
Brass devices in plumbing systems can create serious lead-in-water problems (November 12, 2010) -- A new research study highlights problems with some brass products in plumbing systems that can leach high levels of lead into drinking water, even in brand new buildings -- and suggests that such problems may often go undetected. ... > full story
New ultra-clean nanowires have great potential in solar cell technology and electronics (November 12, 2010) -- New ultra-clean nanowires will have a central role in the development of new high-efficiency solar cells and electronics on a nanometer scale. ... > full story
New highly stable fuel-cell catalyst gets strength from its nano core (November 12, 2010) -- Scientists have developed a new electrocatalyst that uses a single layer of platinum and minimizes its wear and tear while maintaining high levels of reactivity during tests that mimic stop-and-go driving. The research may greatly enhance the practicality of fuel-cell vehicles and may also be applicable for improving the performance of other metallic catalysts. ... > full story
Detailed dark matter map yields clues to galaxy cluster growth (November 12, 2010) -- Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope took advantage of a giant cosmic magnifying glass to create one of the sharpest and most detailed maps of dark matter in the universe. Dark matter is an invisible and unknown substance that makes up the bulk of the universe's mass. ... > full story
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