ScienceDaily Technology Headlines -- for Sunday, February 6, 2011

ScienceDaily Technology Headlines

for Sunday, February 6, 2011

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A loose grip provides better chemotherapy (February 5, 2011) -- Researchers have found that cancer patients may get a bigger bang and fewer side effects with a new take on a drug delivery system. By using noncovalent bonds to link light-activated anti-cancer drugs to coated gold nanoparticles, they were able to activate treatment in two hours instead of two days. The scientists expect the targeted delivery system will cut dosage by a factor of 10 or more. ... > full story

Nanoscale micorscopy and AFM positioning: Shining light on a needle in a haystack (February 5, 2011) -- Researchers report a neat solution to the "needle in a haystack" problem of nanoscale microscopy, but it's more like the difference between finding the coffee table in a darkened room either by walking around until you fall over it, or using a flashlight. Researchers found tiny assemblies of biomolecules for subsequent detailed imaging by combining precision laser optics with atomic force microscopy. ... > full story

New twist on the electron beam (February 5, 2011) -- Researchers have found a novel, and potentially widely applicable, method to expand the capabilities of conventional transmission electron microscopes by adding a new twist to their electron beams. ... > full story

Gas stations pollute their immediate surroundings, Spanish study finds (February 5, 2011) -- In Spain, it is relatively common to come across gas stations surrounded by houses, particularly in urban areas. Researchers have studied the effects of contamination at gas stations that is potentially harmful to health, which can be noted in buildings less than 100 meters from the service stations. ... > full story

New images show cloud exploding from Sun ripples like clouds on Earth (February 4, 2011) -- Physicists studying new images of clouds of material exploding from the Sun have spotted instabilities forming in that exploding cloud that are similar to those seen in clouds in Earth's atmosphere. ... > full story

New wave: Efficient source of terahertz radiation developed (February 4, 2011) -- Researchers have developed a laser-based source of terahertz radiation that is unusually efficient and less prone to damage than similar systems. The technology might be useful in applications such as detecting trace gases or imaging weapons in security screening. ... > full story

Quantum quirk: Scientists pack atoms together to prevent collisions in atomic clock (February 4, 2011) -- In a paradox typical of the quantum world, scientists have eliminated collisions between atoms in an atomic clock by packing the atoms closer together. The surprising discovery can boost the performance of experimental atomic clocks made of thousands or tens of thousands of neutral atoms trapped by intersecting laser beams. ... > full story

Scientists use quantum mechanics to show that glass will melt near absolute zero (February 4, 2011) -- By cooling glass to a temperature near absolute zero (-459.67 degrees Fahrenheit), a professor is demonstrating that, at the quantum level, glass exhibits a very different behavior than might be expected from traditional physics -- in fact, it melts. ... > full story

New model for how Nevada gold deposits formed may help in gold exploration (February 4, 2011) -- Researchers have devised a new model for how Nevada's gold deposits formed, which may help in exploration efforts for new gold deposits. ... > full story

Northern Mars landscape actively changing (February 4, 2011) -- Sand dunes in a vast area of northern Mars long thought to be frozen in time are changing with both sudden and gradual motions, as revealed by images from a high-resolution camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO. The new findings help scientists to better understand what features and landscapes on Mars can be explained by current processes and which require environmental conditions no longer present on the planet. ... > full story

Microbiologists aim to optimize bio-ethanol production (February 4, 2011) -- Researchers are working to resolve an emerging "food versus fuel" rivalry: they are investigating how to most effectively utilize residual field crop material for industrial production of bio-ethanol. Getting a handle on the full "toolbox" that soil bacteria use to transform cellulose into sugar could help to optimize combinations of enzymes for industrial use, potentially leading to development of a specialized degradation tool for every kind of plant waste containing cellulose. ... > full story

Same rules apply to some experimental systems regardless of scale (February 4, 2011) -- New experiments show that common scientific rules can apply to significantly different phenomena operating on vastly different scales. The results raise the possibility of making discoveries pertaining to phenomena that would be too large or impractical to recreate in the laboratory. ... > full story