ScienceDaily Technology Headlines -- for Tuesday, March 22, 2011

ScienceDaily Technology Headlines

for Tuesday, March 22, 2011

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Alternatives have begun in bid to hear from NASA's Spirit Mars rover (March 22, 2011) -- Hopes for reviving NASA's Spirit Mars rover dimmed further with passage of the point at which the rover's locale received its maximum sunshine for the Martian year. ... > full story

Templated growth technique produces graphene nanoribbons with metallic properties (March 22, 2011) -- A new "templated growth" technique for fabricating nanoribbons of epitaxial graphene has produced structures just 15 to 40 nanometers wide that conduct current with almost no resistance. These structures could address the challenge of connecting graphene devices made with conventional architectures -- and set the stage for a new generation of devices that take advantage of the quantum properties of electrons. ... > full story

Madrid event marks Spain's role in next Mars mission (March 22, 2011) -- Spain is providing a key science instrument and the high-gain antenna communication subsystem for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, on track for launch this year. ... > full story

Teenagers, parents and teachers unaware of social networking risks (March 22, 2011) -- A report into the legal risks associated with the use of social networking sites has found that while 95 percent of students surveyed in years 7 to 10 use social networking sites, nearly 30 percent did not consider social networking to hold any risks. ... > full story

Spacebound bacteria inspire earthbound remedies (March 21, 2011) -- Recent research aboard the Space Shuttle is giving scientists a better understanding of how infectious disease occurs in space and could someday improve astronaut health and provide novel treatments for people on Earth. ... > full story

Overfertilizing corn undermines ethanol: Researchers find feeding crops too heavily bad for biofuel, environment (March 21, 2011) -- Scientists have found that when growing corn crops for ethanol, more means less. A new paper shows how farmers can save money on fertilizer while they improve their production of feedstock for ethanol and alleviate damage to the environment. ... > full story

Stars gather in 'downtown' Milky Way (March 21, 2011) -- The region around the center of our Milky Way galaxy glows colorfully in a new version of an image taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. ... > full story

The drive toward hydrogen vehicles just got shorter (March 21, 2011) -- Researchers have revealed a new single-stage method for recharging the hydrogen storage compound ammonia borane. The breakthrough makes hydrogen a more attractive fuel for vehicles and other transportation modes. ... > full story

Organic nanoparticle uses sound and heat to find and treat tumors (March 21, 2011) -- Scientists have created an organic nanoparticle that is completely non-toxic, biodegradable and nimble in the way it uses light and heat to treat cancer and deliver drugs. ... > full story

Next Mars rover gets a test taste of Mars conditions (March 21, 2011) -- A space-simulation chamber at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., is temporary home for the Curiosity rover, which will land on Mars next year. ... > full story

Tiny 'on-chip detectors' count individual photons (March 21, 2011) -- A team of researchers has integrated tiny detectors capable of counting individual photons on computer chips. These detectors, called "single-photon avalanche diodes," act like mini Geiger counters, producing a "tick" each time a photon is detected. ... > full story

Poorly presented risk statistics could misinform health decisions (March 21, 2011) -- Choosing the appropriate way to present risk statistics is key to helping people make well-informed decisions. A new systematic review found that health professionals and consumers may change their perceptions when the same risks and risk reductions are presented using alternative statistical formats. ... > full story

Batteries charge quickly and retain capacity, thanks to new structure (March 21, 2011) -- Scientists have developed a three-dimensional nanostructure for battery cathodes that allows for dramatically faster charging and discharging without sacrificing energy storage capacity. Such batteries could be useful for quick-charge consumer electronics, electric vehicles, medical devices, lasers and military applications. ... > full story

Tiny gems take big step toward battling cancer (March 21, 2011) -- Researchers have now demonstrated the significance and translational potential of nanodiamonds in the treatment of chemotherapy-resistant cancers. In studies of liver and breast cancer models in vivo, the team found that a normally lethal amount of a chemotherapy drug when bound to nanodiamonds significantly reduced the size of tumors in mice. Survival rates also increased and no toxic effects on tissues and organs were observed. ... > full story

Silk moth's antenna inspires new nanotech tool with applications in Alzheimer's research (March 21, 2011) -- By mimicking the structure of the silk moth's antenna, researchers led the development of a better nanopore -- a tiny tunnel-shaped tool that could advance understanding of a class of neurodegenerative diseases that includes Alzheimer's. ... > full story

Potential 'game changer' for pathologists (March 21, 2011) -- A technique aims to make computer-aided tissue analysis better, faster and simpler. ... > full story

Miniature lasers could help launch new age of the Internet (March 21, 2011) -- A new laser device could make high-speed computing faster and more reliable, opening the door to a new age of the Internet. ... > full story

Can bees color maps better than ants? (March 21, 2011) -- In mathematics, you need at most only four different colors to produce a map in which no two adjacent regions have the same color. Utah and Arizona are considered adjacent, but Utah and New Mexico, which only share a point, are not. The four-color theorem proves this conjecture for generic maps of countries, but actually of more use in solving scheduling problems, scheduling, register allocation in computing and frequency assignment in mobile communications and broadcasting. ... > full story

Natural clay as a potential host rock for nuclear waste repositories (March 21, 2011) -- Nuclear chemists in Germany have studied natural claystone in the laboratory for more than four years in order to determine how the radioactive elements plutonium and neptunium react with this rock. ... > full story

Mercury-bound instruments aboard MESSENGER arrive at target (March 21, 2011) -- As the MESSENGER spacecraft begins its science operations above the surface of Mercury, NASA instruments are gearing up to help unveil the planet's mysteries. ... > full story

Spintronics: Enhancing the magnetism (March 20, 2011) -- Researchers have enhanced the spontaneous magnetization in a special form of the popular multiferroic bismuth ferrite. What's more, they can turn this magnetization "on/off" through the application of an external electric field, a critical ability for the advancement of spintronic technology. ... > full story

'Pruned' microchips are faster, smaller, more energy-efficient (March 20, 2011) -- Computing experts from the United States, Switzerland and Singapore have unveiled a technique for doubling the efficiency of computer chips by trimming away rarely used circuits. While these "pruned" microchips make a few calculation errors, tests show that cleverly managing the errors can yield chips that are two times faster, consume about half the energy and take up about half the space of traditional microchips. ... > full story

Is space like a chessboard? (March 20, 2011) -- Unveiling a concept that is at once novel and deceptively simple, physicists have found that two-valued spin can arise from having two types of tiles -- light and dark -- in a chessboard-like space. And they found this model working on a surprisingly practical problem, how to make better transistors out of a new material called graphene. ... > full story

Tests on century-old equipment show how far X-rays have come (March 20, 2011) -- Researchers recently tested first-generation x-ray equipment from 1896 and found that it produced radiation doses and exposure times that were vastly higher than those of today's systems, according a new study. ... > full story

Are whole-body image scanners used for U.S. airport security safe? (March 20, 2011) -- The Transportation Security Administration has begun to use whole-body imaging scanners as a primary screening measure on travelers passing through airport security checkpoints. One type of scanner currently deployed at airports uses backscatter X-rays that expose the individual being screened to very low levels of ionizing radiation. Two new articles address the question of what potential long-term public health threats backscatter X-ray systems pose. ... > full story

Scientists use light to move molecules within living cells (March 20, 2011) -- Using a light-triggered chemical tool, scientists report that they have refined a means of moving individual molecules around inside living cells and sending them to exact locations at precise times. This new tool, they say, gives scientists greater command than ever in manipulating single molecules, allowing them to see how molecules in certain cell locations can influence cell behavior and to determine whether cells will grow, die, move or divide. ... > full story

Magnetic stripes behind mysterious hourglass magnetic spectrum of high temperature superconductors? (March 20, 2011) -- New evidence suggests fluctuating magnetic stripes are the cause of mysterious hourglass magnetic spectrum of high temperature superconductors. Scientists have used neutrons to probe the magnetic glue thought to produce high temperature superconductivity and have identified stripes of magnetic moments and charge as the cause of a strange hourglass-shaped magnetic spectrum. Their findings will aid the search for a model of high temperature superconductivity. ... > full story

More efficient means of creating, arranging carbon nanofibers developed (March 19, 2011) -- Carbon nanofibers hold promise for technologies ranging from medical imaging devices to precise scientific measurement tools, but the time and expense associated with uniformly creating nanofibers of the correct size has been an obstacle -- until now. A new study demonstrates an improved method for creating carbon nanofibers of specific sizes, as well as explaining the science behind the method. ... > full story

Secrets of plague revealed through super-resolution microscopy technique (March 19, 2011) -- In work that is pushing the "diffraction barrier" associated with microscopic imaging of living cells, researchers have demonstrated the power of a new super-resolution microscopy technique called Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy (STORM), which can simultaneously image multiple molecules in living immune cells. ... > full story

An icy gaze into the big bang: Quantum physicists investigate new states of matter in ultracold atom mixtures (March 19, 2011) -- Scientists have reached a milestone in the exploration of quantum gas mixtures. In an international first, researchers have succeeded in producing controlled strong interactions between two fermionic elements -- lithium-6 and potassium-40. This model system not only promises to provide new insights into solid-state physics but also shows intriguing analogies to the primordial substance right after the Big Bang. ... > full story

New blood analysis chip could lead to disease diagnosis in minutes (March 18, 2011) -- A major milestone in microfluidics could soon lead to stand-alone, self-powered chips that can diagnose diseases within minutes. The device is able to process whole blood samples without the use of external tubing or external components. ... > full story

Quantum pen for single atoms is a big step toward large-scale quantum computing (March 18, 2011) -- Physicists have succeeded in manipulating atoms individually in a lattice of light and in arranging them in arbitrary patterns. These results are an important step towards large-scale quantum computing and for the simulation of condensed matter systems. ... > full story

New technologies to crack down on counterfeit whisky (March 18, 2011) -- Experts are working to create a handheld device which will detect fake whisky and wine – through the bottle. ... > full story

World first: Localized delivery of an anti-cancer drug by remote-controlled microcarriers (March 18, 2011) -- Soon, drug delivery that precisely targets cancerous cells without exposing the healthy surrounding tissue to the medication's toxic effects will no longer be an oncologist's dream but a medical reality, new research suggests. Using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, scientists have successfully guided microcarriers loaded with a dose of anti-cancer drug through the bloodstream of a living rabbit, right up to a targeted area in the liver, where the drug was successfully administered. ... > full story

Graphene cloak protects bacteria, leading to better images (March 18, 2011) -- Scientists are wrapping bacteria with graphene to address current challenges with imaging bacteria under electron microscopes. The method creates a carbon cloak that protects the bacteria, allowing them to be imaged at their natural size and increasing the image's resolution. ... > full story

Green sludge can protect groundwater from radioactive contamination, study suggests (March 18, 2011) -- Anyone planning a storage facility for atomic waste should make sure to bury their canisters in an area where green rust will form. ... > full story

Tying the knot with computer-generated holograms: Winding optical path moves matter (March 18, 2011) -- In the latest twist on optical knots, physicists have discovered a new method to create extended and knotted optical traps in 3-D. This method may one day help enable fusion energy as a practical power source, according to researchers. ... > full story

NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft begins historic orbit around Mercury (March 18, 2011) -- NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft successfully achieved orbit around Mercury at approximately 9 p.m. EDT Thursday. This marks the first time a spacecraft has accomplished this engineering and scientific milestone at our solar system's innermost planet. ... > full story

New testing device may help to 'seal the deal' for building owners (March 18, 2011) -- Just as a chain is as strong as its weakest link, a building is as secure against the environment as its most degraded joint sealants, about 50 percent of which fail in less than 10 years after installation. The upshot for U.S. homeowners is that moisture damage due to failed sealants is responsible for much of the billion to billion they collectively shell out for house repairs annually. Researchers are now assembling a toolkit of measurement devices and scientific data that will help manufacturers of sealants systematically improve the protective performance of their products. ... > full story

3-D printing method advances electrically small antenna design (March 17, 2011) -- Omnidirectional printing of metallic nanoparticle inks offers an attractive alternative for meeting the demanding form factors of 3-D electrically small antennas. This is the first demonstration of 3-D printed antennas on curvilinear surfaces. ... > full story

Bio-inspired sensors hold promise (March 17, 2011) -- Scientists are using insights from nature as inspiration for both touch and flow sensors -- areas that currently lack good sensors for recording and communicating the senses. ... > full story

Cassini sees seasonal rains transform surface of Saturn's moon Titan (March 17, 2011) -- As spring continues to unfold at Saturn, April showers on the planet's largest moon, Titan, have brought methane rain to its equatorial deserts, as revealed in images captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. This is the first time scientists have obtained current evidence of rain soaking Titan's surface at low latitudes. ... > full story

Electric grid reliability: Increasing energy storage in vanadium redox batteries by 70 percent (March 17, 2011) -- Researchers have discovered that the vanadium redox battery's performance can be significantly improved by modifying its electrolyte solution. The finding could improve the electric grid's reliability and help connect more wind turbines and solar panels to the grid. ... > full story

Scientists control light scattering in graphene (March 17, 2011) -- Scientists have learned to control the quantum pathways that determine how light scatters in graphene. A sheet of carbon just a single atom thick, graphene's extraordinary crystalline structure gives rise to unique electronic and optical properties. Controlling light scattering not only provides a new tool for studying graphene but points to practical applications for managing light and electronic states in graphene nanodevices. ... > full story

NASA's Prolific Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reaches five-year mark (March 17, 2011) -- NASA's versatile Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which began orbiting Mars five years ago, has radically expanded our knowledge of the Red Planet and is now working overtime. ... > full story

New tool debuts for measuring indoor air pollutants (March 17, 2011) -- A promising new approach for checking the accuracy of measurements of hazardous indoor air pollutants may soon be ready for prime time, researchers report. The measurement tool, a reference sample for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), would be a boon to testers of indoor air quality and to manufacturers of paints, rugs, cleaners and other building products. ... > full story

New technique enables much faster production of inexpensive solar cells (March 17, 2011) -- Researchers have demonstrated that the speed at which inexpensive solar cells are produced can be increased by a factor of 10 -- and that this can be achieved without any detriment to the energy yield of the cells. This will almost certainly result in a further reduction in the price of the cells, which are made of amorphous silicon. ... > full story

New laser technique opens doors for drug discovery (March 17, 2011) -- Researchers have demonstrated that a new laser technique can be used to measure the interactions between proteins tangled in a cell's membrane and a variety of other biological molecules. These extremely difficult measurements can aid the process of drug discovery. ... > full story