ScienceDaily Technology Headlines
for Thursday, August 19, 2010
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Why implant coatings detach: Nanocorrosion causes implants to fail (August 19, 2010) -- Extra-hard coatings made from diamond-like carbon (DLC) extend the operating lifetime of tools and components. In artificial joints, however, these coatings often fail because they detach. Swiss researchers found out why – and developed methods to both make the interface between the DLC layer and the metal underneath corrosion-resistant and to predict the lifetime of the implants. ... > full story
Smart materials: Fully reversible functionalization of inorganic nanotubes (August 19, 2010) -- Scientists in Germany have devised a tool which allows fully reversible binding of metal oxides to inorganic nanotubes. ... > full story
Cosmic accelerators discovered in our galaxy (August 18, 2010) -- Physicists have discovered evidence of "natural nuclear accelerators" at work in our Milky Way galaxy, based on an analysis of data from the world's largest cosmic ray detector. ... > full story
Roller coaster superconductivity discovered (August 18, 2010) -- Superconductors are more than 150 times more efficient at carrying electricity than copper wires. But these materials have to be cooled below an extremely low, so-called transition temperature for electrical resistance to disappear. Researchers have unexpectedly found that the transition temperature can be induced under two different intense pressures in a three-layered bismuth oxide crystal. They believe this unusual two-step phenomena comes from competition of electronic behavior in different layers. ... > full story
Scientists closer to finding what causes the birth of a fat cell (August 18, 2010) -- Just what causes the birth of a human fat cell is a mystery, but scientists using mathematics to tackle the question have come up with a few predictions about the proteins that influence this process. The research is intended to increase understanding of how and why preadipocytes, or pre-fat cells, either lie dormant, copy themselves or turn into fat. ... > full story
Paving 'slabs' that clean the air (August 18, 2010) -- The concentrations of toxic nitrogen oxide that are present in German cities regularly exceed the maximum permitted levels. That's now about to change, as innovative paving slabs that will help protect the environment are being introduced. Coated in titanium dioxide nanoparticles, they reduce the amount of nitrogen oxide in the air. ... > full story
Future air travel: Quieter, cleaner and more environmentally friendly? (August 18, 2010) -- Less noise, less exhaust, less refuse - air travel of the future is expected to be quieter, cleaner and more environmentally friendly. To achieve this goal, new structural concepts and aerodynamic profiles have to be engineered, along with better drive concepts as well as adapted logistical designs, and then put to use. In the European project Clean Sky, researchers want to make their contribution to solving this Herculean task. ... > full story
Eclipsing pulsar promises clues to crushed matter (August 18, 2010) -- Astronomers have found the first fast X-ray pulsar to be eclipsed by its companion star. Further studies of this unique stellar system will shed light on some of the most compressed matter in the universe and test a key prediction of Einstein's relativity theory. ... > full story
High definition diagnostic ultrasonics on the nanoscale (August 18, 2010) -- Scientists have built the world's smallest ultrasonic transducers capable of generating and detecting ultrasound. ... > full story
Clothing to power personal computers (August 18, 2010) -- Scientists in the UK are developing technology that may enable people to power MP3 players and other devices through their clothes and the carpets they walk on. ... > full story
Astronaut muscles waste in space: Safety for future Mars missions questioned (August 18, 2010) -- Astronaut muscles waste away on long space flights, reducing their capacity for physical work by more than 40 percent, according to new research. This is the equivalent of a 30- to 50-year-old crew member's muscles deteriorating to that of an 80-year-old. The destructive effects of extended weightlessness to skeletal muscle -- despite in-flight exercise -- pose a significant safety risk for future human missions to Mars and elsewhere in the universe. ... > full story
Elementary particles star in new 'dance movie' (August 18, 2010) -- Scientists in Germany have directly measured the spatial positions of electrons and protons during a chemical reaction using ultrashort X-ray flashes. ... > full story
How to reduce UK transport carbon emissions by 76 per cent by 2050 (August 18, 2010) -- Researchers in the UK have achieved a significant breakthrough in climate change policy by showing how to make drastic cuts in carbon dioxide emissions from transport. The study goes beyond the science and paints a picture of what a low carbon transport future would look like. What emerges is vision of a less stressful, quieter, healthier, more resilient and confident society. ... > full story
Raising mountains on Saturn's moon Titan (August 17, 2010) -- Saturn's moon Titan ripples with mountains, and scientists have been trying to figure out how they form. The best explanation, it turns out, is that Titan is shrinking as it cools, wrinkling up the moon's surface like a raisin. ... > full story
Data storage: World record data density for ferroelectric recording (August 17, 2010) -- Scientists in Japan have recorded data at a density of 4 trillion bits per square inch, a world record for the experimental "ferroelectric" data storage method. This density is about eight times the density of today's most advanced magnetic hard-disk drives. ... > full story
New system developed to test and evaluate high-energy laser weapons (August 17, 2010) -- Researchers can now measure a laser's power and spatial energy distribution at once by directing the beam onto a reusable glass target board. The new system will accelerate high-energy laser development and reduce the time required to make them operational for national security purposes. ... > full story
Major hurdle cleared for organic solar cells (August 17, 2010) -- The basis for solar energy is absorbing light and then effectively disassociating electrical charges. Researchers report that conjugated polymers are excellent materials for such a system, thanks to their light absorption and conduction properties. ... > full story
Many Americans are still clueless on how to save energy (August 17, 2010) -- Many Americans believe they can save energy with small behavior changes that actually achieve very little, and severely underestimate the major effects of switching to efficient, currently available technologies, says a new survey of Americans in 34 states. The study quizzed people on what they perceived as the most effective way to save energy. ... > full story
Preschoolers use statistics to understand others (August 17, 2010) -- Children are natural psychologists. By the time they're in preschool, they understand that other people have desires, preferences, beliefs and emotions. But how they learn this isn't clear. A new study finds that children figure out another person's preferences by using a topic you'd think they don't encounter until college: statistics. ... > full story
Tantalizing clues as to why matter prevails in the universe: Surprisingly large matter/antimatter asymmetry discovered (August 17, 2010) -- Decays of B mesons in recent experiments at Fermilab result in excess matter over antimatter that exceeds expectations, based on the Standard Model of particle physics. ... > full story
MRSA-killing paint created (August 17, 2010) -- Building on an enzyme found in nature, researchers have created a nanoscale coating for surgical equipment, hospital walls, and other surfaces which safely eradicates methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, the bacteria responsible for antibiotic resistant infections. ... > full story
IBEX spacecraft reveals surprising details of solar system (August 17, 2010) -- It wasn't until the advent of the Interstellar Boundary Explorer or IBEX, a NASA spacecraft launched in October 2008, that scientists have been able to see what the human eye cannot: the first-ever images of an electromagnetic crash scene in space. They can now witness how some of the solar wind's charged particles are being neutralized by gas escaping from Earth's atmosphere. ... > full story
Cassini bags Enceladus 'Tigers' (August 17, 2010) -- NASA's Cassini spacecraft has successfully completed its flyby over the "tiger stripes" in the south polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus and has sent back images of its passage. The spacecraft also targeted the moon Tethys. ... > full story
Probabilistic modeling of verbal autopsy data is best for public health decision making, study finds (August 17, 2010) -- Computer-based probabilistic models that are used to interpret verbal autopsy data -- information from interviews with family, friends and carers about deaths that are later interpreted into possible cause(s) of death -- are as effective as physician reviews of the data for establishing cause of death, according to new research. ... > full story
New method for estimating cost of small hydropower projects (August 17, 2010) -- Scientists have developed a method to assess the installation and operating costs of small hydroelectric power projects, which represent a potentially large but largely untapped source of energy for developing countries. ... > full story
New microneedle antimicrobial techniques may foster medical tech innovation (August 16, 2010) -- Researchers have developed two new approaches for incorporating antimicrobial properties into microneedles -- vanishingly thin needles that hold great promise for use in portable medical devices. Researchers expect the findings to spur development of new medical applications using microneedles. ... > full story
15,000 beams of light: Pens that write with light offer low-cost, rapid nanofabrication capabilities (August 16, 2010) -- One city skyline is dazzling enough. Now imagine 15,000 of them. Researchers have done just that -- drawing 15,000 identical skylines with tiny beams of light using an innovative nanofabrication technology called beam-pen lithography. BPL uses an array of pens made of a polymer to print patterns over large areas with nanoscopic through macroscopic resolution. The method could do for nanofabrication what the desktop printer has done for printing and information transfer. ... > full story
Probing the nanoparticle: Predicting how nanoparticles will react in the human body (August 16, 2010) -- Researchers have developed a method for predicting the ways nanoparticles will interact with biological systems -- including the human body. Their work could have implications for improved human and environmental safety in the handling of nanomaterials, as well as applications for drug delivery. ... > full story
Solution to beading-saliva mystery has practical purposes (August 16, 2010) -- Researchers have discovered precisely why strands of some fluids containing long molecules called polymers form beads when stretched, findings that could be used to improve industrial processes and for administering drugs in "personalized medicine." ... > full story
Making sense of space dust: Researchers explore solar system's origins (August 16, 2010) -- The chemical breakdown of minerals that may be lurking in space dust soon will be available to scientists around the world. ... > full story
Drugs encased in nanoparticles travel to tumors on the surface of immune-system cells (August 16, 2010) -- Clinical trials using patients' own immune cells to target tumors have yielded promising results. However, this approach usually works only if the patients also receive large doses of drugs designed to help immune cells multiply rapidly, and those drugs have life-threatening side effects. Now engineers have devised a way to deliver the necessary drugs by smuggling them on the backs of the cells sent in to fight the tumor. That way, the drugs reach only their intended targets, greatly reducing the risk to the patient. ... > full story
Pushing the limits of 3D TV technology (August 16, 2010) -- Some of the thrills of 3D cinema have reached the living room of the average family this year, but the result is still far from perfect. That could change thanks to a technology developed by a German-Swiss partnership. ... > full story
Evidence of new solar activity from observations of aurora in New Zealand (August 16, 2010) -- Scientists have obtained sub-visual evidence of the onset of a new cycle of solar-terrestrial activity. The key results being reported deal with the fact that recent auroral displays at high latitudes (ones visible to the naked eye) were accompanied by far less luminous glows in the atmosphere at lower latitudes. ... > full story
Car lighting makeover impacts feel of safety and style (August 16, 2010) -- Gone are the days of basic, glaring lights inside cars to help us find our seatbelts or scramble for a map. Taking cues from research in buildings and offices, today's car designers have started to incorporate gentle ambient interior lighting, potentially enhancing night driving safety as well is increasing the feel good factor about vehicle interiors, according to new research. ... > full story
Branding in a new light (August 16, 2010) -- Illuminated and neon signs outside businesses have contributed to brand identity for some years. But researchers are now evaluating how selecting a universal lighting design for stores can also send out branding signals to consumers. ... > full story
Carbon nanotubes form ultrasensitive biosensor to detect proteins (August 15, 2010) -- A cluster of carbon nanotubes coated with a thin layer of protein-recognizing polymer form a biosensor capable of using electrochemical signals to detect minute amounts of proteins, which could provide a crucial new diagnostic tool for the detection of a range of illnesses, researchers report. ... > full story
NGC 4696: A cosmic question mark (August 15, 2010) -- Curling around itself like a question mark, the unusual looking galaxy NGC 4696 itself begs many questions. Why is it such a strange shape? What are the odd, capillary-like filaments that stretch out of it? And what is the role of a large black hole in explaining its decidedly odd appearance? ... > full story
Nano world of Shrinky Dinks: Low-cost nanopatterning method utilizes popular shrinkable plastic (August 14, 2010) -- The magical world of Shrinky Dinks -- an arts and crafts material used by children since the 1970s -- has taken up residence in a Northwestern University laboratory. A team of nanoscientists is using the flexible plastic sheets as the backbone of a new inexpensive way to create, test and mass-produce large-area patterns on the nanoscale. Anyone needing access to these patterns on the cheap could benefit from this method, known as solvent-assisted nanoscale embossing. ... > full story
Implantable silk metamaterials could advance biomedicine, biosensing (August 13, 2010) -- Researchers have fabricated and characterized the first large-area metamaterial structures patterned on implantable, bio-compatible silk substrates. The antenna-like devices can monitor the "fingerprints" of chemical and biological agents and might be implanted to signal changes in the body. Metamaterials are artificial electromagnetic composites whose structures respond to electromagnetic waves in ways that atoms in natural materials do not. ... > full story
New nanoscale transistors allow sensitive probing inside cells (August 13, 2010) -- Chemists and engineers have fashioned nanowires into a new type of V-shaped transistor small enough to be used for sensitive probing of the interior of cells. The new device is smaller than many viruses and about one-hundredth the width of the probes now used to take cellular measurements, which can be nearly as large as the cells themselves. ... > full story
Extended solar minimum linked to changes in sun's conveyor belt (August 13, 2010) -- A new analysis of the unusually long solar cycle that ended in 2008 suggests that one reason for the long cycle could be a stretching of the sun's conveyor belt, a current of plasma that circulates between the sun's equator and its poles. The results should help scientists better understand the factors controlling the timing of solar cycles and could lead to better predictions. ... > full story
Magnetic molecular machines deliver drugs to unhealthy cells (August 13, 2010) -- Researchers have developed a completely novel and noninvasive method of releasing drugs remotely into the cells. The method involves a novel material using porous silica nanoparticles, and molecular machines which can be attached to contain drug molecules in the pores until a magnetic field stimulus allows the molecules to be delivered into cells. ... > full story
Wax, soap clean up obstacles to better batteries (August 13, 2010) -- A little wax and soap can help build electrodes for cheaper lithium ion batteries, according to a new study. The one-step method will allow battery developers to explore lower-priced alternatives to the lithium ion-metal oxide batteries currently on the market. ... > full story
Teaching robot helps children to use wheelchair (August 13, 2010) -- A robotic wheelchair is being developed that will help children learn to 'drive'. In a new article, researchers describe the testing of ROLY -- robot-assisted learning for young drivers -- in a group of children without disabilities and one child with cerebral palsy. ... > full story
Fermi detects 'shocking' surprise from supernova's little cousin (August 13, 2010) -- Astronomers using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have detected gamma-rays from a nova for the first time, a finding that stunned observers and theorists alike. The discovery overturns the notion that novae explosions lack the power to emit such high-energy radiation. ... > full story
Industrial production of biodiesel feasible within 15 years, researchers predict (August 13, 2010) -- Within 10 to 15 years, it will be technically possible to produce sustainable and economically viable biodiesel from micro-algae on a large scale. Technological innovations during this period should extend the scale of production by a factor of three, while at the same time reducing production costs by 90%. Two researchers from the Netherlands believe this to be possible. ... > full story
Wireless tire pressure monitoring systems in cars may compromise privacy, pose security threat (August 13, 2010) -- New wireless technologies in cars may compromise a driver's privacy and pose a security threat, warn researchers. Modern automobiles are increasingly equipped with wireless sensors and devices, such as systems that monitor air pressure inside tires and trigger dashboard warnings if a tire's pressure drops. These wireless signals can be intercepted 120 feet away from the car using a simple receiver despite the shielding provided by the metal car body. ... > full story
Federal nuclear waste panel overlooks public mistrust, experts say (August 13, 2010) -- According to 16 social science researchers from across the country, a renewed federal effort to fix the nation's stalled nuclear waste program is focusing so much on technological issues that it fails to address the public mistrust hampering storage and disposal efforts. ... > full story
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