Space Season: ScienceDaily Technology Headlines -- for Wednesday, April 20, 2011

ScienceDaily Technology Headlines

for Wednesday, April 20, 2011

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Nanoparticles with honeycomb cavities containing drugs blast cancer cells (April 20, 2011) -- Melding nanotechnology and medical research, researchers have produced an effective strategy that uses nanoparticles to blast cancerous cells with a melange of killer drugs. The researchers made silica nanoparticles honeycombed with cavities that can store large amounts and varieties of drugs. ... > full story

Collecting the sun's energy: Novel electrode for flexible thin-film solar cells (April 20, 2011) -- Conventional silicon-based rigid solar cells generally found on the market are not suitable for manufacturing moldable thin-film solar cells, in which a transparent, flexible and electrically conductive electrode collects the light and carries away the current. A new woven polymer electrode has now produced first results which are very promising, indicating that the new material may be a substitute for indium tin oxide coatings. ... > full story

New biosensor microchip could speed up drug development, researchers say (April 20, 2011) -- A new biosensor microchip that could hold more than 100,000 magnetically sensitive nanosensors could speed up drug development markedly, researchers say. The nanosensors analyze how proteins bond -- a critical step in drug development. The ultrasensitive sensors can simultaneously monitor thousands of times more proteins than existing technology, deliver results faster and assess the strength of the bonds. ... > full story

New MRI methodology revolutionizes imaging of the beating heart (April 20, 2011) -- Scientists in Germany have developed a highly efficient approach for imaging the beating human heart. The images produced in one of the world's most powerful MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) systems whose power is equivalent to 150,000 times Earth's magnetic field are of a much higher detail than cardiac images commonly generated in current clinical practice. The ultra-high field approach permits a superb delineation between blood and heart muscle. Even subtle anatomical structures are made clearly visible. The new procedure holds the promise to advance the capabilities of cardiac research and care as cardiac malfunctions can be diagnosed, treated and monitored at a much earlier point in disease progression. ... > full story

New kid on the plasmonic block: Researchers find plasmonic resonances in semiconductor nanocrystals (April 20, 2011) -- Researchers have achieved plasmonic properties in the semiconductor nanocrystals known as quantum dots. Until now, plasmonic properties, which hold promise for superfast computers and ultrapowerful optical microscopes among many other possibilities, have been limited to nanostructures featuring interfaces between noble metals and dielectrics. This new discovery should make the already hot field of plasmonic technology even hotter. ... > full story

LED efficiency puzzle solved by theorists using quantum-mechanical calculations (April 19, 2011) -- Researchers say they've figured out the cause of a problem that's made light-emitting diodes (LEDs) impractical for general lighting purposes. Their work will help engineers develop a new generation of high-performance, energy-efficient lighting that could replace incandescent and fluorescent bulbs. ... > full story

Zoom-up star photos poke holes in century-old astronomical theory (April 19, 2011) -- The hottest stars in the universe spin so fast that they get a bit squished at their poles and dimmer around their middle. The 90-year-old theory that predicts the extent of this "gravity darkening" phenomenon has major flaws, according to a new study. ... > full story

Probing the laws of gravity: A gravity resonance method (April 19, 2011) -- Quantum mechanical methods can now be used to study gravity. Scientists in Austria have developed a new measurement method that allows them to test the fundamental theories of physics. ... > full story

Could black trees blossom in a world with two suns? (April 19, 2011) -- A sky with two suns is a favorite image for science fiction films, but how would a binary star system affect life evolving on an orbiting planet? A researcher suggests what plants might be like on an Earth-like planet with two or three suns and found that they may appear black or grey. ... > full story

Accelerate data storage by several orders of magnitude? Ultra-fast magnetic reversal observed (April 19, 2011) -- A newly discovered magnetic phenomenon could accelerate data storage by several orders of magnitude. With a constantly growing flood of information, we are being inundated with increasing quantities of data, which we in turn want to process faster than ever. Oddly, the physical limit to the recording speed of magnetic storage media has remained largely unresearched. In experiments performed on a particle accelerator, researchers have now achieved ultrafast magnetic reversal and discovered a surprising phenomenon. ... > full story

Sugar helping map new ground against deadly bug (April 19, 2011) -- A potential vaccine against bacteria that cause serious gastric disorders including stomach cancer may be a step closer following a pioneering study. ... > full story

Astronomers can tune in to radio auroras to find exoplanets (April 19, 2011) -- Detecting exoplanets that orbit at large distances from their star remains a challenge for planet hunters. Now, scientists have shown that emissions from the radio aurora of planets like Jupiter should be detectable by radio telescopes such as LOFAR, which will be completed later this year. ... > full story

X‑rays shed new light on regulation of muscle contraction (April 19, 2011) -- More than 200 years ago, Luigi Galvani discovered that the muscles of a frog's leg twitch when a voltage is applied. Scientists from Italy, the UK and France have brought this textbook classic into the era of nanoscience. They used a new synchrotron X-ray technique to observe for the first time at the molecular scale how muscle proteins change form and structure inside an intact and contracting muscle cell. ... > full story

Super-small transistor created: Artificial atom powered by single electrons (April 19, 2011) -- A single-electron transistor with a central component -- an island only 1.5 nanometers in diameter -- that operates with the addition of only one or two electrons has been developed. The transistor, named SketchSET, provides a building block for new, more powerful computer memories, advanced electronic materials, and the basic components of quantum computers that could solve problems so complex that all of the world's computers working together for billions of years could not crack them. ... > full story

Portable devices' built-in motion sensors improve data rates on wireless networks (April 19, 2011) -- For most of the 20th century, the paradigm of wireless communication was a radio station with a single high-power transmitter. As long as you were within 20 miles or so of the transmitter, you could pick up the station. With the advent of cell phones, however, and even more so with Wi-Fi, the paradigm became a large number of scattered transmitters with limited range. When a user moves out of one transmitter's range and into another's, the network has to perform a "handoff." And as anyone who's lost a cell-phone call in a moving car or lost a Wi-Fi connection while walking to the bus stop can attest, handoffs don't always happen as they should. Researchers have now developed new protocols that can often, for users moving around, improve network throughput (the amount of information that devices could send and receive in a given period) by about 50 percent. ... > full story

Virtual surgery shows promise in personalized treatment of nasal obstruction (April 19, 2011) -- A preliminary report suggests that virtual nasal surgery has the potential to be a productive tool that may enable surgeons to perform personalized nasal surgery using computer simulation techniques. ... > full story

Did a supernova mark the birth of the Merry Monarch? (April 19, 2011) -- The supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A) is the relic of the explosion of a massive star that took place around 11,000 years ago and is one of the brightest radio sources in the sky. Oddly, although the light from the explosion should have reached the Earth in the seventeenth century and been easily visible in the sky, it appears to have gone unnoticed. Now astronomers and historians argue that the supernova was seen -- as a 'new' star visible during the day at the birth of the future King Charles II of Great Britain. ... > full story

Learn to run a biorefinery in a virtual control room (April 19, 2011) -- Researchers have developed a virtual biorefinery control room based on ethanol and biodiesel plants in Iowa. The system is designed to teach students and workers to efficiently run a biorefinery. The simulations take into account more than 20 production attributes including moisture, starch content, contaminants, temperature and particle size. The virtual control room can be modified to offer training and experience when new feedstocks and technologies are developed. ... > full story

Students develop thought-controlled, hands-free computer for the disabled (April 19, 2011) -- Software engineering students have developed innovative technology that could enable people to operate a computer without using a keyboard or mouse -- only their brainwaves. ... > full story

Watching the birth of a sunspot (April 18, 2011) -- Researchers have monitored the birth of a sunspot over a period of eight hours using observations from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). ... > full story

Neutral atoms made to act like electrically charged particles (April 18, 2011) -- Completing the circuit they started by creating synthetic magnetic fields, scientists have made atoms act as if they were charged particles in electric fields. ... > full story

Shocking environment of hot Jupiters (April 18, 2011) -- Jupiter-like worlds around other stars push shock waves ahead of them, according to astronomers. Just as Earth's magnetic "bow-shock" protects us from the high-energy solar wind, these planetary shocks protect their atmospheres from their star's damaging emissions, according to new research. ... > full story

Scientists finely control methane combustion to get different products (April 18, 2011) -- Scientists find that combustion of methane using two gold atoms at room temperature yields ethylene, while at lower temperatures it yields formaldehyde. ... > full story

New way to control magnetic properties of graphene discovered (April 18, 2011) -- Researchers have discovered a way to control magnetic properties of graphene that could lead to powerful new applications in magnetic storage and magnetic random access memory. ... > full story

Nanofiber spheres carrying cells injected into wounds to grow tissue (April 18, 2011) -- For the first time, scientists have made star-shaped, biodegradable polymers that can self-assemble into hollow, nanofiber spheres, and when the spheres are injected with cells into wounds, these spheres biodegrade, but the cells live on to form new tissue. ... > full story

The heat is on: Zeroing in on energy consumption of ice makers (April 18, 2011) -- In tests of four different types of new refrigerators, researchers found that ice makers increased rated energy consumption by 12 to 20 percent. About three-fourths of that additional energy cost is due to the electric heaters used to release the ice bits from the molds. ... > full story

Celestial fireworks from dying stars (April 18, 2011) -- A new image of the nebula NGC 3582 shows giant loops of gas bearing a striking resemblance to solar prominences. These loops are thought to have been ejected by dying stars, but new stars are also being born within this stellar nursery. These energetic youngsters emit intense ultraviolet radiation that makes the gas in the nebula glow, producing a fiery display. ... > full story

Introducing the world's first intubation robot (April 18, 2011) -- Researchers have introduced the first intubation robot operated by remote control. The robotic system may facilitate the intubation procedure and reduce some complications associated with airway management. ... > full story

Hydrocarbons deep within Earth: New computational study reveals how (April 17, 2011) -- A new computational study reveals how hydrocarbons may be formed from methane in deep Earth at extreme pressures and temperatures. The thermodynamic and kinetic properties of hydrocarbons at high pressures and temperature are important for understanding carbon reservoirs and fluxes in Earth. ... > full story

Best-ever look at pulsars: LOFAR takes the pulse of the radio sky (April 17, 2011) -- A powerful new telescope is allowing an international team of scientists to have their "best-ever look" at pulsars -- rapidly rotating neutron stars created when massive stars die. ... > full story

Recipe for radioactive compounds aids nuclear waste and fuel storage pools studies (April 17, 2011) -- Easy-to-follow recipes for radioactive compounds like those found in nuclear fuel storage pools, liquid waste containment areas and other contaminated aqueous environments have been developed by researchers. ... > full story

Toward a 'green grid' for delivering solar and wind-based electricity (April 17, 2011) -- After years of neglect, scientists and policy makers are focusing more attention on developing technologies needed to make the so-called "green grid" possible, according to a new article. That's the much-needed future electrical grid, an interconnected network for delivering solar and wind-based electricity from suppliers to consumers. ... > full story

New elastic material changes color in UV light (April 16, 2011) -- Researchers have created a range of soft, elastic gels that change color when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light -- and change back when the UV light is removed or the material is heated up. ... > full story

Solar activity heats up: Sunspots finally return (April 16, 2011) -- As 2011 unfolds, sunspots have returned and they are crackling with activity. On February 15 and again on March 9, Earth orbiting satellites detected a pair of "X-class" solar flares -- the most powerful kind of X-ray flare. ... > full story

Novel ionic liquid batteries (April 15, 2011) -- Limits imposed by using corrosive electrolytes often result in severe restrictions to battery geometry and the need for special corrosive-resistant battery containers. The use of reactive ionic liquids in non-aqueous cells replace the more hazardous highly alkaline electrolytes. ... > full story

New spin on graphene makes it magnetic (April 15, 2011) -- Scientists have found a way to make wonder material graphene magnetic, opening up a new range of opportunities for the world's thinnest material in the area of spintronics. ... > full story

A bicycle built for none: Riderless bike helps researchers learn how balance rolls along (April 15, 2011) -- In a discovery that could lead to better and safer bicycle design, researchers have shown that long-accepted "gyro" and "caster" effects are not needed to make a bike balance itself. In fact, it's a mixture of complicated physical effects -- linked to the distribution of mass -- that allows a bicycle to remain up when moving. ... > full story

Forest byproducts, shells may be key to removing radioactive contaminants from drinking water (April 15, 2011) -- A combination of forest byproducts and crustacean shells may be the key to removing radioactive materials from drinking water, researchers have found. ... > full story

Carbon fiber used to reinforce buildings; protect from explosion (April 15, 2011) -- Most buildings are not constructed to withstand an unexpected explosion or impact. Now, a researcher is working with the US Army to test a method of retrofitting buildings to protect them in the case of a terrorist attack. ... > full story

Fast-rotating asteroid winks for astronomer's camera (April 15, 2011) -- Video imaging of newly discovered asteroid 2011 GP59 shows the object appearing to blink on and off about once every four minutes. ... > full story

WISE delivers millions of galaxies, stars, asteroids (April 15, 2011) -- Astronomers across the globe can now sift through hundreds of millions of galaxies, stars and asteroids collected in the first bundle of data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission. ... > full story

Search for dark matter moves one step closer to detecting elusive particle (April 15, 2011) -- Dark matter, the mysterious substance that may account for nearly 25 percent of the universe, has so far evaded direct observation. But researchers participating in the international XENON collaboration say they are now closer than ever before. ... > full story

Sensor determines if packaged meat has spoiled (April 15, 2011) -- When it comes to packaged fish or meat, it is nearly impossible to distinguish between fresh goods and their inedible counterparts. Researchers have now developed a sensor film that can be integrated into the package itself, where it takes over the role of quality control. And if the food has spoiled, it changes color to announce the fact. ... > full story

NASA's next generation space telescope marks key milestone (April 15, 2011) -- The first six of 18 segments that will form NASA's James Webb Space Telescope's primary mirror for space observations will begin final round-the-clock cryogenic testing this week. These tests will confirm the mirrors will respond as expected to the extreme temperatures of space prior to integration into the telescope's permanent housing structure. ... > full story

Lights and flat-panel displays: Researchers 'brighten' the future of organic light-emitting diode technology (April 15, 2011) -- A one-atom thick sheet of the element chlorine is set to revolutionize the next generation of flat-panel displays and lighting technology. Scientists have found a simple method of using chlorine to drastically reduce traditional organic light-emitting diode (OLED) device complexity and dramatically improve its efficiency all at the same time. ... > full story

NASA announces new homes for shuttle orbiters after retirement (April 15, 2011) -- After 30 years of spaceflight, more than 130 missions, and numerous science and technology firsts, NASA's space shuttle fleet will retire and be on display at institutions across the country to inspire the next generation of explorers and engineers. ... > full story

DNA nanoforms: Miniature architectural forms -- some no larger than viruses -- constructed through DNA origami (April 14, 2011) -- Miniature architectural forms -- some no larger than viruses -- have been constructed through a revolutionary technique known as DNA origami. Now, scientists have expanded the capability of this method to construct arbitrary, two and three-dimensional shapes, mimicking those commonly found in nature. ... > full story

Solar power without solar cells: A hidden magnetic effect of light could make it possible (April 14, 2011) -- A dramatic and surprising magnetic effect of light discovered by researchers could lead to solar power without traditional semiconductor-based solar cells. The researchers found a way to make an "optical battery." In the process, they overturned a century-old tenet of physics. ... > full story