ScienceDaily Technology Headlines
for Saturday, April 23, 2011
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Functioning synapse created using carbon nanotubes: Devices might be used in brain prostheses or synthetic brains (April 22, 2011) -- Engineering researchers have made a significant breakthrough in the use of nanotechnologies for the construction of a synthetic brain. They have built a carbon nanotube synapse circuit whose behavior in tests reproduces the function of a neuron, the building block of the brain. ... > full story
'Time machine' made to visually explore space and time in videos: Time-lapse GigaPans provide new way to access big data (April 22, 2011) -- Researchers have leveraged the latest browser technology to create GigaPan Time Machine, a system that enables viewers to explore gigapixel-scale, high-resolution videos and image sequences by panning or zooming in and out of the images while simultaneously moving back and forth through time. ... > full story
Huge dry ice deposit on Mars: NASA orbiter reveals big changes in Red Planet's atmosphere (April 22, 2011) -- NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has discovered the total amount of atmosphere on Mars changes dramatically as the tilt of the planet's axis varies. This process can affect the stability of liquid water, if it exists on the Martian surface, and increase the frequency and severity of Martian dust storms. Researchers using the orbiter's ground-penetrating radar identified a large, buried deposit of frozen carbon dioxide, or dry ice, at the Red Planet's south pole. The scientists suspect that much of this carbon dioxide enters the planet's atmosphere and swells the atmosphere's mass when Mars' tilt increases. ... > full story
Limit to nanotechnology mass-production? (April 22, 2011) -- A leading nanotechnology scientist has raised questions over a billion dollar industry by boldly claiming that there is a limit to how small nanotechnology materials can be mass produced. ... > full story
Why biggest stellar explosions often happen in tiniest galaxies: Ultraviolet probe sheds light on mystery (April 21, 2011) -- Astronomers using NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer may be closer to knowing why some of the most massive stellar explosions ever observed occur in the tiniest of galaxies. ... > full story
RNA nanoparticles constructed to safely deliver long-lasting therapy to cells (April 21, 2011) -- Though RNA is viewed as a promising tool in nanotherapy, the difficulties of producing stable and long-lasting therapeutic RNA have posed challenges to research. A biomedical engineering professor has detailed the successful production of large RNA nanoparticles from smaller RNA segments. The nanoparticles had a half life of between five and 10 hours in animal models and targeted cancer cells in vivo to release therapeutics. ... > full story
Does video game violence harm teens? New study weighs the evidence (April 21, 2011) -- How much scientific evidence is there for and against the assertion that exposure to video game violence can harm teens? Three researchers have developed a novel method to consider that question: they analyzed the research output of experts who filed a brief in a US Supreme Court case involving violent video games and teens. ... > full story
Material that if scratched, you can quickly and easily fix yourself, with light not heat (April 21, 2011) -- A team of researchers in the United States and Switzerland has developed a polymer-based material that can heal itself with the help of a widely used type of lighting. Called "metallo-supramolecular polymers," the material is capable of becoming a supple liquid that fills crevasses and gaps left by scrapes and scuffs when placed under ultraviolet light for less than a minute and then resolidifying. The paper will publish this week in journal Nature. ... > full story
Kids' 'screen time' linked to early markers for cardiovascular disease (April 21, 2011) -- Children who had the most hours of screen time, particularly in front of the television, had narrower arteries in the eyes -- a possible indicator for future heart disease risk, according to a new study. Children with the highest levels of physical activity had wider retinal arterioles. The magnitude of vessel narrowing for each hour of screen time was similar to a 10 millimeter of mercury rise in systolic blood pressure. ... > full story
Fat turns into soap in sewers, contributes to overflows (April 21, 2011) -- Researchers have discovered how fat, oil and grease can create hardened deposits in sewer lines: it turns into soap! The hardened deposits, which can look like stalactites, contribute to sewer overflows. ... > full story
CAPTCHAs with chaos: Strong protection for weak passwords (April 21, 2011) -- The passwords of the future could become more secure and, at the same time, simpler to use. Researchers have been inspired by the physics of critical phenomena in their attempts to significantly improve password protection. The researchers split a password into two sections. With the first, easy-to-memorize section they encrypt a CAPTCHA -- an image that computer programs have difficulty in deciphering. The researchers also make it more difficult for computers, whose task it is to automatically crack passwords, to read the passwords without authorization. They use images of a simulated physical system, which they additionally make unrecognizable with a chaotic process. ... > full story
Laser sparks revolution in internal combustion engines (April 21, 2011) -- For more than 150 years, spark plugs have powered internal combustion engines. Automakers are now one step closer to being able to replace this long-standing technology with laser igniters, which will enable cleaner, more efficient, and more economical vehicles. Researchers from Japan have developed the first multibeam laser system small enough to screw into an engine's cylinder head. ... > full story
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