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Wednesday, May 9, 2012

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News


Why women wiggling in high heels could help improve prosthetic limbs and robots

Posted: 08 May 2012 07:01 PM PDT

People walking normally, women tottering in high heels and ostriches strutting all exert the same forces on the ground despite very differently-shaped feet, according to new research. The finding suggests that prosthetic lower limbs and robots' legs could be made more efficient by making them less human-like and more like the prosthetics used by 'Blade Runner' Oscar Pistorius.

NASA's Spitzer sees the light of alien 'super-Earth'

Posted: 08 May 2012 02:44 PM PDT

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has detected light emanating from a "super-Earth" planet beyond our solar system for the first time. While the planet is not habitable, the detection is a historic step toward the eventual search for signs of life on other planets.

Is a new form of life really so alien?

Posted: 08 May 2012 02:35 PM PDT

The idea of discovering a new form of life has not only excited astronomers and astrobiologists for decades, but also the wider public. The notion that we are the only example of a successful life form in the galaxy has, for many, seemed like an unlikely statistic. A new essay examines what really constitutes "life" and the probability of discovering new life forms.

Quantum dots brighten the future of lighting

Posted: 08 May 2012 02:33 PM PDT

Researchers have boosted the efficiency of a novel source of white light called quantum dots more than tenfold, making them of potential interest for commercial applications.

Chemistry: Scientists unlock mystery of how 'handedness' arises in proteins, other functional molecules

Posted: 08 May 2012 01:33 PM PDT

Chemists have solved a molecular mystery. The overwhelming majority of proteins and other functional molecules in our bodies display a striking molecular characteristic: They can exist in two distinct forms that are mirror images of each other, like your right hand and left hand. Surprisingly, each of our bodies prefers only one of these molecular forms.

African designer and scientist fashion anti-malaria garment that wards off bugs

Posted: 08 May 2012 12:20 PM PDT

A scientist and designer from Africa have together created a fashionable hooded bodysuit embedded at the molecular level with insecticides for warding off mosquitoes infected with malaria. The outfit debuted on the runway at the Cornell Fashion Collective spring fashion show, April 28.

Acoustic diode, providing one-way transmission of sound, promises to improve ultrasound imaging

Posted: 08 May 2012 12:19 PM PDT

An acoustic diode, enabling the one-way transmission of sound waves, could dramatically improve the quality of medical ultrasound imaging and lead to better sound dampening materials. Such a device has now been created.

New battery system could reduce buildings' electric bills

Posted: 08 May 2012 08:28 AM PDT

The team of scientists who has been developing innovative low-cost batteries that are safe, non-toxic, and reliable with fast discharge rates and high energy densities, announced that it has built an operating prototype zinc anode battery system. The large-scale commercialization of the battery would start later this year.

It's official: Physics is hard

Posted: 08 May 2012 07:38 AM PDT

Scientists have conducted scientific research on the difficulty –- from a computational complexity theory perspective -- of addressing some of the challenges of physics.

The electronic 'Pavlov's Dog'

Posted: 08 May 2012 07:38 AM PDT

Nanotechnology scientists and memory researchers have redesigned a mental learning process using electronic circuits.

New material class developed: Pentamode metamaterial

Posted: 08 May 2012 07:38 AM PDT

Engineers have succeeded in realizing a new material class through the manufacturing of a stable crystalline metafluid, a pentamode metamaterial. Using new nanostructuring methods, these materials can now be realized for the first time with any conceivable mechanical properties.

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