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Friday, July 20, 2012

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News


Colorful science sheds light on solar heating

Posted: 19 Jul 2012 06:27 PM PDT

Using a new technique a solar scientist has created images of the sun reminiscent of Van Gogh, with broad strokes of bright color splashed across a yellow background. But it's science, not art.

Triangles guide the way for live neural circuits in a dish

Posted: 19 Jul 2012 06:26 PM PDT

Scientists have used tiny stars, squares and triangles as a toolkit to create live neural circuits in a dish. They hope the shapes can be used to create a reproducible neural circuit model that could be used for learning and memory studies as well as drug screening applications; the shapes could also be integrated into the latest neural tissue scaffolds to aid the regeneration of neurons at injured sites in the body, such as the spinal cord.

Disorderly conduct: Probing the role of disorder in quantum coherence

Posted: 19 Jul 2012 12:33 PM PDT

New work looks at the curious relation between disorder (usually a disruptive thing) and quantum coherence.

Understanding hot nuclear matter that permeated the early universe

Posted: 19 Jul 2012 11:17 AM PDT

A review article describes groundbreaking discoveries that have emerged from the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, synergies with the heavy-ion program at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Europe, and the compelling questions that will drive this research forward on both sides of the Atlantic. The research helps enlighten our understanding of the hot nuclear matter that permeated the early universe.

Rapid diagnostic test for pathogens, contaminants

Posted: 19 Jul 2012 10:29 AM PDT

Using nanoscale materials, researchers have developed a single-step method to rapidly and accurately detect viruses, bacteria and chemical contaminants. The scientists were able to detect compounds such as lactic acid and albumin in highly diluted samples and in mixtures that included dyes and other chemicals. Their results suggest the same system could be used to detect pathogens and contaminants in biological mixtures such as food, blood, saliva and urine.

A wrinkle in space-time: Math shows how shockwaves could crinkle space

Posted: 19 Jul 2012 10:29 AM PDT

Mathematicians have come up with a new way to crinkle up the fabric of space-time -- at least in theory.

Innovation promises to cut massive power use at big data companies in a flash

Posted: 19 Jul 2012 08:13 AM PDT

Researchers have developed a technique to allow flash memory to substitute for RAM in many applications, allowing for savings in equipment costs and power consumption.

How to build a middleweight black hole: New model for intermediate black hole formation parallels growth of giant planets

Posted: 19 Jul 2012 07:50 AM PDT

A new model shows how an elusive type of black hole can be formed in the gas surrounding their supermassive counterparts. In new research, scientists propose that intermediate-mass black holes -- light-swallowing celestial objects with masses ranging from hundreds to many thousands of times the mass of the sun -- can grow in the gas disks around supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies.

Progress in search for neutrino-less double-beta decay of Xenon-136

Posted: 19 Jul 2012 07:50 AM PDT

Physicists recently reported results of an experiment conducted in a salt mine one-half mile under Carlsbad, N.M., part of a decades-long search for evidence of the elusive neutrino-less double-beta decay of Xenon-136. They succeeded in setting a new lower limit for the half-life of this ephemeral nuclear decay. Though no one has yet seen it, important progress was made.

You may never need to clean your car again, thanks to new coating technology

Posted: 19 Jul 2012 07:35 AM PDT

A new coating with self-repairing surface functionality has been developed. Researchers in the Netherlands have developed a coating with a surface that repairs itself after damage. This new coating has numerous potential applications -- for example mobile phones that will remain clean from fingerprints, cars that never need to be washed, and aircraft that need less frequent repainting.

New ultracapacitor delivers a jolt of energy at a constant voltage

Posted: 19 Jul 2012 07:32 AM PDT

Scientists have designed an ultracapacitor that maintains a near steady voltage. The novel constant-voltage design may one day help ultracapacitors find new uses in low-voltage electric vehicle circuits and handheld electronics.

Cassini spots daytime lightning on Saturn

Posted: 19 Jul 2012 05:31 AM PDT

Saturn was playing the lightning storm blues. NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured images of last year's storm on Saturn, the largest storm seen up-close at the planet, with bluish spots in the middle of swirling clouds. Those bluish spots indicate flashes of lightning and mark the first time scientists have detected lightning in visible wavelengths on the side of Saturn illuminated by the sun.

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