ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• NASA deciphering the mysterious math of the solar wind
• Particle physics research sheds new light on possible 'fifth force of nature'
• Researchers 'nanoweld' by applying light to aligned nanorods in solid materials
• Robotic bat wing engineered: Researchers uncover flight secrets of real bats
• Protein 'passport' helps nanoparticles get past immune system
• Journey to the limits of space-time: Black hole simulations on supercomputers present new view of jets and accretion disks
• How to kill an asteroid? Get out a paint spray gun
• Mercury may have harbored an ancient magma ocean: Massive lava flows may have given rise to two distinct rock types
• Discovering the birth of an asteroid trail
• Explosives vapor detection technology: The new 'sniff test'
• Writing without keyboard: Handwriting recognition on the wrist
• Study of remora fish could lead to new bio-adhesive
• When water speaks: Solvents make catalysts more efficient
• Insects inspiring new technology: Autonomous navigation of mobile robots based on locust vision

NASA deciphering the mysterious math of the solar wind Posted: 21 Feb 2013 06:46 PM PST The sun and its prodigious stream of solar particles, called the solar wind, can be particularly tricky to model since as the material streams to the outer reaches of the solar system it carries along its own magnetic fields. The magnetic forces add an extra set of laws to incorporate when trying to determine what's governing the movement. Indeed, until now, equations for certain aspects of the solar wind have never been successfully devised to correlate to the observations seen by instruments in space. Now, for the first time, a scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center has created a set of the necessary equations.

Particle physics research sheds new light on possible 'fifth force of nature' Posted: 21 Feb 2013 04:27 PM PST In a breakthrough for the field of particle physics, researchers have established new limits on what scientists call "long-range spin-spin interactions" between atomic particles. These interactions have been proposed by theoretical physicists but have not yet been seen. Their observation would constitute the discovery of a "fifth force of nature" (in addition to the four known fundamental forces: gravity, weak, strong and electromagnetic) and would suggest the existence of new particles, beyond those presently described by the Standard Model of particle physics.

Researchers 'nanoweld' by applying light to aligned nanorods in solid materials Posted: 21 Feb 2013 11:39 AM PST Researchers have developed a way to melt or "weld" specific portions of polymers by embedding aligned nanoparticles within the materials. Their technique, which melts fibers along a chosen direction within a material, may lead to stronger, more resilient nanofibers and materials.

Robotic bat wing engineered: Researchers uncover flight secrets of real bats Posted: 21 Feb 2013 11:39 AM PST Researchers have developed a robotic bat wing that is providing valuable new information about dynamics of flapping flight in real bats. From an engineering perspective, the researchers hope the data may make for better aircraft, especially micro air vehicles. From a biological and evolutionary perspective, building the robot offered the researchers a new perspective on how bat anatomy is adapted to deal with the forces generated by flapping wings.

Protein 'passport' helps nanoparticles get past immune system Posted: 21 Feb 2013 11:38 AM PST The immune system exists to destroy foreign objects, whether they are bacteria, viruses, flecks of dirt or splinters. Unfortunately, drug-delivering nanoparticles and implanted devices like pacemakers are just as foreign and subject to the same response. Now, researchers have figured out a way to provide a "passport" for such therapeutic devices, enabling them to bypass the body's security system.

Journey to the limits of space-time: Black hole simulations on supercomputers present new view of jets and accretion disks Posted: 21 Feb 2013 11:16 AM PST Black holes shape the growth and death of the stars around them through their powerful gravitational pull and explosive ejections of energy. In a recent article, researchers predicted the formation of accretion disks and relativistic jets that warp and bend more than previously thought, shaped by the extreme gravity of the black hole and by powerful magnetic forces generated by its spin.

How to kill an asteroid? Get out a paint spray gun Posted: 21 Feb 2013 11:11 AM PST There is research that is off the wall, some off the charts and some off the planet, such as what a Texas A&M University aerospace and physics professor is exploring. It's a plan to deflect a killer asteroid by using paint, and the science behind it is absolutely rock solid, so to speak, so much so that NASA is getting involved.

Mercury may have harbored an ancient magma ocean: Massive lava flows may have given rise to two distinct rock types Posted: 21 Feb 2013 08:58 AM PST By analyzing Mercury's rocky surface, scientists have been able to partially reconstruct the planet's history over billions of years.

Discovering the birth of an asteroid trail Posted: 21 Feb 2013 08:52 AM PST Unlike comets, asteroids are not characterised by exhibiting a trail, but there are now ten exceptions. Researchers have observed one of these rare asteroids from the Gran Telescopio Canarias (Spain) and have discovered that something happened around the 1st July 2011 causing its trail to appear: maybe internal rupture or collision with another asteroid.

Explosives vapor detection technology: The new 'sniff test' Posted: 21 Feb 2013 06:20 AM PST A quick, accurate and highly sensitive process to reliably detect minute traces of explosives on luggage, cargo or traveling passengers has been demonstrated. The vapor detection technology accurately detects and identifies the vapors of even very low-volatility explosives in real time at ambient temperature and without sample pre-concentration.

Writing without keyboard: Handwriting recognition on the wrist Posted: 21 Feb 2013 06:18 AM PST Typing text messages on the mobile phone via the tiny soft keyboard is very cumbersome. How about simply writing it into the air! This idea drove the development of  "airwriting" by computer scientists. Sensors attached to a glove record hand movements, a computer system captures relevant signals and translates them into text.

Study of remora fish could lead to new bio-adhesive Posted: 21 Feb 2013 06:18 AM PST A new study provides details of the structure and tissue properties of the unique adhesion system used by remora fish to attach themselves to sharks and other marine animals. The information could lead to a new engineered reversible adhesive.

When water speaks: Solvents make catalysts more efficient Posted: 21 Feb 2013 05:47 AM PST Why certain catalyst materials work more efficiently when they are surrounded by water instead of a gas phase is unclear. Chemists have now gleaned some initial answers from computer simulations. They showed that water stabilizes specific charge states on the catalyst surface.

Insects inspiring new technology: Autonomous navigation of mobile robots based on locust vision Posted: 21 Feb 2013 05:46 AM PST The way in which the locust's distinctive visual system could be transferred into technology for state of the art vehicle collision sensors, surveillance technology and video games has been detailed as part of robotics research.

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