ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Fingertip sensor gives robot unprecedented dexterity
• Soft robotics 'toolkit' features everything a robot-maker needs
• Hadrosaur with huge nose discovered: Function of dinosaur's unusual trait a mystery
• Computers 1,000 times faster? Quick-change materials break silicon speed limit for computers
• Superabsorbing ring could make light work of snaps, be ultimate camera pixel
• Sibling bullying linked to later depression, self-harm
• Shrink-wrapping spacesuits: Spacesuits of the future may resemble a streamlined second skin
• Latest measurements from the AMS experiment unveil new territories in the flux of cosmic rays
• Milestone in chemical studies of superheavy elements: Superheavy element and carbon atom bonded for first time
• Monster galaxies gain weight by eating smaller neighbors
• Peacock's train is not such a drag afterall: Flight unchanged with and without plumage

Fingertip sensor gives robot unprecedented dexterity Posted: 19 Sep 2014 09:22 AM PDT Researchers have equipped a robot with a novel tactile sensor that lets it grasp a USB cable draped freely over a hook and insert it into a USB port.

Soft robotics 'toolkit' features everything a robot-maker needs Posted: 19 Sep 2014 09:21 AM PDT A new resource provides both experienced and aspiring researchers with the intellectual raw materials needed to design, build, and operate robots made from soft, flexible materials. With the advent of low-cost 3-D printing, laser cutters, and other advances in manufacturing technology, soft robotics is emerging as an increasingly important field.

Hadrosaur with huge nose discovered: Function of dinosaur's unusual trait a mystery Posted: 19 Sep 2014 08:06 AM PDT Call it the Jimmy Durante of dinosaurs -- a newly discovered hadrosaur with a truly distinctive nasal profile. The new dinosaur, named Rhinorex condrupus by paleontologists, lived in what is now Utah approximately 75 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period.

Computers 1,000 times faster? Quick-change materials break silicon speed limit for computers Posted: 19 Sep 2014 08:06 AM PDT Faster, smaller, greener computers, capable of processing information up to 1,000 times faster than currently available models, could be made possible by replacing silicon with materials that can switch back and forth between different electrical states.

Superabsorbing ring could make light work of snaps, be ultimate camera pixel Posted: 19 Sep 2014 07:08 AM PDT A quantum effect in which excited atoms team up to emit an enhanced pulse of light can be turned on its head to create 'superabsorbing' systems that could make the 'ultimate camera pixel'.

Sibling bullying linked to later depression, self-harm Posted: 19 Sep 2014 07:02 AM PDT A new study has found that children who revealed they had been bullied by their brothers or sisters several times a week or more during early adolescence were twice as likely to report being clinically depressed as young adults.

Shrink-wrapping spacesuits: Spacesuits of the future may resemble a streamlined second skin Posted: 19 Sep 2014 06:48 AM PDT For future astronauts, the process of suiting up may go something like this: Instead of climbing into a conventional, bulky, gas-pressurized suit, an astronaut may don a lightweight, stretchy garment, lined with tiny, musclelike coils. She would then plug in to a spacecraft's power supply, triggering the coils to contract and essentially shrink-wrap the garment around her body.

Latest measurements from the AMS experiment unveil new territories in the flux of cosmic rays Posted: 19 Sep 2014 05:38 AM PDT The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer collaboration has just presented its latest results. These are based on the analysis of 41 billion particles detected with the space-based AMS detector aboard the International Space Station. The results provide new insights into the nature of the mysterious excess of positrons observed in the flux of cosmic rays.

Milestone in chemical studies of superheavy elements: Superheavy element and carbon atom bonded for first time Posted: 19 Sep 2014 05:38 AM PDT A chemical bond between a superheavy element and a carbon atom has been established for the first time. This research opens new vistas for studying the effects of Einstein's relativity on the structure of the periodic table.

Monster galaxies gain weight by eating smaller neighbors Posted: 19 Sep 2014 05:38 AM PDT Massive galaxies in the universe have stopped making their own stars and are instead snacking on nearby galaxies. Astronomers looked at more than 22,000 galaxies and found that while smaller galaxies are very efficient at creating stars from gas, the most massive galaxies are much less efficient at star formation, producing hardly any new stars themselves, and instead grow by 'eating' other galaxies.

Peacock's train is not such a drag afterall: Flight unchanged with and without plumage Posted: 17 Sep 2014 02:32 PM PDT The magnificent plumage of the peacock may not be quite the sacrifice to love that it appears to be, researchers have discovered. "These feathers weigh about 300g and can exceed 1.5m, so it's expected that the male birds would be making a significant sacrifice in their flight performance for being attractive," one researcher said. However, experiments showed that in fact, the plumage made no difference to take-off and flight of the birds. He filmed the take-offs of birds carrying full plumage in 3D, and then filmed the same birds taking off without their trains. The display feathers, which naturally moult at the end of the breeding season, were cropped to judge the change in take-off performance between the two states. To his surprise, Dr Askew found there was no significant difference.

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