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Friday, December 16, 2011

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News


Biofuel research boosted by discovery of how cyanobacteria make energy

Posted: 15 Dec 2011 11:16 AM PST

Research expected to help scientists to discover new ways of genetically engineering bacteria to manufacture biofuels overturns a generally accepted 44-year-old assumption about how certain kinds of bacteria make energy and synthesize cell materials. With this better understanding of how cyanobacteria make energy, it might be possible to genetically engineer a cyanobacterial strain to synthesize 1,3-butanediol -- an organic compound that is the precursor for making not only biofuels but also plastics.

Tool detects patterns hidden in vast data sets

Posted: 15 Dec 2011 11:16 AM PST

Researchers have developed a tool that can tackle large data sets in a way that no other software program can. Part of a suite of statistical tools called MINE, it can tease out multiple patterns hidden in health information, statistics amassed from a season of major league baseball, data on the changing bacterial landscape of the gut, and more.

Scientists find microbes in lava tube living in conditions like those on Mars

Posted: 15 Dec 2011 10:59 AM PST

A team of scientists from Oregon has collected microbes from ice within a lava tube in the Cascade Mountains and found that they thrive in cold, Mars-like conditions. They have characteristics that would make the microbes capable of living in the subsurface of Mars and other planetary bodies.

'Smart Connector' could save millions in lost revenue

Posted: 15 Dec 2011 08:35 AM PST

Researchers have developed the Smart Connector, a new sensor that once installed in the connecting units of coaxial cables can provide information about equipment damage and pinpoint the exact location through self-diagnosing technologies -- some of the most advanced in the field today.

Young star rebels against its parent cloud

Posted: 15 Dec 2011 06:52 AM PST

Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 has captured this image of a giant cloud of hydrogen gas illuminated by a bright young star. The image shows how violent the end stages of the star-formation process can be, with the young object shaking up its stellar nursery.

Research on solubility yields promise for pharmaceutical, other industries

Posted: 15 Dec 2011 06:49 AM PST

A method for increasing solubility (the ability of one substance to dissolve into another), developed by a graduate student has yielded promising commercial benefits for industry, particularly in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and agriculture.

First low-mass star detected in globular cluster

Posted: 15 Dec 2011 06:48 AM PST

Even the most powerful high-tech telescopes are barely able to record remote low-mass and thus faint stars. Astrophysicists have now detected a low-mass star in globular cluster M22 for the first time through microlensing. The result indicates that the overall mass of globular clusters might well be explained without enigmatic dark matter.

Almost noiseless nanomechanical microwave amplifier

Posted: 15 Dec 2011 06:48 AM PST

Physicists have shown how a nanomechanical oscillator can be used for detection and amplification of feeble radio waves or microwaves. A measurement using such a tiny device, resembling a miniaturized guitar string, can be performed with the least possible disturbance.

A galaxy blooming with new stars

Posted: 15 Dec 2011 06:48 AM PST

The VLT Survey Telescope (VST) has captured the beauty of the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 253. The new portrait is probably the most detailed wide-field view of this object and its surroundings ever taken.

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