ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• 'Honeycombs' and hexacopters help tell story of Mars
• 'Mini-cellulose' molecule unlocks biofuel chemistry
• Strange new nano-region can form in quasicrystals
• Gecko feet inspire amazing glue that can hold 700 pounds on smooth wall
• Faculty retention proves a major challenge for universities
• Successful human tests for first wirelessly controlled drug-delivery chip
• Robot reconnoiters uncharted terrain
• 'Tornados' created inside electron microscopes
• Quest for sugars involved in origin of life
• Low-carbon technologies 'no quick-fix': May not lessen global warming until late this century
• Genetics-inspired research prevents cyber attacks

'Honeycombs' and hexacopters help tell story of Mars Posted: 16 Feb 2012 01:57 PM PST In a rough-and-tumble wonderland of plunging canyons and towering buttes, some of the still-raw bluffs are lined with soaring, six-sided stone columns so orderly and trim, they could almost pass as relics of a colossal temple. The secret of how these columns, packed in edge to edge, formed en masse from a sea of molten rock is encrypted in details as tiny as the cracks running across their faces. To add to this mystery's allure, decoding it might do more than reveal the life story of some local lava: it might help explain the history of Mars.

'Mini-cellulose' molecule unlocks biofuel chemistry Posted: 16 Feb 2012 01:57 PM PST Chemical engineers have discovered a small molecule that behaves the same as cellulose when it is converted to biofuel. Studying this "mini-cellulose" molecule reveals for the first time the chemical reactions that take place in wood and prairie grasses during high-temperature conversion to biofuel.

Strange new nano-region can form in quasicrystals Posted: 16 Feb 2012 01:57 PM PST Researchers have discovered a new type of structural anomaly, or defect, that can appear in quasicrystals, a unique material with some crystal-like properties but a more complex structure. The new defect type occurs under certain circumstances to help balance competing energetic issues. The defect's formation at those times enables higher-energy transition-metal-rich surfaces to be exposed rather than the expected lower-energy aluminum-rich surfaces.

Gecko feet inspire amazing glue that can hold 700 pounds on smooth wall Posted: 16 Feb 2012 01:55 PM PST Biologists have long been amazed by gecko feet, which allow 5-ounce lizards to produce an adhesive force equivalent to carrying 9 lbs. up a wall without slipping. Now, a team of polymer scientists and a biologist have invented "Geckskin," an adhesive device that can hold 700 pounds on a smooth wall.

Faculty retention proves a major challenge for universities Posted: 16 Feb 2012 11:42 AM PST Attracting and retaining the world's brightest students is on the mind of every university official. But a new, unprecedented study in the journal Science suggests leaders in higher education face an understated, even more pressing challenge: The retention of professors.

Successful human tests for first wirelessly controlled drug-delivery chip Posted: 16 Feb 2012 11:42 AM PST About 15 years ago, two professors had the idea to develop a programmable, wirelessly controlled microchip that would deliver drugs after implantation in a patient's body. This week, they reported that they have successfully used such a chip to administer daily doses of an osteoporosis drug normally given by injection. The results represent the first successful test of such a device.

Robot reconnoiters uncharted terrain Posted: 16 Feb 2012 10:41 AM PST Mobile robots have many uses. They serve as cleaners, carry out inspections and search for survivors of disasters. But often, there is no map to guide them through unknown territory. Researchers have now developed a mobile robot that can roam uncharted terrain and simultaneously map it – all thanks to an algorithm toolbox.

'Tornados' created inside electron microscopes Posted: 16 Feb 2012 10:41 AM PST Researchers are pioneering the development of electron microscopes which will allow scientists to examine a greater variety of materials in new revolutionary ways.

Quest for sugars involved in origin of life Posted: 16 Feb 2012 08:15 AM PST Researchers have managed to isolate a sugar – a ribose –  in gas phase and to characterize a number of its structures. Sugars give rise to enormous biochemical interest given the importance and diversity of the functions they carry out: they act as an energy storage system and serve as fuel for a number of biological systems; they form part of DNA and of ribonucleic acid (RNA) and, moreover, play a key role in cell processes. Recently interest in sugars has also been increasingly attracting the attention of cosmochemistry, more concretely, in the search for the fundamental matter of the origin of life in interstellar space.

Low-carbon technologies 'no quick-fix': May not lessen global warming until late this century Posted: 16 Feb 2012 06:48 AM PST A drastic switch to low carbon-emitting technologies, such as wind and hydroelectric power, may not yield a reduction in global warming until the latter part of this century, new research suggests. Furthermore, it states that technologies that offer only modest reductions in greenhouse gases, such as the use of natural gas and perhaps carbon capture and storage, cannot substantially reduce climate risk in the next 100 years.

Genetics-inspired research prevents cyber attacks Posted: 14 Feb 2012 09:17 AM PST Leveraging the concept of "survival of the fittest," researchers are fighting the continual evolution of computer viruses, worms and malware with evolution by developing the first-ever automated computer configurations that adjust as quickly as the threats.

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