ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Lifelike, cost-effective robotic hand can disable IEDs
• NASA's Curiosity studies Mars surroundings, nears drive
• Moving closer to extracting uranium from seawater
• 'Electronic nose' prototype developed: Device has applications in agriculture, industry, homeland security and the military
• Self-charging power cell converts and stores energy
• Halo of neutrinos alters physics of exploding stars
• Intense bursts of star formation drive fierce galactic winds
• Sun's plasma loops recreated in the lab to help understand solar physics
• Computer program recognizes any language
• Big picture of the universe confirmed, WiggleZ survey of more than 200,000 galaxies shows
• New solar panels made with more common metals could be cheaper and more sustainable
• Chemical physics: NO place for nitrogen
• Nanomaterials: Shedding light and water

Lifelike, cost-effective robotic hand can disable IEDs Posted: 21 Aug 2012 07:20 PM PDT Researchers have developed a cost-effective robotic hand that can be used in disarming improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.

NASA's Curiosity studies Mars surroundings, nears drive Posted: 21 Aug 2012 06:50 PM PDT NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has been investigating the Martian weather around it and the soil beneath it, as its controllers prepare for the car-size vehicle's first drive on Mars.

Moving closer to extracting uranium from seawater Posted: 21 Aug 2012 06:26 PM PDT Fueling nuclear reactors with uranium harvested from the ocean could become more feasible because of a new material.

'Electronic nose' prototype developed: Device has applications in agriculture, industry, homeland security and the military Posted: 21 Aug 2012 01:25 PM PDT Research has led to the development of an "electronic nose" prototype that can detect small quantities of harmful airborne substances.

Self-charging power cell converts and stores energy Posted: 21 Aug 2012 11:36 AM PDT Researchers have developed a self-charging power cell that directly converts mechanical energy to chemical energy, storing the power until it is released as electrical current. The development eliminates the need to convert mechanical energy to electrical energy for charging a battery.

Halo of neutrinos alters physics of exploding stars Posted: 21 Aug 2012 06:44 AM PDT Sparse halos of neutrinos within the hearts of exploding stars exert a previously unrecognized influence on the physics of the explosion and may alter which elements can be forged by these violent events.

Intense bursts of star formation drive fierce galactic winds Posted: 21 Aug 2012 06:44 AM PDT Fierce galactic winds powered by an intense burst of star formation may blow gas right out of massive galaxies, shutting down their ability to make new stars.

Sun's plasma loops recreated in the lab to help understand solar physics Posted: 21 Aug 2012 06:44 AM PDT In orbit around Earth is a wide range of satellites that we rely on for everything from television feeds to GPS navigation. Although these spacecraft soar high above storms on Earth, they are still vulnerable to weather from the sun. Large solar flares can cause widespread damage, which is why researchers are working to learn more about the possible precursors to solar flares called plasma loops by recreating them in the lab.

Computer program recognizes any language Posted: 21 Aug 2012 06:41 AM PDT New technology that allows computers to recognize any language without pre-learning stands to revolutionize automatic speech recognition.

Big picture of the universe confirmed, WiggleZ survey of more than 200,000 galaxies shows Posted: 21 Aug 2012 06:40 AM PDT We know that stars group together to form galaxies, galaxies clump to make clusters and clusters gather to create structures known as superclusters. At what scale though, if at all, does this Russian doll-like structure stop? Scientists have been debating this very question for decades because clustering on large scales would be in conflict with our 'standard model' of cosmology. The current model is based on Einstein's equations assuming everything is smooth on the largest scales. If matter were instead clumpy on very large scales, then the entire model would need to be rethought.

New solar panels made with more common metals could be cheaper and more sustainable Posted: 21 Aug 2012 06:38 AM PDT With enough sunlight falling on home roofs to supply at least half of America's electricity, scientists have described advances toward the less-expensive solar energy technology needed to roof many of those homes with shingles that generate electricity.

Chemical physics: NO place for nitrogen Posted: 20 Aug 2012 09:12 AM PDT The finding that nitrogen can combine with oxygen in zirconia to form NO molecules may lead to safer materials for nuclear reactors.

Nanomaterials: Shedding light and water Posted: 20 Aug 2012 09:12 AM PDT Studies reveal a new way to make superhydrophobic surfaces with better self-cleaning capabilities.

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