ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• NASA Mars rover targets unusual rock enroute to first destination
• Protecting our harbors and ships with a robotic tuna fish
• Ultra-distant galaxy discovered amidst cosmic 'dark ages': May be oldest galaxy ever
• Using a laser to 'see' the smallest world: Powerful laser breathes new life into an old technology for studying atomic-level structures
• Experiment corrects prediction in quantum theory
• Thermoelectric material is the best at converting heat waste to electricity
• Single-atom writer a landmark for quantum computing
• Revolutionary ultrathin, flat lens: Smartphones as thin as a credit card?
• New airport system facilitates smoother take-offs and landings
• New screening method identifies 1,200 candidate refrigerants to combat global warming
• Did a 'forgotten' meteor have a deadly, icy double-punch?
• Angling for gold: Alternative description of atomic level gold bonding
• Out-of-this-world nanoscience: A computer chip that can assemble itself?
• Can nanotubes tell of bridge collapse risk?
• New processes for cost-efficient solar cell production
• Fireworks in the early universe: In star-forming galaxies, energy bursts from massive central black hole accretion

NASA Mars rover targets unusual rock enroute to first destination Posted: 19 Sep 2012 05:19 PM PDT NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has driven up to a football-size rock that will be the first for the rover's arm to examine. Curiosity is about 8 feet (2.5 meters) from the rock. It lies about halfway from the rover's landing site, Bradbury Landing, to a location called Glenelg. In coming days, the team plans to touch the rock with a spectrometer to determine its elemental composition and use an arm-mounted camera to take close-up photographs.

Protecting our harbors and ships with a robotic tuna fish Posted: 19 Sep 2012 04:01 PM PDT For constricted and hard-to-reach underwater places where inspection and security is necessary, Homeland Security's BIOSwimmer is the perfect fish.

Ultra-distant galaxy discovered amidst cosmic 'dark ages': May be oldest galaxy ever Posted: 19 Sep 2012 10:54 AM PDT With the combined power of NASA's Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes as well as a cosmic magnification effect, a team of astronomers has spotted what could be the most distant galaxy ever detected. Light from the young galaxy captured by the orbiting observatories shone forth when the 13.7-billion-year-old universe was just 500 million years old.

Using a laser to 'see' the smallest world: Powerful laser breathes new life into an old technology for studying atomic-level structures Posted: 19 Sep 2012 10:54 AM PDT A high-powered laser has dramatically improved one of the tools scientists use to study the world at the atomic level. Scientists used an amped-up electron paramagnetic resonance spectrometer to study the electron spin of free radicals and nitrogen atoms trapped inside a diamond.

Experiment corrects prediction in quantum theory Posted: 19 Sep 2012 10:53 AM PDT Scientists are rewriting a page from the quantum physics rulebook using a laboratory once dubbed the coldest spot in the universe.

Thermoelectric material is the best at converting heat waste to electricity Posted: 19 Sep 2012 10:53 AM PDT Scientists have developed a thermoelectric material that is the best in the world at converting waste heat to electricity. This is very good news once you realize nearly two-thirds of energy input is lost as waste heat. The material could signify a paradigm shift. With a very environmentally stable material that is expected to convert 15 to 20 percent of waste heat to useful electricity, thermoelectrics now could see more widespread adoption by industry.

Single-atom writer a landmark for quantum computing Posted: 19 Sep 2012 10:53 AM PDT Engineers have created the first working quantum bit based on a single atom in silicon, opening the way to ultra-powerful quantum computers of the future. Scientists were able to both read and write information using the spin, or magnetic orientation, of an electron bound to a single phosphorus atom embedded in a silicon chip.

Revolutionary ultrathin, flat lens: Smartphones as thin as a credit card? Posted: 19 Sep 2012 09:56 AM PDT Scientists are reporting development of a revolutionary new lens -- flat, distortion-free, so small that more than 1,500 would fit across the width of a human hair -- capable in the future of replacing lenses in applications ranging from cell phones to cameras to fiber-optic communication systems. The advance could lead to smart phones as thin as a credit card.

New airport system facilitates smoother take-offs and landings Posted: 19 Sep 2012 09:48 AM PDT For airline passengers who dread bumpy rides to mountainous destinations, help is on the way. A new NCAR turbulence avoidance system has for the first time been approved for use at a U.S. airport and can be adapted for additional airports in rugged settings across the United States and overseas.

New screening method identifies 1,200 candidate refrigerants to combat global warming Posted: 19 Sep 2012 07:36 AM PDT Researchers have developed a new computational method for identifying candidate refrigerant fluids with low "global warming potential" as well as other desirable performance and safety features.

Did a 'forgotten' meteor have a deadly, icy double-punch? Posted: 19 Sep 2012 07:36 AM PDT When a huge meteor collided with Earth about 2.5 million years ago and fell into the southern Pacific Ocean it not only could have generated a massive tsunami but also may have plunged the world into the Ice Ages, a new study suggests.

Angling for gold: Alternative description of atomic level gold bonding Posted: 19 Sep 2012 07:33 AM PDT A study on how gold atoms bond to other atoms using a model that takes into account bonds direction has been carried out by physicist Marie Backman from the University of Helsinki, Finland, and colleagues. These findings are a first step toward better understanding how gold binds to other materials through strong, so-called covalent, bonds.

Out-of-this-world nanoscience: A computer chip that can assemble itself? Posted: 19 Sep 2012 07:31 AM PDT Imagine a computer chip that can assemble itself. According to a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, engineers and scientists are closer to making this and other scalable forms of nanotechnology a reality as a result of new milestones in using nanoparticles as building blocks in functional materials.

Can nanotubes tell of bridge collapse risk? Posted: 19 Sep 2012 07:31 AM PDT In August 2007, the I-35W Bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis collapsed, killing 13 people and injuring 145. The collapse was attributed to a design deficiency that resulted in a gusset plate failing during ongoing construction work. Now, an interdisciplinary team of researchers is developing a novel structural health monitoring system that could avert such disasters in the future.

New processes for cost-efficient solar cell production Posted: 19 Sep 2012 05:29 AM PDT The competition in the photovoltaics market is fierce. When it comes to price, Asian manufacturers are frequently ahead of the competition by a nose. Now, researchers are designing new coating processes and thin layer systems that, if used, could help to reduce the price of solar cells significantly.

Fireworks in the early universe: In star-forming galaxies, energy bursts from massive central black hole accretion Posted: 19 Sep 2012 05:29 AM PDT Galaxies in the early universe grew fast by rapidly making new stars. Such prodigious star formation episodes, characterized by the intense radiation of the newborn stars, were often accompanied by fireworks in the form of energy bursts caused by the massive central black hole accretion in these galaxies.

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