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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News


NASA's Wind mission encounters 'SLAMS' waves

Posted: 16 Apr 2013 03:00 PM PDT

To tease out what happens at that boundary of the magnetosphere and to better understand how radiation and energy from the sun can cross it and move closer to Earth, NASA launches spacecraft into this region to observe the changing conditions. From 1998 to 2002, NASA's Wind spacecraft traveled through this foreshock region in front of Earth 17 times, providing new information about the physics there.

'Survival of the fittest' now applies to computers: Surprising similarities found between genetic and computer codes

Posted: 16 Apr 2013 02:16 PM PDT

"Survival of the fittest" originally referred to natural selection in biological systems, but new research shows that this evolutionary theory also applies to technological systems.

Researchers create novel optical fibers

Posted: 16 Apr 2013 02:16 PM PDT

Researchers have found a novel way to propagate multiple beams of light in a single strand of optical fiber. The discovery could increase the amount of information fiber optic cables can carry.

Plasma device could revolutionize energy generation and storage

Posted: 16 Apr 2013 12:19 PM PDT

Engineers have developed a method of creating and controlling plasma that could revolutionize American energy generation and storage.

Small in size, big on power: New microbatteries the most powerful yet

Posted: 16 Apr 2013 12:19 PM PDT

The most powerful batteries on the planet are only a few millimeters in size, yet they pack such a punch that a driver could use a cellphone powered by these batteries to jump-start a dead car battery -- and then recharge the phone in the blink of an eye. The new microbatteries out-power even the best supercapacitors and could drive new applications in radio communications and compact electronics.

Strange new bursts of gamma rays point to a new way to destroy a star

Posted: 16 Apr 2013 11:47 AM PDT

Scientists have pinpointed a new type of exceptionally powerful and long-lived cosmic explosion, prompting a theory that they arise in the violent death throes of a supergiant star.

Scientists discover new materials to capture methane

Posted: 16 Apr 2013 10:28 AM PDT

Scientists have discovered new materials to capture methane, the second highest concentration greenhouse gas emitted into the atmosphere.

Building a better capacitor with custom nanorods

Posted: 16 Apr 2013 09:17 AM PDT

A new process for growing forests of manganese dioxide nanorods may lead to the next generation of high-performance capacitors.

Layered '2-D nanocrystals' promising new semiconductor

Posted: 16 Apr 2013 08:44 AM PDT

Researchers are developing a new type of semiconductor technology for future computers and electronics based on "two-dimensional nanocrystals" layered in sheets less than a nanometer thick that could replace today's transistors.

New material gets itself into shape

Posted: 16 Apr 2013 08:43 AM PDT

Inspired by plant components that respond to external stimuli, material scientists have devised a new method for producing composite materials from a variety of materials that adopt a pre-programmed shape autonomously.

For the very first time, two spacecraft will fly in formation with millimeter precision

Posted: 16 Apr 2013 08:42 AM PDT

A new project aims to demonstrate that two satellites can move as one single object with sub-millimeter precision. This configuration will enable the creation of enormous space telescopes with the lens and detector hundreds of meters apart.

Cheaper natural gas-powered cars on the horizon?

Posted: 16 Apr 2013 08:41 AM PDT

When it comes to American consumers' vehicular preferences, a chemist says the choice often boils down to simple economics more so than availability, environment or altruism.

Powerpot turns heat and water into electricity

Posted: 16 Apr 2013 08:41 AM PDT

Students have invented a portable cook pot that doubles as a thermoelectric generator, and are now marketing it.

Paper-thin skin patch collects vitals: E-health made easier and more comfortable

Posted: 16 Apr 2013 07:22 AM PDT

The future of health care could be found in a tiny, paper-thin skin patch that collects vital information. The Bio-patch sensor is inexpensive, versatile and, best of all, comfortable to wear.

Neighbors move electrons jointly: Ultrafast collective electron transfer after excitation of single electron

Posted: 16 Apr 2013 07:22 AM PDT

Applying femtosecond x-ray methods, researchers have observed an extremely fast, collective electron transfer of ~100 molecular ions after excitation of a single electron in a crystal of transition metal complexes.

Molecular rings mystery solved after 20 years

Posted: 16 Apr 2013 05:51 AM PDT

Although the double benzene molecule tried to reveal its structure in experiments in 1993, chemists at the time were unable to find an explanation for the spectral peaks they saw. Now, 20 years later, theoretical chemists have come up with a theory.

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