ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• New uses for tiny carbon nanotubes: Adding ionic liquid to nanotube films could build smaller gadgets
• Passenger car drivers are more likely to die in crashes with SUVs, regardless of crash ratings
• Chemists demonstrate nanoscale alloys so bright they could have potential medical applications
• First precise MEMS output measurement technique unveiled
• New software spots, isolates cyber-attacks to protect networked control systems
• Making gold green: New non-toxic method for mining gold
• New principle may help explain why nature is quantum
• Scientists uncover fundamental property of astatine -- rarest naturally occurring element on Earth
• Technique helps robotic vehicles find their way, help humans
• Bacterium counteracts 'coffee ring effect'
• First X-class solar flares of 2013

New uses for tiny carbon nanotubes: Adding ionic liquid to nanotube films could build smaller gadgets Posted: 14 May 2013 04:06 PM PDT Nanotubes are stronger than steel and smaller than any element of silicon-based electronics. They can potentially process information faster while using less energy. The challenge has been figuring out how to incorporate these properties into useful electronic devices. Now scientists have discovered that by adding ionic liquid -- a kind of liquid salt -- they can modify the optical transparency of single-walled carbon nanotube films in a controlled pattern.

Passenger car drivers are more likely to die in crashes with SUVs, regardless of crash ratings Posted: 14 May 2013 10:54 AM PDT Most consumers who are shopping for a new car depend on good crash safety ratings as an indicator of how well the car will perform in a crash. But a new study of crashes involving cars and sport utility vehicles has found those crash ratings are a lot less relevant than vehicle type.

Chemists demonstrate nanoscale alloys so bright they could have potential medical applications Posted: 14 May 2013 09:28 AM PDT Alloys like bronze and steel have been transformational for centuries, yielding top-of-the-line machines necessary for industry. As scientists move toward nanotechnology, however, the focus has shifted toward creating alloys at the nanometer scale -- producing materials with properties unlike their predecessors. Now, new research demonstrates that nanometer-scale alloys possess the ability to emit light so bright they could have potential applications in medicine.

First precise MEMS output measurement technique unveiled Posted: 14 May 2013 09:27 AM PDT The commercial application of MEMS, or micro-electro-mechanical systems, will receive a major boost today following the presentation of a brand new way to accurately measure the power requirements and outputs of all existing and future devices.

New software spots, isolates cyber-attacks to protect networked control systems Posted: 14 May 2013 08:29 AM PDT Researchers have developed a software algorithm that detects and isolates cyber-attacks on networked control systems -- which are used to coordinate transportation, power and other infrastructure across the United States.

Making gold green: New non-toxic method for mining gold Posted: 14 May 2013 08:28 AM PDT Scientists have struck gold in the laboratory. They have discovered an inexpensive and environmentally benign method that uses simple cornstarch -- instead of cyanide -- to isolate gold from raw materials in a selective manner. This green method extracts gold from crude sources and leaves behind other metals that are often found mixed together with the crude gold.

New principle may help explain why nature is quantum Posted: 14 May 2013 08:27 AM PDT Like small children, scientists are always asking the question 'Why?'. One question they've yet to answer is why nature picked quantum physics, in all its weird glory, as a sensible way to behave. Researchers tackle this perennial question in a new paper.

Scientists uncover fundamental property of astatine -- rarest naturally occurring element on Earth Posted: 14 May 2013 08:27 AM PDT Scientists have carried out ground-breaking experiments to investigate the atomic structure of astatine (atomic number 85), the rarest naturally occurring element on Earth. Through experiments conducted at the radioactive isotope facility ISOLDE at CERN, scientists have accessed, for the first time, the ionization potential of the astatine atom. The successful measurement fills a long-standing gap in Mendeleev's periodic table, since astatine was the last element present in nature for which this fundamental property was unknown.

Technique helps robotic vehicles find their way, help humans Posted: 14 May 2013 08:26 AM PDT Engineers have developed a technique called LOBOT that provides accurate, real-time, 3-D positions in both indoor and outdoor environments.

Bacterium counteracts 'coffee ring effect' Posted: 14 May 2013 05:53 AM PDT Ever notice how a dried coffee stain has a thicker outer rim, while the middle of the stain remains almost unsoiled? This 'coffee ring effect' also occurs in other materials. Researchers have now discovered how to counteract coffee rings with 'surfactants', i.e. soap. The key to the discovery was not a kitchen towel, but a bacterium that counteracts the coffee ring effect at the microscopic level.

First X-class solar flares of 2013 Posted: 14 May 2013 05:37 AM PDT On May 13, 2013, the sun emitted an X2.8-class flare, peaking at 12:05 p.m. EDT. This is the the strongest X-class flare of 2013 so far, surpassing in strength the X1.7-class flare that occurred 14 hours earlier. It is the 16th X-class flare of the current solar cycle and the third-largest flare of that cycle. The second-strongest was an X5.4 event on March 7, 2012. The strongest was an X6.9 on Aug. 9, 2011.

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