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Tuesday, May 21, 2013

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News


The mammoth's lament: How cosmic impact sparked devastating climate change

Posted: 20 May 2013 03:55 PM PDT

Researchers have found evidence of a major cosmic event near the end of the Ice Age. The ensuing climate change forced many species to adapt or die.

NASA Mars rover Curiosity drills second rock target

Posted: 20 May 2013 02:32 PM PDT

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has used the drill on its robotic arm to collect a powdered sample from the interior of a rock called "Cumberland." Plans call for delivering portions of the sample in coming days to laboratory instruments inside the rover. This is only the second time that a sample has been collected from inside a rock on Mars.

Human-like opponents lead to more aggression in video game players

Posted: 20 May 2013 01:39 PM PDT

Video games that pit players against human-looking characters may be more likely to provoke violent thoughts and words than games where monstrous creatures are the enemy, according to a new study.

Iron-platinum alloys could be new-generation hard drives

Posted: 20 May 2013 01:39 PM PDT

Researchers have found a convenient way to make layered iron-platinum alloys and tailor their properties, a promising material for a potential new generation of data storage media.

Non-wetting fabric that drains sweat invented

Posted: 20 May 2013 01:36 PM PDT

Waterproof fabrics that whisk away sweat could be the latest application of microfluidic technology developed by bioengineers.

Ant study could help future robot teams work underground

Posted: 20 May 2013 01:32 PM PDT

Future teams of subterranean search and rescue robots may owe their success to the lowly fire ant, a much-despised insect whose painful bites and extensive networks of underground tunnels are all-too-familiar to people living in the southern United States.

Fastest measurements ever made of ion channel proteins

Posted: 20 May 2013 12:42 PM PDT

Engineers have used miniaturized electronics to measure the activity of individual ion-channel proteins with temporal resolution as fine as one microsecond, producing the fastest recordings of single ion channels ever performed. They designed a custom integrated circuit to perform these measurements, in which an artificial cell membrane and ion channel are attached directly to the surface of the amplifier chip.

Opening doors to foldable electronics with inkjet-printed graphene

Posted: 20 May 2013 12:42 PM PDT

Imagine a bendable tablet computer or an electronic newspaper that could fold to fit in a pocket. The technology for these devices may not be so far off, thanks to new research.

Coming into existence: Lab sets a new record for creating heralded photons

Posted: 20 May 2013 12:42 PM PDT

A new experiment establishes a heralding efficiency that might allow loopholes to be eliminated in the validation of spooky action-at-a-distance in quantum reality.

Nanoantennas improve infrared sensing

Posted: 20 May 2013 11:29 AM PDT

Engineers have used a pattern of nanoantennas to develop a new way of turning infrared light into mechanical action, opening the door to more sensitive infrared cameras and more compact chemical-analysis techniques.

Not just blowing in the wind: Compressing air for renewable energy storage

Posted: 20 May 2013 11:28 AM PDT

A comprehensive study into the potential for compressed air energy storage in the Pacific Northwest has identified two locations in Washington state that could store enough Northwest wind energy combined to power about 85,000 homes each month.

Advance in nanotech gene sequencing technique

Posted: 20 May 2013 10:37 AM PDT

The allure of personalized medicine has made new, more efficient ways of sequencing genes a top research priority. One promising technique involves reading DNA bases using changes in electrical current as they are threaded through a nanoscopic hole. Now, physicists has used solid-state nanopores to differentiate single-stranded DNA molecules containing sequences of a single repeating base.

Bionimbus protected data cloud to enable researchers to analyze cancer data

Posted: 20 May 2013 05:32 AM PDT

The University of Chicago has launched the first secure cloud-based computing system that enables researchers to access and analyze human genomic cancer information without the costly and cumbersome infrastructure normally needed to download and store massive amounts of data.

Competition in the quantum world

Posted: 19 May 2013 04:48 PM PDT

Physicists have gained a deep insight into the nature of quantum mechanical phase transitions. Scientists have simulated the competition between two rival dynamical processes at a novel type of transition between two quantum mechanical orders.

Bacteria use hydrogen, carbon dioxide to produce electricity

Posted: 19 May 2013 04:11 PM PDT

Researchers have engineered a strain of electricity-producing bacteria that can grow using hydrogen gas as its sole electron donor and carbon dioxide as its sole source of carbon.

Kinks and curves at the nanoscale: New research shows 'perfect twin boundaries' are not so perfect

Posted: 19 May 2013 04:04 PM PDT

Since 2004, materials scientists and nanotechnology experts have been excited about a special of arrangement of atoms called a "coherent twin boundary" that can add enormous strength to metals like gold and copper. The CTBs are described as "perfect," appearing like a one-atom-thick plane in models and images. New research shows that these boundaries are not perfect. Even more surprising, the newly discovered kinks and defects appear to be the cause of the CTB's strength.

Computational tool translates complex data into simplified two-dimensional images

Posted: 19 May 2013 11:56 AM PDT

Researchers have developed a computational method that enables scientists to visualize and interpret "high-dimensional" data produced by single-cell measurement technologies such as mass cytometry. The method has particular relevance to cancer research and therapeutics.

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