ScienceDaily: Top Science News

---

• Copper destroys highly infectious norovirus
• NASA's black-hole-hunter catches its first 10 supermassive black holes
• Breaking deep-sea waves, as high as a skyscraper, reveal mechanism for global ocean mixing
• A swarm on every desktop: Robotics experts learn from public
• Scientists demonstrate new method for harvesting energy from light
• Genome of elastomeric materials creates novel materials
• New kind of ultraviolet LED could lead to portable, low-cost devices
• Programmable glue made of DNA directs tiny gel bricks to self-assemble
• Parents' genes may influence children's back to school fears
• Surprising underwater-sounds: Humpback whales also spend their winter in Antarctica
• Quantum temperature: Scientists study the physics that connects the classical to the quantum world
• Hubble bubble may explain different measurements of expansion rate of the universe
• New 'artificial nose' device can speed diagnosis of sepsis

Copper destroys highly infectious norovirus Posted: 09 Sep 2013 05:12 PM PDT Scientists have discovered that copper and copper alloys rapidly destroy norovirus – the highly-infectious sickness bug. Worldwide, norovirus is responsible for more than 267 million cases of acute gastroenteritis every year.

NASA's black-hole-hunter catches its first 10 supermassive black holes Posted: 09 Sep 2013 12:49 PM PDT NASA's black-hole-hunter spacecraft, the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has "bagged" its first 10 supermassive black holes. The mission, which has a mast the length of a school bus, is the first telescope capable of focusing the highest-energy X-ray light into detailed pictures.

Breaking deep-sea waves, as high as a skyscraper, reveal mechanism for global ocean mixing Posted: 09 Sep 2013 12:29 PM PDT Oceanographers for the first time recorded an enormous wave breaking miles below the surface in a key bottleneck for global ocean circulation.

A swarm on every desktop: Robotics experts learn from public Posted: 09 Sep 2013 12:29 PM PDT The next experiment from Rice University's Multi-Robot Systems Laboratory (MRSL) could happen on your desktop. Researchers are refining their control algorithms for robotic swarms based upon data from free online games. To demonstrate the kind of complex behaviors the algorithms can achieve, researchers videotaped an experiment in which a single controller used simple group commands to direct 12 robots into a complex shape -- a capital R.

Scientists demonstrate new method for harvesting energy from light Posted: 09 Sep 2013 10:12 AM PDT Researchers have demonstrated a new mechanism for extracting energy from light, a finding that could improve technologies for generating electricity from solar energy and lead to more efficient optoelectronic devices used in communications.

Genome of elastomeric materials creates novel materials Posted: 09 Sep 2013 10:11 AM PDT A wide range of biologically inspired materials may now be possible by combining protein studies, materials science and RNA sequencing, according to an international team of researchers.

New kind of ultraviolet LED could lead to portable, low-cost devices Posted: 09 Sep 2013 10:09 AM PDT Commercial uses for ultraviolet (UV) light are growing, and now a new kind of LED under development could lead to more portable and low-cost uses of the technology.

Programmable glue made of DNA directs tiny gel bricks to self-assemble Posted: 09 Sep 2013 09:19 AM PDT A team of researchers has found a way to self-assemble complex structures out of bricks smaller than a grain of salt. The new method could help solve one of the major challenges in tissue engineering: Creating injectable components that self-assemble into intricately structured, biocompatible scaffolds at an injury site to help regrow human tissues.

Parents' genes may influence children's back to school fears Posted: 09 Sep 2013 09:19 AM PDT Many parents may have noticed their children seemed on edge during their first week of school. They may have been agitated, withdrawn or more focused on themselves, rather than what was going on around them. Such behaviors are classic symptoms of high anxiety.

Surprising underwater-sounds: Humpback whales also spend their winter in Antarctica Posted: 09 Sep 2013 08:12 AM PDT Biologists and physicists have discovered that not all of the Southern Hemisphere humpback whales migrate towards the equator at the end of the Antarctic summer.

Quantum temperature: Scientists study the physics that connects the classical to the quantum world Posted: 09 Sep 2013 06:28 AM PDT How does a classical temperature form in the quantum world? Scientists have now directly observed the emergence and the spreading of a temperature in a quantum system. Remarkably, the quantum properties are lost, even though the quantum system is completely isolated and not connected to the outside world.

Hubble bubble may explain different measurements of expansion rate of the universe Posted: 09 Sep 2013 06:25 AM PDT The observable universe has been expanding since the Big Bang. It still is, causing galaxies beyond our Local Group to appear to be receding from us. The actual speed of this expansion is known as the Hubble constant. Due to its importance in calculating basic properties of the universe, such as its age, modern cosmology is tasked with determining the value of the constant. There are two conventional methods used, although their results are not congruent, according to researchers. Experts may now be able to explain the different measurements of the expansion of the universe.

New 'artificial nose' device can speed diagnosis of sepsis Posted: 09 Sep 2013 06:23 AM PDT Disease-causing bacteria stink — literally — and the odor released by some of the nastiest microbes has become the basis for a faster and simpler new way to diagnose serious blood infections and finger the specific microbe, scientists have reported.

You are subscribed to email updates from ScienceDaily: Top Science News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610