ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Butterfly wings inspire new technologies: From fabrics and cosmetics to sensors
• The chemistry behind the character of bourbon, scotch and rye
• NASA's black-hole-hunter catches its first 10 supermassive black holes
• Hubble catches a spiral in the air pump
• Upgrade to Mars rovers could aid discovery on more distant worlds
• A swarm on every desktop: Robotics experts learn from public
• Tool created to avert future energy crisis
• Scientists demonstrate new method for harvesting energy from light
• Accidental nanoparticle discovery could hail revolution in manufacturing
• Genome of elastomeric materials creates novel materials
• Bomb-detecting lasers could improve security checkpoints
• New kind of ultraviolet LED could lead to portable, low-cost devices
• Vehicle/motorcycle accident regularity possibly linked to brain miscalculating time of impact of smaller objects
• Breakthrough in cryptography could result in more secure computing
• Programmable glue made of DNA directs tiny gel bricks to self-assemble
• Scientists calculate the energy required to store wind and solar power on the grid
• Artificial lung to remove carbon dioxide -- from smokestacks
• The new allure of electric cars: Blazing-fast speeds
• Wireless network detects falls by the elderly
• Quantum temperature: Scientists study the physics that connects the classical to the quantum world
• Ultra-thin saw wire made of carbon for precision work
• Hubble bubble may explain different measurements of expansion rate of the universe
• New 'artificial nose' device can speed diagnosis of sepsis

Butterfly wings inspire new technologies: From fabrics and cosmetics to sensors Posted: 09 Sep 2013 02:22 PM PDT A new study has revealed that the stunning iridescent wings of the tropical blue Morpho butterfly could expand the range of innovative technologies. Scientific lessons learned from these butterflies have already inspired designs of new displays, fabrics and cosmetics.

The chemistry behind the character of bourbon, scotch and rye Posted: 09 Sep 2013 01:23 PM PDT Whiskeys have long captivated the senses of connoisseurs, whether with smokiness and a whiff of vanilla or a spicy character with hints of caramel, and now, the emerging chemistry of "brown spirits" is proving that they have distinct chemical signatures to match the complex combinations of grains, barrels, aging and other factors that yield the liquid gold poured into each bottle. With sales of boutique bourbons and other small-batch whiskeys booming, scientists have now revealed the chemical fingerprinting of whiskeys.

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.

Hubble catches a spiral in the air pump Posted: 09 Sep 2013 12:46 PM PDT Lying more than 110 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Antlia (The Air Pump) is the spiral galaxy IC 2560, shown in a new image from NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. At this distance it is a relatively nearby spiral galaxy, and is part of the Antlia cluster -- a group of over 200 galaxies held together by gravity. This cluster is unusual; unlike most other galaxy clusters, it appears to have no dominant galaxy within it.

Upgrade to Mars rovers could aid discovery on more distant worlds Posted: 09 Sep 2013 12:30 PM PDT Mars rovers, such as Curiosity, currently can't make science decisions on their own. That has to change if future rover missions are to make discoveries further out in the solar system, scientists say. To help future rover missions spend less time waiting for instructions from Earth, scientists have developed an advanced two-lens camera, called TextureCam, that can think about the pictures it snaps and make science-based decisions.

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.

Tool created to avert future energy crisis Posted: 09 Sep 2013 12:29 PM PDT Scientists have created a new measurement tool that could help avoid an energy crisis like the one California endured during the early 2000s and better prepare the electricity market for the era of the smart grid.

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.

Accidental nanoparticle discovery could hail revolution in manufacturing Posted: 09 Sep 2013 10:12 AM PDT A nanoparticle shaped like a spiky ball, with magnetic properties, has been uncovered in a new method of synthesizing carbon nanotubes by physicists.

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.

Bomb-detecting lasers could improve security checkpoints Posted: 09 Sep 2013 10:11 AM PDT New research has put the possibility of bomb-detecting lasers at security checkpoints within reach.

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.

Vehicle/motorcycle accident regularity possibly linked to brain miscalculating time of impact of smaller objects Posted: 09 Sep 2013 10:09 AM PDT Results show that small, near objects can appear farther away than larger, farther objects.

Breakthrough in cryptography could result in more secure computing Posted: 09 Sep 2013 09:19 AM PDT New research could result in a change in how to secure computations.

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.

Scientists calculate the energy required to store wind and solar power on the grid Posted: 09 Sep 2013 07:52 AM PDT Renewable energy holds the promise of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. But there are times when solar and wind farms generate more electricity than is needed by consumers. Storing that surplus energy in batteries for later use seems like an obvious solution. But a new study finds that when you factor in the energetic costs, grid-scale batteries make sense for storing surplus solar energy, but not for wind.

Artificial lung to remove carbon dioxide -- from smokestacks Posted: 09 Sep 2013 07:47 AM PDT After studying the functioning of the lungs of birds and the swim bladders of fish, scientists described how they created an improved method to capture carbon dioxide that acts like a reverse natural lung, breathing in the polluting gas. Their study details the best way to arrange tubes in a carbon dioxide capture.

The new allure of electric cars: Blazing-fast speeds Posted: 09 Sep 2013 07:46 AM PDT Already noted for saving gasoline and having zero emissions, electric cars have quietly taken on an unlikely new dimension –– the ability to reach blazing speeds that rival the 0-to-60 performance of a typical Porsche or BMW, and compete on some race courses with the world's best gasoline-powered cars, an authority has said.

Wireless network detects falls by the elderly Posted: 09 Sep 2013 06:31 AM PDT Electrical engineers have developed a network of wireless sensors that can detect a person falling. This monitoring technology could be linked to a service that would call emergency help for the elderly without requiring them to wear monitoring devices.

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.

Ultra-thin saw wire made of carbon for precision work Posted: 09 Sep 2013 06:28 AM PDT You can't saw without producing sawdust – and that can be expensive if, for example, the "dust" comes from wafer manufacturing in the photovoltaic and semiconductor industries, where relatively high kerf loss has been accepted as an unavoidable, if highly regrettable, fact of life. But now scientists have developed a saw wire that is set to effect dramatic reductions in kerf loss: in place of diamond-impregnated steel wires, the researchers use ultra-thin and extremely stable threads made of carbon nanotubes coated with diamond.

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.

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