ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Sticky business: Magnetic pollen replicas offer multimodal adhesion
• What can happen when graphene meets a semiconductor
• Black hole birth captured: Biggest, brightest to happen in at least 20 years
• The era of neutrino astronomy has begun
• Monster gamma-ray burst in our cosmic neighborhood
• Will 2-D tin be the next super material?
• Infrared vision lets researchers see through -- and into -- multiple layers of graphene
• Power boosting self-cleaning solar panels
• Ultrasound, nanoparticles may help diabetics avoid the needle
• Ancient Roman glass inspires modern science
• Infant galaxies merging near 'cosmic dawn'
• Amazon drones: The latest weapon in combatting climate change
• Breakthrough for biofuel production from tiny marine algae
• Engineering education may diminish concern for public welfare issues
• Smart windows: Understanding how hydration affects color-changing windows can boost efficiency
• Probe measuring immune function can be used to determine nanoparticle dosage for patients
• Amount of iron in blood can be measured using mobile phone
• Unexpected bond formation of chemical element boron

Sticky business: Magnetic pollen replicas offer multimodal adhesion Posted: 21 Nov 2013 01:34 PM PST Researchers have created magnetic replicas of sunflower pollen grains using a wet chemical, layer-by-layer process that applies highly conformal iron oxide coatings. The replicas possess natural adhesion properties from the pollen while gaining magnetic behavior.

What can happen when graphene meets a semiconductor Posted: 21 Nov 2013 11:23 AM PST A new study has found that intrinsic ripples form on a sheet of graphene when it is placed on top of a semiconductor. The ripples further change the Schottky barrier height, affecting electron transport.

Black hole birth captured: Biggest, brightest to happen in at least 20 years Posted: 21 Nov 2013 11:23 AM PST Intelligent telescopes designed by Los Alamos National Laboratory got a front row seat recently for an unusual birth. "This was the burst of the century," said James Wren, one of the scientists involved in the discovery. "It's the biggest, brightest one to happen in at least 20 years, and maybe even longer than that."

The era of neutrino astronomy has begun Posted: 21 Nov 2013 11:22 AM PST Astrophysicists using a telescope embedded in Antarctic ice have detected the mysterious phenomena known as cosmic neutrinos -- nearly massless particles streaming to Earth at the speed of light from outside our solar system, striking in a powerful burst of energy. Researchers now will try to detect the cosmic neutrinos' source.

Monster gamma-ray burst in our cosmic neighborhood Posted: 21 Nov 2013 11:22 AM PST Gamma-ray bursts are violent bursts of gamma radiation associated with exploding massive stars. For the first time ever, researchers have observed an unusually powerful gamma-ray burst in the relatively nearby universe -- a monster gamma-ray burst.

Will 2-D tin be the next super material? Posted: 21 Nov 2013 10:56 AM PST A single layer of tin atoms could be the world's first material to conduct electricity with 100 percent efficiency at the temperatures that computer chips operate, according to theoretical physicists.

Infrared vision lets researchers see through -- and into -- multiple layers of graphene Posted: 21 Nov 2013 10:02 AM PST Scientists have developed a technique for "seeing through" a stack of graphene sheets to identify and describe the electronic properties of each individual sheet -- even when the sheets are covering each other up.

Power boosting self-cleaning solar panels Posted: 21 Nov 2013 08:18 AM PST High-power, self-cleaning solar panels might be coming soon to a roof near you. There are two obvious problems with photovoltaic cells, solar panels. First, they are very shiny and so a lot of the incident sunlight is simply reflected back into the sky rather than being converted into electricity. Secondly, they get dirty with dust and debris caught on the wind and residues left behind by rain and birds. Now, new research suggests that it might be possible to add a nanoscopic relief pattern to the surface of solar cells that makes them non-reflective significantly boosting efficiency and at the same time making them highly non-stick and self-cleaning.

Ultrasound, nanoparticles may help diabetics avoid the needle Posted: 21 Nov 2013 07:51 AM PST A new nanotechnology-based technique for regulating blood sugar in diabetics may give patients the ability to release insulin painlessly using a small ultrasound device, allowing them to go days between injections -- rather than using needles to give themselves multiple insulin injections each day.

Ancient Roman glass inspires modern science Posted: 21 Nov 2013 07:36 AM PST A 1700-year-old Roman glass cup is inspiring researchers in their search for new ways to exploit nanoparticles and their interactions with light.

Infant galaxies merging near 'cosmic dawn' Posted: 21 Nov 2013 07:36 AM PST Astronomers using the combined power of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope and NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have discovered a far-flung trio of primitive galaxies nestled inside an enormous blob of primordial gas nearly 13 billion light-years from Earth.

Amazon drones: The latest weapon in combatting climate change Posted: 21 Nov 2013 06:12 AM PST A flying, insect-like robot will give an unprecedented look at Peru's tropical cloud forest, one of the world's most biodiverse ecosystems and a key indicator of global climate change.

Breakthrough for biofuel production from tiny marine algae Posted: 20 Nov 2013 04:21 PM PST Researchers have developed a method for greatly enhancing biofuel production in tiny marine algae.

Engineering education may diminish concern for public welfare issues Posted: 20 Nov 2013 10:39 AM PST Collegiate engineering education may foster a "culture of disengagement" regarding issues of public welfare, according to new research.

Smart windows: Understanding how hydration affects color-changing windows can boost efficiency Posted: 20 Nov 2013 07:34 AM PST Electrochromic materials dynamically alter how they transmit light in response to an applied electrical signal. Engineers are currently working to turn these compounds into 'smart windows' for buildings that change from transparent to colored states at the flick of a switch. Such devices can help to prevent heat loss and maximize the amount of natural light passing through windows.

Probe measuring immune function can be used to determine nanoparticle dosage for patients Posted: 20 Nov 2013 07:03 AM PST The development of a probe to measure the body's immune function could lead to more accurate, individualized doses for cancer patients prescribed nanoparticle-based drugs, according to research.

Amount of iron in blood can be measured using mobile phone Posted: 20 Nov 2013 05:12 AM PST Researchers have developed a smart material which changes color based on the amount of iron in a fluid, whether it be water, wine or blood serum. Afterwards, if the result is photographed with a digital camera such as those on mobile phones, the concentration of this metal can be quantified without the need for chemical analysis. Soon, it could be possible to find out whether a person has a blood iron deficiency or overload with a mere pinch of the finger and a mobile phone.

Unexpected bond formation of chemical element boron Posted: 20 Nov 2013 05:12 AM PST In synthetic chemistry, so-called element-element bonding can be systematically exploited to assemble small building blocks to obtain structures that are more complex than the "starting material" and can be used for the resource-saving production of more precious materials. Scientists have discovered a hitherto unknown coupling reaction. Two positively charged compounds of the element boron join to form a new molecule with a chain of four boron atoms.

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