ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• SOHO shows new images of Comet ISON
• Making a gem of a tiny crystal: Slowly cooled DNA transforms disordered nanoparticles into orderly crystal
• New energy conversion principle may double efficiency of today's engines
• Teaching matter waves new tricks: Making magnets with ultra cold atoms
• Figure eights and peanut shells: How stars move at the center of the galaxy
• New effect couples electricity and magnetism in materials
• A whirling dervish puts physicists in a spin
• MR spectroscopy shows differences in brains of preterm infants

SOHO shows new images of Comet ISON Posted: 27 Nov 2013 02:04 PM PST As Comet ISON heads toward its closest approach to the sun -- known as perihelion -- on Nov. 28, 2013, scientists have been watching through many observatories to see if the comet has already broken up under the intense heat and gravitational forces of the sun.

Making a gem of a tiny crystal: Slowly cooled DNA transforms disordered nanoparticles into orderly crystal Posted: 27 Nov 2013 10:18 AM PST Nature builds flawless diamonds, sapphires and other gems. Now researchers have built near-perfect single crystals out of nanoparticles and DNA, using the same structure favored by nature. The researchers developed a "recipe" for using nanomaterials as atoms, DNA as bonds and a little heat to form tiny crystals.

New energy conversion principle may double efficiency of today's engines Posted: 27 Nov 2013 09:58 AM PST Scientists have discovered a new compressive combustion principle that can yield engines with the ultimate level of efficiency. With a thermal efficiency of 60% or more in applications including automobiles, power generation, and aircraft, will their low fuel consumption be superior to that of HV vehicles?

Teaching matter waves new tricks: Making magnets with ultra cold atoms Posted: 27 Nov 2013 08:06 AM PST Scientists have developed a novel approach to understand magnets.

Figure eights and peanut shells: How stars move at the center of the galaxy Posted: 27 Nov 2013 08:03 AM PST Two months ago astronomers created a new 3-D map of stars at the center of our Galaxy (the Milky Way), showing more clearly than ever the bulge at its core. Previous explanations suggested that the stars that form the bulge are in banana-like orbits, but a new article suggests that the stars probably move in peanut-shell or figure of eight-shaped orbits instead.

New effect couples electricity and magnetism in materials Posted: 27 Nov 2013 08:03 AM PST Major industries such as modern microelectronics are based on the interaction between matter and electromagnetism. Electromagnetic signals can be processed and stored in specially tailored materials. In materials science, electric and magnetic effects have usually been studied separately. There are, however, extraordinary materials called "multiferroics," in which electric and magnetic excitations are closely linked. Scientists have now shown in an experiment that magnetic properties and excitations can be influenced by an electric voltage. This opens up completely new possibilities for electronics at high frequencies.

A whirling dervish puts physicists in a spin Posted: 26 Nov 2013 04:16 PM PST A force that intricately links the rotation of the Earth with the direction of weather patterns in the atmosphere has been shown to play a crucial role in the creation of the hypnotic patterns created by the skirts of the Whirling Dervishes.

MR spectroscopy shows differences in brains of preterm infants Posted: 26 Nov 2013 06:26 AM PST Premature birth appears to trigger developmental processes in the white matter of the brain that could put children at higher risk of problems later in life, according to a study.

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