ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Glimpsing the infrastructure of a gamma-ray burst jet
• Fledgling supernova remnant reveals neutron star's secrets
• NASA's Cassini spacecraft obtains best views of Saturn hexagon
• Mysteries of Earth's radiation belts uncovered by NASA twin spacecraft
• Can iPads help students learn science? Yes, study shows
• New scheme uses shared visual cues to help people remember multiple passwords
• Virtual wall could stop spread of oil and help build invisible barrier for oil spills
• Turning waste into power with bacteria and loofahs
• Ten times more throughput on optic fibers
• Explosive growth of young star
• MR-guided ultrasound offers noninvasive treatment for breast cancer
• World record: Longest ECG ever measured non-invasively
• Amoeboid swimming: Crawling in a fluid
• The promise of nanotechnology
• Intense two-color double X-ray laser pulses: Powerful tool to study ultrafast processes
• Highly insulating windows are very energy efficient, though expensive
• Light finds the right mix: Quickly switching orientation of a laser beam enables control over quantum properties of light
• Friendly app attacks detect vulnerabilities
• Screeners miss the really rare stuff: Commonly found objects may be crowding out identification of the unusual items
• Molecular sensor detects early signs of multiple sclerosis, study finds
• Neurofeedback tunes key brain networks, improving well-being in PTSD
• 3D mammography increases cancer detection, reduces call-back rates

Glimpsing the infrastructure of a gamma-ray burst jet Posted: 04 Dec 2013 03:24 PM PST A new study using observations from a novel instrument provides the best look to date at magnetic fields at the heart of gamma-ray bursts, the most energetic explosions in the universe. An international team of astronomers has glimpsed the infrastructure of a burst's high-speed jet.

Fledgling supernova remnant reveals neutron star's secrets Posted: 04 Dec 2013 03:14 PM PST Astronomers have identified the glowing wreck of a star that exploded a mere 2,500 years ago — the blink of an eye in astronomical terms.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft obtains best views of Saturn hexagon Posted: 04 Dec 2013 12:48 PM PST NASA's Cassini spacecraft has obtained the highest-resolution movie yet of a unique six-sided jet stream, known as the hexagon, around Saturn's north pole.

Mysteries of Earth's radiation belts uncovered by NASA twin spacecraft Posted: 04 Dec 2013 09:37 AM PST Just over a year since launch, NASA's Van Allen Probes mission continues to unravel longstanding mysteries of Earth's high-energy radiation belts that encircle our planet and pose hazards to orbiting satellites and astronauts.

Can iPads help students learn science? Yes, study shows Posted: 04 Dec 2013 09:37 AM PST A new study shows that students grasp the unimaginable emptiness of space more effectively when they use iPads to explore 3-D simulations of the universe, compared to traditional classroom instruction.

New scheme uses shared visual cues to help people remember multiple passwords Posted: 04 Dec 2013 09:37 AM PST It turns out that the way to keep track of your many passwords to online accounts is the same as how to get to Carnegie Hall -- practice, practice, practice. So researchers have devised a scheme that enables users to create 100 or more passwords by remembering -- and regularly rehearsing -- a small number of one-sentence stories. The story sentences become the basis for password fragments that are randomly combined to create unique, strong passwords for multiple accounts.

Virtual wall could stop spread of oil and help build invisible barrier for oil spills Posted: 04 Dec 2013 08:20 AM PST A new technique forms a virtual wall for oily liquids that will help confine them to a certain area, aiding researchers who are studying these complex molecules. This development will have future implications in the guided delivery of oil and effective blockage of oil spreading.

Turning waste into power with bacteria and loofahs Posted: 04 Dec 2013 08:20 AM PST Loofahs, best known for their use in exfoliating skin to soft, radiant perfection, have emerged as a new potential tool to advance sustainability efforts on two fronts at the same time: energy and waste. A new study describes the pairing of loofahs with bacteria to create a power-generating microbial fuel cell.

Ten times more throughput on optic fibers Posted: 04 Dec 2013 06:14 AM PST Two scientists have shown how to achieve a dramatic increase in the capacity of optical fibers. Their simple, innovative solution, generating perfect "Nyquist sinc pulses," reduces the amount of space required between the pulses of light that transport data. The breakthrough could increase the throughput of data in telecommunications systems by a factor of 10.

Explosive growth of young star Posted: 04 Dec 2013 06:14 AM PST A star is formed when a large cloud of gas and dust condenses and eventually becomes so dense that it collapses into a ball of gas, where the pressure heats the matter, creating a glowing gas ball -- a star is born. New research shows that a young, newly formed star in the Milky Way had such an explosive growth, that it was initially about 100 times brighter than it is now.

MR-guided ultrasound offers noninvasive treatment for breast cancer Posted: 04 Dec 2013 06:14 AM PST A technique that uses focused ultrasound under magnetic resonance guidance to heat and destroy tumors may offer a safe and effective treatment for breast cancer, according to new research.

World record: Longest ECG ever measured non-invasively Posted: 04 Dec 2013 06:11 AM PST Patients suffering from cardiac diseases may rapidly become emergencies. However, many cardiac diseases are announced several months before, and symptoms are simply overlooked. A long-term ECG may help. A sensor belt for the first time allows clinicians to document cardiac activity of a patient over a long term, around the clock, for up to six months.

Amoeboid swimming: Crawling in a fluid Posted: 04 Dec 2013 06:09 AM PST Researchers have developed a particularly simple model that reproduces the swimming mechanism of amoebas. They show that, by changing shape, these single cell organisms propel themselves forward in a viscous fluid at the same speed as when they crawl on a solid substrate. The way microorganisms swim is fundamentally different to that of fish since, at their scale, viscosity effects dominate and make fins totally inefficient.

The promise of nanotechnology Posted: 04 Dec 2013 06:09 AM PST If the promise of nanotechnology is to be fulfilled, then research programs must leapfrog to new nanomanufacturing processes. That's the conclusion of a review of the current state of nanoscience and nanotechnology.

Intense two-color double X-ray laser pulses: Powerful tool to study ultrafast processes Posted: 04 Dec 2013 06:09 AM PST Scientists have generated ultra-bright, two-color X-ray laser pulses for the first time in the hard X-ray region. These light pulses with different wavelengths, whose time separation can be adjusted with attosecond accuracy, are very powerful tools to investigate the structure of matter and the dynamics of ultrafast physical processes and chemical reactions.

Highly insulating windows are very energy efficient, though expensive Posted: 04 Dec 2013 06:08 AM PST Highly insulating triple-pane windows keep a house snug and cozy, but it takes two decades or more for the windows to pay off financially based on utility-bill savings.

Light finds the right mix: Quickly switching orientation of a laser beam enables control over quantum properties of light Posted: 04 Dec 2013 06:08 AM PST Classical computers process data as a series of ones and zeros known as bits; in contrast, quantum computers encode information into the physical properties of an information unit known as a quantum bit, or qubit. Two or more qubits are then able to link together to speed up the processing efficiency, enabling quantum computers to tackle mathematical problems beyond the capability of conventional machines. However, reliably creating the precise multiple qubits required for quantum-computer protocols remains a challenge.

Friendly app attacks detect vulnerabilities Posted: 04 Dec 2013 06:08 AM PST Hacking programs disguised as games are helping Apple to improve the security of devices operating on its iOS platform.

Screeners miss the really rare stuff: Commonly found objects may be crowding out identification of the unusual items Posted: 03 Dec 2013 01:17 PM PST A smartphone app that turns gamers into airport baggage screeners is showing that finding weapons and other illegal items isn't all that easy, even when you're looking for them.

Molecular sensor detects early signs of multiple sclerosis, study finds Posted: 03 Dec 2013 11:43 AM PST For some, the disease multiple sclerosis (MS) attacks its victims slowly over a period of years. For others, it strikes in fits and starts. But all patients share one thing: the disease had long been present in their nervous systems, under the radar from the most sophisticated detection methods. But now, scientists have devised a new sensor that can detect MS at its earliest stages -- even before the onset of physical signs.

Neurofeedback tunes key brain networks, improving well-being in PTSD Posted: 03 Dec 2013 08:22 AM PST Pioneering research points to a promising avenue for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder: utilizing neurofeedback training to alter the plasticity of brain networks linked to the condition. During neurofeedback, intentional control of one's own brain activity may be learned with what's called a brain-computer interface, which is able to represent graphically a person's real-time brain activation on a computer.

3D mammography increases cancer detection, reduces call-back rates Posted: 03 Dec 2013 06:05 AM PST Compared to traditional mammography, 3D mammography found 22 percent more breast cancers and led to fewer call backs in a large screening study.

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