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Tuesday, March 25, 2014

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News


Life lessons: Children learn aggressive ways of thinking and behaving from violent video games

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 03:12 PM PDT

Children who repeatedly play violent video games are learning thought patterns that will stick with them and influence behaviors as they grow older, according to a new study.

Parallel programming may not be so daunting: 'Lock-free' parallel algorithms match performance with wait-free

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 12:40 PM PDT

Computer chips have stopped getting faster: The regular performance improvements we've come to expect are now the result of chipmakers' adding more cores, or processing units, to their chips, rather than increasing their clock speed.

NASA Mars rover's next stop has sandstone variations

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 11:23 AM PDT

Variations in the stuff that cements grains together in sandstone have shaped the landscape surrounding NASA's Curiosity Mars rover and could be a study topic at the mission's next science waypoint.

Computer models solve geologic riddle millions of years in the making

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 10:33 AM PDT

An international team of scientists has used computer modeling to reveal, for the first time, how giant swirls form during the collision of tectonic plates -- with subduction zones stuttering and recovering after continental fragments slam into them.

Low parking costs may encourage automobile use

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 10:32 AM PDT

The low cost of parking in many American cities may contribute to urban development that relies on automobile use and undercuts planners' efforts to increase public transport, according to a new baseline study of comprehensive public parking costs. The article reports on downtown public parking costs after surveying public parking agencies in 107 U.S. cities.

Y-90 provides new, safe treatment for metastatic breast cancer

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 10:32 AM PDT

A minimally invasive treatment that delivers cancer-killing radiation directly to tumors shows promise in treating breast cancer that has spread to the liver when no other treatment options remain. The outpatient treatment, called yttrium-90 (Y-90) radioembolization, was safe and provided disease stabilization in 98.5 percent of the women's treated liver tumors in a recent study.

Light-activated antimicrobial surface that also works in the dark: World's first

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 09:14 AM PDT

A new antibacterial material that has potential for cutting hospital acquired infections has been developed by scientists. The combination of two simple dyes with nanoscopic particles of gold is deadly to bacteria when activated by light -- even under modest indoor lighting. And in a first for this type of substance, it also shows impressive antibacterial properties in total darkness.

Researchers improve performance of III-V nanowire solar cells on graphene

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 09:14 AM PDT

Researchers have achieved new levels of performance for seed-free and substrate-free arrays of nanowires from class of materials called III-V directly on graphene. These compound semiconductors hold particular promise for applications involving light, such as solar cells or lasers.

'RoboClam' replicates a clam's ability to burrow while using little energy

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 08:19 AM PDT

The Atlantic razor clam uses very little energy to burrow into undersea soil at high speed. Now a detailed insight into how the animal digs has led to the development of a robotic clam that can perform the same trick.

New insight into improved wave energy testing

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 08:15 AM PDT

Pioneering research could provide a significant boost in the vital quest to harness wave power as a viable renewable energy source for the future. Researchers deployed wave measurement buoys and used wave modelling to show how variations in wave size and strength could be resolved.

Hot nanoparticles for cancer treatments

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 08:13 AM PDT

Nanoparticles have a great deal of potential in medicine: for diagnostics, as a vehicle for active substances or a tool to kill off tumors using heat. Researchers have now developed particles that are relatively easy to produce and have a wide range of applications.

Microfluidic device with artificial arteries measures drugs' influence on blood clotting

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 08:13 AM PDT

A new microfluidic method for evaluating drugs commonly used for preventing heart attacks has found that while aspirin can prevent dangerous blood clots in some at-risk patients, it may not be effective in all patients with narrowed arteries. The study, which involved 14 human subjects, used a device that simulated blood flowing through narrowed coronary arteries to assess effects of anti-clotting drugs.

LVAC: Advancing the technology readiness of SLS adaptive controls

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 08:06 AM PDT

Can a rocket maneuver like an airplane? And can an airplane act as a surrogate for a maneuvering rocket? NASA engineers demonstrated just that when they used a NASA F/A-18 aircraft recently to simulate a rocket in its early flight phase to test adaptive software for NASA's new rocket the Space Launch System (SLS), the largest, most powerful launch vehicle for deep space missions.

The amazing anatomy of James Webb Space Telescope mirrors

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 08:04 AM PDT

When you think of a mirror, there really isn't that much needed to describe it, but when you look at a mirror that will fly aboard NASA's next-generation James Webb Space Telescope, there's a lot to the anatomy of a mirror.

Researchers grow carbon nanofibers using ambient air, without toxic ammonia

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 07:45 AM PDT

Materials science researchers have demonstrated that vertically aligned carbon nanofibers can be manufactured using ambient air, making the manufacturing process safer and less expensive. Vertically aligned carbon nanofibers hold promise for use in gene-delivery tools, sensors, batteries and other technologies.

Detecting tumor markers easily

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 07:44 AM PDT

Blood is just teeming with proteins. However, it's not easy to identify specialized tumor markers indicating the presence of cancer. A new method now enables diagnostics to be carried out in a single step, using a blood test. Tumor markers in the blood help determine whether the patient is afflicted with a malign tumor and whether it is excreting markers more vigorously -- involving highly specific proteins. An increased concentration in the blood provides one indication of the disease for physicians.

Recovering valuable substances from wastewater

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 06:04 AM PDT

Phosphorus can be found in fertilizers, drinks and detergents. It accumulates in waterways and pollutes them. For this reason the German Phosphorus Platform has the goal to recover this valuable, but at the same time, harmful element from water. How this can be done will be shown by researchers at the Hannover Trade Fair.

Mother-of-pearl inspires super-strong material

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 06:02 AM PDT

Whether traditional or derived from high technology, ceramics all have the same flaw: they are fragile. Yet this characteristic may soon be a thing of the past: a team of researchers has recently presented a new ceramic material inspired by mother-of-pearl from the small single-shelled marine mollusk abalone.

Simulations to reduce emissions from road transport

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 06:02 AM PDT

Researchers are developing a methodology to estimate atmospheric emissions from road transport that will help guide environmental decisions.

Like being inside a star: Simulating high pressures

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 06:02 AM PDT

Some experiments are really difficult to perform in practice. To gain a detailed understanding of the behaviour of molecular hydrogen, for example, we would have to produce such high pressures as those occurring within the core of gaseous planets like Jupiter and Saturn or inside stars. If such conditions cannot be created, an alternative method is to simulate them on the computer, but the model has to be accurate. A group of research scientists used a simulation model that is far more accurate than previously used, and carried out an experiment to test a hypothesis about the behavior of hydrogen that is splitting the scientific community.

Scientists discover material that can be solar cell by day, light panel by night

Posted: 24 Mar 2014 06:02 AM PDT

Scientists have developed a next-generation solar cell material which can also emit light, in addition to converting light to electricity. This solar cell is developed from Perovskite, a promising material that could hold the key to creating high-efficiency, inexpensive solar cells. The new cells not only glow when electricity passes through them, but they can also be customised to emit different colors.

Experiment opens the door to multi-party quantum communication

Posted: 23 Mar 2014 03:44 PM PDT

In the world of quantum science, Alice and Bob have been talking to one another for years. Charlie joined the conversation a few years ago, but now with spacelike separation, scientists have measured that their communication occurs faster than the speed of light. For the first time, physicists have demonstrated the distribution of three entangled photons at three different locations (Alice, Bob and Charlie) several hundreds of meters apart, proving quantum nonlocality for more than two entangled photons.

Cold short-cut to carbon dioxide storage

Posted: 21 Mar 2014 08:21 AM PDT

Could refrigeration technology -- against all the odds -- kick-start carbon dioxide storage in the North Sea? All over the world, scientists are on the hunt for solutions that will allow carbon dioxide to be captured from large power stations and industrial plants. Many of the methods in use today employ chemicals or advanced materials to extract carbon dioxide from flue gases. But now, a chilly alternative is showing signs of heating up. When carbon dioxide-rich gases are compressed and refrigerated, the carbon dioxide turns into a liquid -- like steam on a cold bathroom mirror -- and can be drawn off.

Shrink wrap used to enhance detection of infectious disease biomarkers

Posted: 20 Mar 2014 07:15 AM PDT

A new nanotechnology method -- employing common, everyday shrink wrap -- may make highly sensitive, extremely low-cost diagnosis of infectious disease agents possible. The new technique offers a way to significantly boost the signal of fluorescent markers used in biosensing, by depositing a combination of metals onto shrink wrap.

App developed to measure emotional intelligence

Posted: 20 Mar 2014 07:09 AM PDT

Emotional Apps has developed an application for mobile devices that enable to evaluate abilities to perceive, understand and control emotions easily and free. More than 6,000 people from around one hundred countries have already downloaded the MEIT test (Mobile Emotional Intelligence Test) that offers important advantages in the face of emotional intelligence test on paper up to date.

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