ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Astronomers create first realistic virtual universe
• A hydrogel that knows when to go
• A stellar explosion on the outer reaches of the Universe provides clues about black hole formation
• Ancient crater points to massive meteorite strike
• Melting an entire iceberg with a hot poker: Spotting phase changes triggered by impurities
• Sprites form at plasma irregularities in the lower ionosphere
• Using DNA to build tool that may literally shine light on cancer
• Statistical test increases power of genetic studies of complex disease
• Nearest bright 'hypervelocity star' found: Speeding at 1 million mph, it probes black hole and dark matter
• Revealing the healing of 'dino-sores': Examining broken bones in 150-million-year-old predatory dinosaur
• Study validates air sampling techniques to fight bioterrorism
• Surgeons 'light up' GI tract to safely remove gall bladder
• Smaller microchips that keep their cool

Astronomers create first realistic virtual universe Posted: 07 May 2014 11:28 AM PDT Move over, Matrix - astronomers have done you one better. They have created the first realistic virtual universe using a computer simulation called 'Illustris.' Illustris can recreate 13 billion years of cosmic evolution in a cube 350 million light-years on a side with unprecedented resolution.

A hydrogel that knows when to go Posted: 07 May 2014 08:47 AM PDT Bioengineers have created a hydrogel that instantly turns from liquid to semisolid at close to body temperature -- and then degrades at precisely the right time. The gel shows potential as a bioscaffold to support the regrowth of bone and other three-dimensional tissues in a patient's body using the patient's own cells to seed the process.

A stellar explosion on the outer reaches of the Universe provides clues about black hole formation Posted: 07 May 2014 08:47 AM PDT On 24 October 2012 observatories across the world were alerted about a huge stellar explosion, the GRB121024A, which had been located just hours before in the Eridanus constellation. The data obtained on that explosion, which took place about 11,000 million years ago, have made it possible to reconstruct how a black hole is formed.

Ancient crater points to massive meteorite strike Posted: 07 May 2014 07:50 AM PDT An eight-kilometer-wide crater suggests a meteorite strike devastated southern Alberta within the last 70 million years, experts theorize. Time and glaciers have buried and eroded much of the evidence, making it impossible at this point to say with full certainty the ring-like structure was caused by a meteorite impact, but that's what seismic and geological evidence strongly suggests.

Melting an entire iceberg with a hot poker: Spotting phase changes triggered by impurities Posted: 07 May 2014 07:04 AM PDT "What a curious feeling," says Alice in Lewis Carroll's tale, as she shrinks to a fraction of her size, and everything around her suddenly looks totally unfamiliar. Scientists too have to get used to these curious feelings when they examine matter on tiny scales and at low temperatures: all the behavior we are used to seeing around us is turned on its head.

Sprites form at plasma irregularities in the lower ionosphere Posted: 07 May 2014 07:04 AM PDT Atmospheric sprites have been known for nearly a century, but their origins were a mystery. Now, a team of researchers has evidence that sprites form at plasma irregularities and may be useful in remote sensing of the lower ionosphere.

Using DNA to build tool that may literally shine light on cancer Posted: 07 May 2014 06:53 AM PDT DNA has been used by researchers to develop a tool that detects and reacts to chemical changes caused by cancer cells and that may one day be used to deliver drugs to tumor cells. The researchers' nanosensor measures pH variations at the nanoscale -- how acidic or alkaline it is. Many biomolecules, such as enzymes and proteins, are strongly regulated by small pH changes. These changes affect in turn biological activities such as enzyme catalysis, protein assembly, membrane function and cell death. There is also a strong relation between cancer and pH.

Statistical test increases power of genetic studies of complex disease Posted: 07 May 2014 06:53 AM PDT The power of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to detect genetic influences on human disease can be substantially increased using a statistical testing framework. Despite the proliferation of GWAS, the associations found so far have largely failed to account for the known effects of genes on complex disease -- the problem of "missing heritability." Standard approaches also struggle to find combinations of multiple genes that affect disease risk in complex ways (known as genetic interactions). The new framework enhances the ability to detect genetic associations and interactions by taking advantage of data from other genomic studies of the same population.

Nearest bright 'hypervelocity star' found: Speeding at 1 million mph, it probes black hole and dark matter Posted: 07 May 2014 06:30 AM PDT Astronomers have discovered a "hypervelocity star" that is the closest, second-brightest and among the largest of 20 found so far. Speeding at more than 1 million mph, the star may provide clues about the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way and the halo of mysterious "dark matter" surrounding the galaxy, astronomers say.

Revealing the healing of 'dino-sores': Examining broken bones in 150-million-year-old predatory dinosaur Posted: 06 May 2014 04:06 PM PDT Scientists have used state-of-the-art imaging techniques to examine the cracks, fractures and breaks in the bones of a 150-million-year-old predatory dinosaur. The research sheds new light, literally, on the healing process that took place when these magnificent animals were still alive.

Study validates air sampling techniques to fight bioterrorism Posted: 06 May 2014 04:05 PM PDT Air and surface sampling techniques currently used by the US government are effective in fighting bioterrorism and potentially saving lives, a researcher finds. In 2005 and 2009, the Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA) in order to simulate a deliberate attack, staged the release of a harmless bacteria that is biological similar to Bacillus anthracis, the bacteria that causes the disease anthrax. They then evaluated the local response procedures to such an attack.

Surgeons 'light up' GI tract to safely remove gall bladder Posted: 06 May 2014 04:05 PM PDT A green fluorescent dye is helping surgeons perform robotic gall bladder surgery more safely. The surgeons in a recently published study used near-infrared light to make the indocyanine green dye light up, allowing them to better see the biliary tract. Injury to the bile duct is rare -- only 0.3 percent of the nearly 600,000 cholecystectomies performed in the U.S. annually -- but it can cause severe complications to patients. Surgeons are increasingly performing the gall bladder surgery robotically -- for better ergonomics, visualization and placement of surgical instruments.

Smaller microchips that keep their cool Posted: 05 May 2014 06:38 AM PDT Temperatures often over 200 degrees C occur in geothermal and oil production – conventional microelectronics hit their limits there. Researchers have now fabricated compact microchips that can keep their cool even at 300 degrees C.

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