ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Progress on detecting glucose levels in saliva: New biochip sensor
• Hubble unveils new colorful view of the universe
• Prototype electrolyte sensor to provide immediate read-outs: Painless wearable microneedle device may reduce trips to doctors' offices
• Carbon-capture breakthrough: Recyclable material absorbs 82 percent of its weight in carbon dioxide
• Just add water: 3-D silicon shapes fold themselves when wetted by microscopic droplets
• Vanishing da Vinci: Nondestructive way to determine state of degradation of ancient works of art
• Lasers, night-vision technology help improve imaging of hidden lymphatic system
• Quest for the bionic arm: Advancements and challenges
• Spiders know the meaning of web music
• Proteins 'ring like bells': Quantum mechanics and biochemical reactions
• Notifying speeding mariners lowers ship speeds in areas with North Atlantic right whales
• Electrical response of metals to extreme pressures predicted
• Scientists probe solar wind with Cray Blue Waters supercomputer

Progress on detecting glucose levels in saliva: New biochip sensor Posted: 03 Jun 2014 12:10 PM PDT A new biochip sensor that uses dye chemistry and plasmonic interferometry to selectively measure concentrations of glucose in a complex solution similar to human saliva. The advance is an important step toward a device that would enable people with diabetes to test their glucose levels without drawing blood.

Hubble unveils new colorful view of the universe Posted: 03 Jun 2014 12:10 PM PDT Astronomers have assembled a comprehensive picture of the evolving universe — among the most colorful deep space images ever captured by the 24-year-old telescope. This study, which includes ultraviolet light, provides the missing link in star formation.

Prototype electrolyte sensor to provide immediate read-outs: Painless wearable microneedle device may reduce trips to doctors' offices Posted: 03 Jun 2014 08:43 AM PDT A prototype handheld sensor expected to detect and replenish elecrolytes may aid athletes (runners), soldiers on long missions, and ordinary citizens trying to minimize doctor visits and resultant lab charges. Runners, athletes in other strenuous sports and soldiers on long missions also might prefer immediate knowledge of their electrolytic states as an aid to improved performance. Electrolytes such as potassium, calcium, magnesium and other salts are key in carrying nerve impulses that tell the heart and other muscles when to contract or relax.

Carbon-capture breakthrough: Recyclable material absorbs 82 percent of its weight in carbon dioxide Posted: 03 Jun 2014 08:43 AM PDT Scientists invent a porous material to capture carbon dioxide at natural gas wellheads. The recyclable material absorbs 82 percent of its weight in carbon dioxide and releases it as gas when the wellhead pressure is relieved.

Just add water: 3-D silicon shapes fold themselves when wetted by microscopic droplets Posted: 03 Jun 2014 08:41 AM PDT Researchers have taken the precise art of origami down to the microscopic scale. Using only a drop of water, the scientists have folded flat sheets of silicon nitride into cubes, pyramids, half soccer-ball-shaped bowls and long triangular structures that resemble Toblerone chocolate bars – an omnium-gatherum of geometric objects, which are almost too tiny to see with the naked eye.

Vanishing da Vinci: Nondestructive way to determine state of degradation of ancient works of art Posted: 03 Jun 2014 08:41 AM PDT Leonardo da Vinci's iconic self-portrait, drawn in the 16th century, is vanishing as the work of art 'yellows' with age. By studying chromophores, the yellowing agents that form within cellulose during the oxidation process, a group of researchers has developed a nondestructive way to determine the state of degradation of ancient documents and works of art.

Lasers, night-vision technology help improve imaging of hidden lymphatic system Posted: 03 Jun 2014 07:35 AM PDT Detecting lymphedema early, before swelling occurs, would lead to better outcomes for patients, but the major barrier preventing early diagnosis is the lack of high-resolution imaging techniques that can resolve these tiny vessels. Recently, a team of researchers has developed a new technology that can non-invasively image the human lymphatic system. A fluorescent dye and commercially-available laser diode and military-grade night vision devices are used to visualize the lymphatic capillaries.

Quest for the bionic arm: Advancements and challenges Posted: 03 Jun 2014 06:26 AM PDT Nearly 2,000 veterans have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan with injuries requiring amputations; 14 percent of those injured veterans required upper extremity amputations. The recent advancements in upper extremity bionics and the challenges that remain in creating a prosthesis that meets or exceeds the abilities of a human arm and hand are the focus of new research.

Spiders know the meaning of web music Posted: 03 Jun 2014 06:25 AM PDT Spider silk transmits vibrations across a wide range of frequencies so that, when plucked like a guitar string, its sound carries information about prey, mates, and even the structural integrity of a web. The discovery was made when researchers fired bullets and lasers at spider silk to study how it vibrates.

Proteins 'ring like bells': Quantum mechanics and biochemical reactions Posted: 03 Jun 2014 06:24 AM PDT As far back as 1948, Erwin Schrödinger -- the inventor of modern quantum mechanics -- published the book 'What is life?' In it, he suggested that quantum mechanics and coherent ringing might be at the basis of all biochemical reactions. At the time, this idea never found wide acceptance because it was generally assumed that vibrations in protein molecules would be too rapidly damped. Now, scientists have shown that he may have been on the right track after all.

Notifying speeding mariners lowers ship speeds in areas with North Atlantic right whales Posted: 03 Jun 2014 06:24 AM PDT There are only around 500 North Atlantic right whales alive today. In an effort to further protect these critically endangered animals, a recent NOAA regulation required large vessels to reduce speed in areas seasonally occupied by the whales. The policy of notifying -- but not necessarily citing -- speeding vessels in protected areas was effective in lowering their speeds, helping to protect these magnificent creatures from ship collisions, while keeping punitive fines to mariners to a minimum.

Electrical response of metals to extreme pressures predicted Posted: 02 Jun 2014 12:57 PM PDT New research makes it possible to predict how subjecting metals to severe pressure can lower their electrical resistance, a finding that could have applications in computer chips and other materials that could benefit from specific electrical resistance.

Scientists probe solar wind with Cray Blue Waters supercomputer Posted: 02 Jun 2014 10:21 AM PDT Talk about a mathematics hot rod -- how does 13 quadrillion calculations per second grab you? A scalable computer code was used to run complex equations on a blisteringly fast supercomputer, resulting in advances in understanding solar wind and the heliosphere.

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