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Tuesday, October 7, 2014

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News


A quick look at electron-boson coupling: Researchers use ultrafast spectroscopy on many body effects

Posted: 06 Oct 2014 11:20 AM PDT

Using an ultrafast spectroscopy technique called time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, researchers demonstrated a link between electron-boson coupling and high-temperature superconductivity in a high-Tc cuprate.

Observing the Birkeland currents

Posted: 06 Oct 2014 10:34 AM PDT

When the supersonic solar wind hits the Earth's magnetic field, a powerful electrical connection occurs with Earth's field, generating millions of amperes of current that drive the dazzling auroras. These so-called Birkeland currents connect the ionosphere to the magnetosphere and channel solar wind energy to Earth's uppermost atmosphere. Solar storms release torrential blasts of solar wind that cause much stronger currents and can overload power grids and disrupt communications and navigation.

The skin cancer selfie: Gigapixel camera helps diagnose early

Posted: 06 Oct 2014 08:41 AM PDT

Melanoma is the fifth most common cancer type in the US, and it's also the deadliest form of skin cancer. If caught early enough though, it is almost always curable. The gigapixel camera is essentially 34 microcameras in one and has a high enough resolution to zoom in to a tiny freckle making routine screenings available to a larger number of people at a fraction of the cost.

New theorem determines age distribution of populations from fruit flies to humans

Posted: 06 Oct 2014 08:41 AM PDT

The initial motivation of a new study was to estimate the age structure of a fruit fly population, the result a fundamental theorem that can help determine the age distribution of essentially any group. This emerging theorem on stationary populations shows that you can determine the age distribution of a population by looking at how long they still have to live.

Novel roadmap through bacterial genomes leads the way to new drug discovery

Posted: 06 Oct 2014 08:40 AM PDT

Researchers have innovated and demonstrated the value of an algorithm to analyze microbial genomic data and speed discovery of new therapeutic drugs.

Aircraft safety: New imaging technique could detect acoustically 'invisible' cracks

Posted: 06 Oct 2014 08:40 AM PDT

The next generation of aircraft could be thinner and lighter thanks to the development of a new imaging technique that could detect damage previously invisible to acoustic imaging systems.

Through the combining glass

Posted: 06 Oct 2014 08:40 AM PDT

Trying on clothes when a shop is closed could become a reality thanks to new research that uses semi-transparent mirrors in interactive systems. The system could change the way people interact and collaborate in public spaces, such as museums and shop windows.

Improvements in fuel cell design

Posted: 06 Oct 2014 08:39 AM PDT

Fuel cells could possibly replace the batteries of mobile phones and laptop computers, and scientists are looking at ways of enhancing their efficiency.

Discovery of a new way to make foams could lead to lightweight, sustainable materials

Posted: 06 Oct 2014 08:38 AM PDT

Researchers have developed a new type of foam – called capillary foam – that solves many of the problems faced by traditional foams. The foam could be used to make lightweight, sustainable materials.

Gaming vs. reading: Do they benefit teenagers with cognition or school performance?

Posted: 06 Oct 2014 06:44 AM PDT

Children have an increasing attraction towards electronic media in their play. With video games, phones and the internet in abundance, a new article examines if such leisure activity is impacting children's cognition or academic performance or whether it would be more beneficial to read.

No need for water, enzymes are doing it for themselves

Posted: 06 Oct 2014 05:53 AM PDT

New research has challenged one of the key axioms in biology -- that enzymes need water to function. The breakthrough could eventually lead to the development of new industrial catalysts for processing biodiesel.

Online games and remote experiments could reduce scientific fraud, cherry-picking

Posted: 06 Oct 2014 05:53 AM PDT

One way to combat the rising level of errors and fraud in life sciences research is through massive online laboratories, which use videogames to engage large numbers of non-professional investigators and prevent scientists from manually testing their own hypotheses, researchers say.

New web privacy system could revolutionize the safety of Internet surfing

Posted: 06 Oct 2014 05:51 AM PDT

Researchers have built a new system that protects Internet users' privacy whilst increasing the flexibility for web developers to build web applications that combine data from different web sites, dramatically improving the safety of surfing the web.

Pressing the accelerator on quantum robotics

Posted: 06 Oct 2014 05:51 AM PDT

Quantum computing will allow for the creation of powerful computers, but also much smarter and more creative robots than conventional ones. Scientists have now confirmed that quantum tools help robots learn and respond much faster to the stimuli around them. Quantum mechanics promises to revolutionize the world of communications and computers by introducing algorithms which are much quicker and more secure in transferring information.

Robotic solutions inspired by plants

Posted: 06 Oct 2014 05:51 AM PDT

Researchers are demonstrating revolutionary robotic techniques inspired by plants, featuring a 3D-printed 'trunk', 'leaves' that sense the environment and 'roots' that grow and change direction.

Nanoparticles break the symmetry of light

Posted: 06 Oct 2014 05:49 AM PDT

How can a beam of light tell the difference between left and right? Tiny particles have now been coupled to a glass fiber. The particles emit light into the fiber in such a way that it does not travel in both directions, as one would expect. Instead, the light can be directed either to the left or to the right. This has become possible by employing a remarkable physical effect – the spin-orbit coupling of light. This new kind of optical switch has the potential to revolutionize nanophotonics.

First pictures of BRCA2 protein show how it works to repair DNA

Posted: 05 Oct 2014 10:48 AM PDT

Scientists have taken pictures of the BRCA2 protein for the first time, showing how it works to repair damaged DNA. The findings showed that each pair of BRCA2 proteins binds two sets of RAD51 that run in opposite directions. This allows it to work on strands of broken DNA that point in either direction. They also show that BRCA2's job is to help RAD51 form short filaments at multiple sites along the DNA, presumably to increase the efficiency of establishing longer filaments required to search for matching strands.

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