ScienceDaily Technology Headlines -- for Sunday, May 15, 2011

ScienceDaily Technology Headlines

for Sunday, May 15, 2011

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New algorithm offers ability to influence systems such as living cells or social networks (May 14, 2011) -- A new computational model can analyze any type of complex network -- biological, social or electronic -- and reveal the critical points that can be used to control the entire system. Potential applications of this work include reprogramming adult cells and identifying new drug targets. ... > full story

New calculations on blackbody energy set the stage for clocks with unprecedented accuracy (May 14, 2011) -- A team of physicists from the United States and Russia has developed a means for computing, with unprecedented accuracy, a tiny, temperature-dependent source of error in atomic clocks. Although small, the correction could represent a big step towards atomic timekeepers' longstanding goal of a clock with a precision equivalent to one second of error every 32 billion years, longer than the age of the universe. ... > full story

Scientists design new anti-flu virus proteins using computational methods (May 14, 2011) -- Scientists have demonstrated the use of computational methods to design new antiviral proteins not found in nature, but capable of targeting specific surfaces of flu virus molecules. Such designer proteins may have diagnostic and therapeutic potential in identifying and fighting viral infections. The researchers created a protein that disabled the part of the 1918 pandemic flu virus involved in invading respiratory tract cells. It did so by preventing segment from reconfiguring. This same protein also disabled a similar section of an avian flu virus. ... > full story

Increase in Internet access parallels growth in prescription drug abuse (May 14, 2011) -- Increasing access to rogue online pharmacies that dispense medications without a doctor's prescription may be an important factor behind the rapid increase in the abuse of prescription drugs. U.S. states with the greatest expansion in high-speed Internet access from 2000 to 2007 also had the largest increase in admissions for treatment of prescription drug abuse. ... > full story

Assessing the risks of wireless and mobile phone radiation more accurately (May 13, 2011) -- Electromagnetic fields and radiation produced by radio antennae or mobile phones can influence biological processes -- for instance, electrical brain activity during sleep, as researchers in Switzerland have shown. However, they have not been able to establish any links between everyday exposure to radiation and health problems. ... > full story

Nuclear desalination: Fresh water from waste heat of power plants (May 13, 2011) -- Nuclear desalination uses the excess heat from a nuclear power plant to evaporate sea water and to condense the pure water. A research team from India and Italy argues that despite public concerns, the low energy costs and convenience of this latter process make it the preferred option. ... > full story

Sensors that can stretch (May 13, 2011) -- Is someone sitting in the passenger seat of the car? Did someone enter the safety zone in front of an industrial machine? Stretch and pressure sensors have a wide range of applications. Researchers have now developed sensors capable of expanding, in extreme cases, to twice their original length and so supple as to go virtually unnoticed when sewn into clothing. ... > full story

Strong, tough and now cheap: New way to process metallic glass developed (May 13, 2011) -- Stronger than steel or titanium -- and just as tough -- metallic glass is an ideal material for everything from cell-phone cases to aircraft parts. Now, researchers have developed a new technique that allows them to make metallic-glass parts utilizing the same inexpensive processes used to produce plastic parts. ... > full story

Dwarf planet Haumea shines with crystalline ice (May 13, 2011) -- The fifth dwarf planet of the solar system, Haumea, and at least one of its two satellites, are covered in crystalline water-ice due to the tidal forces between them and the heat of radiogenic elements, according to an international research study using observations from the VLT telescope at the European Southern Observatory in Chile. ... > full story

Exposing ZnO nanorods to visible light removes microbes, researchers in Thailand show (May 13, 2011) -- The practical use of visible light and zinc oxide nanorods for destroying bacterial water contamination has been successfully demonstrated by researchers in Thailand. ZnO has now been tested under solar light, instead of the traditionally used UV light, suggesting a huge potential for commercial applications. ... > full story

Mixing fluids efficiently in confined spaces: Let the fingers do the working (May 13, 2011) -- Researchers have shown that the injection of a thin or low-viscosity fluid into a much more viscous fluid (think of water spurting into molasses) will cause the two fluids to mix very quickly via a physical process known as viscous fingering. For maximum mixing to occur quickly, the ideal ratio of the viscosity of two fluids depends on the speed of injection. This work could have implications for the petroleum industry and microfluidics technology. ... > full story

Diagnosing 'seizures' in the US economy (May 13, 2011) -- Researchers have examined the dynamics of the S&P 500 over the last decade, employing methods originally developed to analyze the brain activity of epilepsy patients. He found surprising results. ... > full story