ScienceDaily Technology Headlines -- for Monday, May 16, 2011

ScienceDaily Technology Headlines

for Monday, May 16, 2011

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New properties of supercooled confined water discovered (May 16, 2011) -- A new study suggests that hydrophobic nanoconfinement can alter the thermodynamics of water at supercool temperatures. These findings may have important applications in fields related to conservation at cryogenic temperatures (around minus 100 degrees Celsius) -- for example, in the preservation of stem cells, blood and food products. ... > full story

Evolutionary adaptations can be reversed, but rarely (May 16, 2011) -- Physicists' study of evolution in bacteria shows that adaptations can be undone, but rarely. Ever since Charles Darwin proposed his theory of evolution in 1859, scientists have wondered whether evolutionary adaptations can be reversed. Answering that question has proved difficult, partly due to conflicting evidence. In 2003, scientists showed that some species of insects have gained, lost and regained wings over millions of years. But a few years later, a different team found that a protein that helps control cells' stress responses could not evolve back to its original form. ... > full story

Lasers take the lead in auto manufacturing (May 16, 2011) -- Conserving energy is a top priority for auto manufacturers today. Laser technology can help. Lasers can be used to process thin light-weight components made of fiber-composite materials, as well as to manufacture more efficient engines and more powerful batteries. Scientists have now developed new production technologies. ... > full story

Toward faster transistors: Physicists discover physical phenomenon that could boost computers' clock speed (May 15, 2011) -- Researchers have discovered a new physical phenomenon that could yield transistors with greatly enhanced capacitance -- a measure of the voltage required to move a charge. And that, in turn, could lead to the revival of clock speed as the measure of a computer's power. ... > full story

Sound safety: Novel device with rock 'n' roll roots may protect listeners from potential dangers of personal listening devices and hearing aids (May 15, 2011) -- Engineers investigating "listener fatigue"-- the discomfort and pain some people experience while using in-ear headphones, hearing aids, and other devices that seal the ear canal from external sound -- have found not only what they believe is the cause, but also a potential solution. ... > full story

Controling robotic arms is child's play (May 15, 2011) -- Move your arm and the robot imitates your movement. This type of intuitive handling is now possible thanks to a new input device that will simplify the control of industrial robots in the future. But that is not all: The sensor system can also help regulate the movements of active prostheses. ... > full story

Moon's rough 'wrinkles' reveal clues to its past (May 15, 2011) -- Researchers have put together the first comprehensive set of maps revealing the slopes and roughness of the moon's surface. These maps are based on detailed data collected by the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) on NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. ... > full story

Crowdsourcing science: Researcher uses Facebook to identify thousands of fish (May 15, 2011) -- During a survey on Guyana's Cuyuni River, researcher Devin Bloom utilized Facebook to help identify thousands of fish specimens in less than 24 hours. ... > full story

Electronic cigarettes hold promise as aid to quitting, study finds (May 15, 2011) -- Researchers report that electronic cigarettes are a promising tool to help smokers quit, producing six-month abstinence rates nearly double those for traditional nicotine replacement products. ... > full story

Dusting for fingerprints -- It ain't CSI (May 15, 2011) -- Fingerprints: dozens of crime dramas revolve around them. The investigators find the victim, dust for fingerprints, run them through a computer program and voilá -- the guilty party is quickly identified and sent to prison. If only it were that easy. The reality is that this common but crucial part of an investigation is done by humans, not by computers. ... > full story

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

Super energy storage: Activated graphene makes superior supercapacitors for energy storage (May 13, 2011) -- Scientists have uncovered the nanoscale structure of a novel form of carbon, contributing to an explanation of why this new material acts like a super-absorbent sponge when it comes to soaking up electric charge. The material can be incorporated into "supercapacitor" energy-storage devices with remarkably high storage capacity, superfast energy release, quick recharge time, and a lifetime of at least 10,000 charge/discharge cycles. ... > full story

Galaxy NGC 4214: A star formation laboratory (May 13, 2011) -- Hubble's newest camera has taken an image of galaxy NGC 4214. This galaxy glows brightly with young stars and gas clouds, and is an ideal laboratory to research star formation and evolution. ... > full story

Take control of a wheelchair with a steady jaw and a wink (May 13, 2011) -- For people with severe physical disabilities, such as spinal cord injury, quadriplegia and hemiplegia or amputation, current technology for controlling a wheelchair or mobility scooter is wholly inadequate. A research article now shows how an inexpensive webcam and a bio-signal sensing headband can be used to control the steering and propulsion of an electric wheelchair. ... > full story

New method for engineering human tissue regeneration (May 13, 2011) -- If clinical trials prove successful, a discovery could represent a leap toward human tissue regeneration and engineering. In a new study, scientists provide evidence to support a paradigm shift from the idea that cells added to a graft before implantation are the building blocks of tissue, to a new belief that engineered tissue constructs can induce or augment the body's own reparative mechanisms, including complex tissue regeneration. ... > full story

Free-standing single-walled carbon nanotube thin films (May 13, 2011) -- Single-walled CNTs (SWCNTs) are a unique family of materials exhibiting diverse useful chemical and physical properties, researchers in Finland are demonstrating. Thin films of SWCNTs have many unique properties such as high porosity and specific surface area, low density, high ratio of optical transmittance to sheet resistance, high thermal conductivity and chemical sensitivity, and tunable metallic and semiconducting properties. ... > full story

Improving photosynthesis? Solar cells beat plants at harvesting sun's energy, for now (May 12, 2011) -- In a head-to-head battle of harvesting the sun's energy, solar cells beat plants. But scientists think they can even up the playing field. Plants are less efficient at capturing the energy in sunlight than solar cells mostly because they have too much evolutionary baggage. ... > full story

NASA's Galileo reveals magma 'ocean' beneath surface of Jupiter's moon (May 12, 2011) -- A new analysis of data from NASA's Galileo spacecraft reveals a subsurface "ocean" of magma beneath the surface of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io. The finding is the first direct confirmation of such a magma layer at Io and explains how Io can be the most volcanic object known in the solar system. ... > full story

Drive test: Super-stable laser shines in minivan experiment (May 12, 2011) -- In a step toward taking the most advanced atomic clocks on the road, physicists have designed and demonstrated a super-stable laser operating in a cramped, vibrating location -- a minivan. ... > full story

How higher gas prices affect consumer behavior (May 12, 2011) -- An economist used gasoline purchasing data to show how consumers make buying decisions when prices jump at the pump. When gas prices went up people behaved as if they were much poorer, buying cheaper gasoline -- as if a increase in gasoline prices had decreased their annual income by tens of thousands of dollars. ... > full story

How 'hot Jupiters' got so close to their stars: Extrasolar planet research sheds light on our solar system (May 12, 2011) -- More than 500 extrasolar planets -- planets that orbit stars other than the sun -- have been discovered since 1995. But only in the last few years have astronomers observed that in some of these systems the star is spinning one way and the planet, a "hot Jupiter," is orbiting the star in the opposite direction. ... > full story

Silver cycle: New evidence for natural synthesis of silver nanoparticles (May 12, 2011) -- Because they have a variety of useful properties, especially as antibacterial and antifungal agents, silver nanoparticles increasingly are being used in a wide variety of industrial and consumer products. This in turn has raised concerns about what happens to them once released into the environment. Now a new research paper adds an additional wrinkle: Nature may be making silver nanoparticles on its own. ... > full story

New technology fuses MRI, ultrasound to achieve targeted biopsy of prostate cancer (May 12, 2011) -- A new prostate-imaging technology that fuses MRI with real-time, three-dimensional ultrasound may offer a more exacting method to obtain biopsy specimens from suspicious areas within the organ. ... > full story

Secret behind new gas detector? Chirp before sniffing (May 12, 2011) -- Trace gas detection, the ability to detect a scant handful of a particular molecule in a vast sea of others, underlies many important applications, from medical tests to breathalyzers to bomb sniffers. Now, a recently developed sensor recently that is hundreds of times faster and more sensitive than others may make such detectors portable, economical and fast enough to be used everywhere. ... > full story

Trust a large factor in the emotional process of family business succession (May 12, 2011) -- In the United States alone there are an estimated 10.8 million family businesses. Only 30 percent of businesses stay in the family from the first to the second generation. A new study shows that passing down a family business is an emotional process, and key factors need to be in place in order for the transition to prove successful. ... > full story

It's not easy flying green: Large variability in greenhouse gas emissions from alternative fuels (May 11, 2011) -- In an effort to combat soaring fuel prices and cut greenhouse gas emissions, the aviation industry is racing toward the use of biofuels. However, researchers the industry should make sure it has examined biofuels' complete carbon footprint before making an all-out push. They say that when a biofuel's origins are factored in, conventional fossil fuels may sometimes be the "greener" choice. ... > full story

Surge in obesity correlates with increased automobile usage, study finds (May 11, 2011) -- The surge in passenger vehicle usage in the U.S. between the 1950s and today may be associated with surging levels of obesity, says a researcher who specializes in statistics and data analysis. ... > full story

NASA's Fermi spots 'superflares' in the Crab Nebula (May 11, 2011) -- The famous Crab Nebula supernova remnant has erupted in an enormous flare five times more powerful than any flare previously seen from the object. On April 12, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope first detected the outburst, which lasted six days. ... > full story

Build safety into the very beginning of the computer system (May 11, 2011) -- A new publication provides guidelines to secure the earliest stages of the computer boot process, the so-called BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) that initializes the computer hardware when you switch on the machine. ... > full story

NASA's Dawn spacecraft captures first image of nearing asteroid (May 11, 2011) -- NASA's Dawn spacecraft has obtained its first image of the giant asteroid Vesta, which will help fine-tune navigation during its approach. Dawn is expected to achieve orbit around Vesta on July 16, when the asteroid is about 188 million kilometers (117 million miles) from Earth. ... > full story

Lessening the dangers of radiation: Ultrasound as effective as CT scans for most diagnoses, research finds (May 11, 2011) -- A new study exploring the efficacy of expensive and invasive CT scans has found that, in many cases, they don't offer a clinical advantage over a simple, inexpensive ultrasound procedure. ... > full story

Doppler effect found even at molecular level -- 169 years after its discovery (May 11, 2011) -- For the first time, scientists have experimentally shown a different version of the Doppler effect at a much, much smaller level -- the rotation of an individual molecule. Prior to this such an effect had been theorized, but it took a complex experiment with a synchrotron to prove it's for real. ... > full story

Harnessing the energy of the Sun: New technique improves artificial photosynthesis (May 11, 2011) -- Transforming solar energy into a usable form is a real challenge. One technique is to use semiconductors to store the energy as hydrogen. Unfortunately, the most efficient semiconductors are not the most stable. Scientists have just discovered that it is possible to protect the semiconductor with a uniform layer just a few nanometers thick. ... > full story

Proton dripping tests a fundamental force in nature (May 11, 2011) -- A recent discovery of an extremely exotic, short-lived nucleus called fluorine-14 in laboratory experiments may indicate that scientists are gaining a better grasp of the rules of strong interaction. ... > full story

Gaming, simulation tools merged to create models for border security (May 11, 2011) -- Researchers have developed a high-fidelity simulation and analysis program that aids policy and decision-makers tasked with making key procurements and funding choices. ... > full story

Portuguese software enables automatic analysis of mammograms (May 11, 2011) -- Engineers in Portugal have developed computer software to automatically analyze and validate mammograms. ... > full story

Carbon, carbon everywhere, but not from the Big Bang (May 11, 2011) -- As Star Trek is so fond of reminding us, we're carbon-based life forms. But the event that jump-started the universe, the Big Bang, didn't actually produce any carbon, so where the heck did it -- and we -- come from? A researcher has helped create supercomputer simulations that demonstrate how carbon is produced in stars, proving an old theory correct. ... > full story