ScienceDaily Technology Headlines -- for Thursday, September 1, 2011

ScienceDaily Technology Headlines

for Thursday, September 1, 2011

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Cutting soot emissions: Fastest, most economical way to slow global warming? (September 1, 2011) -- A new study of dust-like particles of soot in the air -- now emerging as the second most important, but previously overlooked, factor in global warming -- provides fresh evidence that reducing soot emissions from diesel engines and other sources could slow melting of sea ice in the Arctic faster and more economically than any other quick fix. ... > full story

Down to the wire: Inexpensive technique for making high quality nanowire solar cells (September 1, 2011) -- Researchers have developed a solution-based technique for fabricating core/shell nanowire solar cells using the semiconductors cadmium sulfide for the core and copper sulfide for the shell. These inexpensive and easy-to-make nanowire solar cells hold great promise for future solar cell technology. ... > full story

New insight into how disordered solids deform (September 1, 2011) -- In solid materials with regular atomic structures, figuring out weak points where the material will break under stress is relatively easy. But for disordered solids, like glass or sand, their disordered nature makes such predictions much more daunting tasks. Now, a collaboration combining a theoretical model with a first-of-its kind experiment has demonstrated a novel method for identifying "soft spots" in such materials. ... > full story

Computer model for testing heart-disease drugs: Simulations solve decades-old mystery of failed anti-arrhythmia therapy (September 1, 2011) -- Researchers have developed an accurate computer model to test the effects of medications for arrhythmia, or abnormal heart rhythm, before they are used in patients. ... > full story

First flaws in the Advanced Encryption Standard used for internet banking identified (September 1, 2011) -- Researchers have found a weakness in the AES algorithm used worldwide to protect internet banking, wireless communications, and data on hard disks. They managed to come up with a clever new attack that can recover the secret key four times easier than anticipated by experts. However the attack has no practical implications on the security of user data due to various complexities. ... > full story

Ion armageddon: Measuring the impact energy of highly charged ions (August 31, 2011) -- Much like a meteor impacting a planet, highly charged ions hit really hard and can do a lot of damage, albeit on a much smaller scale. And much like geologists determine the size and speed of the meteor by looking at the hole it left, physicists can learn a lot about a highly charged ion's energy by looking at the divots it makes in thin films. Researchers have now measured the energy of highly charged ion impacts on a thin film surface for the first time in detail. ... > full story

Tiny oxygen generators boost effectiveness of anticancer treatment (August 31, 2011) -- Researchers have created and tested miniature devices that are implanted in tumors to generate oxygen, boosting the killing power of radiation and chemotherapy. ... > full story

Solar industry responsible for lead emissions in developing countries, research finds (August 31, 2011) -- Solar power heavily reliant on lead batteries has the potential to release more than 2.4 million tons of lead pollution in China and India, according to new research. ... > full story

Hubble movies provide unprecedented view of supersonic jets from young stars (August 31, 2011) -- Astronomers have combined two decades of Hubble observations to make unprecedented movies revealing never-before-seen details of the birth pangs of new stars. This sheds new light on how stars like the Sun form. ... > full story

New tests for dangerous 'legal marijuana,' 'bath salts' and other emerging designer drugs (August 31, 2011) -- Scientists report the development of much needed new tests to help cope with a wave of deaths, emergency room visits and other problems from a new genre of dangerous designer drugs sold legally in stores and online that mimic the effects of cocaine, ecstasy and marijuana. ... > full story

Graphene's shining light could lead to super-fast Internet (August 31, 2011) -- Internet connection speeds could be tens of times faster than they currently are, thanks to new research by scientists using wonder material graphene. By combining graphene with metallic nanostructures, they show a twenty-fold enhancement in harvesting light by graphene, which paves the way for advances in high-speed internet and other communications. ... > full story

Panda poop may be a treasure trove of microbes for making biofuels (August 31, 2011) -- Panda feces contains bacteria with potent effects in breaking down plant material in the way needed to tap biomass as a major new source of "biofuels" produced not from corn and other food sources, but from grass, wood chips and crop wastes, scientists report. ... > full story

New light shed on pulsars (August 31, 2011) -- Astronomers have made an important breakthrough in the understanding of how pulsars work. Using a new inverse mapping or reverse engineering approach, researchers were able to establish for the first time that most of the light from the pulsar comes from close to the star's surface. This is contrary to most pulsar models and points to a new way of analysing observational data from pulsars. ... > full story

Jupiter-bound space probe captures Earth and Moon (August 31, 2011) -- On its way to the biggest planet in the solar system -- Jupiter, NASA's Juno spacecraft took time to capture its home planet and its natural satellite -- the moon. ... > full story

What's really in that luscious chocolate aroma? (August 31, 2011) -- The mouth-watering aroma of roasted cocoa beans -- key ingredient for chocolate -- emerges from substances that individually smell like potato chips, cooked meat, peaches, raw beef fat, human sweat, earth and an improbable palate of other distinctly un-cocoa-like aromas. That's among the discoveries emerging from an effort to identify the essential aroma and taste ingredients in the world's favorite treat. ... > full story

Mobile phone data help track populations during disasters (August 31, 2011) -- Mobile phone positioning data can be used to monitor population movements during disasters and outbreaks, according to a new study. The study finds that reports on the location of populations affected and in need of assistance can be generated within hours of receiving data. ... > full story

Monitoring ground-level ozone from space (August 30, 2011) -- Satellite views of the Midwestern United States show that ozone levels above 50 parts per billion along the ground could reduce soybean yields by at least 10 percent, costing more than billion in lost crop production, according to scientists. ... > full story

Discovery sheds light on the ecosystem of young galaxies (August 30, 2011) -- A team of scientists has discovered a distant galaxy that may help elucidate two fundamental questions of galaxy formation: How galaxies take in matter and how they give off energetic radiation. ... > full story

Breakthrough in hydrogen fuel cells: Chemists develop way to safely store, extract hydrogen (August 30, 2011) -- A team of scientists has developed a robust, efficient method of using hydrogen as a fuel source. ... > full story

Novel alloy could produce hydrogen fuel from sunlight (August 30, 2011) -- Using state-of-the-art theoretical computations, a team of scientists has determined that an alloy formed by a 2 percent substitution of antimony in gallium nitride has the right electrical properties to enable solar light energy to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. The alloy functions as a catalyst in the photoelectrochemical electrolysis of water. ... > full story

Atlas of the Milky Way leads to discovery of two supernova remnants (August 30, 2011) -- It may not be much use to hitchhikers through the galaxy, but it is extremely valuable to astronomers: the new radio atlas of the Milky Way. After almost ten years of work, researchers have completed their investigation into the polarized radio emission in the galactic plane. ... > full story

Microscope on the go: Cheap, portable, dual-mode microscope uses holograms, not lenses (August 30, 2011) -- To serve remote areas of the world, doctors, nurses and field workers need equipment that is portable, versatile, and relatively inexpensive. Now researchers have built a compact, light-weight, dual-mode microscope that uses holograms instead of lenses. It weighs about as much as a banana and fits in the palm of a hand. ... > full story

Epic search for evidence of life on Mars heats up with focus on high-tech instruments (August 30, 2011) -- Scientists are expressing confidence that questions about life on Mars, which have captured human imagination for centuries, finally may be answered, thanks in part to new life-detection tools up to 1,000 times more sensitive than previous instruments. ... > full story

The pancreas as we’ve never seen it before (August 30, 2011) -- Medical researchers are developing optic projection tomography. With the aid of this imaging technology, they have now described aspects of how the pancreas develops during embryonic development and how the so-called islets of Langerhans are distributed in the adult organ. The findings are important for the interpretation of modeling systems for diabetes. ... > full story

Watching viruses 'friend' a network: Researchers develop Facebook application to track the path of infection (August 30, 2011) -- PiggyDemic, an application developed by researchers in Israel, allows Facebook users to "infect" their friends with a simulated virus or become infected themselves. This will allow researchers to gather information on how a virus mutates, spreads through human interaction, and the number of people it infects. ... > full story

Wearable device that vibrates fingertip could improve one's sense of touch (August 30, 2011) -- Researchers have developed a glove with a special fingertip designed to improve the wearer's sense of touch. Applying a small vibration to the side of the fingertip improves tactile sensitivity and motor performance, according to their research results. ... > full story

Discovery turns seaweed into biofuel in half the time (August 30, 2011) -- Scientists have engineered a new strain of yeast that converts seaweed into biofuel in half the time it took just months ago. ... > full story

First nuclear power plants for settlements on the moon and Mars (August 30, 2011) -- The first nuclear power plant being considered for production of electricity for manned or unmanned bases on the Moon, Mars and other planets may really look like it came from outer space, according to a leader of the project in a recent presentation. ... > full story

Computers are oversold and underused, research on educational programs suggests (August 30, 2011) -- According to new research which studies educational programs in Bahrain, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates, information and communication technology (ICT) is not effectively utilized in classrooms in the Middle East. ... > full story

Diamond planet: Radio wave observations show transformation of a galaxy into a millisecond pulsar and its companion planet (August 30, 2011) -- A star that changes into a diamond planet? What sounds like science fiction is apparently reality. Researchers found the diamond planet with the help of the 64-meter Parkes radio telescope in Australia. The planet apparently orbits around an unusual, very dense star, a pulsar. ... > full story

Social media valuable tool to recruit study participants for rare diseases (August 30, 2011) -- Researchers have identified a new benefit of social media and online networking: a novel way to study rare diseases. Through patient-run websites dedicated to heart conditions and women's heart health, cardiologists are reaching out to survivors of spontaneous coronary artery dissection, also known as SCAD, a poorly understood heart condition that affects just a few thousand Americans every year. ... > full story

'Smelling' heart failure: Evaluation of an electronic nose (August 29, 2011) -- A German team has developed a completely new non-invasive method to identify heart failure. It consists of an "electronic nose" which could make the "smelling" of heart failure possible. ... > full story

Filling the pantry for the first voyages to the Red Planet (August 29, 2011) -- A green thumb and a little flair as a gourmet chef may be among the key skills for the first men and women who travel to the Red Planet later this century, according to one scientist. ... > full story

Astrophysicists solve 40-year-old Mariner 5 solar wind problem: Turbulence doesn’t go with the flow (August 29, 2011) -- Astrophysicists have resolved a 40-year-old problem with observations of turbulence in the solar wind first made by the probe Mariner 5. The research resolves an issue with what is by far the largest and most interesting natural turbulence lab accessible to researchers today. ... > full story

Hollywood screenwriters and scientists: More than an artistic collaboration (August 29, 2011) -- In this International Year of Chemistry (IYC), writers and producers for the most popular crime and science-related television shows and movies are putting out an all-points bulletin for scientists to advise them on the accuracy of their plots and to even give them story ideas. ... > full story

Nano-thermometers show first temperature response differences within living cells (August 29, 2011) -- Using a modern version of open-wide-and-keep-this-under-your-tongue, scientists today reported taking the temperature of individual cells in the human body, and finding for the first time that temperatures inside do not adhere to the familiar 98.6 degree Fahrenheit norm. ... > full story

New method detects emerging sunspots deep inside the sun, provides warning of dangerous solar flares (August 29, 2011) -- Sunspots spawn solar flares that can cause billions of dollars in damage to satellites, communications networks and power grids. But researchers have now developed a way to detect incipient sunspots as deep as 65,000 kilometers inside the sun, providing up to two days' advance warning of a damaging solar flare. ... > full story

New imaging method sheds light on cell growth (August 29, 2011) -- Researchers developed a new imaging method that can measure cell mass using two beams of light, offering new insight into the much-debated problem of whether cells grow at a constant rate or exponentially. They found that mammalian cells show clear exponential growth only during the G2 phase of the cell cycle. This information has great implications not only for basic biology, but also for diagnostics, drug development and tissue engineering. ... > full story

New device helps the blind to move independently (August 29, 2011) -- Engineers have developed a new device that helps the blind to move independently. ... > full story

Sensor chip for monitoring tumors (August 29, 2011) -- A chip implant may soon be capable of monitoring tumors that are difficult to operate on or growing slowly. Medical engineers have developed an electronic sensor chip that can determine the oxygen content in a patient's tissue fluid. This data can then be wirelessly transmitted to the patient's doctor to support the choice of therapy. A drop in oxygen content in tissue surrounding a tumor indicates that the tumor might be growing faster and becoming aggressive. ... > full story

Stopping dengue fever with bacteria and math (August 29, 2011) -- It may be possible to eliminate the deadly dengue fever by infecting mosquitoes with a bacterium called Wolbachia that prevents the mosquitoes from transmitting the dengue virus to humans. A new mathematical model may be helpful in getting the bacteria established in mosquito populations. ... > full story

Astrophysicists simulate a Milky Way-like galaxy; Supercomputer experiment supports cosmological model of a 'cold dark matter' universe (August 29, 2011) -- After nine months of number-crunching on a powerful supercomputer, a beautiful spiral galaxy matching our own Milky Way emerged from a computer simulation of the physics involved in galaxy formation and evolution. The simulation solves a longstanding problem that had led some to question the prevailing cosmological model of the universe. ... > full story

Cassini closes in on Saturn's tumbling moon Hyperion (August 28, 2011) -- NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured new views of Saturn's oddly shaped moon Hyperion during its encounter with a cratered body on Aug. 25. Raw images were acquired as the spacecraft flew past the moon at a distance of about 15,500 miles (25,000 kilometers), making this the second closest encounter. ... > full story

Peculiar pair of galaxies nicknamed 'The Eyes' (August 28, 2011) -- The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope has taken a striking image of a beautiful yet peculiar pair of galaxies nicknamed The Eyes. The larger of these, NGC 4438, was once a spiral galaxy but has become badly deformed by collisions with other galaxies in the last few hundred million years. ... > full story

Beyond smart phones: Sensor network to make 'smart cities' envisioned (August 28, 2011) -- Thanks to numerous sensors, smartphones make it easy for their owners to organize certain parts of their lives. However, that is just the beginning. Researchers envision entire "smart" cities, where all devices present within municipal areas are intelligently linked to one another. ... > full story

Atomic clock with the world's best long-term accuracy is revealed after evaluation (August 27, 2011) -- A clock in the UK is the most accurate long-term timekeeper in the world, reveals a new study. ... > full story

First glimpse into birth of the Milky Way (August 27, 2011) -- For almost 20 years astrophysicists have been trying to recreate the formation of spiral galaxies such as our Milky Way realistically. Now astrophysicists and astronomers present the world's first realistic simulation of the formation of our home galaxy. The new results show that there had to be stars on the outer edge of the Milky Way. ... > full story

Cars could run on recycled newspaper, scientists say (August 26, 2011) -- Here's one way that old-fashioned newsprint beats the Internet. Scientists have discovered a novel bacterial strain, dubbed "TU-103," that can use paper to produce butanol, a biofuel that can serve as a substitute for gasoline. They are currently experimenting with old editions of the Times Picayune, New Orleans' venerable daily newspaper, with great success. ... > full story