ScienceDaily Technology Headlines
for Friday, August 29, 2008
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Explosives Go 'Green' ... And Get More Precise (August 29, 2008) -- Certain explosives may soon get a little greener and a little more precise. Researchers have added unique green solvents (ionic liquids) to an explosive called TATB (1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene) and improved the crystal quality and chemical purity of the material. ... > full story
Ultra-energy Efficient Dryer Under Development (August 29, 2008) -- A total drying solution for the manufacturing industry which will make significant energy savings is currently under development. ... > full story
Researchers Provide Solution To World’s Worst Mass Poisoning Case (August 29, 2008) -- A solution to the world's worst case of ongoing mass poisoning, linked to rising cancer rates in Southern Asia, has been developed by researchers from Queen's University Belfast. They have created new low-cost technology to provide arsenic-free water to millions of people in South Asia currently exposed to high levels of the poison in groundwater. ... > full story
Model Helps Computers Sort Data More Like Humans (August 28, 2008) -- Humans have a natural tendency to find order in sets of information, a skill that has proven difficult to replicate in computers. Faced with a large set of data, computers don't know where to begin -- unless they're programmed to look for a specific structure, such as a hierarchy, linear order, or a set of clusters. Now, in an advance that may impact the field of artificial intelligence, a new model developed at MIT can help computers recognize patterns the same way that humans do. ... > full story
Ceramic Material Revs Up Microwaving (August 28, 2008) -- Quicker microwave meals that use less energy may soon be possible with new ceramic microwave dishes and, according to the material scientists responsible, this same material could help with organic waste remediation. ... > full story
Cluster Watches Earth's Leaky Atmosphere (August 28, 2008) -- Oxygen is constantly leaking out of Earth's atmosphere and into space. Now, ESA's formation-flying quartet of satellites, Cluster, has discovered the physical mechanism that is driving the escape. It turns out that the Earth's own magnetic field is accelerating the oxygen away. ... > full story
Proteins Have Controlled Motions, Researcher Shows (August 28, 2008) -- Iowa State University researcher Robert Jernigan believes that his research shows proteins have controlled motions. Most biochemists traditionally believe proteins have many random, uncontrolled movements. ... > full story
Wind-powered 'Ventomobile' Places First in Race (August 28, 2008) -- The solely wind-driven Ventomobile constructed by a team of students in aerospace engineering came in first at the Aeolus Race in the Dutch town of Den Helder last Friday. Racing the extremely stylish and lightweight three-wheeler, the vehicles of five European universities and research centres had difficulties to catch up. ... > full story
New LIDAR System Sees The Sky In 3D (August 28, 2008) -- A new LIDAR measurement system -- unique in the world -- will provide continuous data on atmospheric humidity for Western Switzerland's weather forecasting headquarters. ... > full story
Minimum Mass For Galaxies Discovered: Breakthrough Sheds Light On Mysterious Dark Matter (August 28, 2008) -- By analyzing light from small, faint galaxies that orbit the Milky Way, UC Irvine scientists believe they have discovered the minimum mass for galaxies in the universe -- 10 million times the mass of the sun. ... > full story
Fingerprint Breakthrough Hope In US Double Murder Probe (August 28, 2008) -- A double murder investigation that has remained unsolved for almost a decade could be provided new impetus following a forensic breakthrough. ... > full story
Sweet Potato Out-Yields Corn In Ethanol Production Study (August 28, 2008) -- In experiments, sweet potatoes grown in Maryland and Alabama yielded two to three times as much carbohydrate for fuel ethanol production as field corn grown in those states, scientists report. The same was true of tropical cassava in Alabama. ... > full story
Protein Misprediction Uncovered By New Technique (August 28, 2008) -- A new bioinformatics tool is capable of identifying and correcting abnormal, incomplete and mispredicted protein annotations in public databases. The MisPred tool currently uses five principles to identify suspect proteins that are likely to be abnormal or mispredicted. ... > full story
Wireless Sensors Learn From Life (August 27, 2008) -- European and Indian researchers are applying principles learned from living organisms to design self-organising networks of wireless sensors suitable for a wide range of environmental monitoring purposes. ... > full story
Clash Of Clusters Provides New Dark Matter Clue (August 27, 2008) -- New Hubble and Chandra observations of the cluster known as MACSJ0025.4-1222 indicate that a titanic collision has separated dark from ordinary matter. This provides independent confirmation of a similar effect detected previously in a target dubbed the Bullet Cluster, showing that the Bullet Cluster is not an anomalous case. ... > full story
Fingerprint Analysis Technique Could Be Used To Identify Bombmakers (August 27, 2008) -- University of Leicester experts have held discussions with military personnel in Afghanistan following the discovery of new technology to identify fingerprints on metal. ... > full story
NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity Climbing Out Of Victoria Crater (August 27, 2008) -- NASA's Mars Exploration rover Opportunity is heading back out to the Red Planet's surrounding plains nearly a year after descending into a large Martian crater to examine exposed ancient rock layers. ... > full story
Bones Get Mended With High Tech Glass-of-milk (August 27, 2008) -- Scientists at the new Nuclear-Magnetic Resonance unit at the University of Warwick have discovered how a high-tech glass of milk is helping bones mend. ... > full story
Cancer Breath? New Tool Aims To Detect Cancer Early In Exhaled Air (August 27, 2008) -- Early cancer detection can significantly improve survival rates. Current diagnostic tests often fail to detect cancer in the earliest stages and at the same time expose a patient to the harmful effects of radiation. Scientists will be using mid-infrared lasers to create a sensor to detect biomarker gases exhaled in the breath of a person with cancer. ... > full story
Catalyst For Water Oxidation Adopted From Plants: A Means For Energy-efficient Production Of Hydrogen? (August 27, 2008) -- A team of Australian and American researchers has developed a catalyst that effectively catalyzes the photooxidation of water. The core of the catalyst is a manganese-containing complex modeled after those found in photosynthetic organisms. ... > full story
How Do Galaxies Grow? Massive Galaxies Caught In The Act Of Merging (August 26, 2008) -- Astronomers have caught multiple massive galaxies in the act of merging about 4 billion years ago. This discovery, made possible by combining the power of the best ground- and space-based telescopes, uniquely supports the favoured theory of how galaxies form. ... > full story
Large Hadron Collider: Final Synchronization Test A Success (August 26, 2008) -- CERN has announced the success of the second and final test of the Large Hadron Collider's beam synchronization systems. The test will allow the LHC operations team to inject the first beam into the LHC. ... > full story
How Much Risk Can You Handle? Making Better Investment Decisions (August 26, 2008) -- Many Americans make investment decisions with their retirement funds. But they don't always make informed judgments. A new study introduces a new tool that investors can use to choose investments based on their financial goals and risk attitudes. ... > full story
Fertilizer Technology Used Worldwide, But Few New Products Since 1970s (August 26, 2008) -- Most fertilizers used worldwide today were developed from 1950 to 1970 by the Tennessee Valley Authority based in Muscle Shoals. A million investment in fertilizer research returned billion to US agriculture. Public funding for fertilizer development has dropped dramatically since the TVA fertilizer program closed in the 1990s. Research is needed to develop a new generation of energy-efficient fertilizers to help alleviate the food crisis. ... > full story
New Space Telescope Reveals Entire Gamma-ray Sky (August 26, 2008) -- NASA's Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope has revealed its first all-sky map in gamma rays. The onboard Large Area Telescope's all-sky image -- which shows the glowing gas of the Milky Way, blinking pulsars and a flaring galaxy billions of light-years away -- was created using only 95 hours of "first light" observations, compared with past missions which took years to produce a similar image. ... > full story
Hydrogen-Producing Bacteria Provide Clean Energy (August 26, 2008) -- A new "green" technology developed cooperatively by scientists with the Agricultural Research Service and North Carolina State University could lead to production of hydrogen from nitrogen-fixing bacteria. ... > full story
New Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizer May Minimize Viral Transmission, Including Norovirus (August 26, 2008) -- A newly developed ethanol-based hand sanitizer may significantly impact public health by minimizing the transmission of multiple viruses, including norovirus, from food handlers and care providers. ... > full story
Low-cost System System Thwarts Internet Eavesdropping (August 26, 2008) -- The growth of shared Wi-Fi and other wireless computer networks has increased the risk of eavesdropping on Internet communications, but researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science and College of Engineering have devised a low-cost system that can thwart these "Man-in-the-Middle" attacks. ... > full story
Why Wind Turbines Can Mean Death For Bats (August 26, 2008) -- Power-generating wind turbines have long been recognized as a potentially life-threatening hazard for birds. But at most wind facilities, bats actually die in much greater numbers. Now, researchers think they know why. ... > full story
Building A Stronger Roof Over Your Head: 'Three Little Pigs' Project Begins First Tests (August 26, 2008) -- This week, inaugural tests at The University of Western Ontario's 'Three Little Pigs' project at the Insurance Research Lab for Better Homes will get underway. This facility is the first of its kind in the world to subject full-scale houses to pressures that simulate the effects of winds as strong as a category 5 hurricane -- or 200 mph -- all within a controlled environment. ... > full story
Century-old Rule Of Chemistry Overturned -- Major Implications For Drug Delivery (August 25, 2008) -- A new study has challenged a century old rule of pharmacology that defined how quickly key chemicals can pass across cell walls. The new observations of the chemists suggest that the real transport rates could be up to a hundred times slower than predicted by the century-old "Overton's Rule." This could have major implications for the development and testing of many future drugs. ... > full story
'Can You See Me Now?' Sign Language Over Cell Phones Comes To United States (August 25, 2008) -- A group has demonstrated software that for the first time enables deaf and hard of hearing Americans to use sign language over a mobile phone. ... > full story
Air-purifying Church Windows Were Early Nanotechnology (August 25, 2008) -- Stained glass windows that are painted with gold purify the air when they are lit up by sunlight, experts have discovered. ... > full story
Diseased Kidney Surgically Removed Using 3-D Robotics Through Single Incision (August 25, 2008) -- For the first time in Michigan, a diseased kidney has been surgically removed at Henry Ford Hospital using highly sophisticated 3-D robotics through a single incision. ... > full story
Life Isn't 2-D, So Why Should Our Encyclopedias Be? (August 25, 2008) -- Biologists and biochemists are now able to access 3-D images of biomacromolecules underlying biological functions and disease. Rather than relying on text to provide the understanding of biomacromolecule structures, a collaborative Web site called Proteopedia now provides a new resource by linking written information and three-dimensional structural information. The wiki web resource, first described in BioMed Central's open access journal Genome Biology, displays protein structures and other biomacromolecules in interactive format. ... > full story
Bacteria Power: Future For Clean Energy Lies In 'Big Bang' Of Evolution (August 25, 2008) -- Bacteria may hold the key for our future. Amid mounting agreement that future clean, "carbon neutral," energy will rely on efficient conversion of the sun's light energy into fuels and electric power, attention is focusing on one of the most ancient groups of organism, the cyanobacteria. ... > full story
GOCE Earth Explorer Satellite To Look At The Earth's Surface And Core (August 25, 2008) -- The European Space Agency is about to launch the most sophisticated mission ever to investigate the Earth's gravitational field and to map the reference shape of our planet -- the geoid -- with unprecedented resolution and accuracy. ... > full story
Converting Sunlight To Cheaper Energy (August 25, 2008) -- Scientists are working to convert sunlight to cheap electricity. They are working with new materials that can make devices used for converting sunlight to electricity cheaper and more efficient. ... > full story
A New Biopesticide For The Organic Food Boom (August 25, 2008) -- With the boom in consumption of organic foods creating a pressing need for natural insecticides and herbicides that can be used on crops certified as "organic," biopesticide pioneer Pam G. Marrone is reporting development of a new "green" pesticide obtained from an extract of the giant knotweed. The research will be reported in August at the American Chemical Society national meeting in Philadelphia. ... > full story
Fast Quantum Computer Building Block Created (August 25, 2008) -- The fastest quantum computer bit that exploits the main advantage of the qubit over the conventional bit has been demonstrated. The scientists used lasers to create an initialized quantum state of this solid-state qubit at rates of about a gigahertz, or a billion times per second. They can also use lasers to achieve fundamental steps toward programming it. ... > full story
Researching Most Promising Carbon Dioxide Capture Technologies (August 25, 2008) -- A scientific research and development programme is being launched in Norway with the aim of generating more cost effective technology for CO2-capture. The project is one of the biggest of its kind to date. ... > full story
Generations Of Stars Pose For Family Portrait (August 25, 2008) -- A new image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope tells a tale of life and death amidst a rich family history. The striking infrared picture shows a colorful cosmic cloud, called W5, studded with multiple generations of blazing stars. ... > full story
Agile Approach Slashes Software Development Time (August 25, 2008) -- Results of the EUREKA ITEA software Cluster AGILE project make it possible for European manufacturers to develop high quality embedded software in markedly shorter times and at much lower costs than possible with traditional techniques. Applying the approach to 68 pilot case studies in industries from avionics and telecommunications to consumer electronics, the project demonstrated clearly that 'agile' methodology can lead to massive improvements in embedded software engineering. ... > full story
Rigorous Earthquake Simulations Aim To Make Buildings Safer (August 24, 2008) -- Engineering researchers have concluded months of rigorous earthquake simulation tests on a half-scale three-story structure, and will now begin sifting through their results so they can be used in the future designs of buildings across the nation. ... > full story
Candy-coating Keeps Proteins Sweet (August 24, 2008) -- Researchers have developed a fast, inexpensive and effective method for evaluating the sugars pharmaceutical companies use to stabilize protein-based drugs for storage at room temperature. ... > full story
'Cutting By Color': New Imaging Technique For More Precise Cancer Surgery (August 24, 2008) -- Instead of "paint by number," you might call it "cutting by color": Researchers in Massachusetts now report development and early clinical trials of a new imaging system that highlights cancerous tissue in the body so that surgeons can more easily see and remove diseased tissue with less damage to normal tissue near the tumor. Their research will be presented in August at the American Chemical Society national meeting in Philadelphia. ... > full story
Light Touch: Controlling The Behavior Of Quantum Dots (August 24, 2008) -- Researchers from NIST and the Joint Quantum Institute have reported a new way to fine-tune the light coming from quantum dots by manipulating them with pairs of lasers. Their technique could significantly improve quantum dots as a source of pairs of entangled photons for applications in quantum information technologies. ... > full story
Biodegradable Polymers Show Promise For Improving Treatment Of Acute Inflammatory Diseases (August 24, 2008) -- A family of biodegradable polymers called polyketals and their derivatives may improve treatment for such inflammatory illnesses as acute lung injury, acute liver failure and inflammatory bowel disease by delivering drugs, proteins and snips of ribonucleic acid to disease locations in the body. ... > full story
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