ScienceDaily Technology Headlines
for Tuesday, August 26, 2008
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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
Biological Chips For Disease Detection, Drug Discovery, Now Easy To Make With New Method (August 23, 2008) -- Scientists have developed a new and fast method for making biological ‘chips’ – technology that could lead to quick testing for serious diseases, fast detection of MRSA infections and rapid discovery of new drugs. Protein chips – or ‘protein arrays’ as they are more commonly known – are objects such as slides that have proteins attached to them and allow important scientific data about the behavior of proteins to be gathered. ... > full story
The 160-mile Download Diet: Local File-sharing Drastically Cuts Network Load (August 23, 2008) -- New research shows that sharing digital files locally relieves pressure on the Internet service provider by as much as five times, while actually speeding up the transfer. ... > full story
Is It Possible To Teach Experience? European Researchers Say Yes (August 23, 2008) -- Business veterans claim you cannot teach ‘experience’, but European researchers say you can. The team developed software that helps players acquire real-life skills and realistic experiences through game playing. But this game is no executive toy. ... > full story
New Algorithm Significantly Boosts Routing Efficiency Of Networks (August 22, 2008) -- A time-and-money-saving question shared by commuters in their cars and networks sharing ever-changing Internet resources is: "What's the best way to get from here to there?" ... > full story
Computer-generated Images: Hollywood Hair Will Be Captured At Last (August 22, 2008) -- Imagine avatars of your favorite actors wandering through 3-D virtual worlds with hair that looks almost exactly like it does in real life. This level of realism for animated hairstyles is one step closer to the silver screen, thanks to new research being presented at SIGGRAPH, one of the most competitive computer graphics conferences in the world. ... > full story
Improved Technique Determines Structure In Membrane Proteins (August 22, 2008) -- By combining custom-built spectrometers, novel probe designs and faster pulse sequences, scientists have developed unique capabilities for probing protein chemistry and structure through the use of solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. ... > full story
Stellar Stillbirths: Brown Dwarfs Revealed As Third Class Of Celestial Bodies After Stars And Planets (August 22, 2008) -- Brown dwarfs need to be treated as a separate class of celestial body in addition to stars and planets, researchers have found. Until now, brown dwarfs had been merely regarded as stars which were below normal size. However, they may well be stellar 'miscarriages.' ... > full story
Radioactive Waste Recycling No Longer A Pain In The Ash (August 22, 2008) -- A new recycling plant will soon recover uranium from the ashes of radioactive garbage to be recycled back into nuclear fuel using an efficient, environmentally friendly technology inspired by decaffeinated coffee. The technique's future may even hold the key to recycling the most dangerous forms of radioactive waste. ... > full story
Mystery Of Young Stars Near Black Holes Solved (August 22, 2008) -- The mystery of how young stars can form within the deep gravity of black holes has been solved by astrophysicists. Until now, scientists have puzzled over how stars could form around a black hole, since molecular clouds - the normal birth places of stars - would be ripped apart by the black hole's immense gravitational pull. ... > full story
Coatings To Help Medical Implants Connect With Neurons (August 22, 2008) -- Plastic coatings could someday help neural implants treat conditions as diverse as Parkinson's disease and macular degeneration. The coatings encourage neurons in the body to grow and connect with the electrodes that provide treatment. ... > full story
MRI Technology Developed That Non-invasively Locates, Quantifies Specific Cells In The Body (August 22, 2008) -- MRI isn't just for capturing detailed images of the body's anatomy. Thanks to new imaging reagents and technology, MRI can be used to visualize -- with "exquisite" specificity -- cell populations in the living body. The ability to non-invasively locate and track cells, will greatly aid the study and treatment of cancer, inflammation, and autoimmune diseases, as well as provide a tool for advancing clinical translation of cellular regenerative medicine. ... > full story
Oil, Gas Seismic Work Not Affecting Gulf Sperm Whales, Study Shows (August 22, 2008) -- In recent years, there has been concern that man-made noise may be a cause of stress for dolphins, whales and other marine mammals, but the results of a five-year study show that noise pollution seems to have minimal effect on endangered sperm whales in the Gulf of Mexico, say researchers from Texas A&M University who led the project and released their 323-page report today at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. ... > full story
Space Age Engineers To Verify Control Software For Future Robotic Inter-planetary Missions (August 22, 2008) -- An international team of engineers is to develop mission-critical control software for future European robotic space missions, it has been announced. ... > full story
Optical Computing Closer To Reality (August 22, 2008) -- Scientists have theorized a way to increase the speed of pulses of light that bound across chains of tiny metal particles to past the speed of light by altering the particle shape. Application of this theory would use nanosized metal chains as building blocks for novel optoelectronic and optical devices. ... > full story
True Properties Of Carbon Nanotubes Measured (August 21, 2008) -- Carbon nanotubes' atomic structure should, in theory, give them mechanical and electrical properties far superior to most common materials. Unfortunately, theory and experiments have failed to converge on the true mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes. Researchers recently made the first experimental measurements of the mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes that directly correspond to the theoretical predictions. They used a nanoscale material testing system based on MEMS technology. ... > full story
Earthquakes May Endanger New York More Than Thought; Nuclear Power Plant Seen As Particular Risk (August 21, 2008) -- Seismologists suggests that a pattern of subtle but active faults make the risk of earthquakes to the New York City area substantially greater than formerly believed. Among other things, they say that the controversial Indian Point nuclear power plants, 24 miles north of the city, sit astride the previously unidentified intersection of two active seismic zones. ... > full story
Eco-architecture Could Produce 'Grow Your Own' Homes (August 21, 2008) -- A bus stop that grows its own foliage as shade? A children’s playground, made entirely from trees? A shelter made from living tree roots that could provide natural protection against earthquakes in California? "Eco-architecture" may sound like a Buck Rogers vision of an ecologically-sustainable future, but that future is now thanks to the guidance of Tel Aviv University Professors Yoav Waisel and Amram Eshel. ... > full story
Breaking The 'Mucus Barrier' With A New Drug Delivery System (August 21, 2008) -- Chemical engineers have broken the "mucus barrier," engineering the first drug-delivery particles capable of passing through human mucus -- regarded by many as nearly impenetrable -- and carrying medication that could treat a range of diseases. Those conditions include lung cancer, cervical cancer and cystic fibrosis, the research say. ... > full story
Biodiesel Byproduct Converted Into Omega-3 Fatty Acids (August 21, 2008) -- The typical American diet often lacks omega-3 fatty acids despite clinical research that shows their potential human health benefits. Now researchers have found a way to grow these compounds using a byproduct of the emerging biodiesel industry. ... > full story
FBI Unveils Science Of Anthrax Investigation (August 21, 2008) -- Sandia researchers identified that the form of bacillus anthracis mailed in the fall of 2001 to several news media offices and to two US senators was a non-weaponized form of the spores. Five people were killed. Sandia's information was crucial in ruling out state-sponsored terrorism. ... > full story
Catalyst Mystery Unlocked (August 21, 2008) -- Different keys are not supposed to fit the same lock, but in biological systems multiple versions of a catalyst all make a reaction go, according to a new study that explains the phenomenon. The study challenges entrenched ideas about the workings of catalysts. A new model brings chemists closer to 'holy grail' of catalyst design. ... > full story
Hydrogels Provide Scaffolding For Growth Of Bone Cells (August 21, 2008) -- Hyaluronic hydrogels may provide a suitable scaffolding to enable bone regeneration. The hydrogels have proven to encourage the growth of preosteoblast cells, cells that aid the growth and development of bone. ... > full story
Large Hadron Collider Set To Unveil A New World Of Particle Physics (August 21, 2008) -- The field of particle physics is poised to enter unknown territory with the startup of a massive new accelerator -- the Large Hadron Collider -- in Europe this summer. On Sept. 10, LHC scientists will attempt to send the first beam of protons speeding around the accelerator. ... > full story
A Better Way To Make Hydrogen From Biofuels (August 21, 2008) -- Researchers here have found a way to convert ethanol and other biofuels into hydrogen very efficiently. A new catalyst makes hydrogen from ethanol with 90 percent yield, at a workable temperature, and using inexpensive ingredients. The new catalyst is much less expensive than others being developed around the world, because it does not contain precious metals, such as platinum or rhodium. ... > full story
New 'Nano-positioners' May Have Atomic-scale Precision (August 21, 2008) -- Engineers have created a tiny motorized positioning device that has twice the dexterity of similar devices being developed for applications that include biological sensors and more compact, powerful computer hard drives. The device, called a monolithic comb drive, might be used as a "nanoscale manipulator" that precisely moves or senses movement and forces. ... > full story
New Instrument To Control The Size Of Nanoclusters Could Lead To Reduced Pollution From Petroleum Products (August 21, 2008) -- A new instrument enables researchers to make nanoclusters of 10 to 100 atoms with atomic precision. A new model of nanocatalysts of molybdenum sulfide is the first step in developing the next generation of materials to be used in hydrodesulfurization, a process that removes sulfur, a pollutant, from natural gas and petroleum products. ... > full story
Creating Unconventional Metals: Quantum Halfway House Between Magnet And Semiconductor Discovered (August 21, 2008) -- The semiconductor silicon and the ferromagnet iron are the basis for much of mankind's technology, used in everything from computers to electric motors. Scientists now report that they have combined these elements with a small amount of another common metal, manganese, to create a new material which is neither a magnet nor an ordinary semiconductor. ... > full story
Polymer Electric Storage, Flexible And Adaptable (August 21, 2008) -- The proliferation of solar, wind and even tidal electric generation and the rapid emergence of hybrid electric automobiles demands flexible and reliable methods of high-capacity electrical storage. Now materials scientists are developing ferroelectric polymer-based capacitors that can deliver power more rapidly and are much lighter than conventional batteries. ... > full story
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