The EDGE: ScienceDaily Technology Headlines -- for Sunday, May 8, 2011

ScienceDaily Technology Headlines

for Sunday, May 8, 2011

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Engineers patch a heart: Tissue-engineering platform enables heart tissue to repair itself (May 7, 2011) -- Engineering researchers have established a new method to patch a damaged heart using a tissue-engineering platform that enables heart tissue to repair itself. The breakthrough is an important step forward in combating cardiovascular disease, one of the most serious health problems of our day. ... > full story

Computers sing to a better tune (May 7, 2011) -- Would you dance to a synthetic song? Scientists are reporting on a new approach to making computer-generated vocals more human sounding. ... > full story

New mineral discovered: One of earliest minerals formed in solar system (May 7, 2011) -- A team of scientists has discovered a new mineral -- krotite, one of the earliest minerals formed in our solar system. It is the main component of an unusual inclusion embedded in a meteorite (NWA 1934), found in northwest Africa. These objects, known as refractory inclusions, are thought to be the first planetary materials formed in our solar system, dating back to before the formation of Earth and the other planets. ... > full story

Advanced instrument analyzes immune cells in far more detail: Technology promises more effective prescription drug therapies (May 6, 2011) -- Researchers have taken a machine already in use for the measurement of impurities in semiconductors and used it to analyze immune cells in far more detail than has been possible before. The new technology lets scientists take simultaneous measurements of dozens of features located on and in cells, whereas the existing technology typically begins to encounter technical limitations at about a half-dozen. ... > full story

Comet Elenin: Preview of a coming attraction (May 6, 2011) -- You may have heard the news: Comet Elenin is coming to the inner-solar system this fall. Comet Elenin (also known by its astronomical name C/2010 X1), was first detected on Dec. 10, 2010 by Leonid Elenin, an observer in Lyubertsy, Russia, who made the discovery "remotely" using the ISON-NM observatory near Mayhill, New Mexico. At the time of the discovery, the comet was about 647 million kilometers (401 million miles) from Earth. Over the past four-and-a-half months, the comet has -- as comets do -- closed the distance to Earth's vicinity as it makes its way closer to perihelion (its closest point to the sun). As of May 4, Elenin's distance is about 274 million kilometers (170 million miles). ... > full story

Mars Express sees deep fractures on Mars (May 6, 2011) -- Newly released images from the European Space Agency's Mars Express show Nili Fossae, a system of deep fractures around the giant Isidis impact basin. Some of these incisions into the martian crust are up to 500 m deep and probably formed at the same time as the basin. ... > full story

Quantum simulation with light: Frustrations between photon pairs (May 6, 2011) -- Researchers have used a quantum mechanical system in the laboratory to simulate complex many-body systems. This experiment promises future quantum simulators with enormous potential insights into unknown quantum phenomena. ... > full story

Scientists afflict computers with 'schizophrenia' to better understand the human brain (May 6, 2011) -- Computer networks that can't forget fast enough can show symptoms of a kind of virtual schizophrenia, giving researchers further clues to the inner workings of schizophrenic brains, researchers have found. ... > full story

EEG headset with flying harness lets users 'fly' by controlling their thoughts (May 6, 2011) -- Students have created a system that pairs an EEG headset with a 3-D theatrical flying harness, allowing users to "fly" by controlling their thoughts. The "Infinity Simulator" will make its debut with an art installation in which participants rise into the air -- and trigger light, sound, and special effects -- by calming their thoughts. ... > full story

Forecast calls for nanoflowers to help return eyesight: Physicist leads effort to design fractal devices to put in eyes (May 6, 2011) -- A researcher is on a quest to grow flowers that will help people who've lost their sight by designing nano-sized flowers whose fractal shapes on implants will engage with neurons to carry light to the optic nerve. ... > full story

NASA selects investigations for future key missions (May 6, 2011) -- NASA has selected three science investigations from which it will pick one potential 2016 mission to look at Mars' interior for the first time; study an extraterrestrial sea on one of Saturn's moons; or study in unprecedented detail the surface of a comet's nucleus. ... > full story

Mars tribute marks memories of Shepard's flight (May 6, 2011) -- The team exploring Mars via NASA's Opportunity rover for the past seven years has informally named a Martian crater for the Mercury spacecraft that astronaut Alan Shepard christened Freedom 7. On May 5, 1961, Shepard piloted Freedom 7 in America's first human spaceflight. ... > full story