The EDGE: ScienceDaily Technology Headlines -- for Monday, July 4, 2011

ScienceDaily Technology Headlines

for Monday, July 4, 2011

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Red wine: Exercise in a bottle? (July 3, 2011) -- As strange as it sounds, a new research study suggests that the "healthy" ingredient in red wine, resveratrol, prevents the negative effects that spaceflight and sedentary lifestyles have on people. The report describes experiments in rats that simulated the weightlessness of spaceflight, during which the group fed resveratrol did not develop insulin resistance or a loss of bone mineral density, as did those who were not fed resveratrol. ... > full story

Droplets for detecting tumoral DNA (July 3, 2011) -- New research suggests it may be possible, in the near future, to detect cancer by a simple blood or urine test. Biologists from France have developed a technique capable of detecting minute traces of tumoral DNA present in the biological fluids of patients suffering from cancer. ... > full story

New light shed on the private lives of electrons: Lasers allow scientists to observe how electrons become entangled (July 3, 2011) -- Scientists have used lasers to peek into the complex relationship between a single electron and its environment, a breakthrough that could aid the development of quantum computers. ... > full story

Toward a more efficient use of solar energy (July 3, 2011) -- The exploitation and utilization of new energy sources are considered to be among today's major challenges. Solar energy plays a central role, and its direct conversion into chemical energy, for example hydrogen generation by water splitting, is one of its interesting variants. Titanium oxide-based photocatalysis is the presently most efficient, yet little understood conversion process. ... > full story

Nuclear waste requires cradle-to-grave strategy, study finds (July 3, 2011) -- After Fukushima, it is now imperative to redefine what makes a successful nuclear power program -- from cradle to grave. If nuclear waste management is not thought out from the beginning, the public in many countries will reject nuclear power as an energy choice, according to new research. ... > full story

'Odd couple' binary star system makes dual gamma-ray flares (July 2, 2011) -- In December 2010, a pair of mismatched stars in the southern constellation Crux whisked past each other at a distance closer than Venus orbits the sun. The system possesses a so-far unique blend of a hot and massive star with a compact fast-spinning pulsar. The pair's closest encounters occur every 3.4 years and each is marked by a sharp increase in gamma rays, the most extreme form of light. ... > full story

Flapping micro air vehicles inspired by swifts (July 2, 2011) -- A new design of micro air vehicle (MAV) will be able to flap, glide and hover. Researchers have been inspired by birds to design a MAV that combines flapping wings, which will allow it to fly at slow speeds and hover, with the ability to glide, ensuring good quality images from any on-board camera. ... > full story

Breaking Kasha's rule: Scientists find unique luminescence in tetrapod nanocrystals (July 2, 2011) -- Researchers created tetrapod molecules of semiconductor nanocrystals and watched them break a fundamental principle of photoluminescence known as "Kasha's rule." The discovery holds promise for multi-color light emission technologies, including LEDs. ... > full story

Clocking Neptune's spin by tracking atmospheric features (July 1, 2011) -- By tracking atmospheric features on Neptune, a planetary scientist has accurately determined the planet's rotation, a feat that had not been previously achieved for any of the gas planets in our solar system except Jupiter. ... > full story

Making a spectacle of star formation in Orion (July 1, 2011) -- Looking like a pair of eyeglasses only a rock star would wear, a new nebula view brings into focus a murky region of star formation. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope exposes the depths of this dusty nebula with its infrared vision, showing stellar infants that are lost behind dark clouds when viewed in visible light. ... > full story

Why 'event cloaks' could be the key to the ultimate bank heist (July 1, 2011) -- In this month's special issue of Physics World, which examines the science and applications of invisibility, Martin McCall and Paul Kinsler of Imperial College London describe a new type of invisibility cloak that does not just hide objects -- but events. ... > full story

Quantum 'graininess' of space at smaller scales? Gamma-ray observatory challenges physics beyond Einstein (July 1, 2011) -- The European Space Agency's Integral gamma-ray observatory has provided results that will dramatically affect the search for physics beyond Einstein. It has shown that any underlying quantum 'graininess' of space must be at much smaller scales than previously predicted. ... > full story

At the feet of the pharaohs: Capturing the majesty of Luxor in 3-D (July 1, 2011) -- For a while, it seemed the revolution in Egypt would end his mission before it had even begun. Thomas A. DeFanti, an expert in data visualization, had been planning for months to capture spectacular 3-D surround images of Egypt's temples at Luxor on his way to Saudi Arabia early in April. It would be a proof-of-concept expedition to see if the 3-D CAVEcam -- two Lumix GF1 cameras carefully calibrated to take simultaneous right and left images -- would be functional in the super bright, hot and dusty conditions of the Nile River Valley. But for DeFanti, an avid traveler and lover of photography, it would also be a way to bring the splendors of one of the primary world heritage sites back to his state-of-the-art visualization facility in California. ... > full story

WiFi 'napping' doubles phone battery life (July 1, 2011) -- A graduate student has found a way to double the battery life of mobile devices -- such as smartphones or laptop computers -- by making changes to WiFi technology. ... > full story

Scientists use 'optogenetics' to control reward-seeking behavior (July 1, 2011) -- The findings suggest that therapeutics targeting the path between two critical brain regions, the amygdala and the nucleus accumbens, represent potential treatments for addiction and other neuropsychiatric diseases. ... > full story

Electromagnetic fields can disturb learning, study suggests, but only at very high levels (July 1, 2011) -- The effects of high-frequency electromagnetic fields emitted by mobile phones on humans have been hotly debated for years. In a new study, neuroscientists from Germany have shed light on this question. For the first time, they provide evidence that extremely high-powered electromagnetic fields can influence learning processes on the synaptic level within the brain, independent from other factors such as stress. However, such high levels are not encountered during typical use of mobile phones, the researchers note. ... > full story

Social networking -- 400 years ago (July 1, 2011) -- Renaissance specialists in the UK have discovered that the art of social networking pre-dates the Twitter and Facebook generations by more than 400 years. ... > full story

NASA's Spitzer finds distant galaxies grazed on gas (July 1, 2011) -- Galaxies once thought of as voracious tigers are more like grazing cows, according to a new study using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Astronomers have discovered that galaxies in the distant, early universe continuously ingested their star-making fuel over long periods of time. This goes against previous theories that the galaxies devoured their fuel in quick bursts after run-ins with other galaxies. ... > full story

Neuroscientists' discovery could bring relief to epilepsy sufferers; Computational model of epileptic seizures at molecular level (July 1, 2011) -- Researchers have made a discovery that could help drug manufacturers develop new antiepileptic drugs and explore novel strategies for treating seizures associated with epilepsy. The researchers used a computational model of the cortical network to show that during seizure there is a slow and progressive buildup of intracellular sodium in neurons, and that it is this accumulation of intracellular sodium that leads to the termination of the seizure. ... > full story

Scientists hope to get glimpse of adolescent universe from revolutionary instrument-on-a-chip (July 1, 2011) -- Thanks to technological advances,scientists hope to provide a picture of how the cosmos developed into the kind of place that could support life like that found on Earth. ... > full story

Transmission lines for nanofocusing of infrared light (July 1, 2011) -- Researchers in Spain report an innovative method to focus infrared light with tapered transmission lines to nanometer-size dimensions. This device could trigger the development of novel chemical and biological sensing tools, including ultra-small infrared spectrometers and lab-on-a-chip integrated biosensors. ... > full story

Takeoffs and landings cause more precipitation near airports, researchers find (July 1, 2011) -- Researchers have found that areas near commercial airports sometimes experience a small but measurable increase in rain and snow when aircraft take off and land under certain atmospheric conditions. The new study is part of ongoing research that focuses on so-called hole punch and canal clouds that form when planes fly through certain mid-level clouds, forcing nearby air to rapidly expand and cool. ... > full story

Recalculation of the Potsdam geoid shows time-dependent variation of gravity (July 1, 2011) -- The "Potsdam Gravity potato", as this representation of terrestrial gravity has become known, can for the first time display gravity variations that change with time. The seasonal fluctuations of the water balance of continents or melting or growing ice masses, i.e. climate-related variables, are now included in the modeling of the gravity field. ... > full story

‘Nanocrystal doping’ results in semiconductor nanocrystals with enhanced electrical function (July 1, 2011) -- Researchers have achieved a breakthrough in the field of nanoscience by successfully altering nanocrystal properties with impurity atoms -- a process called doping -- thereby opening the way for the manufacture of improved semiconductor nanocrystals. ... > full story

Big hole filled in cloud research (July 1, 2011) -- Under certain conditions, private and commercial propeller planes and jet aircraft may induce odd-shaped holes or canals into clouds as they fly through them. These holes and canals have long fascinated the public and now new research shows they may affect precipitation in and around airports with frequent cloud cover in the wintertime. ... > full story

Picture archiving and communication system (PACS) improves radiologists' use of clinical decision support systems (July 1, 2011) -- Integration with a picture archiving and communication system (PACS) improves radiologists' use of clinical decision support tools, according to a new study. ... > full story

Novel analysis method organizes genomic cancer data (June 30, 2011) -- The technology that allows scientists to profile the entire genome of individual tumors offers new hope for discovering ways to select the best treatment for each patient's particular type of cancer. However, these profiles produce huge amounts of data, and the volume alone creates unique analytical problems. In a new study, researchers describe a new analytical approach based on a concept called multiplicity, that can organize large amounts of varied genetic data. ... > full story

Moving microscopic vision into another new dimension (June 30, 2011) -- Scientists who pioneered a revolutionary 3-D microscope technique are now describing an extension of that technology into a new dimension that promises sweeping applications in medicine, biological research, and development of new electronic devices. ... > full story

X-rays reveal patterns in the plumage of the first birds (June 30, 2011) -- Researchers report in Science Express that they have taken a big step in determining what the first birds looked like more than 100 million years ago, when their relatives, the dinosaurs, still ruled the Earth. At the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, they discovered chemical traces of a pigment, an important component of color, that once formed patterns in the feathers of the fossilized birds. ... > full story

Evolutionary kings of the hill use good, bad and ugly mutations to speed ahead of competition (June 30, 2011) -- Evolutionary adaptation is often compared to climbing a hill, and organisms making the right combination of multiple mutations -- both good and bad -- can become the king of the mountain, according to new research. Through computer simulations, researchers were able to watch evolution play out and see how populations use these combinations to evolve from one adaptive state to another. ... > full story

The future of chip manufacturing (June 30, 2011) -- Researchers have shown how to make e-beam lithography, commonly used to prototype computer chips, more practical as a mass-production technique. ... > full story

Squeezed light from single atoms (June 30, 2011) -- Scientists have generated amplitude-squeezed light fields using single atoms trapped inside optical cavities. ... > full story

'Dirty hack' restores Cluster mission from near loss (June 30, 2011) -- Using ingenuity and an unorthodox 'dirty hack', the European Space Agency has recovered the four-satellite Cluster mission from near loss. The drama began in March, when a crucial science package stopped responding to commands -- one of a mission controller's worst fears. ... > full story

Why do we share stories, news and information with others? (June 30, 2011) -- People often share stories, news and information with the people around them. We forward online articles to our friends, share stories with our co-workers at the water cooler and pass along rumors to our neighbors. Such social transmission has been going on for thousands of years, and the advent of social technologies like texting, Facebook and other social media sites has only made it faster and easier to share content with others. ... > full story

'Zombie' stars key to measuring dark energy (June 30, 2011) -- "Zombie" stars that explode like bombs as they die, only to revive by sucking matter out of other stars. According to an astrophysicist, this isn't the plot for the latest 3-D blockbuster movie. Instead, it's something that happens every day in the universe -- something that can be used to measure dark energy. ... > full story

Water can flow below -130°C (June 30, 2011) -- When water is cooled below zero degrees, it usually crystallizes directly into ice. A physicist has now managed to produce sluggishly flowing water at 130 degree below zero under high pressure -- 10,000 times higher than normal pressure. It is possible that this sluggishly fluid and cold water exists on other heavenly bodies. ... > full story

Using fear to guide smart investments (June 30, 2011) -- New research based on an examination of 50 years of market volatility in 10 stock markets in seven different countries, demonstrates that a smart stock market portfolio takes into account both negative returns and the dynamics of psychological volatility. ... > full story

Scientists develop sensitive skin for robots: Intelligent machines develop 'self-awareness' (June 30, 2011) -- Robots will soon be able to feel heat or gentle touching on their surfaces. Researchers in Germany are now producing small hexagonal plates which when joined together form a sensitive skin for "machines with brains." This will not only help robots to better navigate in their environments, it will also enable robot 'self-perception'. A single robotic arm has already been partially equipped with sensors and proves that the concept works. ... > full story

Metal particle generates new hope for hydrogen energy (June 30, 2011) -- Tiny metallic particles produced by Australian chemistry researchers are bringing new hope for the production of cheap, efficient and clean hydrogen energy. ... > full story

Researchers image graphene electron clouds, revealing how folds can harm conductivity (June 30, 2011) -- Chemists have used synchrotron light sources to observe the electron clouds on the surface of graphene, producing a series of images that reveal how folds and ripples in the remarkable material can harm its conductivity. ... > full story

Nanoparticles disguised as red blood cells to deliver cancer-fighting drugs (June 30, 2011) -- Researchers have developed a novel method of disguising nanoparticles as red blood cells, which will enable them to evade the body's immune system and deliver cancer-fighting drugs straight to a tumor. ... > full story

Internet program reduces infant and toddler sleep problems, helps moms sleep better too (June 30, 2011) -- A new study demonstrates that an Internet-based intervention was effective at reducing infant and toddler sleep disturbances, as well as providing positive, indirect benefits for maternal sleep, mood and confidence. The study suggests that the Internet can give parents widespread access to individualized, behaviorally based advice for sleep problems in young children. ... > full story

Scientists developing robotic hand of the future (June 30, 2011) -- Researchers in Spain are working to create a robotic hand that can reproduce the abilities and movements of a human hand in order to achieve the optimal manipulation of objects. ... > full story

Text message support for smokers doubles quit rates (June 30, 2011) -- Cell phones could hold the key to people giving up smoking after a program involving sending motivational and supportive text messages to smokers doubled quit rates at six months. ... > full story

'Sensing skin' could monitor the health of concrete infrastructure continually and inexpensively (June 30, 2011) -- Civil engineers and physicists have designed a new method for the electronic, continual monitoring of concrete infrastructure. The researchers say a flexible skin-like fabric with electrical properties could be adhered to areas of structures where cracks are likely to appear, such as the underside of a bridge, and detect cracks when they occur. Installing this "sensing skin" would be as simple as gluing it to a structure's surface. ... > full story

Outpatient electronic prescribing systems don't cut out common mistakes, study suggests (June 30, 2011) -- Outpatient electronic prescribing systems don't cut out the common mistakes made in manual systems, new research suggests. ... > full story

Sun and planets constructed differently, analysis from NASA mission suggests (June 30, 2011) -- The sun and inner, rocky planets, including the Earth, may have formed differently than previously thought, report scientists analyzing samples returned by NASA's Genesis mission. ... > full story

Unearthing the appearance of ancient animals: X-ray technique for determining fossil pigmentation patterns (June 30, 2011) -- An international team is unearthing the appearance of ancient animals by using the world's most powerful X-rays. New research shows how trace metals in fossils can be used to determine the pigmentation patterns of creatures dead for more than a hundred million years. ... > full story

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