The EDGE: ScienceDaily Technology Headlines -- for Monday, July 11, 2011

ScienceDaily Technology Headlines

for Monday, July 11, 2011

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Light propagation controlled in photonic chips: Major breakthrough in telecommunications field (July 11, 2011) -- Researchers have built optical nanostructures that enable them to slow photons down and fully control light dispersion. They have shown that it is possible for light to propagate from point A to point B without accumulating any phase, spreading through the artificial medium as if the medium is completely missing in space. This is the first time simultaneous phase and zero-index observations have been made on the chip-scale and at the infrared wavelength. ... > full story

Researchers characterize biomechanics of ovarian cells according to phenotype at stages of cancer (July 11, 2011) -- Using ovarian surface epithelial cells from mice, researchers have released findings from a study that they believe will help in cancer risk assessment, cancer diagnosis, and treatment efficiency. ... > full story

Drug designer: New tool reveals mutations that cause HIV drug resistance (July 11, 2011) -- Protease inhibitor drugs are one of the major weapons in the fight against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, but their effectiveness is limited as the virus mutates and develops resistance to the drugs over time. Now a new tool has been developed to help predict the location of the mutations that lead to drug resistance. ... > full story

Extremely rapid water: Scientists decipher a protein-bound water chain (July 11, 2011) -- Researchers have succeeded in providing evidence that a protein is capable of creating a water molecule chain for a few milliseconds for the directed proton transfer. The combination of vibrational spectroscopy and biomolecular simulations enabled the elucidation of the proton pump mechanism of a cell-membrane protein in atomic detail. The researchers demonstrated that protein-bound water molecules play a decisive role in the function. ... > full story

Nanocrystal transformers: Researchers observe structural transformations in single nanocrystals (July 10, 2011) -- Researchers have recorded the first direct observation of structural transformations within a single nanocrystal of copper sulfide. The results break new ground for the design of novel materials that will serve next-generation energy storage batteries and solar energy harvesting devices. ... > full story

Geothermal industry to get boost from new research (July 10, 2011) -- An ambitious project to understand and characterize geothermal potential at nearly 500 sites throughout the Great Basin in the western U.S. is yielding a bounty of information for the geothermal industry to use in developing resources in Nevada, according to a report to the US Department of Energy. ... > full story

Prototype 'optics table on a chip' places microwave photon in two colors at once (July 9, 2011) -- Researchers have created a tunable superconducting circuit on a chip that can place a single microwave photon in two frequencies, or colors, at the same time. ... > full story

World War II bombing raids offer new insight into the effects of aviation on climate (July 8, 2011) -- Climate researchers have turned to the Allied bombing raids of the Second World War for a unique opportunity to study the effect thousands of aircraft had on the English climate at a time when civilian aviation remained rare. The study reveals how civilian and military records can help assess the impact of modern aviation on the climate today. ... > full story

Recycling: A new source of indispensible 'rare earth' materials mined mainly in China (July 8, 2011) -- That axiom of sustainability -- "recycle and reuse" -- could help ease concerns about a reliable supply of substances, indispensable for a modern technological society, that are produced almost exclusively in the Peoples' Republic of China. That's the conclusion of a study on these so-called "rare earth" elements. ... > full story

NASA's final space shuttle mission begins with Atlantis' launch (July 8, 2011) -- Space shuttle Commander Chris Ferguson and his three crewmates are on their way to the International Space Station after launching from NASA's Kennedy Space Center at 11:29 a.m. EDT Friday. STS-135 is the final mission of NASA's Space Shuttle Program. ... > full story

Robotics: Safety without protective barriers (July 8, 2011) -- The modern working world is no longer conceivable without robots. They assist humans in manufacturing, laboratories or medicine. In the future, a new projection and camera-based system will prevent collisions between robots and humans working together, German researchers say. ... > full story

Power from the air: Device captures ambient electromagnetic energy to drive small electronic devices (July 8, 2011) -- Researchers have discovered a way to capture energy transmitted by such sources as radio and television transmitters and cell phone networks. By scavenging this ambient energy from the air around us, the technique could provide a new way to power networks of wireless sensors or other devices. ... > full story

Chips hold the key to understanding the human brain (July 8, 2011) -- Scientists have taken a key step towards producing a high-performance computer which aims to create working models of human brain functions. ... > full story

‘Cling-film’ solar cells could lead to advance in renewable energy (July 8, 2011) -- A scientific advance in renewable energy which promises a revolution in the ease and cost of using solar cells, has just been announced. A new study shows that even when using very simple and inexpensive manufacturing methods - where flexible layers of material are deposited over large areas like cling-film - efficient solar cell structures can be made. ... > full story

Nano detector for deadly anthrax (July 8, 2011) -- An automatic and portable detector that takes just fifteen minutes to analyze a sample suspected of contamination with anthrax is being developed by U.S. researchers. The technology amplifies any anthrax DNA present in the sample and can reveal the presence of just 40 microscopic cells of the deadly bacteria Bacillus anthracis. ... > full story

Using vital signs to predict severity of illness in children (July 8, 2011) -- Combining three vital signs (heart rate, temperature and oxygen saturation) in a simple score can identify children at risk of serious illness, according to a new study. Although this type of score cannot easily be calculated by hand, it could be incorporated into existing smart phone apps. ... > full story

Big step forward for SKA radio telescope (July 8, 2011) -- The discovery potential of the future international SKA radio telescope has been glimpsed following the commissioning of a working optical fiber link between CSIRO's Australian SKA Pathfinder telescope in Western Australia, and other radio telescopes across Australia and New Zealand. ... > full story

Graphene: What can go wrong? New studies point to wrinkles, process contaminants (July 8, 2011) -- Using a combination of sophisticated computer modeling and advanced materials analysis techniques at synchrotron laboratories, a research team has demonstrated how some relatively simple processing flaws can seriously degrade the otherwise near-magical electronic properties of graphene. ... > full story

Coating boosts nanowire efficiency and sensitivity: Promise for photodetectors and solar cells (July 7, 2011) -- By applying a coating to individual silicon nanowires, researchers have significantly improved the materials' efficiency and sensitivity. The findings suggest that the coated wires hold promise for photodetectors and energy harvesting technologies like solar cells. ... > full story

Global investments in green energy up nearly a third to 1 billion (July 7, 2011) -- Wind farms in China and small-scale solar panels on rooftops in Europe were largely responsible for last year's 32 percent rise in green energy investments worldwide according to the latest annual report on renewable energy investment trends. Last year, investors pumped a record 1 billion into renewables -- about one-third more than the 0 billion invested in 2009, and a 540 percent rise since 2004. ... > full story

Stardust in our backyard provides new clues to galaxy evolution (July 7, 2011) -- New data from Herschel Space Observatory reveal surprisingly large amounts of cold dust in the remnant of the famous supernova SN1987A, which astronomers observed 24 years ago in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighboring galaxy of the Milky Way. With this discovery, astronomers confirm that supernovae are able to produce significant quantities of dust over very short time scales. This may help explain previous observations of abundant dust in the early Universe as seen in high-redshift galaxies. ... > full story

Promising fire retardant results when clay nanofiller has space (July 7, 2011) -- Materials scientists have demonstrated that the more widely and uniformly dispersed nanoscale plates of clay are in a polymer, the more fire protection the nanocomposite material provides. ... > full story

Eye of Gaia: billion-pixel camera to map Milky Way (July 7, 2011) -- The largest digital camera ever built for a space mission has been painstakingly mosaicked together from 106 separate electronic detectors. The resulting "billion-pixel array" will serve as the super-sensitive 'eye' of the European Space Agency's Galaxy-mapping Gaia mission. ... > full story

Microalgae could be Texas' next big cash crop (July 7, 2011) -- Just as corn and peanuts stunned the world decades ago with their then-newly discovered multi-beneficial uses and applications, Texas scientists think microalgae holds even more promise. ... > full story

Cosmic 'axis of evil': Masses of universe's largest objects appear to depend on which method is used to weigh them (July 7, 2011) -- Astronomers are puzzled by the announcement that the masses of the largest objects in the universe appear to depend on which method is used to weigh them. ... > full story

Baseball cheaters can't hide from the laws of physics (July 7, 2011) -- Some baseball superstitions are accepted as cold, hard truth. But in the world of physics, the most accepted verities are subject to experimentation. A corked bat hits the ball further? Not in Lloyd Smith's lab. Baseballs today are livelier than in the past? See above. A humidor can curb home run production? Yes, but only because Smith has fired the balls through a cannon and measured their bounciness as they hit a bat. ... > full story

Mechanical micro-drum cooled to quantum ground state (July 7, 2011) -- Scientists have demonstrated a flexible, broadly usable technique for steadily calming the vibrations of an engineered mechanical object down to the quantum "ground state," the lowest possible energy level. ... > full story

Branch offices: New family of gold-based nanoparticles could serve as biomedical 'testbed' (July 7, 2011) -- Researchers have demonstrated a sort of gold nanoparticle "testbed" to explore how the tiny particles behave in biological systems. ... > full story

Juno mission: Gas giant spacecraft all gassed up (July 7, 2011) -- The Juno spacecraft completed hydrazine fuel loading, oxidizer loading and final tank pressurizations this week, and now the complete propulsion system is ready for the trip to Jupiter. The spacecraft is currently at the Astrotech processing facility in Titusville, Fla. ... > full story

Herschel helps solve mystery of cosmic dust origins (July 7, 2011) -- New observations from the infrared Herschel Space Observatory reveal that an exploding star expelled the equivalent of between 160,000 and 230,000 Earth masses of fresh dust. This enormous quantity suggests that exploding stars, called supernovae, are the answer to the long-standing puzzle of what supplied our early universe with dust. ... > full story

Organizational climate at universities drives commercialization of scientific and engineering discoveries (July 7, 2011) -- Research universities with an organizational climate that actively supports commercialization and encourages interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers are more likely to produce invention disclosures and patent applications, according to a new study. ... > full story

Dawn team members check out spacecraft (July 7, 2011) -- Mission managers for NASA's Dawn spacecraft are studying the spacecraft's ion propulsion system after Dawn experienced a loss of thrust on June 27. Dawn team members were able to trace the episode to an electronic circuit in the spacecraft's digital control and interface unit, a subsystem that houses the circuit and a computer that provides the "brains" to Dawn's ion propulsion system. That circuit appeared to lose an electronic signal. As a result, the valves controlling the flow of xenon fuel did not open properly. Dawn automatically put itself into a more basic configuration known as "safe-communications" mode, where the spacecraft stopped some activities and turned its high-gain antenna to Earth. ... > full story

NMR/MRI applied to microfluidic chromatography (July 6, 2011) -- By pairing a remote-detection version of NMR/MRI technology with a unique version of chromatography specifically designed for microfluidic chips, researchers have opened the door to a portable system for highly sensitive multi-dimensional chemical analysis that would be impractical if not impossible with conventional technologies. ... > full story

Cassini captures images and sounds of Saturn storm (July 6, 2011) -- Scientists analyzing data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft now have the first-ever, up-close details of a Saturn storm that is eight times the surface area of Earth. ... > full story

A look back: Scientists raced to estimate oil flow from Deepwater Horizon Macondo well (July 6, 2011) -- The first two weeks of June 2010 were a blur for six Berkeley Lab scientists. As the world focused on the ongoing crisis in the Gulf of Mexico after the blowout of BP's Deepwater Horizon Macondo well, the scientists dropped everything to estimate how much oil was flowing from the mangled wellhead. Their research is recounted in a new article. ... > full story

Mercury vapor released from broken compact fluorescent light bulbs can exceed safe exposure levels for humans, study finds (July 6, 2011) -- Once broken, a compact fluorescent light bulb continuously releases mercury vapor into the air for weeks to months, and the total amount can exceed safe human exposure levels in a poorly ventilated room, according to a new study. ... > full story

You are what you tweet: Tracking public health trends with Twitter (July 6, 2011) -- Computer scientists have sifted through two billion 'tweets' for information on where people are sick, what ails them, and what they're doing about it. ... > full story

Hydrogen peroxide found in space (July 6, 2011) -- Molecules of hydrogen peroxide have been found for the first time in interstellar space. The discovery gives clues about the chemical link between two molecules critical for life: water and oxygen. On Earth, hydrogen peroxide plays a key role in the chemistry of water and ozone in our planet's atmosphere, and is familiar for its use as a disinfectant or to bleach hair blonde. Now it has been detected in space by astronomers using the European Southern Observatory-operated APEX telescope in Chile. ... > full story

Unique gel capsule structure enables co-delivery of different types of drugs (July 6, 2011) -- Chemists have designed a multiple-compartment gel capsule that can simultaneously deliver hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs. The microcapsules could be used for the treatment of diseases like cancer, which is often treated using combination chemotherapy. ... > full story

Termites' digestive system could act as biofuel refinery (July 6, 2011) -- One of the peskiest household pests, while disastrous to homes, could prove to be a boon for cars, according to a new study. ... > full story

New technology makes textiles permanently germ-free (July 6, 2011) -- Researchers have invented a new technology that can inexpensively render medical linens and clothing, face masks, paper towels -- and yes, even diapers, intimate apparel and athletic wear, including smelly socks -- permanently germ-free. ... > full story

Sounding rockets study how winds in space drive currents in the upper atmosphere (July 6, 2011) -- This July, scientists will launch four rockets for a five-minute journey some 100 miles up into the atmosphere. The rockets will collect data on the charged particles as well as winds of neutral particles that sweep through the lower ionosphere and how each affects the other, ultimately causing these dynamo currents. ... > full story

Gold nanoparticles bring scientists closer to a treatment for cancer (July 6, 2011) -- Scientists have developed smart nanomaterials, which can disrupt the blood supply to cancerous tumors. They have shown that a small dose of gold nanoparticles can activate or inhibit genes that are involved in angiogenesis -- a complex process responsible for the supply of oxygen and nutrients to most types of cancer. ... > full story

Bone loss prevention experiment on the last space shuttle flight (July 6, 2011) -- An experiment aboard Atlantis -- the last space shuttle launch of the NASA program -- is aimed at revealing strategies to protect future astronauts from bone loss during extended exposure to micro-gravity. ... > full story

New method used to detect 20 drugs in cow, goat and human milk (July 6, 2011) -- Researchers have developed a method that makes it possible to simultaneously detect 20 pharmaceutical products in cow, goat and human milk. The samples of the three types of milk studied showed that they all contain anti-inflammatories, although the largest number of drugs was found in whole cows' milk. ... > full story

Final countdown: Atlantis to carry next-generation vaccine candidate on last space voyage (July 6, 2011) -- The ability of spaceflight to enhance the efficacy of a recombinant attenuated Salmonella vaccine, or RASV, will be the focus of experiments conducted by Cheryl Nickerson and Roy Curtiss, of the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University. The payload will be carried aboard the space shuttle Atlantis on its final mission to the International Space Station. ... > full story

Experiment aboard shuttle Atlantis will test novel therapy to build bone during space travel (July 6, 2011) -- When the final mission of NASA's 30-year Space Shuttle program is launched on July 8, an animal experiment to test a novel therapy to increase bone mass will be on board. ... > full story

Food-process engineering: Environmentally friendly process to improve storage stability of probiotics (July 6, 2011) -- Probiotic bacteria are rapidly gaining ground as healthy food supplements. However, the production of this "functional food" has its pitfalls: only few probiotic bacterial strains are robust enough to survive conventional production processes. Researchers have now developed a particularly gentle method that allows the use of thus far unutilized probiotics. The outcome is beneficial for both manufacturers and consumers: it's energy and cost efficient -- and it makes probiotics less perishable. ... > full story

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