The EDGE: ScienceDaily Technology Headlines -- for Sunday, January 22, 2012

ScienceDaily Technology Headlines

for Sunday, January 22, 2012

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In solar cells, tweaking the tiniest of parts yields big jump in efficiency (January 21, 2012) -- By tweaking the smallest of parts, engineers are hoping to dramatically increase the amount of sunlight that solar cells convert into electricity. ... > full story

Theory explains how new material could improve electronic shelf life (January 21, 2012) -- Engineers have discovered that the new material graphene conducts heat about 20 times faster than silicon, making it an option as a semiconductor material that could produce quieter and longer-lasting computers, cellphones and other devices. ... > full story

'Bubblegram' imaging: Novel approach to view inner workings of viruses (January 20, 2012) -- Since the discovery of the microscope, scientists have tried to visualize smaller and smaller structures to provide insights into the inner workings of human cells, bacteria and viruses. Now, researchers have developed a new way to see structures within viruses that were not clearly seen before. ... > full story

Scientists solve mystery of colorful armchair nanotubes (January 20, 2012) -- Researchers have figured out what gives armchair nanotubes their unique bright colors: hydrogen-like objects called excitons. ... > full story

Mysterious flotsam in Gulf of Mexico came from Deepwater Horizon rig (January 20, 2012) -- Using state-of-the-art chemical forensics and a bit of old-fashioned detective work, scientists confirmed that mysterious material found floating in the Gulf of Mexico came from the Deepwater Horizon rig. They further determined that tracking debris from damaged rigs can help forecast coastal impacts and guide response efforts in future spills. ... > full story

Hearty bacteria help make case for life in the extreme (January 20, 2012) -- The bottom of a glacier is not the most hospitable place on Earth, but at least two types of bacteria happily live there, according to researchers. ... > full story

Almost perfect: Researcher nears creation of superlens (January 20, 2012) -- A superlens would let you see a virus in a drop of blood and open the door to better and cheaper electronics. It might, says one researcher, make ultra-high-resolution microscopes as commonplace as cameras in our cell phones. ... > full story

Cheap beads offer alternative solar-heating storage (January 20, 2012) -- A cheap material that can store heat energy collected from the sun during the day that can be released slowly over night has been developed by researchers in the India. The material, based on paraffin wax and stearic acid, could help keep homes warm in sunny parts of the world that get very cold at night without burning wood or fossil fuels. ... > full story

Magnetic actuation enables nanoscale thermal analysis (January 19, 2012) -- In recent years an atomic force microscope-based technique called nanoscale thermal analysis has been employed to reveal the temperature-dependent properties of materials at the sub-100 nm scale. Typically, nanothermal analysis works best for soft polymers. Researchers have now shown that they can perform nanoscale thermal analysis on stiff materials like epoxies and filled composites. ... > full story

Nanoparticles refined for more accurate delivery of cancer drugs (January 19, 2012) -- A new class of nanoparticles, synthesized to prevent premature drug release, holds promise for greater accuracy and effectiveness in delivering cancer drugs to tumors. ... > full story

Slippery when stacked: Theorists quantify the friction of graphene (January 19, 2012) -- Similar to the way pavement, softened by a hot sun, will slow down a car, graphene slows down an object sliding across its surface. But stack the sheets and graphene gets more slippery, say theorists who developed new software to quantify the material's friction. ... > full story

How protein in teardrops annihilates harmful bacteria: Novel technology reveals lysozymes have jaws (January 19, 2012) -- A disease-fighting protein in our teardrops has been tethered to a tiny transistor, enabling scientists to discover exactly how it destroys dangerous bacteria. The research could prove critical to long-term work aimed at diagnosing cancers and other illnesses in their very early stages. ... > full story