The EDGE: ScienceDaily Technology Headlines -- for Saturday, March 3, 2012

ScienceDaily Technology Headlines

for Saturday, March 3, 2012

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Oxygen detected in atmosphere of Saturn's moon Dione: Discovery could mean ingredients for life are abundant on icy space bodies (March 2, 2012) -- An international research team has discovered molecular oxygen ions (O2+) in the upper-most atmosphere of Dione, one of the 62 known moons orbiting the ringed planet. The research was made possible via instruments aboard NASA's Cassini spacecraft. ... > full story

New computers respond to students' emotions, boredom (March 2, 2012) -- Emotion-sensing computer software that models and responds to students' cognitive and emotional states -- including frustration and boredom -- has now been developed. ... > full story

World's best measurement of W boson mass points to Higgs mass and tests Standard Model (March 2, 2012) -- The latest measurement of the mass of the W boson from the Tevatron experiments. The new combined result is twice as precise as the previous world average, and places limits on the mass of the Higgs consistent with the limits from direct searches at the LHC and Tevatron. ... > full story

Solved: Mystery of the nanoscale crop circles (March 2, 2012) -- A useful alloy of gold and silicon, called a eutectic, melts at a far lower temperature than either of its components. Until now, however, its odd behavior on the nanoscale has confounded researchers. By analyzing peculiar "nanoscale crop circles" formed from ultra-thin layers of gold on silicon, scientists have discovered the eutectic alloy's unique properties, including its special promise for engineering and processing nanoscale materials. ... > full story

Dark matter core, left behind from wreck between massive clusters of galaxies, defies explanation (March 2, 2012) -- Astronomers using data from NASA's Hubble Telescope have observed what appears to be a clump of dark matter left behind from a wreck between massive clusters of galaxies. The result could challenge current theories about dark matter that predict galaxies should be anchored to the invisible substance even during the shock of a collision. ... > full story

New high definition fiber tracking reveals damage caused by traumatic brain injury (March 2, 2012) -- A powerful new imaging technique called High Definition Fiber Tracking will allow doctors to clearly see for the first time neural connections broken by traumatic brain injury and other disorders, much like X-rays show a fractured bone, according to researchers. HDFT could provide an objective way of identifying brain injury, predicting outcome and planning rehabilitation. ... > full story

Fukushima one year on: poor planning hampered Fukushima response (March 2, 2012) -- One year after an earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, 2011, an independent investigation panel has highlighted the country’s failures in disaster planning and crisis management for the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The article shows that agencies were thoroughly unprepared for the cascading nuclear disaster, following a tsunami that should have been anticipated. ... > full story

Pasta-shaped radio waves beamed across Venice (March 2, 2012) -- A group of Italian and Swedish researchers appears to have solved the problem of radio congestion by cleverly twisting radio waves into the shape of fusilli pasta, allowing a potentially infinite number of channels to be broadcast and received. ... > full story

Generating power from salty water: Unique salt allows energy production to move inland (March 1, 2012) -- Production of energy from the difference between salt water and fresh water is most convenient near the oceans, but now, using an ammonium bicarbonate salt solution, researchers can combine bacterial degradation of waste water with energy extracted from the salt-water fresh-water gradient to produce power anywhere. ... > full story

First computer model of how buds grow into leaves (March 1, 2012) -- Leaves come in all shapes and sizes. Scientists have discovered the simple rules that control leaf shape during growth. Using this "recipe," they have developed the first computer model able to accurately emulate leaf growth from a bud. ... > full story

Pioneering research reveals versatile bacterium's secrets (March 1, 2012) -- Ground-breaking research will help to make one of the most versatile of bacteria even more useful to society and the environment. Though it lives naturally in the soil, the bacterium Bacillus subtilis is widely used as a model laboratory organism. It is also used as a 'cell factory' to produce vitamins for the food industry and, in biotechnology, to produce enzymes such as those used in washing powders. ... > full story

In space and on Earth, why build it, when a robot can build it for you? (March 1, 2012) -- Like something straight out of “Star Wars,” armies of robots could nimbly be crawling up towers and skyscrapers to make repairs in the not-so-distant future, so humans don’t have to. ... > full story