The EDGE: ScienceDaily Technology Headlines -- for Friday, June 29, 2012

ScienceDaily Technology Headlines

for Friday, June 29, 2012

Welcome to another edition of ScienceDaily's email newsletter. You can change your subscription options or unsubscribe at any time.

Evidence of life on Mars could come from Martian moon Phobos (June 29, 2012) -- A mission to a Martian moon could return with alien life, according to experts, but don't expect the invasion scenario presented by summer blockbusters like "Men in Black 3" or "Prometheus." A sample from the moon Phobos, scientists believe, would almost surely contain Martian material blasted off from large asteroid impacts. If life on Mars exists or existed within the last 10 million years, a mission to Phobos could yield our first evidence of life beyond Earth. ... > full story

First-ever changes in an exoplanet atmosphere detected (June 29, 2012) -- Astronomers have using data made an unparalleled observation, detecting significant changes in the atmosphere of a planet located beyond our solar system. ... > full story

Has the speediest pulsar been found? (June 29, 2012) -- The fastest moving pulsar may have been found about 30,000 light years from Earth. This object is known as IGR J1104-6103 and may be racing away from a supernova remnant at about 6 million miles per hour. If confirmed, this would challenge theorists to create models that explain such super speeds out of supernova explosions. ... > full story

Improving efficiencies in fuel, chemical and pharmaceutical industries (June 28, 2012) -- Engineering researchers have made a major breakthrough in developing a catalyst used during chemical reactions in the production of gasoline, plastics, biofuels, pharmaceuticals, and other chemicals. The discovery could lead to major efficiencies and cost-savings in these multibillion-dollar industries. ... > full story

Plasma startup creates high-energy light to make smaller microchips (June 28, 2012) -- A pair of aeronautical engineers working on fusion energy -- harnessing the energy-generating mechanism of the sun -- may have found a way to etch the next generation of microchips. ... > full story

Programmable DNA scissors found for bacterial immune system (June 28, 2012) -- Scientists have discovered a programmable RNA complex in the bacterial immune system that guides the cleaving of DNA at targeted sites. This discovery opens a new door to genome editing with implications for the green chemistry microbial-based production of advanced biofuels, therapeutic drugs and other valuable chemical products. ... > full story

Cassini finds likely subsurface ocean on Saturn's moon Titan (June 28, 2012) -- Data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft have revealed Saturn's moon Titan likely harbors a layer of liquid water under its ice shell. Researchers saw a large amount of squeezing and stretching as the moon orbited Saturn. They deduced that if Titan were composed entirely of stiff rock, the gravitational attraction of Saturn would cause bulges, or solid "tides," on the moon only 3 feet (1 meter) in height. Spacecraft data show Saturn creates solid tides approximately 30 feet (10 meters) in height, which suggests Titan is not made entirely of solid rocky material. ... > full story

Study on fungi helps explain coal formation and may advance future biofuels production (June 28, 2012) -- The evolution of white rot fungi might have helped bring an end to the geologic period characterized by the formation of large coal deposits, and may help lay the groundwork for the future production of biofuels. ... > full story

Milky Way struck 100 million years ago, still rings like a bell (June 28, 2012) -- Astronomers have discovered evidence that our Milky Way had an encounter with a small galaxy or massive dark matter structure perhaps as recently as 100 million years ago, and as a result of that encounter it is still ringing like a bell. ... > full story

Pollutants could pose health risks for five sea turtle species (June 28, 2012) -- Researchers have measured for the first time concentrations of 13 compounds in five different endangered species of sea turtles that approach the amounts known to cause adverse health effects in other animals. ... > full story

With mind-reading speller, free-for-all conversations that are silent and still (June 28, 2012) -- Researchers have come up with a device that may enable people who are completely unable to speak or move at all to nevertheless manage unscripted back-and-forth conversation. The key to such silent and still communication is the first real-time, brain-scanning speller. ... > full story

Longest-lived Mars orbiter is back in service (June 28, 2012) -- NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter has resumed its science observations and its role as a Mars rover's relay, thanks to a spare part that had been waiting 11 years to be put to use. ... > full story

Photosynthesis re-wired: Chemists use nanowires to power photosynthesis-like process (June 28, 2012) -- Chemists have developed a process that closely resembles photosynthesis and proved capable of synthesizing compounds found in the pain-killers ibuprofen and naproxen. ... > full story

Paint-on lithium battery can be applied to virtually any surface (June 28, 2012) -- Researchers have developed a paint-on lithium-ion battery that can be applied to virtually any surface. The materials were airbrushed onto ceramic bathroom tiles, flexible polymers, glass, stainless steel and even a mug to see how well they would bond with each substrate. ... > full story

Acoustic tweezers capture and manipulate tiny creatures with ultrasound (June 28, 2012) -- Bioengineers and biochemists are using a miniaturized ultrasound device to capture and manipulate biological materials, such as the tiny roundworm, C. elegans. ... > full story

Understanding what's up with the Higgs Boson at the Large Hadron Collider (June 28, 2012) -- CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, will hold a seminar early in the morning on July 4 to announce the latest results from ATLAS and CMS, two major experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) that are searching for the Higgs boson. Both experimental teams are working down to the wire to finish analyzing their data, and to determine exactly what can be said about what they've found. ... > full story

Space tornadoes power the atmosphere of the Sun (June 28, 2012) -- Mathematicians have discovered tornadoes in space which could hold the key to power the atmosphere of the Sun to millions of kelvin. ... > full story

Dramatic change spotted on a faraway planet (June 28, 2012) -- Astronomers have seen dramatic changes in the upper atmosphere of a faraway planet. Just after a violent flare on its parent star bathed it in intense X-ray radiation, the planet's atmosphere gave off a powerful burst of evaporation. The observations give a tantalizing glimpse of the changing climates and weather on planets outside our Solar System. ... > full story

Palladium-gold nanoparticles clean TCE a billion times faster than iron filings (June 27, 2012) -- In the first side-by-side tests of a half-dozen palladium- and iron-based catalysts for cleaning up the carcinogen TCE, scientists have found that palladium destroys TCE far faster than iron -- up to a billion times faster in some cases. ... > full story

New planet-weighing technique found (June 27, 2012) -- Although there have been about 800 extra-solar planets discovered so far in our galaxy, the precise masses of the majority of them are still unknown, as the most-common planet-finding technique provides only a general idea of an object's mass. Previously, the only way to determine a planet's exact mass was if it transits. Astronomers have, for the first time, determined the mass of a non-transiting planet. ... > full story

Injecting life-saving oxygen into a vein (June 27, 2012) -- Patients unable to breathe because of acute lung failure or an obstructed airway need another way to get oxygen to their blood -- and fast -- to avoid cardiac arrest and brain injury. Medical researchers have designed tiny, gas-filled microparticles that can be injected directly into the bloodstream to quickly oxygenate the blood. ... > full story

Pressure testing of new Alvin Personnel Sphere successful (June 27, 2012) -- The human-occupied submersible Alvin reached a major milestone in its upgrade project on June 22 when its new titanium personnel sphere successfully completed pressure testing, reports the vehicle's operator. ... > full story

New way of probing exoplanet atmospheres (June 27, 2012) -- For the first time a new technique has allowed astronomers to study the atmosphere of an exoplanet in detail -- even though it does not pass in front of its parent star. Astronomers have used ESO's Very Large Telescope to directly catch the faint glow from the planet Tau Boötis b, solving a 15-year-old problem. The team also finds that the planet's atmosphere seems to be cooler higher up, differently from the expected. ... > full story

Scientists measure soot particles in flight (June 27, 2012) -- For the first time, air-polluting soot particles have been imaged in flight down to nanometer resolution. Pioneering a new technique scientists snapped the most detailed images yet of airborne aerosols. ... > full story

Easier way to make new drug compounds (June 27, 2012) -- Scientists have developed a powerful new technique for manipulating the building-block molecules of organic chemistry. The technique enables chemists to add new functional molecules to previously hard-to-reach positions on existing compounds—making it easier for them to generate new drugs and other organic chemicals. ... > full story

ALMA reveals constituent of a galaxy at 12.4 billion light-years away (June 27, 2012) -- How and when did galaxies with hundreds of billions of stars form and evolve? The sun, which is the center of the solar system in which we live, is also only one of the countless stars contained within a galaxy. In brief, it can be said that we need to understand the evolution of galaxies to understand the world we live in. ... > full story

A step toward minute factories that produce medicine inside the body (June 27, 2012) -- Scientists are reporting an advance toward treating disease with minute capsules containing not drugs -- but the DNA and other biological machinery for making the drug. They describe engineering micro- and nano-sized capsules that contain the genetically coded instructions, plus the read-out gear and assembly line for protein synthesis that can be switched on with an external signal. ... > full story

Ability to estimate quantity increases in first 30 years of life (June 27, 2012) -- One of the basic elements of cognition -- the ability to estimate quantities -- grows more precise across the first 30 years or more of a person's life, according to researchers. This intuitive grasp of numbers, also called an approximate number sense, or ANS, is tied to concrete math skills at every stage of life, the researchers found. ... > full story

Most new pesticides have roots in natural substances (June 27, 2012) -- Scientists who search for new pesticides for use in humanity's battle of the bugs and other threats to the food supply have been learning lessons from Mother Nature, according to a new analysis. It concludes that more than two out of every three new pesticide active ingredients approved in recent years had roots in natural substances produced in plants or animals. ... > full story

New technique controls crystalline structure of titanium dioxide (June 27, 2012) -- Researchers have developed a new technique for controlling the crystalline structure of titanium dioxide at room temperature. The development should make titanium dioxide more efficient in a range of applications, including photovoltaic cells, hydrogen production, antimicrobial coatings, smart sensors and optical communication technologies. ... > full story

First 3-D nanoscale optical cavities from metamaterials: Hold promise for nanolasers, LEDs, optical sensors (June 27, 2012) -- Researchers have created the world's smallest three-dimensional optical cavities with the potential to generate the world's most intense nanolaser beams. In addition to nanolasers, these unique optical cavities should be applicable to a broad range of other technologies, including LEDs, optical sensing, nonlinear optics, quantum optics and photonic integrated circuits. ... > full story

Plasma fingers point to the taming of the edge localized modes (June 27, 2012) -- New images from the MAST device at Culham Centre for Fusion Energy could find a solution to one of the biggest plasma physics problems standing in the way of the development of fusion power. ... > full story

Positive at last: A pure phosphorus cation (June 27, 2012) -- Ever since Hennig Brand's discovery in 1669, elementary phosphorus has fascinated chemists around the world. It is industrially produced by the ton and its compounds have numerous applications in materials science and the life sciences. The main known forms of the element are white, red, and black phosphorus. Chemists have now succeeded in creating a positively charged pure phosphorus compound. ... > full story

Self-healing dynamic membrane (June 27, 2012) -- The market for membranes, porous materials used mainly to filter liquids, is booming. However, their design leaves room for improvement. Taking their inspiration from cellular membranes, researchers have developed the first dynamic membrane for water filtration which, depending on the water pressure, can adjust the size of its pores in an autonomous manner. ... > full story

Mars rover Curiosity on track for early August landing (June 26, 2012) -- A maneuver on Tuesday (June 26, 2012) adjusted the flight path of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft for delivering the rover Curiosity to a landing target beside a Martian mountain. ... > full story

Marine energy doubled by predicting wave power (June 26, 2012) -- The energy generated from our oceans could be doubled using new methods for predicting wave power. New research could pave the way for significant advancements in marine renewable energy, making it a more viable source of power. The researchers devised a means of accurately predicting the power of the next wave in order to make the technology far more efficient, extracting twice as much energy as is currently possible. ... > full story

Lab-on-a-chip detects trace levels of toxic vapors in homes near Utah Air Force Base (June 26, 2012) -- A lab-on-a-chip technology that measures trace amounts of air contaminants in homes was successfully field-tested. ... > full story

Musical robot companion enhances listener experience (June 26, 2012) -- Wedding DJs everywhere should be worried about job security now that a new robot is on the scene. Shimi, an interactive musical companion recommends songs, dances to the beat and keeps the music pumping based on listener feedback. ... > full story

Sifting through a trillion electrons (June 26, 2012) -- Modern research tools like supercomputers, particle colliders, and telescopes are generating so much data, so quickly, many scientists fear that soon they will not be able to keep up with the deluge. ... > full story

Denser development is good for single-family home values (June 26, 2012) -- A study shows that, contrary to popular belief, there’s a positive association between higher neighborhood density and the value of single-family residential properties. ... > full story

Scientists find new primitive mineral in meteorite (June 26, 2012) -- In 1969, an exploding fireball tore through the sky over Mexico, scattering thousands of pieces of meteorite across the state of Chihuahua. More than 40 years later, the Allende meteorite is still serving the scientific community as a rich source of information about the early stages of our solar system's evolution. Recently, scientists discovered a new mineral embedded in the space rock -- one they believe to be among the oldest minerals formed in the solar system. ... > full story

National Research Council presents long-term priorities for U.S. nuclear physics program (June 26, 2012) -- Nuclear physics is a discovery-driven enterprise aimed at understanding the fundamental nature of visible matter in the universe. For the past hundred years, new knowledge of the nuclear world has also directly benefited society through many innovative applications. In its fourth decadal survey of nuclear physics, the National Research Council outlines the impressive accomplishments of the field in the last decade and recommends a long-term strategy for the future. ... > full story

Tiny magnetic coils modulate neural activity, may be safer for deep-brain implants (June 26, 2012) -- Magnetic fields generated by microscopic devices implanted into the brain may be able to modulate brain-cell activity and reduce symptoms of several neurological disorders. ... > full story

Structure of new superhard form of carbon established (June 26, 2012) -- Researchers have established the structure of a new form of carbon. The team used a novel computational method to demonstrate that the properties of what had previously been thought to be only a hypothetical structure of a superhard form of carbon called "M-carbon" matched perfectly the experimental data on “superhard graphite.” ... > full story

Gravitational lensing: Astronomers spot rare arc from hefty galaxy cluster (June 26, 2012) -- Seeing is believing, except when you don't believe what you see. Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have found a puzzling arc of light behind an extremely massive cluster of galaxies residing 10 billion light-years away. The galactic grouping, discovered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, was observed as it existed when the universe was roughly a quarter of its current age of 13.7 billion years. The giant arc is the stretched shape of a more distant galaxy whose light is distorted by the monster cluster's powerful gravity, an effect called gravitational lensing. The trouble is, the arc shouldn't exist. ... > full story

Reaching, researching between stars: Astronomers use Lonestar supercomputer to explore role of dark matter in galaxy formation (June 26, 2012) -- A new study reveals that dark matter is more distributed than predictions previously stated. Researchers used the TACC Lonestar supercomputer to simulate thousands of galaxy models based on the information retrieved at the McDonald Observatory and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. ... > full story

Better surfaces could help dissipate heat (June 26, 2012) -- Researchers at MIT have found that relatively simple, microscale roughening of a surface can dramatically enhance its transfer of heat. Such an approach could be far less complex and more durable than approaches that enhance heat transfer through smaller patterning in the nanometer (billionths of a meter) range. The new research also provides a theoretical framework for analyzing the behavior of such systems, pointing the way to even greater improvements. ... > full story

Make me an offer, say online shoppers (June 26, 2012) -- Online shoppers would rather receive an offer for a product or service than make their own offer, according to a new study that has implications for the fast-growing e-commerce industry. ... > full story

This message was sent to jmabs1@gmail.com from:

ScienceDaily | 1 Research Court, Suite 450 | Rockville, MD 20850

Email Marketing by