The EDGE: ScienceDaily Technology Headlines -- for Friday, August 24, 2012

ScienceDaily Technology Headlines

for Friday, August 24, 2012

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Nanoparticles reboot blood flow in brain (August 23, 2012) -- Nanoparticles show promise in restoring blood flow to the brain when administered soon after a traumatic brain or other injury. ... > full story

Collective motion in schools of fish can evolve as finely tuned defense against attack from predators: Virtual fish simulation (August 23, 2012) -- Researchers have designed a video game for predatory fish that has unraveled some lingering evolutionary questions about group formation and movement in animals. ... > full story

Webb Telescope's 'golden spider' (August 23, 2012) -- What looks like a giant golden spider weaving a web of cables and cords, is actually ground support equipment, including the Optical Telescope Simulator (OSIM), for the James Webb Space Telescope. OSIM's job is to generate a beam of light just like the one that the real telescope optics will feed into the actual flight instruments. Because the real flight instruments will be used to test the real flight telescope, their alignment and performance first have to be verified by using the OSIM. Engineers are thoroughly checking out OSIM now in preparation for using it to test the flight science instruments later. ... > full story

Smooth sailing: Space launch system giving Marshall, Langley wind tunnels a workout (August 23, 2012) -- Since well before the inception of NASA, engineers used wind tunnels and scale models to test how vehicles would respond and interact with the atmosphere. At the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., engineers are using wind tunnel testing to enhance the development of NASA's Space Launch System, a heavy-lift launch vehicle that will propel science and human exploration into deep space and launch NASA's Orion spacecraft to expand human presence beyond low Earth orbit. ... > full story

More exoplanets discovered: 41 new transiting planets in Kepler field of view (August 23, 2012) -- Two newly submitted studies verify 41 new transiting planets in 20 star systems. These results may increase the number of Kepler's confirmed planets by more than 50 percent: to 116 planets hosted in 67 systems, over half of which contain more than one planet. ... > full story

Link found between cold European winters and solar activity (August 23, 2012) -- Scientists have long suspected that the Sun's 11-year cycle influences climate of certain regions on Earth. Yet records of average, seasonal temperatures do not date back far enough to confirm any patterns. Now, armed with a unique proxy, an international team of researchers show that unusually cold winters in Central Europe are related to low solar activity – when sunspot numbers are minimal. ... > full story

Sensor detects glucose in saliva and tears for diabetes testing (August 23, 2012) -- Researchers have created a new type of biosensor that can detect minute concentrations of glucose in saliva, tears and urine and might be manufactured at low cost because it does not require many processing steps to produce. ... > full story

How to feed data-hungry mobile devices? Use more antennas (August 23, 2012) -- Researchers have just unveiled Argos, a new multi-antenna technology that could help wireless providers keep pace with the voracious demands of data-hungry smartphones and tablets. Argos aims to dramatically increase network capacity by allowing cell towers to simultaneously beam signals to more than a dozen customers on the same frequency. ... > full story

Novel microscopy method offers sharper view of brain's neural network (August 23, 2012) -- An Italian research team has, for the first time, imaged a fluorescent mouse brain in its entirety with the highest resolution to date. The novel method, which uses a new microscopy technique, produced 100 percent sharper images of the neural pathways, and should be applicable to human brain samples in the future – opening the door to a better understanding of brain disorders such as autism and ischemic stroke. ... > full story

Supernovae of the same brightness, cut from vastly different cosmic cloth (August 23, 2012) -- Astronomers have presented the first-ever direct observations of a Type 1a supernova progenitor system. Astronomers have collected evidence indicating that the progenitor system of a Type 1a supernova contains a red giant star. They also show that the system previously underwent at least one much smaller nova eruption before it ended its life in a destructive supernova. By comparison, indirect observations of another Type 1a supernova progenitor system showed no evidence of a red giant star. Taken together, these observations unequivocally show that just because Type 1a supernovae look the same, that doesn't mean they are all born the same way. ... > full story

Engineers achieve longstanding goal of stable nanocrystalline metals (August 23, 2012) -- Most metals -- from the steel used to build bridges and skyscrapers to the copper and gold used to form wires in microchips -- are made of crystals: orderly arrays of molecules forming a perfectly repeating pattern. In many cases, the material is made of tiny crystals packed closely together, rather than one large crystal. The crystals tend to merge and grow larger if subjected to heat or stress. Now, researchers have found a way to avoid that problem. They've designed and made alloys that form extremely tiny grains -- called nanocrystals -- that are only a few billionths of a meter across. ... > full story

One-molecule-thick material has big advantages (August 23, 2012) -- New research suggests that a whole family of two-dimensional materials may open up possibilities for applications that could change many aspects of modern life. ... > full story

Scientists produce hydrogen for fuel cells using an inexpensive catalyst under real-world conditions (August 23, 2012) -- Scientists have produced hydrogen, a renewable energy source, from water using an inexpensive catalyst under industrially relevant conditions (using pH neutral water, surrounded by atmospheric oxygen, and at room temperature). ... > full story

Spacetime: A smoother brew than we knew (August 23, 2012) -- Spacetime may be less like beer and more like sipping whiskey. Or so an intergalactic photo finish would suggest. Physicists reached this heady conclusion after studying the tracings of three photons of differing wavelengths that were recorded by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope in May 2009. Photons from a gamma-ray burst jetted 7 billion light years across the universe and arrived at Earth in a dead heat, calling into question just how foamy the universe may be. ... > full story

Shaking the electron has strengthened quantum mechanics (August 23, 2012) -- Atomic orbital electrons react to change of nucleus electric charge following each beta decay and to flying nearby particles emitted from the nucleus. Physicists have simulated such processes for 6He nuclei. Theoretical calculations were recently confirmed. ... > full story

Milky Way now has a twin (or two): Astronomers find first group of galaxies just like ours (August 22, 2012) -- Researchers have found the first group of galaxies that is just like ours, a rare sight in the local Universe. The Milky Way is a fairly typical galaxy on its own, but when paired with its close neighbours -- the Magellanic Clouds -- it is very rare, and could have been one of a kind, until a survey of our local Universe found another two examples just like us. ... > full story

Batteries made from world’s thinnest material could power tomorrow’s electric cars (August 22, 2012) -- Engineering researchers have made a sheet of paper from the world’s thinnest material, graphene, and then zapped the paper with a laser or camera flash to blemish it with countless cracks, pores, and other imperfections. The result is a graphene anode material that can be charged or discharged 10 times faster than conventional graphite anodes used in today's lithium-ion batteries. ... > full story

Scientists create chemical 'brain': Giant network links all known compounds and reactions (August 22, 2012) -- Scientists have connected 250 years of organic chemical knowledge into one giant computer network -- a chemical Google on steroids. This "immortal chemist" will never retire and take away its knowledge but instead will continue to learn, grow and share. The software optimizes syntheses of drug molecules and other important compounds, combines long (and expensive) syntheses of compounds into shorter and more economical routes and identifies suspicious chemical recipes that could lead to chemical weapons. ... > full story

Elusive metal discovered: Nickel oxide turned into an electricity-conducting metal (August 22, 2012) -- Scientists have discovered the conditions under which nickel oxide can turn into an electricity-conducting metal. Nickel oxide is one of the first compounds to be studied for its electronic properties, but until now scientists have not been able to induce a metallic state. The compound becomes metallic at enormous pressures of 2.4 million times the atmospheric pressure (240 gigapascals). ... > full story

Researchers probe invisible vacancies in fuel cell materials (August 22, 2012) -- Knowing the position of missing oxygen atoms could be the key to cheaper solid oxide fuel cells with longer lifetimes. New microscopy research is enabling scientists to map these vacancies at an atomic scale. ... > full story

Mars rover Curiosity begins driving at Bradbury landing (August 22, 2012) -- NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has begun driving from its landing site, which scientists announced Aug. 22 they have named for the late author Ray Bradbury. Making its first movement on the Martian surface, Curiosity's drive combined forward, turn and reverse segments. This placed the rover roughly 20 feet (6 meters) from the spot where it landed 16 days ago. ... > full story

Biorefinery makes use of every bit of a soybean (August 22, 2012) -- Scientists have unveiled new technology intended to move soybeans, second only to corn as the top food crop in the U.S., along the same use-to-all path of corn and crude oil as a raw material for a wider portfolio of products. ... > full story

Super-strong, high-tech material found to be toxic to aquatic animals (August 22, 2012) -- Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have potential uses in everything from medicine to electronics to construction. However, CNTs are not without risks. A new study found that they can be toxic to aquatic animals. The researchers urge that care be taken to prevent the release of CNTs into the environment as the materials enter mass production. ... > full story

Future memory: Ferroelectric materials could bring down cost of cloud computing and electronic devices (August 22, 2012) -- A new class of organic materials boasts an attractive but elusive property: Ferroelectricity. The crystalline materials also have a great memory, which could be very useful in computer and cellphone memory applications, including cloud computing. The very long crystals with desirable properties are made using just two small organic molecules that are extremely attracted to each other. The starting compounds are simple and inexpensive, making the lightweight materials scalable for technology applications. ... > full story

Sky-high methane mystery closer to being solved (August 22, 2012) -- Increased capture of natural gas from oil fields probably accounts for up to 70 percent of the dramatic leveling off seen in atmospheric methane at the end of the 20th century, according to new research. ... > full story

Long-standing chemistry mystery cracked (August 22, 2012) -- Chemists have answered a key question concerning the widely-used Fenton reaction – important in wastewater treatment to destroy hazardous organic chemicals and decontaminate bacterial pathogens and in industrial chemical production. ... > full story

Researchers study the structure of drug resistance in tuberculosis (August 22, 2012) -- A research group is studying disease resistance in tuberculosis. The group has described the structure of a regulator that controls the expression of a pump that removes toxins from the bacteria. ... > full story

CSI: NASA -- Deciphering today's technological failures to prevent future problems (August 22, 2012) -- Working side-by-side with designers developing technologies of the future are engineers deciphering what went wrong with some of the technologies of the present. They analyze readouts from precision tools, devise ways to test large pieces of rocket hardware without damaging the rocket itself, and burn, blow up or vaporize leftover fragments in an effort to find out why something failed. ... > full story

Glass offers improved means of storing nuclear waste, researchers say (August 22, 2012) -- Researchers have shown, for the first time, that a method of storing nuclear waste normally used only for high level waste, could provide a safer, more efficient, and potentially cheaper, solution for the storage and ultimate disposal of intermediate level waste. ... > full story

Are the eyes the key to a new test for Alzheimer's disease? (August 22, 2012) -- A simple eye tracking test could hold the key to earlier Alzheimer’s diagnosis, according to new research. ... > full story

New era in camouflage makeup: Shielding soldiers from searing heat of bomb blasts (August 22, 2012) -- Camouflage face make-up for warfare is undergoing one of the most fundamental changes in thousands of years, as scientists have described a new face paint that both hides soldiers from the enemy and shields their faces from the searing heat of bomb blasts. Firefighters also could benefit from the new heat-resistant makeup. ... > full story

New cancer scanner halves radiation (August 22, 2012) -- Particle physicists have developed a new medical technology that combines PET and MRI in one. Benefit: Improved image quality and less radiation. ... > full story

Semiconductor lasers: Surface emitters set a new world record for spectral bandwidth (August 22, 2012) -- Scientists have developed semiconductor lasers that emit light over a wavelength range of 100 nm, a new world record for a single semiconductor laser. Such lasers might allow more efficient, lower-cost operation of future fiberoptic telecommunications networks and the development of high-responsivity gas sensors. ... > full story

Lifelike, cost-effective robotic hand can disable IEDs (August 21, 2012) -- Researchers have developed a cost-effective robotic hand that can be used in disarming improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. ... > full story

NASA's Curiosity studies Mars surroundings, nears drive (August 21, 2012) -- NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has been investigating the Martian weather around it and the soil beneath it, as its controllers prepare for the car-size vehicle's first drive on Mars. ... > full story

Twin satellites will help improve space weather forecasts (August 21, 2012) -- On Aug. 24, NASA will launch two identical satellites from Cape Canaveral, Fla., to begin its Radiation Belt Storm Probes mission to study the extremes of space weather and help scientists improve space weather forecasts. The University of Iowa has designed the Electromagnetic Instrument Suite with Integrated Science project to study how various amounts of space radiation form and change during space storms. ... > full story

Moving closer to extracting uranium from seawater (August 21, 2012) -- Fueling nuclear reactors with uranium harvested from the ocean could become more feasible because of a new material. ... > full story

Fueling nuclear power with seawater: Tests adsorbent to extract uranium from the ocean (August 21, 2012) -- A new absorbent material may be able to soak up enough trace uranium in seawater to help fuel future nuclear power plants. Tests showed the material can soak up more than two times the uranium than a similar material developed in Japan. ... > full story

'Electronic nose' prototype developed: Device has applications in agriculture, industry, homeland security and the military (August 21, 2012) -- Research has led to the development of an "electronic nose" prototype that can detect small quantities of harmful airborne substances. ... > full story

New catalyst could improve production of glass alternatives (August 21, 2012) -- Chemists have identified a catalyst that could dramatically reduce the amount of waste made in the production of methyl methacrylate, a monomer used in the large-scale manufacturing of lightweight, shatter-resistant alternatives to glass such as Plexiglas. ... > full story

Public wave energy test facility begins operation in Oregon (August 21, 2012) -- One of the first public wave energy testing systems in the United States began operation this week off the Oregon coast near Newport, and will allow private industry or academic researchers to test new technology that may help advance this promising form of sustainable energy. ... > full story

Self-charging power cell converts and stores energy (August 21, 2012) -- Researchers have developed a self-charging power cell that directly converts mechanical energy to chemical energy, storing the power until it is released as electrical current. The development eliminates the need to convert mechanical energy to electrical energy for charging a battery. ... > full story

New technology to transform blood processing (August 21, 2012) -- A pioneering surgical blood salvage technology is set to transform the way major surgery is carried out by reducing blood loss in patients. ... > full story

Halo of neutrinos alters physics of exploding stars (August 21, 2012) -- Sparse halos of neutrinos within the hearts of exploding stars exert a previously unrecognized influence on the physics of the explosion and may alter which elements can be forged by these violent events. ... > full story

Intense bursts of star formation drive fierce galactic winds (August 21, 2012) -- Fierce galactic winds powered by an intense burst of star formation may blow gas right out of massive galaxies, shutting down their ability to make new stars. ... > full story

Sun's plasma loops recreated in the lab to help understand solar physics (August 21, 2012) -- In orbit around Earth is a wide range of satellites that we rely on for everything from television feeds to GPS navigation. Although these spacecraft soar high above storms on Earth, they are still vulnerable to weather from the sun. Large solar flares can cause widespread damage, which is why researchers are working to learn more about the possible precursors to solar flares called plasma loops by recreating them in the lab. ... > full story

Computer program recognizes any language (August 21, 2012) -- New technology that allows computers to recognize any language without pre-learning stands to revolutionize automatic speech recognition. ... > full story

New aerogel-based plaster provides better insulation: Space technology for old buildings (August 21, 2012) -- Old buildings are beautiful -- and hard to insulate. Swiss engineers have developed a new Aerogel-based plaster that provides twice the insulation of currently used insulating renders. The product should come onto the market next year. ... > full story