The EDGE: ScienceDaily Technology Headlines -- for Saturday, October 15, 2011

ScienceDaily Technology Headlines

for Saturday, October 15, 2011

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How the zebra gets its stripes: A simple genetic circuit (October 14, 2011) -- Developmental processes that create stripes and other patterns are complex and difficult to untangle. To sort it out, a team of scientists has designed a simple genetic circuit that creates a striped pattern that they can control by tweaking a single gene. This genetic loop is made two linked modules that sense how crowded a group of cells has become and responds by controlling their movements. ... > full story

Differing structures underlie differing brain rhythms in healthy and ill, virtual modeling reveals (October 14, 2011) -- Virtual brains modeling epilepsy and schizophrenia display less complexity among functional connections, and other differences compared to healthy brain models, researchers report. The researchers worked backward from brain rhythms -- the oscillating patterns of electrical activity in the brain recorded on electroencephalograms -- from both healthy and ill individuals. ... > full story

'Robot biologist' solves complex problem from scratch (October 14, 2011) -- Scientists have taken a major step toward developing robot biologists. They have shown that their system, the Automated Biology Explorer, can solve a complicated biology problem from scratch. ... > full story

Researchers discover material with graphene-like properties (October 14, 2011) -- After the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to two scientists in 2010 who had studied the material graphene, this substance has received a lot of attention. Scientists have now developed and analyzed a material which possesses physical properties similar to graphene. ... > full story

Redox flow batteries, a promising technology for renewable energies integration (October 14, 2011) -- Today there is a wide variety of energy storage technologies at very different stages of development. Among them, the Redox Flow Battery (RFB) is an innovative solution based on the use of liquid electrolytes stored in tanks and pumped through a reactor to produce energy. Researchers are currently working in the development of high performance RFBs. ... > full story

Carbon nanotube muscles generate giant twist for novel motors (October 14, 2011) -- Artificial muscles, based on carbon nanotubes yarn, that twist like the trunk of an elephant, but provide a thousand times higher rotation per length, have been developed by a team of researchers. ... > full story

Tagging tumors with gold: Scientists use gold nanorods to flag brain tumors (October 14, 2011) -- When removing a brain tumor, even the slightest mistake could have serious health consequences. To help surgeons, researchers have proposed a way to harness the unique optical properties of gold nanoparticles to clearly distinguish a brain tumor from the healthy tissue that surrounds it. ... > full story

Why many cells are better than one: Limited decision-making ability of individual cells is bolstered in masses (October 14, 2011) -- Researchers have quantified the number of possible decisions that an individual cell can make after receiving a cue from its environment, and surprisingly, it's only two. ... > full story

Engineers create touchscreen Braille writer (October 14, 2011) -- In a two-month summer course on high-performance computing, promising undergrads compete to create innovative applications. This summer's winner developed a touchscreen Braille writer that stands to revolutionize how the blind negotiate an unseen world by replacing devices costing up to 10 times more. ... > full story

Better pictures with mobile devices (October 14, 2011) -- The world's smallest autofocus lens for mobile devices is ready, and Apple and Nokia are among the companies interested in introducing it. ... > full story

Nanoparticle assembly is like building with LEGOs (October 14, 2011) -- Scientists report that nanotechnology has entered a new era. Because of developments in nanoparticle self-assembly, designer materials with unique properties are now possible. And that could lead to immediate applications in catalysis, medical sensing and optics. ... > full story

Improving the physics of grocery store display cases to save energy (October 14, 2011) -- Aeronautical engineers are devising ways to boost the efficiency of open-air refrigerated cases, which are increasingly common in supermarkets. Results could lower the energy use of existing cases by up to 15 percent -- potentially saving 0 million in electricity costs nationally each year. ... > full story