The EDGE: ScienceDaily Technology Headlines -- for Tuesday, June 12, 2012

ScienceDaily Technology Headlines

for Tuesday, June 12, 2012

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Europeans to build world’s biggest eye on the sky: Largest optical/infrared telescope (June 11, 2012) -- The European Southern Observatory is to build the largest optical/infrared telescope in the world. At its meeting in Garching June 11, the ESO Council approved the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) Programme, pending confirmation of four so-called ad referendum votes. The E-ELT will start operations early in the next decade. ... > full story

NASA Mars rover team aims for landing closer to prime science site (June 11, 2012) -- NASA has narrowed the target for its most advanced Mars rover, Curiosity, which will land on the Red Planet in August. The car-sized rover will arrive closer to its ultimate destination for science operations, but also closer to the foot of a mountain slope that poses a landing hazard. ... > full story

NuSTAR to drop from plane and rocket into space (June 11, 2012) -- NASA's NuSTAR mission is scheduled to launch from Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific Ocean on June 13, no earlier than 8:30 a.m. PDT (11:30 a.m. EDT). The observatory, which will hunt for black holes and other exotic objects using specialized X-ray eyes, will be launched from a Pegasus XL rocket carried by an Orbital Science Corporation L-1011 "Stargazer" plane. The plane will take off from Kwajalein Atoll an hour before launch, flying out over the Pacific Ocean. ... > full story

Black hole growth found to be out of sync (June 11, 2012) -- New evidence from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory challenges prevailing ideas about how black holes grow in the centers of galaxies. Astronomers long have thought that a supermassive black hole and the bulge of stars at the center of its host galaxy grow at the same rate -- the bigger the bulge, the bigger the black hole. However, a new study of Chandra data has revealed two nearby galaxies with supermassive black holes that are growing faster than the galaxies themselves. ... > full story

Highest-energy light from a solar flare ever detected (June 11, 2012) -- During a powerful solar blast on March 7, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected the highest-energy light ever associated with an eruption on the sun. The discovery heralds Fermi's new role as a solar observatory, a powerful new tool for understanding solar outbursts during the sun's maximum period of activity. ... > full story

New evidence supports theory of extraterrestrial impact (June 11, 2012) -- Scientists have discovered melt-glass material in a thin layer of sedimentary rock in Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Syria. According to the researchers, the material -- which dates back nearly 13,000 years -- was formed at temperatures of 1,700 to 2,200 degrees Celsius (3,100 to 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit), and is the result of a cosmic body impacting Earth. ... > full story

Workings behind promising inexpensive catalyst revealed (June 11, 2012) -- A newly developed carbon nanotube material could help lower the cost of fuel cells, catalytic converters and similar energy-related technologies by delivering a substitute for expensive platinum catalysts. ... > full story

Neighbor galaxies may have brushed closely, astronomers find (June 11, 2012) -- New observations confirm a tenuous "bridge" of hydrogen gas streaming between two prominent members of our Local Group of galaxies -- the Andromeda Galaxy and the Triangulum Galaxy. This indicates the two may have had a close encounter in the distant past. ... > full story

Helices of light: Dark helices with a bright future (June 11, 2012) -- Laser beams can be made to form dark as well as bright intensity helices, or corkscrews of light. Scientists have now shown that forming dark helices can have considerable advantages over employing their commonly considered bright cousins. ... > full story

New spin on antifreeze: Researchers create ultra slippery anti-ice and anti-frost surfaces (June 11, 2012) -- Researchers have invented a way to keep any metal surface free of ice and frost. The treated surfaces quickly shed even tiny, incipient condensation droplets or frost simply through gravity. The technology prevents ice sheets from developing on surfaces -- and any ice that does form, slides off effortlessly. ... > full story

More than 635,000 Martian craters catalogued (June 11, 2012) -- How beat up is Mars from cosmic buckshot over the millenia? According to new research, there are a staggering 635,000 impact craters on Mars that are roughly a kilometer or more in diameter. ... > full story

Treating childhood anxiety with computers, not drugs (June 11, 2012) -- Psychologists have turned a common computer-based test for childhood anxiety into a form of therapeutic treatment. In its initial clinical trial, the new approach was as effective as medication and cognitive therapy for children, eliminating the need for medication or expensive in-person therapeutic treatment by professionals. ... > full story

Beating hearts are finally still with 4D PET image reconstruction (June 11, 2012) -- A development in 4D image reconstruction compensates for blurring caused by the beating of the heart, say researchers. The new method provides sharper-than-ever images of cardiac function to help pinpoint heart defects for better diagnoses and treatment. ... > full story

Computer model successfully predicts drug side effects (June 11, 2012) -- A new set of computer models has successfully predicted negative side effects in hundreds of current drugs, based on the similarity between their chemical structures and those molecules known to cause side effects, according to a new article. ... > full story

Scientists correct Amazon water level gauges from space (June 11, 2012) -- NASA's laser satellite, ICESat, has been used to make corrections to water level gauges that are critical in monitoring water flow in the Amazon, the world's largest river. The new study will improve our understanding of water flows and floodplain processes. ... > full story

Humanoid soccer championship 2012 (June 11, 2012) -- In a number of recent Hollywood hit films, robots do all kinds of spectacular things, from battling it out in boxing rings to saving the world from alien invaders. Researchers are now helping to bring those futuristic visions a little closer to reality. ... > full story

Nanoparticles in polluted air, smoke & nanotechnology products have serious impact on health (June 11, 2012) -- New groundbreaking research has found that exposure to nanoparticles can have a serious impact on health, linking it to rheumatoid arthritis and the development of other serious autoimmune diseases. The findings have health and safety implications for the manufacture, use and ultimate disposal of nanotechnology products and materials. They also identified new cellular targets for the development of potential drug therapies in combating the development of autoimmune diseases. ... > full story

Hope for new imaging isotope source (June 11, 2012) -- Scientists have made an important breakthrough in the race to find a viable replacement for supply of technetium-99m, an important isotope produced by Canada's Chalk River reactor. ... > full story

Theorem unifies superfluids and other weird materials (June 11, 2012) -- Despite physicists' fascination with the weird behavior of materials at extremely low temperatures -- 11 Nobel Prizes have been awarded in the area -- a unified explanation of materials like superfluids and Bose-Einstein condensates remained elusive. Now, physicists have demonstrated that counting the number of Nambu-Goldstone bosons in a material reveals the material's behavior at low temperatures, allowing the prediction of behavior and design of new materials with spooky properties. ... > full story

Global investment in renewable energy powers to record 7 billion (June 11, 2012) -- Solar generation surged past wind power to become the renewable energy technology of choice for global investors in 2011. Solar attracted nearly twice as much investment as wind, driving the renewable energy sector to yet another record-breaking year, albeit one beset with challenges for the industry, according to two new reports. ... > full story

A SMART(er) way to track influenza (June 11, 2012) -- Researchers have created a reliable and fast flu-detection test that can be carried in a first-aid kit. The novel prototype device isolates influenza RNA using a combination of magnetics and microfluidics, then amplifies and detects probes bound to the RNA. The technology could lead to real-time tracking of influenza. ... > full story

Researchers watch tiny living machines self-assemble (June 10, 2012) -- Enabling bioengineers to design new molecular machines for nanotechnology applications is one of the possible outcomes of a new study. Scientists have developed a new approach to visualize how proteins assemble, which may also significantly aid our understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, which are caused by errors in assembly. ... > full story

Mapping volcanic heat on Jupiter's moon Io (June 10, 2012) -- A new study finds that the pattern of heat coming from volcanoes on Io's surface disposes of the generally-accepted model of internal heating. The heat pouring out of Io's hundreds of erupting volcanoes indicates a complex, multi-layer source. These results come from data collected by NASA spacecraft and ground-based telescopes. ... > full story

NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter puts itself into standby safe mode (June 10, 2012) -- NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter put itself into a precautionary standby status early Friday, June 8, Universal Time (Thursday evening, Pacific Time), when the spacecraft detected unexpected characteristics in movement of one of its reaction wheels. The spacecraft uses three of these wheels as the primary method for adjusting and maintaining its orientation. It carries a spare reaction wheel. ... > full story

Hubble spots a bright spark in a nearby spiral galaxy (June 9, 2012) -- A new image, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows a detailed view of the spiral arms on one side of the galaxy Messier 99. Messier 99 is a so-called grand design spiral, with long, large and clearly defined spiral arms -- giving it a structure somewhat similar to the Milky Way. In recent years, a number of unexplained phenomena in Messier 99 have been studied by astronomers. Among these is the nature of one of the brighter stars visible in this image. ... > full story

Instrument integration begins at Goddard on MMS spacecraft (June 9, 2012) -- The decks have arrived. Engineers working on NASA'S Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission have started integrating instruments on the first of four instrument decks in a newly fabricated cleanroom at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The MMS mission consists of four identical spacecraft, and each instrument deck will have 25 sensors per spacecraft. ... > full story

Rocket sled tests are technology pathway to safely land humans, habitats and cargo on Mars (June 8, 2012) -- Traveling 300 million miles through deep space to reach the planet Mars is difficult; successfully landing there is even harder. The process of entering the Red Planet's atmosphere and slowing down to land has been described as "six minutes of terror." ... > full story

WISE finds few brown dwarfs close to home (June 8, 2012) -- Astronomers are getting to know the neighbors better. Our sun resides within a spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy about two-thirds of the way out from the center. It lives in a fairly calm, suburb-like area with an average number of stellar residents. Recently, NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, has been turning up a new crowd of stars close to home: the coldest of the brown dwarf family of "failed" stars. ... > full story

Neutrinos sent from CERN to Gran Sasso respect the cosmic speed limit, experiments confirm (June 8, 2012) -- The latest results on the time of flight of neutrinos from CERN to the INFN Gran Sasso Laboratory have just been presented. Four experiments -- Borexino, ICARUS, LVD and OPERA -- all measure a neutrino time of flight consistent with the speed of light. This is at odds with a measurement that the OPERA collaboration put up for scrutiny last September, indicating that the original OPERA measurement can be attributed to a faulty element of the experiment's fibre optic timing system. ... > full story

Physicists discover mechanisms of wrinkle and crumple formation (June 8, 2012) -- How a featureless sheet develops a complex shape has long remained elusive, but now physicists have identified a fundamental mechanism by which such complex patterns emerge spontaneously. ... > full story

More people staying connected on vacation (June 8, 2012) -- Scanning smartphones, tablets and laptops is as much a part of vacations as slathering on sunscreen, according to a new study. ... > full story

Big step taken to develop nuclear fusion power (June 8, 2012) -- A key technology is being heralded as a major step in developing an experimental fusion reactor. Researchers involved in the ITER project completed a critical step by successfully testing technology that will insulate and stabilize the central solenoid -- the reactor's backbone. ITER is building a fusion reactor that aims to produce 10 times the amount of energy that it uses. The facility is now under construction near Cadarache, France, and will begin operations in 2020. ... > full story

Engineered robot interacts with live fish (June 8, 2012) -- A bioinspired robot has provided the first experimental evidence that live zebrafish can be influenced by engineered robots. ... > full story

Environmental benefit of biofuels is overestimated, new study reveals (June 8, 2012) -- Two scientists are challenging the currently accepted norms of biofuel production. Calculations of greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions from bioenergy production are neglecting crucial information that has led to the overestimation of the benefits of biofuels compared to fossil fuels, a new analysis shows. ... > full story

Rubber wood, coconut shells and fabrics tested for use in hybrid composites (June 7, 2012) -- Opening a way to a new hybrid composite, researchers have tested hybrid composites made of rubberwood, coconut shell and textile fabrics (woven cotton and polyester fabrics). ... > full story

Information processing: Adding a touch of color (June 7, 2012) -- An innovative computer program brings color to grayscale images. ... > full story

Optical materials: Holey gold (June 7, 2012) -- Imaging nanoporous metals with beams of electrons provides deep insights into the unusual optical properties of these materials. ... > full story

Microscopy: A glance from the nanoworld (June 7, 2012) -- A new patterning technique produces a faithful reproduction of grayscale images down to the micrometer level. ... > full story

Groundbreaking new graphene-based MRI contrast agent (June 7, 2012) -- Scientists have developed a new, highly efficacious, potentially safer and more cost effective nanoparticle-based MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) contrast agent for improved disease diagnosis and detection. ... > full story

NASA's Spitzer finds first objects burned furiously (June 7, 2012) -- The faint, lumpy glow given off by the very first objects in the universe may have been detected with the best precision yet, using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. These faint objects might be wildly massive stars or voracious black holes. They are too far away to be seen individually, but Spitzer has captured new, convincing evidence of what appears to be the collective pattern of their infrared light. The observations help confirm the first objects were numerous in quantity and furiously burned cosmic fuel. ... > full story

A super tiny giraffe (June 7, 2012) -- An engineering graduate student wins first place in 'Science as Art' competition for magnified image of nickel, aluminum and carbon that resembles a super tiny giraffe. ... > full story

'Nanocable' could be big boon for energy storage (June 7, 2012) -- Researchers have created a coaxial nanocable capacitor that outperforms previously reported microcapacitors. The three-layer, 100-nanometer-wide cable was produced with techniques pioneered in the nascent graphene field and could be used to build next-generation energy-storage systems. ... > full story

Slashing energy needs for next-generation memory (June 7, 2012) -- Researchers have unveiled a new data-encoding scheme that slashes more than 30 percent of the energy needed to write data onto memory cards that use "phase-change memory" -- a competitor to flash memory that has big backing from industry heavyweights. ... > full story

Quantum computers move closer to reality, thanks to highly enriched and highly purified silicon (June 7, 2012) -- Scientists have made the next step towards making quantum computing a reality -- through the unique properties of highly enriched and highly purified silicon. ... > full story

Armored caterpillar could inspire new body armor (June 7, 2012) -- Military body armor and vehicle and aircraft frames could be transformed by incorporating the unique structure of the club-like arm of a crustacean that looks like an armored caterpillar, according to new findings. ... > full story

Tabletop X-Ray to Image Nanoworld: All the colors of a high-energy rainbow, in a tightly focused beam (June 7, 2012) -- For the first time, researchers have produced a coherent, laser-like, directed beam of light that simultaneously streams ultraviolet light, X-rays, and all wavelengths in between. One of the few light sources to successfully produce a coherent beam that includes X-rays, this new technology is the first to do so using a setup that fits on a laboratory table. ... > full story

How black holes change gear (June 7, 2012) -- Black holes are extremely powerful and efficient engines that not only swallow up matter, but also return a lot of energy to the universe in exchange for the mass they eat. When black holes attract mass they also trigger the release of intense X-ray radiation and power strong jets. But not all black holes do this the same way. This has long baffled astronomers. By studying two active black holes researchers have now gathered evidence that suggests that each black hole can change between two different regimes, like changing the gears of an engine. ... > full story

New twist on old chemical process could boost energy efficiency significantly (June 7, 2012) -- An unappreciated aspect of chemical reactions on the surface of metal oxides could be key in developing more efficient energy systems, including more productive solar cells or hydrogen fuel cells efficient enough for automobiles. ... > full story