The EDGE: ScienceDaily Technology Headlines -- for Sunday, June 17, 2012

ScienceDaily Technology Headlines

for Sunday, June 17, 2012

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Ionic liquid improves speed and efficiency of hydrogen-producing catalyst (June 16, 2012) -- The design of a nature-inspired material that can make energy-storing hydrogen gas has gone holistic. Usually, tweaking the design of this particular catalyst -- a work in progress for cheaper, better fuel cells -- results in either faster or more energy efficient production but not both. Now, researchers have found a condition that creates hydrogen faster without a loss in efficiency. ... > full story

Nanoparticles hold promise to improve blood cancer treatment (June 15, 2012) -- Researchers have engineered nanoparticles that show great promise for the treatment of multiple myeloma (MM), an incurable cancer of the plasma cells in bone marrow. ... > full story

No Earth impact in 2040: NASA releases workshop data and findings on asteroid 2011 AG5 (June 15, 2012) -- Researchers anticipate that asteroid 2011 AG5, discovered in January 2011, will fly safely past and not impact Earth in 2040. Observations to date indicate there is a slight chance that AG5 could impact Earth in 2040. Experts are now confident that in the next four years, analysis of space and ground-based observations will show the likelihood of 2011 AG5 missing Earth to be greater than 99 percent. ... > full story

Data from NASA's Voyager 1 point to interstellar future (June 15, 2012) -- Data from NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft indicate that the venerable deep-space explorer has encountered a region in space where the intensity of charged particles from beyond our solar system has markedly increased. Voyager scientists looking at this rapid rise draw closer to an inevitable but historic conclusion -- that humanity's first emissary to interstellar space is on the edge of our solar system. ... > full story

Test of spare wheel puts NASA's Mars Odysse orbiter on path to recovery (June 15, 2012) -- In a step toward returning NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter to full service, mission controllers have tested a spare reaction wheel on the spacecraft for potential use with two other reaction wheels in adjusting and maintaining the spacecraft's orientation. ... > full story

Dawn easing into its final science orbit (June 15, 2012) -- After successfully completing nearly five months scrutinizing the giant asteroid Vesta at its lowest orbit altitude, NASA's Dawn spacecraft will begin its final major science data-gathering phase at Vesta on June 15, at an average altitude of 420 miles (680 kilometers) above the surface. ... > full story

First flight instrument delivered for James Webb Space Telescope (June 15, 2012) -- The first of four instruments to fly aboard NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) has been delivered to NASA. The Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) will allow scientists to study cold and distant objects in greater detail than ever before. ... > full story

Knowledge of fractions and long division predicts long-term math success (June 15, 2012) -- From factory workers to Wall Street bankers, a reasonable proficiency in math is a crucial requirement for most well-paying jobs in a modern economy. Yet, over the past 30 years, mathematics achievement of US high school students has remained stagnant -- and significantly behind many other countries, including China, Japan, Finland, the Netherlands and Canada. A research team led by Carnegie Mellon University's Robert Siegler has identified a major source of the gap -- US students' inadequate knowledge of fractions and division. ... > full story

Neutrons escaping to a parallel world? (June 15, 2012) -- In a new paper, researchers hypothesize the existence of mirror particles to explain the anomalous loss of neutrons observed experimentally. The existence of such mirror matter had been suggested in various scientific contexts some time ago, including the search for suitable dark matter candidates. ... > full story

Quantum computing? Quantum bar magnets in a transparent salt (June 15, 2012) -- Scientists have managed to switch on and off the magnetism of a new material using quantum mechanics, making the material a test bed for future quantum devices. ... > full story

Physicists predict success of movies at the box office based solely on advertising costs (June 15, 2012) -- A group of Japanese scientists have surprised themselves by being able to predict the success or failure of blockbuster movies at the box office using a set of mathematical models. The researchers used the effects of advertising and word-of-mouth communication to create a model that turned out to be successful in predicting how each movie fared once it hit the silver screen. The only data the researchers needed to put into the model were the daily advertisement costs of 25 movies that appeared in Japanese cinemas. ... > full story

New solar active region spitting out flares (June 14, 2012) -- An active region on the sun, numbered AR 1504, rotated into view over the left side of the sun on June 10, 2012. The region fired off two M-class flares and two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) on June 13 and June 14, 2012. ... > full story