ScienceDaily Technology Headlines -- for Saturday, May 28, 2011 ~ techdeck

Sabtu, 28 Mei 2011

ScienceDaily Technology Headlines -- for Saturday, May 28, 2011

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ScienceDaily Technology Headlines

for Saturday, May 28, 2011

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Astronomers unveil most complete 3-D map of local universe (May 27, 2011) -- Astronomers have unveiled the most complete 3-D map of the local universe (out to a distance of 380 million light-years) ever created. Taking more than 10 years to complete, the 2MASS Redshift Survey (2MRS) also is notable for extending closer to the Galactic plane than previous surveys -- a region that's generally obscured by dust. ... > full story

New procedure to make brain surgery safer (May 27, 2011) -- To increase patient safety in clinical practice and minimize risks and damage that may arise during surgery, computer support and digital medical imaging are key technologies. Before brain operations, neurosurgeons can now evaluate patient-specific surgical risks, achieve increased safety, and avoid unacceptable risks. ... > full story

Spitzer sees crystal 'rain' in outer clouds of infant star (May 27, 2011) -- Tiny crystals of a green mineral called olivine are falling down like rain on a burgeoning star, according to observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. This is the first time such crystals have been observed in the dusty clouds of gas that collapse around forming stars. Astronomers are still debating how the crystals got there, but the most likely culprits are jets of gas blasting away from the embryonic star. ... > full story

Green and lean: Secreting bacteria eliminate cost barriers for renewable biofuel production (May 27, 2011) -- Scientists have developed a process that removes a key obstacle to producing low-cost, renewable biofuels from bacteria. The team has reprogrammed photosynthetic microbes to secrete high-energy fats, making byproduct recovery and conversion to biofuels easier and potentially more commercially viable. ... > full story

Rendezvous with an asteroid: NASA to launch new science mission to near-Earth asteroid in 2016 (May 27, 2011) -- NASA will launch a spacecraft to an asteroid in 2016 and use a robotic arm to pluck samples that could better explain our solar system's formation and how life began. The mission, called Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx, will be the first U.S. mission to carry samples from an asteroid back to Earth. ... > full story

Improving DNA sequencing: Sponge-like biosensor crams enormous power into tiny space (May 27, 2011) -- Engineers have created a "spongy" silicon biosensor that shows promise not only for medical diagnostics, but also for the detection of dangerous toxins and other tiny molecules in the environment. This innovation was originally designed to detect the presence of particular DNA sequences, which can be extremely helpful in identifying a person's predisposition to heart disease or cancer. ... > full story

Nanoengineers invent new biomaterial that more closely mimics human tissue (May 27, 2011) -- A new biomaterial designed for repairing damaged human tissue doesn't wrinkle up when it is stretched. The invention from nanoengineers marks a significant breakthrough in tissue engineering because it more closely mimics the properties of native human tissue. ... > full story

New nanoscale imaging may lead to new treatments for multiple sclerosis (May 27, 2011) -- Laboratory studies by chemical engineers may lead to new experimental methods for early detection and diagnosis -- and to possible treatments -- for pathological tissues that are precursors to multiple sclerosis and similar diseases. ... > full story

NASA is making hot 'way cool' (May 27, 2011) -- Called electrohydrodynamic (EHD)-based thermal control, the technology promises to make it easier and more efficient to remove heat from small spaces -- a particular challenge for engineers building advanced space instruments and microprocessors that could fail if the heat they generate is not removed. ... > full story

Nuclear radiation affects sex of babies, study suggests (May 27, 2011) -- Ionizing radiation is not without danger to human populations. Indeed, exposure to nuclear radiation leads to an increase in male births relative to female births, according to a new study by researchers in Germany. Their work shows that radiation from atomic bomb testing before the Partial Test Ban Treaty in 1963, the Chernobyl accident, and from living near nuclear facilities, has had a long-term negative effect on the ratio of male to female human births (sex odds). ... > full story

Matter-matter entanglement at a distance: Quantum mechanical entanglement of two remote quantum systems (May 27, 2011) -- Because of its strange consequences, the quantum mechanical phenomenon of entanglement has been called “spooky action at a distance” by Albert Einstein. For several years, physicists have been developing concepts of how to use this phenomenon for practical applications such as absolutely safe data transmission. For this purpose, the entanglement which is generated in a local process has to be distributed among remote quantum systems. A team of scientists in Germany has now demonstrated that two remote atomic quantum systems can be prepared in a shared “entangled” state: one system is a single atom trapped in an optical resonator, the other one a Bose-Einstein condensate consisting of hundreds of thousands of ultracold atoms. With the hybrid system thus generated, the researchers have realized a fundamental building block of a quantum network. ... > full story

NASA's Hubble finds rare 'blue straggler' stars in the Milky Way's hub (May 27, 2011) -- NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has found a rare class of oddball stars called blue stragglers in the hub of our Milky Way, the first detected within our galaxy's bulge. ... > full story