ScienceDaily Technology Headlines -- for Monday, August 29, 2011 ~ techdeck

ScienceDaily Technology Headlines

for Monday, August 29, 2011

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Cassini closes in on Saturn's tumbling moon Hyperion (August 28, 2011) -- NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured new views of Saturn's oddly shaped moon Hyperion during its encounter with a cratered body on Aug. 25. Raw images were acquired as the spacecraft flew past the moon at a distance of about 15,500 miles (25,000 kilometers), making this the second closest encounter. ... > full story

Peculiar pair of galaxies nicknamed 'The Eyes' (August 28, 2011) -- The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope has taken a striking image of a beautiful yet peculiar pair of galaxies nicknamed The Eyes. The larger of these, NGC 4438, was once a spiral galaxy but has become badly deformed by collisions with other galaxies in the last few hundred million years. ... > full story

Beyond smart phones: Sensor network to make 'smart cities' envisioned (August 28, 2011) -- Thanks to numerous sensors, smartphones make it easy for their owners to organize certain parts of their lives. However, that is just the beginning. Researchers envision entire "smart" cities, where all devices present within municipal areas are intelligently linked to one another. ... > full story

Atomic clock with the world's best long-term accuracy is revealed after evaluation (August 27, 2011) -- A clock in the UK is the most accurate long-term timekeeper in the world, reveals a new study. ... > full story

First glimpse into birth of the Milky Way (August 27, 2011) -- For almost 20 years astrophysicists have been trying to recreate the formation of spiral galaxies such as our Milky Way realistically. Now astrophysicists and astronomers present the world's first realistic simulation of the formation of our home galaxy. The new results show that there had to be stars on the outer edge of the Milky Way. ... > full story

Cars could run on recycled newspaper, scientists say (August 26, 2011) -- Here's one way that old-fashioned newsprint beats the Internet. Scientists have discovered a novel bacterial strain, dubbed "TU-103," that can use paper to produce butanol, a biofuel that can serve as a substitute for gasoline. They are currently experimenting with old editions of the Times Picayune, New Orleans' venerable daily newspaper, with great success. ... > full story

Feeding the five thousand -- or was it three? Researchers claim most crowd estimations are unreliable (August 26, 2011) -- The public should view crowd estimation with skepticism, say the authors of a new study, as they suggest more reliable alternatives to current estimating methods. ... > full story

Exotic galaxy reveals tantalizing tale (August 26, 2011) -- A galaxy with a combination of characteristics never seen before is giving astronomers a tantalizing peek at processes they believe played key roles in the growth of galaxies and clusters of galaxies early in the history of the Universe. The galaxy, dubbed Speca by the team of researchers, is only the second spiral, as opposed to elliptical, galaxy known to produce large, powerful jets of subatomic particles moving at nearly the speed of light. It also is one of only two galaxies to show that such activity occurred in three separate episodes. ... > full story

Uncovering the spread of deadly cancer: New imaging device enables scientists to see tumor cells traveling in the brain (August 26, 2011) -- For the first time, scientists can see pathways to stop a deadly brain cancer in its tracks. Researchers have imaged individual cancer cells and the routes they travel as the tumor spreads. ... > full story

New depiction of light could boost telecommunications channels (August 26, 2011) -- Physicists have presented a new way to map spiraling light that could help harness untapped data channels in optical fibers. Increased bandwidth would ease the burden on fiber-optic telecommunications networks taxed by an ever-growing demand for audio, video and digital media. The new model could even spur enhancements in quantum computing and other applications. ... > full story

New X-ray technique for electronic structures: Ability to probe deep below material surfaces should be boon for nanoscale devices (August 26, 2011) -- Researchers have led the development of a technique called HARPES, for Hard X-ray Angle-Resolved PhotoEmission Spectroscopy, that enables the study of electronic structures deep below material surfaces, including the buried layers and interfaces in nanoscale devices. This could pave the way for smaller logic elements in electronics, novel memory architectures in spintronics, and more efficient energy conversion in photovoltaic cells. ... > full story

Mathematical model predicts weight with varying diet, exercise changes; Findings challenge one-size-fits-all weight assumptions (August 26, 2011) -- Researchers have created a mathematical model -- and an accompanying online weight simulation tool -- of what happens when people of varying weights, diets and exercise habits try to change their weight. The findings challenge the commonly held belief that eating 3,500 fewer calories -- or burning them off exercising -- will always result in a pound of weight loss. ... > full story

Earth-bound asteroids come from stony asteroids, new studies confirm (August 26, 2011) -- Researchers got their first up-close look at dust from the surface of a small, stony asteroid after the Hayabusa spacecraft scooped some up and brought it back to Earth. Analysis of these dust particles confirms a long-standing suspicion: that the most common meteorites found here on Earth, known as ordinary chondrites, are born from these stony, or S-type, asteroids. ... > full story

Build music with blocks: Audio d-touch (August 26, 2011) -- Researchers have developed a new way to generate music and control computers. ... > full story

Milky Way's halo raining ionized gas to fuel continued star formation (August 26, 2011) -- Astrophysicists have concluded that the Milky Way will have the fuel to continue forming stars, thanks to massive clouds of ionized gas raining down from its halo and intergalactic space. The Milky Way would rapidly change its gas into stars if no supply of new matter were available to replenish the gas. ... > full story

Using math to fight cancer (August 26, 2011) -- Researchers have developed a mathematical model to understand and predict the progress of a tumor, from its early stages to metastasis, in hopes of creating highly personalized treatment strategies for patients who have cancer. ... > full story

Simple way to grow muscle tissue with real muscle structure (August 26, 2011) -- Researchers have found a simple way to grow muscle tissue with a real muscle structure in the laboratory. They found that the muscle cells automatically align themselves if they are subjected to tension in one direction -- this is essential for the ability of the muscle cells to exert a force. ... > full story

New model predicts environmental effect of pharmaceutical products (August 26, 2011) -- Most synthetic chemical products used in consumer goods end up unchanged in the environment. Given the risks this could pose for the environment and human health, researchers in Spain have developed a new tool to effectively predict what will happen to current and future pharmaceutical products. ... > full story

Hand-held unit to detect cancer in poorer countries (August 26, 2011) -- An engineering researcher and a global health expert are working on bringing a low-cost, hand-held device to nations with limited resources to help physicians detect and diagnose cancer. ... > full story

Scientists discover an 'instant cosmic classic' supernova (August 25, 2011) -- A supernova discovered August 24 is closer to Earth -- approximately 21 million light-years away -- than any other of its kind in a generation. Astronomers believe they caught the supernova within hours of its explosion, a rare feat made possible with a specialized survey telescope and state-of-the-art computational tools. ... > full story

Surprise difference in neutrino and antineutrino mass lessening with new measurements from a Fermilab experiment (August 25, 2011) -- The physics community got a jolt last year when results showed for the first time that neutrinos and their antimatter counterparts, antineutrinos, might have different masses. A new from the MINOS experiment at the U.S. Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory appears to quell concerns raised by a MINOS result in June 2010 and brings neutrino and antineutrino masses more closely in sync. ... > full story

Pulsar transformed into small planet made of diamond discovered in Milky Way (August 25, 2011) -- A once-massive star that's been transformed into a small planet made of diamond: that's what astronomers think they've found in our Milky Way. ... > full story

Math-based model for deep-water oil drilling (August 25, 2011) -- A new mathematical model has applications to the study of gas kicks in deep-water oil wells, which in worst-case scenarios can lead to blowouts. ... > full story

Researchers discover superdense aluminum (August 25, 2011) -- An international research team has discovered a new material, superdense aluminum, which has never before been found on Earth. In a new paper, the researchers describe how the material can only exist under extreme pressure, similar to that found in our planet's core. ... > full story

Beams to order from table-top accelerators (August 25, 2011) -- Laser plasma accelerators could create powerful electron beams within a fraction of the space required by conventional accelerators and light sources -- and at a fraction of the cost. But fulfilling the promise of "table-top accelerators" requires the ability to tune stable, high-quality beams through a range of energies. Scientists have now demonstrated a two-stage, tunable laser plasma accelerator that meets the goal. ... > full story

Why spiders don't drop off of their threads: Source of spider silk's extreme strength unveiled (August 25, 2011) -- It has five times the tensile strength of steel and is stronger than even the best currently available synthetic fibers: Spider thread. Scientists have now succeeded in unveiling a further secret of silk proteins and the mechanism that imparts spider silk with its strength. ... > full story

Tunable nano-suspensions for light harvesting; Discovery may be key to solar energy and smart glass technologies (August 25, 2011) -- A researcher has developed a patent-pending robust process to manufacture stable suspensions of metal nanoparticles capable of capturing sunlight. ... > full story

How a distant black hole devoured a star (August 25, 2011) -- Astronomers have provided new insights into a cosmic accident that has been streaming X-rays toward Earth since late March. NASA's Swift satellite first alerted astronomers to intense and unusual high-energy flares from the new source in the constellation Draco. ... > full story

Storing vertebrates in the cloud: Cloud-based data make searching the world’s museum collections easier (August 25, 2011) -- Researchers are taking information about the vertebrate collections in museums around the world and store it in "the cloud" for easy use by researchers and citizen scientists alike. VertNet combines four earlier databases -- for mammals, birds, herps and fish -- and makes them more easily searchable and viewable via powerful applications being developed to manipulate and display cloud-based data. Already, online databases are spurring broad studies of biodiversity change. ... > full story

Engineers discover nanoscale balancing act that mirrors forces at work in living systems (August 25, 2011) -- A delicate balance of atomic forces can be exploited to make nanoparticle superclusters that are uniform in size -- an attribute that's important for many nanotech applications but hard to accomplish, researchers say. The same type of forces are at work bringing the building blocks of viruses together, and the inorganic supercluster structures in this research are in many ways similar to viruses. ... > full story

DNA cages 'can survive inside living cells' (August 25, 2011) -- Scientists have shown for the first time that molecular cages made from DNA can enter and survive inside living cells. ... > full story

Astronomers discover 'once in a generation' supernova (August 25, 2011) -- A supernova discovered Wednesday is closer to Earth -- approximately 21 million light years away -- than any other of its kind in a generation. Astronomers believe they caught the supernova within hours of its explosion -- a rare feat for events of this type. ... > full story

Hedge funds sold stocks quickly while mutual fund investors suffered larger losses during crisis (August 25, 2011) -- A new study of stock trading during the financial crisis of 2007 to 2009 found that hedge funds sold their stocks much more aggressively than mutual funds at the first signs of poor performance. These sell-offs occurred in response to falling stock values, the study found. Hedge fund investors withdrew almost three times as much of the money they invested as compared to mutual fund investors. ... > full story

Nearest supernova observed in 40 years (August 25, 2011) -- Astronomers have discovered a bright, nearby supernova, otherwise known as an exploding star and say it is the nearest of its type observed for 40 years. The supernova was spotted in the Pinwheel Galaxy, M101, a spiral galaxy a mere 21 million light years away, lying in the famous constellation of the Great Bear (Ursa Major). ... > full story

Researchers produce viable bacterium in which one of four DNA bases is replaced by synthetic analog (August 25, 2011) -- An international team of researchers has achieved a world-first by producing a viable bacterium in which one of the four DNA bases has been replaced by a synthetic analog compound. The advantage of the new bacterium is that it would eventually be dependent on this compound, which does not exist in nature, and would therefore be unable to compete or exchange genetic material with natural organisms. ... > full story

New Mars rover snapshots capture Endeavour crater vistas (August 24, 2011) -- NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has captured new images of intriguing Martian terrain from a small crater near the rim of the large Endeavour crater. The rover arrived at the 13-mile-diameter (21-kilometer-diameter) Endeavour on Aug. 9, after a journey of almost three years. ... > full story

New theory may shed light on dynamics of large-polymer liquids (August 24, 2011) -- A new physics-based theory predicts why entangled polymers are confined to a tube-like region of space and how they respond to applied forces. This advance provides insight into behavior of both synthetic polymers used in plastics and bioploymers like the filaments that gives cells structure. ... > full story

Health risks with nanotechnology? Nanoparticles can hinder intracellular transport (August 24, 2011) -- Scientists have now shown that uptake and accumulation of nanoparticles in cells can disrupt important intracellular transport pathways. The researchers discovered that the nanoparticles interrupt the transport of vital substances in and out of a cell, causing undesirable changes in the cell's physiology and disrupting normal cell functioning. ... > full story

Simple security for wireless (August 24, 2011) -- Researchers have demonstrated the first wireless security scheme that can protect against "man-in-the-middle" attacks -- but doesn't require a password. ... > full story

NASA's WISE mission discovers coolest class of stars (August 24, 2011) -- Scientists using data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) have discovered the coldest class of star-like bodies, with temperatures as cool as the human body. Astronomers hunted these dark orbs, termed Y dwarfs, for more than a decade without success. When viewed with a visible-light telescope, they are nearly impossible to see. WISE's infrared vision allowed the telescope to finally spot the faint glow of six Y dwarfs relatively close to our sun, within a distance of about 40 light-years. ... > full story

Scientists develop new approaches to predict the environmental safety of chemicals (August 24, 2011) -- Environmental researchers have proposed in a new study a different approach to predict the environmental safety of chemicals by using data from other similar chemicals. ... > full story

Unexpected adhesion properties of graphene may lead to new nanotechnology devices (August 24, 2011) -- Graphene, considered the most exciting new material under study in the world of nanotechnology, just got even more interesting, according to a new study. ... > full story

Human gait could soon power portable electronics (August 24, 2011) -- In a new paper, researchers describe a new energy-harvesting technology that promises to dramatically reduce our dependence on batteries and instead capture the energy of human motion to power portable electronics. ... > full story

Nanowires get into the groove (August 24, 2011) -- Scientists have discovered that growing nanowires out, not up, can keep them in line. ... > full story

Ancient 'daddy long legs' revealed in 3-D models (August 24, 2011) -- Two ancient types of harvestmen, or 'daddy long legs,' which skittered around forests more than 300 million years ago, are revealed in new three-dimensional virtual fossil models. ... > full story

NASA's GRAIL moon twins are joined to their booster (August 24, 2011) -- NASA's lunar-bound GRAIL twins were mated to their Delta II launch vehicle at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 17 on Aug. 18, 2011. The 15-mile (25-kilometer) trip from Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla., is the last move for GRAIL before it begins its journey to the moon. NASA's dynamic duo will orbit the moon to determine the structure of the lunar interior from crust to core and to advance understanding of the thermal evolution of the moon. ... > full story

James Webb Space Telescope instrument completes cryogenic testing (August 24, 2011) -- A pioneering camera and spectrometer that will fly aboard NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has completed cryogenic testing designed to mimic the harsh conditions it will experience in space. ... > full story

NASA picks three proposals for flight demonstration (August 24, 2011) -- NASA has selected three proposals, including one from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., as Technology Demonstration Missions to transform space communications, deep space navigation and in-space propulsion capabilities. The projects will develop and fly a space solar sail, deep space atomic clock, and space-based optical communications system. ... > full story