ScienceDaily Technology Headlines -- for Friday, September 23, 2011 ~ techdeck

ScienceDaily Technology Headlines

for Friday, September 23, 2011

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New metal hydride clusters provide insights into hydrogen storage (September 23, 2011) -- A new study has shed light on a class of heterometallic molecular structures whose unique features point the way to breakthroughs in the development of lightweight fuel cell technology. The structures contain a previously-unexplored combination of rare-earth and d-transition metals ideally suited to the compact storage of hydrogen. ... > full story

Spiral constriction: How dynamin mediates cellular nutrient uptake (September 23, 2011) -- Researchers have determined the molecular structure of dynamin -- a "wire-puller" that mediates nutrient uptake into the cell. Since pathogens such as HIV can also enter the body's cells in this way, understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms can potentially open up new approaches for medical applications. ... > full story

Nanoscale nonlinear light source optical device can be controlled electronically (September 22, 2011) -- By harnessing plasmonics to intensify light, engineers have created an ultra-compact nonlinear light source that shrinks a large-scale, high-energy device to the nanoscale with research implications ranging from data communications to a better understanding of fundamental science. ... > full story

Scientists observe how superconducting nanowires lose resistance-free state (September 22, 2011) -- Physicists have measured the temperatures at which collections of electrons build up enough heat to force regions along superconducting aluminum nanowires to switch to a non-superconducting state. The information could help engineers build more reliable nanowires and more efficient nano-electronics. ... > full story

Carnivorous plant inspires coating that resists just about any liquids (September 22, 2011) -- Adopting the pitcher plant's slick prey-catching strategy, a group of applied scientists have created a material that repels just about any type of liquid, including blood and oil, and does so even under harsh conditions like high pressure and freezing temperatures. The bio-inspired liquid repellence technology should find applications in biomedical fluid handling, fuel transport, and anti-fouling and anti-icing technologies. It could even lead to self-cleaning windows and improved optical devices. ... > full story

Radiation boost for artificial joints (September 22, 2011) -- A blast of gamma radiation could toughen up plastic prosthetic joints to make them strong enough to last for years, according to researchers. ... > full story

Saturn's moon Enceladus spreads its influence (September 22, 2011) -- Chalk up one more feat for Saturn's intriguing moon Enceladus. The small, dynamic moon spews out dramatic plumes of water vapor and ice -- first seen by NASA's Cassini spacecraft in 2005. It possesses simple organic particles and may house liquid water beneath its surface. Its geyser-like jets create a gigantic halo of ice, dust and gas around Enceladus that helps feed Saturn's E ring. Now, thanks again to those icy jets, Enceladus is the only moon in our solar system known to influence substantially the chemical composition of its parent planet. ... > full story

Bionic bacteria may help make new drugs, biofuels: Artificially enhanced bacteria capable of producing new kinds of synthetic chemicals (September 22, 2011) -- A strain of genetically enhanced bacteria developed by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies may pave the way for new synthetic drugs and new ways of manufacturing medicines and biofuels, according to a new paper. ... > full story

Could the Higgs boson explain the size of the universe? (September 22, 2011) -- The race to identify the Higgs boson is on at CERN. This Holy Grail of particle physics would help explain why the majority of elementary particles possess mass. The mysterious particle would also help us understand the evolution of the universe from the moment of its birth, according to a group of physicists. If their theory is verified with data from the Planck satellite, it would clear up several questions about the universe, past and future. ... > full story

Information technologies foster freedom or reinforce repression (September 22, 2011) -- The media may portray text messaging and social networks as powerful new weapons for freedom fighters, but these new communication tools may not be as uniformly beneficial or as robust as suggested, according to researchers. ... > full story

Scientists play ping-pong with single electrons (September 22, 2011) -- Researchers have moved an individual electron along a wire, batting it back and forth over 60 times, rather like the ball in a game of ping-pong. ... > full story

From protein to planes and pigskin: Discovery in insects' skin points to improved pest control, new bioplastics technology (September 22, 2011) -- The discovery that a protein in insect skin is responsible for protecting the insect as it molts its skin opens the possibilities for selective pest control and new biomaterials like football padding or lightweight aircraft components. It also debunks a more than 50-year-old belief about the protective shell of insects. ... > full story

Researchers use liquid crystal to replace space motors (September 22, 2011) -- Researchers in Northern Ireland have devised a way to eliminate the need for motors in space borne radiometers by incorporating liquid crystals in their Frequency Selective Surface (FSS) antenna arrays. ... > full story

Super-sized heart valve provides clues to blood flow (September 22, 2011) -- Researchers in Ireland have developed a super-sized model of a heart valve which may lead to a new generation of cardiovascular devices. Every year, mechanical valves are inserted into approximately 125,000 patients with heart valve disease around the world. However, the valves can lead to unnatural blood flows, which can trigger a clotting reaction. Because of this, patients with prosthetic heart valves must take medication daily, which can lead to side effects. ... > full story

Electrical stimulation of brain boosts birth of new cells: Animal study suggests deep brain stimulation improves memory (September 22, 2011) -- Stimulating a specific region of the brain leads to the production of new brain cells that enhance memory, according to an animal study. The findings show how deep brain stimulation -- a clinical intervention that delivers electrical pulses to targeted areas of the brain -- may work to improve cognition. ... > full story

Toward an improved test for adulterated heparin (September 22, 2011) -- Scientists are reporting refinement of a new test that promises to help assure the safety of supplies of heparin, the blood thinner taken by millions of people worldwide each year to prevent blood clots. The test can quickly and economically detect adulterants, including the substance responsible for hundreds of illnesses and deaths among patients taking heparin in 2008. ... > full story

YouTube videos can inaccurately depict Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders, study finds (September 22, 2011) -- After reviewing the most frequently watched YouTube videos about movement disorders, a group of neurologists found that the people in the videos often do not have a movement disorder. ... > full story

Development of a new chip for characterizing ultrafast optical pulses (September 22, 2011) -- Boosting up microprocessors -the heart of modern computers- at the speed of light, reducing consumptions and costs, may now be a reality thanks to the development of a new high-performance chip. ... > full story

The key to lower dose CT fluoroscopy for spine injections is reducing the dose of the planning CT (September 22, 2011) -- The radiation dose for a CT fluoroscopy is about half that for conventional fluoroscopy to guide epidural steroid injections, however, the dose is substantially more than conventional fluoroscopy when a full lumbar planning CT scan is performed as part of the CT-guided procedure, a new study shows. ... > full story

Catching molecular motion at just the right time: Theorists overcome loss of entropy and friction in computational simulations (September 21, 2011) -- Researchers have devised a mathematically rich analytic approach to account for often-missing thermodynamic and molecular parameters in molecular dynamic simulations. The new approach returns atomistic-level data into the time frame of the macroscopic world. ... > full story

New theory explains collapse of World Trade Center's Twin Towers (September 21, 2011) -- According to a theory advanced by a materials scientist in Norway, a mixture of water from sprinkler systems and molten aluminum from melted aircraft hulls created explosions that led to the collapse of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers in Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001. ... > full story

New 'smart window' system with unprecedented performance (September 21, 2011) -- A new "smart" window system has the unprecedented ability to inexpensively change from summer to winter modes, darkening to save air conditioning costs on scorching days and returning to crystal clarity in the winter to capture free heat from the sun, scientists are reporting. ... > full story

An angry bird in the sky: Lambda Centauri Nebula (September 21, 2011) -- A new image from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope reveals the Lambda Centauri Nebula, a cloud of glowing hydrogen and newborn stars in the constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur). The nebula, also known as IC 2944, is sometimes nicknamed the Running Chicken Nebula, from a bird-like shape some people see in its brightest region. ... > full story

Crystal structure shows how motor protein works (September 21, 2011) -- The crystal structure of the dynamin protein -- one of the molecular machines that makes cells work -- has been revealed, bringing insights into a class of molecules with a wide influence on health and disease. ... > full story

Proton-based transistor could let machines communicate with living things (September 21, 2011) -- Human devices, from light bulbs to iPods, send information using electrons. Human bodies and all other living things, on the other hand, send signals and perform work using ions or protons. Materials scientists have built a novel transistor that uses protons, creating a key piece for devices that can communicate directly with living things. ... > full story

Potential of new nanoparticle design for cancer therapy demonstrated (September 21, 2011) -- A new type of nanoparticle has shown potential for more effective delivery of chemotherapy to treat cancer. In laboratory studies, researchers developed and tested a new type of nanoparticle that can deliver larger amounts of a drug and will not leak the drug as the particle circulates through the blood stream on its way to the target. ... > full story

Microwave ovens a key to energy production from wasted heat (September 21, 2011) -- More than 60 percent of the energy produced by cars, machines, and industry around the world is lost as waste heat -- an age-old problem -- but researchers have found a new way to make "thermoelectric" materials for use in technology that could potentially save vast amounts of energy. ... > full story

Cassini presents Saturn moon quintet (September 21, 2011) -- With the artistry of a magazine cover shoot, NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured a new portrait of five of Saturn's moons poised along the planet's rings. ... > full story

Nanoparticles cause brain injury in fish (September 21, 2011) -- Scientists have shown, for the first time in an animal, that nanoparticles have a detrimental effect on the brain and other parts of the central nervous system. ... > full story

NASA's WISE mission captures black hole's wildly flaring jet (September 21, 2011) -- Astronomers using NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) have captured rare data of a flaring black hole, revealing new details about these powerful objects and their blazing jets. ... > full story

Vacuum-like device makes cellular exploration easier (September 21, 2011) -- Imagine a microscopic jet vacuum cleaner, the size of a pen nib that hovers over cell surfaces without ever touching them. Then imagine that the soap in the cleaning solution is replaced with various molecules that can be selectively delivered to the cells. This gives you a sense of a new device that researchers believe will serve as a powerful tool to study the behavior of living cells and a range of crucial cellular processes. ... > full story

NASA's Dawn collects a bounty of beauty from asteroid Vesta (September 21, 2011) -- A new video from NASA's Dawn spacecraft takes us on a flyover journey above the surface of the giant asteroid Vesta. The data obtained by Dawn's framing camera, used to produce the visualizations, will help scientists determine the processes that formed Vesta's striking features. It will also help Dawn mission fans all over the world visualize this mysterious world, which is the second most massive object in the main asteroid belt. ... > full story

Social media for dementia patients (September 21, 2011) -- Research scientists in Norway are developing a "Facebook Light" -- with a user interface suitable for the elderly and people with dementia -- to promote important social contact. Both research and experience show that social contact enables people with dementia to maintain their level of functioning longer. ... > full story

Sifting out genetic defects from mounds of data (September 21, 2011) -- Within a decade, a combination of advanced measurement techniques and statistics will enable scientists to develop methods to diagnose serious diseases caused by genetic defects. Ten years after that, there may be medicines available to repair these defects, researchers predict. ... > full story

Observations of fallout from the Fukushima reactor accident in San Francisco Bay area rainwater (September 21, 2011) -- Researchers report that Japan's power plant accident fallout extended as far as the San Francisco Bay area, resulting in elevated levels of radioactive material that were nonetheless very low and posed no health risk to the public. ... > full story

New hybrid carbon material discovered (September 21, 2011) -- A new hybrid carbon material, which combines graphene and nanotubes in the form of graphene nanoribbons encapsulated into single-walled carbon nanotubes -- has been discovered by researchers in Finland and Sweden. ... > full story

Autonomous car navigates the streets of Berlin (September 20, 2011) -- Researchers from Berlin traveled 80 km in total as passengers during a test drive of their autonomous car "MadeInGermany" over the weekend. The car is driven by computers - the safety driver behind the steering wheel only monitors the car's behavior. The autonomous car is a conventional VW Passat modified for "drive by wire." Electronic commands from the computer are passed directly to the accelerator, the brakes, and the steering wheel of the vehicle. ... > full story

Lasers light the path to neuron regeneration (September 20, 2011) -- Lasers have been used to fabricate tiny scaffolds to be used as delivery vehicles to drop cells off at damaged locations and help treat diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. ... > full story

Shaping up: Controlling a stem cell's form can determine its fate (September 20, 2011) -- New research reinforces the idea that stem cells can be induced to develop into specific types of cells solely by controlling their shape. The results may be important to the design of materials to induce the regeneration of lost or damaged tissues in the body. ... > full story

Researchers create first human heart cells that can be paced with light (September 20, 2011) -- Researchers have for the first time engineered human heart cells that can be paced with light using a technology called optogenetics. In the near term, say the researchers, the advance will provide new insight into heart function. In the long term, however, the development could lead to an era of novel, light-based pacemakers and genetically matched tissue patches that replace muscle damaged by a heart attack. ... > full story

Researchers make visible the structure of the smallest crystals (September 20, 2011) -- A radical new way of making structures visible at the nano level has now been developed. This new method makes it possible to determine with precision the arrangement of atoms and molecules in a diverse range of materials from cement to pharmaceuticals. The procedure, which is still in its infancy, comes from the field of electron microscopy and can resolve the structure of the tiniest crystals. ... > full story

Big step towards redefining the kelvin: Scientists find new way to determine Boltzmann constant (September 20, 2011) -- Scientists in Germany have succeeded in re-determining the Boltzmann constant. Physicists expect that in the next two years they will be able to reduce the uncertainty to such an extent that a redefinition of the kelvin will be possible. The advance represents a major step toward basing the temperature unit on an unchangeable fundamental constant. ... > full story

NASA's WISE raises doubt about asteroid family believed responsible for dinosaur extinction (September 20, 2011) -- Observations from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission indicate the family of asteroids some believed was responsible for the demise of the dinosaurs is not likely the culprit, keeping open the case on one of Earth's greatest mysteries. ... > full story

New imaging technique visualizes cancer during surgery (September 20, 2011) -- Scientists have now deployed a new imaging technology using laser light to detect cancer based on molecular signatures, leading to the localization of even small cancer cell nests that surgeons might otherwise overlook during surgery. The technique has now been successfully tested on nine patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer. There are plans to apply this imaging concept also to minimally invasive and endoscopic procedures. ... > full story

Engineers use short ultrasound pulses to reach neurons through blood-brain barrier (September 20, 2011) -- Researchers have developed a new technique to reach neurons through the blood-brain barrier and deliver drugs safely and noninvasively. Up until now, scientists thought long ultrasound pulses, which can inflict collateral damage, were required. This new study shows that extremely short pulses of ultrasound waves can open the blood-brain barrier -- with the added advantages of safety and uniform molecular delivery -- and the molecule injected systemically could reach and highlight the targeted neurons noninvasively. ... > full story

Monitoring patients using intelligent T-shirts (September 20, 2011) -- Scientists in Spain have developed an 'intelligent' T-shirt that monitors the human body (temperature, heart rate, etc.) and locates patients within the hospital, as if it were a GPS system that works in closed spaces. It can even determine if the subject is seated, lying down, walking or running. ... > full story

Saving electricity while playing online game (September 20, 2011) -- The federal government of Germany has decided to accelerate change in energy policy. But the transition will succeed only with the help of the consumers. They are called upon to use the energy from renewable resources in a more efficient fashion. A new online game shows how energy can be saved. ... > full story

Researchers reinforce gas hydrate strategy: New study goes deeper in proving simple technique to pinpoint valuable energy source (September 20, 2011) -- A new study expands upon previous research to locate and quantify the amount of methane hydrates -- a potentially vast source of energy -- that may be trapped under the seabed by analyzing shallow core samples. The paper should silence the skeptics, the researchers said. ... > full story