ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Heavy relative of the neutron discovered
• Research outlines math framework that could help convert 'junk' energy into useful power
• Fast prediction of axon behavior: Computer modeling method may lead to more accurate and capable electrodes to stimulate nerves
• First artificial neural network created out of DNA: Molecular soup exhibits brainlike behavior
• An advance toward ultra-portable electronic devices
• Breakthrough in quantum computing: Researchers develop system that resists 'quantum bug'
• Movement of black holes powers quasars, the universe's brightest lights
• Wiedemann-Franz Law: Physicists break 150-year-old empirical laws of physics
• NASA's Hubble discovers another moon around Pluto
• Fundamental constants 'change': Gravity weaker, electromagnetic force stronger, according to latest recommended values
• Nanomechanics: New test measures key properties of polymer thin films and membranes
• A cosmic superbubble
• Bold new approach to wind 'farm' design may provide efficiency gains

Heavy relative of the neutron discovered Posted: 20 Jul 2011 01:20 PM PDT Scientists have observed a new particle, the neutral Xi-sub-b. This particle contains three quarks: a strange quark, an up quark and a bottom quark (s-u-b). While its existence was predicted by the Standard Model, the observation of the neutral Xi-sub-b is significant because it strengthens our understanding of how quarks form matter.

Research outlines math framework that could help convert 'junk' energy into useful power Posted: 20 Jul 2011 11:26 AM PDT Researchers have developed a mathematical framework that could one day form the basis of technologies that turn road vibrations, airport runway noise and other "junk" energy into useful power.

Fast prediction of axon behavior: Computer modeling method may lead to more accurate and capable electrodes to stimulate nerves Posted: 20 Jul 2011 11:25 AM PDT Researchers have developed a computer modeling method to accurately predict how a peripheral nerve axon responds to electrical stimuli, slashing the complex work from an inhibitory weeks-long process to just a few seconds.

First artificial neural network created out of DNA: Molecular soup exhibits brainlike behavior Posted: 20 Jul 2011 11:25 AM PDT Researchers have now taken a major step toward creating artificial intelligence -- not in a robot or a silicon chip, but in a test tube. The researchers are the first to have made an artificial neural network out of DNA, creating a circuit of interacting molecules that can recall memories based on incomplete patterns, just as a brain can.

An advance toward ultra-portable electronic devices Posted: 20 Jul 2011 11:23 AM PDT Scientists are reporting a key advance toward the long-awaited era of "single-molecule electronics," when common electronic circuits in computers, smart phones, audio players, and other devices may shrink to the size of a grain of sand. The breakthrough is a method for creating and attaching the tiny wires that will connect molecular components, reports a new study.

Breakthrough in quantum computing: Researchers develop system that resists 'quantum bug' Posted: 20 Jul 2011 11:21 AM PDT Scientists have taken the next major step toward quantum computing, which will use quantum mechanics to revolutionize the way information is processed. Using high magnetic fields, researchers managed to suppress decoherence, which is one of the key stumbling blocks in quantum computing.

Movement of black holes powers quasars, the universe's brightest lights Posted: 20 Jul 2011 09:19 AM PDT Research finds that black holes' spin and lateral movement can power bright jets of light known as quasars.

Wiedemann-Franz Law: Physicists break 150-year-old empirical laws of physics Posted: 20 Jul 2011 07:35 AM PDT A violation of one of the oldest empirical laws of physics has been observed by scientists. The experiments on purple bronze, a metal with unique one-dimensional electronic properties, indicate that it breaks the Wiedemann-Franz Law.

NASA's Hubble discovers another moon around Pluto Posted: 20 Jul 2011 06:05 AM PDT Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope discovered a fourth moon orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto. The tiny, new satellite -- temporarily designated P4 -- was uncovered in a Hubble survey searching for rings around the dwarf planet.

Fundamental constants 'change': Gravity weaker, electromagnetic force stronger, according to latest recommended values Posted: 20 Jul 2011 05:58 AM PDT The electromagnetic force has gotten a little stronger, gravity a little weaker, and the size of the smallest "quantum" of energy is now known a little better. NIST has posted the latest internationally recommended values of the fundamental constants of nature.

Nanomechanics: New test measures key properties of polymer thin films and membranes Posted: 20 Jul 2011 05:58 AM PDT Researchers have demonstrated a measurement technique that reliably determines three fundamental mechanical properties of near-nanoscale films. The technique, which highlights the challenge of making mechanical measurements on an object with at least one dimension comparable to the size of a virus, should enable better design and engineering for a variety of thin-film technologies, particularly reverse-osmosis membranes for water purification.

A cosmic superbubble Posted: 20 Jul 2011 05:58 AM PDT ESO's Very Large Telescope captured a striking view of the nebula around the star cluster NGC 1929 within the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way. A colossal example of what astronomers call a superbubble dominates this stellar nursery. It is being carved by the winds from bright young stars and the shockwaves from supernova explosions.

Bold new approach to wind 'farm' design may provide efficiency gains Posted: 13 Jul 2011 10:16 AM PDT Conventional wisdom suggests that because we're approaching the theoretical limit on individual wind turbine efficiency, wind energy is now a mature technology. But researchers have recently revisited some of the fundamental assumptions that guided the wind industry for the past 30 years, and now believe that a new approach to wind farm design -- one that places wind turbines close together instead of far apart -- may provide significant efficiency gains.

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