ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Breakthrough in hydrogen fuel cells: Chemists develop way to safely store, extract hydrogen
• Novel alloy could produce hydrogen fuel from sunlight
• Graphene's shining light could lead to super-fast Internet
• Microscope on the go: Cheap, portable, dual-mode microscope uses holograms, not lenses
• Atlas of the Milky Way leads to discovery of two supernova remnants
• Epic search for evidence of life on Mars heats up with focus on high-tech instruments
• Tougher, lighter wind turbine blade developed: Polyurethane reinforced with carbon nanotubes
• New light shed on pulsars
• New microscope might see beneath skin in 4-D
• Communication via electron spin: Scientists propose new kind of information technology
• Flexible electronics hold promise for consumer applications
• Rush hour in a coffee stain: Transition from order to disorder

Breakthrough in hydrogen fuel cells: Chemists develop way to safely store, extract hydrogen Posted: 30 Aug 2011 12:12 PM PDT A team of scientists has developed a robust, efficient method of using hydrogen as a fuel source.

Novel alloy could produce hydrogen fuel from sunlight Posted: 30 Aug 2011 12:12 PM PDT Using state-of-the-art theoretical computations, a team of scientists has determined that an alloy formed by a 2 percent substitution of antimony in gallium nitride has the right electrical properties to enable solar light energy to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. The alloy functions as a catalyst in the photoelectrochemical electrolysis of water.

Graphene's shining light could lead to super-fast Internet Posted: 30 Aug 2011 11:45 AM PDT Internet connection speeds could be tens of times faster than they currently are, thanks to new research by scientists using wonder material graphene. By combining graphene with metallic nanostructures, they show a twenty-fold enhancement in harvesting light by graphene, which paves the way for advances in high-speed internet and other communications.

Microscope on the go: Cheap, portable, dual-mode microscope uses holograms, not lenses Posted: 30 Aug 2011 08:12 AM PDT To serve remote areas of the world, doctors, nurses and field workers need equipment that is portable, versatile, and relatively inexpensive. Now researchers have built a compact, light-weight, dual-mode microscope that uses holograms instead of lenses. It weighs about as much as a banana and fits in the palm of a hand.

Atlas of the Milky Way leads to discovery of two supernova remnants Posted: 30 Aug 2011 08:12 AM PDT It may not be much use to hitchhikers through the galaxy, but it is extremely valuable to astronomers: the new radio atlas of the Milky Way. After almost ten years of work, researchers have completed their investigation into the polarized radio emission in the galactic plane.

Epic search for evidence of life on Mars heats up with focus on high-tech instruments Posted: 30 Aug 2011 08:12 AM PDT Scientists are expressing confidence that questions about life on Mars, which have captured human imagination for centuries, finally may be answered, thanks in part to new life-detection tools up to 1,000 times more sensitive than previous instruments.

Tougher, lighter wind turbine blade developed: Polyurethane reinforced with carbon nanotubes Posted: 30 Aug 2011 07:21 AM PDT Efforts to build larger wind turbines able to capture more energy from the air are stymied by the weight of blades. Researchers have now built a prototype blade that is substantially lighter and eight times tougher and more durable than currently used blade materials.

New light shed on pulsars Posted: 30 Aug 2011 05:15 AM PDT Astronomers have made an important breakthrough in the understanding of how pulsars work. Using a new inverse mapping or reverse engineering approach, researchers were able to establish for the first time that most of the light from the pulsar comes from close to the star's surface. This is contrary to most pulsar models and points to a new way of analysing observational data from pulsars.

New microscope might see beneath skin in 4-D Posted: 29 Aug 2011 08:49 AM PDT Other devices can take 3-D pictures of tissue below the surface of skin, but a new microscope adds an extra dimension: a spectroscopic "fingerprint" that measures the wavelength (or color) of light reflected off each point within a sample in a single snapshot. Researchers hope this innovation may one day be used for early detection of skin cancer.

Communication via electron spin: Scientists propose new kind of information technology Posted: 29 Aug 2011 08:47 AM PDT Is it time for a communications paradigm shift? Scientists calculate that encoding and sending information via electron spin, instead of voltage changes, may mean tiny chips could transmit more information and consume less power.

Flexible electronics hold promise for consumer applications Posted: 29 Aug 2011 08:45 AM PDT New research has advanced the field of plastic-based flexible electronics by developing, for the first time, an extremely large molecule that is stable, possesses excellent electrical properties, and inexpensive to produce.

Rush hour in a coffee stain: Transition from order to disorder Posted: 29 Aug 2011 08:34 AM PDT A remarkable effect never witnessed before has been discovered in the ring-shaped stains of tiny dissolved particles ('coffee stains') that develop after a liquid has evaporated. While the particles on the outside of the ring are neatly organized, chaos reigns on the inside of the ring where the particles seem to have collected in a great hurry.

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