ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• 'Label-free' imaging tool tracks nanotubes in cells, blood for biomedical research
• NASA's Voyager hits new region at solar system edge
• NASA's Kepler confirms its first planet in habitable zone outside our solar system
• Proton beam experiments open new areas of research
• Record massive black holes discovered lurking in monster galaxies
• Giant super-Earths made of diamond are possible, study suggests
• S-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g electrical conductance to the limit
• Astronomers find fastest rotating star
• New interface could help Facebook members limit security leaks

'Label-free' imaging tool tracks nanotubes in cells, blood for biomedical research Posted: 05 Dec 2011 02:02 PM PST Researchers have demonstrated a new imaging tool for tracking structures called carbon nanotubes in living cells and the bloodstream, which could aid efforts to perfect their use in biomedical research and clinical medicine.

NASA's Voyager hits new region at solar system edge Posted: 05 Dec 2011 11:18 AM PST NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has entered a new region between our solar system and interstellar space. Data obtained from Voyager over the last year reveal this new region to be a kind of cosmic purgatory. In it, the wind of charged particles streaming out from our sun has calmed, our solar system's magnetic field is piled up, and higher-energy particles from inside our solar system appear to be leaking out into interstellar space.

NASA's Kepler confirms its first planet in habitable zone outside our solar system Posted: 05 Dec 2011 11:10 AM PST NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed its first planet in the "habitable zone," the region around a star where liquid water could exist on a planet's surface. Kepler also has discovered more than 1,000 new planet candidates, nearly doubling its previously known count. Ten of these candidates are near-Earth-size and orbit in the habitable zone of their host star. Candidates require follow-up observations to verify they are actual planets.

Proton beam experiments open new areas of research Posted: 05 Dec 2011 11:06 AM PST By focusing proton beams using high-intensity lasers, a team of scientists has discovered a new way to heat material and create new states of matter in the laboratory. In a new report, researchers unveiled new findings about how proton beams can be used in myriad applications.

Record massive black holes discovered lurking in monster galaxies Posted: 05 Dec 2011 11:06 AM PST Astronomers using the Keck, Gemini and MacDonald observatories have discovered the largest black holes to date: Two monsters with masses equivalent to 10 billion suns that are threatening to consume anything, even light, within a region five times the size of our solar system. These monsters may be the remains of quasars that brightened the early universe.

Giant super-Earths made of diamond are possible, study suggests Posted: 05 Dec 2011 11:05 AM PST A planet made of diamonds may sound lovely, but you wouldn't want to live there. A new study suggests that some stars in the Milky Way could harbor "carbon super-Earths" – giant terrestrial planets that contain up to 50 percent diamond. But if they exist, those planets are likely devoid of life as we know it.

S-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g electrical conductance to the limit Posted: 05 Dec 2011 07:27 AM PST Scientists have developed a method for mechanically controlling the geometry of a single molecule, situated in a junction between a pair of gold electrodes that form a simple circuit. The manipulations produced over tenfold increase in conductivity.

Astronomers find fastest rotating star Posted: 05 Dec 2011 07:24 AM PST The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope has picked up the fastest rotating star found so far. This massive bright young star lies in our neighboring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, about 160,000 light-years from Earth. Astronomers think that it may have had a violent past and has been ejected from a double star system by its exploding companion.

New interface could help Facebook members limit security leaks Posted: 05 Dec 2011 05:23 AM PST A sign-up interface for Facebook apps could help members prevent personal information -- and their friends' information -- from leaking out through third-party games and apps to hackers and identity thieves.

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