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Thursday, January 5, 2012

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News


'Nanowiggles:' Scientists discover graphene nanomaterials with tunable functionality in electronics

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 10:54 AM PST

Scientists have used supercomputers to uncover the properties of a promising form of graphene, known as graphene nanowiggles. What they found was that graphitic nanoribbons can be segmented into several different surface structures called nanowiggles. Each of these structures produces highly different magnetic and conductive properties. The findings provide a blueprint that scientists can use to literally pick and choose a graphene nanostructure that is tuned and customized for a different task or device.

New computer model explains lakes and storms on Saturn's moon Titan

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 10:48 AM PST

Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is an alien world covered in a thick atmosphere with abundant methane. Titan boasts methane clouds and fog, as well as rainstorms and plentiful lakes of liquid methane. The origins of many of these features, however, remain puzzling to scientists. Now, researchers have developed a computer model of Titan's atmosphere and methane cycle that, for the first time, explains many of these phenomena in a relatively simple and coherent way.

Leaping lizards and dinosaurs inspire robot design

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 10:48 AM PST

A new study of how lizards use their tails when leaping through the trees shows that they swing the tail upward to avoid pitching forward after a stumble. Theropod dinosaurs -- the ancestors of birds -- may have done the same. A robot model confirms the value of an actively controlled tail, demonstrating that adding a tail can stabilize robots on uneven terrain and after unexpected falls -- critical to successful search and rescue operations.

Magnetically levitated flies offer clues to future of life in space

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 10:32 AM PST

Using powerful magnets to levitate fruit flies can provide vital clues to how biological organisms are affected by weightless conditions in space, researchers say.

New materials remove carbon dioxide from smokestacks, tailpipes and even the air

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 08:51 AM PST

Scientists are reporting discovery of an improved way to remove carbon dioxide -- the major greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming -- from smokestacks and other sources, including the atmosphere. The process achieves some of the highest carbon dioxide removal capacity ever reported for real-world conditions where the air contains moisture.

One of the most porous materials ever discovered

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 08:19 AM PST

The delivery of pharmaceuticals into the human body or the storage of voluminous quantities of gas molecules could now be better controlled, thanks to a new study. Chemists have posed an alternative approach toward building porous materials.

Smoky pink core of Omega Nebula

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 08:19 AM PST

A new image of the Omega Nebula, captured by ESO's Very Large Telescope, is one of the sharpest of this object ever taken from the ground. It shows the dusty, rose-colored central parts of this famous stellar nursery and reveals extraordinary detail in the cosmic landscape of gas clouds, dust and newborn stars.

Relay race with single atoms: New ways of manipulating matter

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 08:17 AM PST

A relay reaction of hydrogen atoms at a single-molecule level has been observed in real-space. This way of manipulating matter could open up new ways to exchange information between novel molecular devices in future electronics.

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