ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Scientists create first free-standing 3-D cloak
• Photo from NASA Mars orbiter shows wind's handiwork
• Giant asteroid Vesta likely cold and dark enough for ice
• Chemists synthesize artificial cell membrane
• Scientists create first atomic X-ray laser
• World's most powerful X-ray laser creates 2-million-degree matter
• Scorpions inspire scientists in making tougher surfaces for machinery
• Cassini sees the two faces of Titan's dunes
• Under the electron microscope: 3-D image of an individual protein showing structure

Scientists create first free-standing 3-D cloak Posted: 25 Jan 2012 04:55 PM PST Researchers in the US have, for the first time, cloaked a three-dimensional object standing in free space, bringing the much-talked-about invisibility cloak one step closer to reality.

Photo from NASA Mars orbiter shows wind's handiwork Posted: 25 Jan 2012 01:06 PM PST Some images of stark Martian landscapes provide visual appeal beyond their science value, including a recent scene of wind-sculpted features from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Giant asteroid Vesta likely cold and dark enough for ice Posted: 25 Jan 2012 01:05 PM PST Though generally thought to be quite dry, roughly half of the giant asteroid Vesta is expected to be so cold and to receive so little sunlight that water ice could have survived there for billions of years, according to the first published models of Vesta's average global temperatures and illumination by the sun.

Chemists synthesize artificial cell membrane Posted: 25 Jan 2012 10:28 AM PST Chemists have taken an important step in making artificial life forms from scratch. Using a novel chemical reaction, they have created self-assembling cell membranes, the structural envelopes that contain and support the reactions required for life. Instead of complex enzymes embedded in membranes, they used a simple metal ion as the catalyst. By assembling an essential component of earthly life with no biological precursors, they hope to illuminate life's origins.

Scientists create first atomic X-ray laser Posted: 25 Jan 2012 10:28 AM PST Scientists have created the shortest, purest X-ray laser pulses ever achieved, fulfilling a 45-year-old prediction and opening the door to a new range of scientific discovery. The researchers aimed SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source at a capsule of neon gas, setting off an avalanche of X-ray emissions to create the world's first "atomic X-ray laser."

World's most powerful X-ray laser creates 2-million-degree matter Posted: 25 Jan 2012 10:26 AM PST Researchers working at the US Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have used the world's most powerful X-ray laser to create and probe a 2-million-degree piece of matter in a controlled way for the first time. This feat takes scientists a significant step forward in understanding the most extreme matter found in the hearts of stars and giant planets, and could help experiments aimed at recreating the nuclear fusion process that powers the sun.

Scorpions inspire scientists in making tougher surfaces for machinery Posted: 25 Jan 2012 07:19 AM PST Taking inspiration from the yellow fattail scorpion, which uses a bionic shield to protect itself against scratches from desert sandstorms, scientists have developed a new way to protect the moving parts of machinery from wear and tear.

Cassini sees the two faces of Titan's dunes Posted: 25 Jan 2012 06:35 AM PST A new analysis of radar data from NASA's Cassini mission, in partnership with the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, has revealed regional variations among sand dunes on Saturn's moon Titan. The result gives new clues about the moon's climatic and geological history.

Under the electron microscope: 3-D image of an individual protein showing structure Posted: 25 Jan 2012 06:13 AM PST Scientists are reporting the first 3-D images of an individual protein ever obtained with enough clarity to determine its structure.

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