ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Natural plant protein converted into drug-delivery vehicles
• Quantum computing, no cooling required: Room-temperature quantum bits store data for nearly two seconds
• First photo of shadow of single atom
• Controversy clarified: Why two insulators together can transport electricity
• Bugs inspire better X-rays: Nanostructures modeled like moth eyes may boost medical imaging
• New class of unconventional superconductors
• New insights into power-generating windows
• Young rapidly spinning star flaunts its X-ray spots in McNeil's Nebula
• Strength in numbers: Physicists identify new quantum state allowing three -- but not two -- atoms to stick together
• Cosmic skyrocket: Geyser of hot gas flowing from a newborn star
• Hidden portals in Earth's magnetic field
• The 'Flame' burns bright in new WISE image
• Artificial cerebellum than enables robotic human-like object handling developed

Natural plant protein converted into drug-delivery vehicles Posted: 03 Jul 2012 05:05 PM PDT Finding biocompatible carriers that can get drugs to their targets in the body involves significant challenges. Researchers have now shown a new approach for making vesicles and fine-tuning their shapes. By starting with a protein that is found in sunflower seeds, they used genetic engineering to make a variety of protein molecules that assemble into vesicles and other useful structures.

Quantum computing, no cooling required: Room-temperature quantum bits store data for nearly two seconds Posted: 03 Jul 2012 03:19 PM PDT Using a pair of impurities in ultra-pure, laboratory-grown diamonds, researchers have created room-temperature quantum bits, and store information in them for nearly two seconds -- an increase of nearly six orders of magnitude over the lifespan of earlier systems. The work is a critical first step in the eventual construction of a functional quantum computer, as well as a host of other potential applications.

First photo of shadow of single atom Posted: 03 Jul 2012 02:25 PM PDT Scientists have captured the first image of the shadow of a single atom. They trapped single atomic ions of the element ytterbium and exposed them to a specific frequency of light. Under this light the atom's shadow was cast onto a detector, and a digital camera was then able to capture the image.

Controversy clarified: Why two insulators together can transport electricity Posted: 03 Jul 2012 02:25 PM PDT In 2004, researchers discovered something amazing: If the two materials, SrTiO3 and LaAlO3, both of which are electrical insulators, are joined together, a thin, electrically conducting region is formed at their interface. Over the subsequent three years, a number of hypotheses were proposed to explain this effect, which has led to controversy ever since.

Bugs inspire better X-rays: Nanostructures modeled like moth eyes may boost medical imaging Posted: 03 Jul 2012 01:26 PM PDT Using the compound eyes of the humble moth as their inspiration, physicists have developed new nanoscale materials that could someday reduce the radiation dosages received by patients getting X-rayed, while improving the resolution of the resulting images.

New class of unconventional superconductors Posted: 03 Jul 2012 01:15 PM PDT Researchers have discovered a new class of exotic unconventional superconductors. When a superconductor is cooled below its 'critical temperature', the fluid of electrons, which is responsible for the conduction of electricity through the material, undergoes a radical re-organization. The electrons form 'Cooper pairs' and these Cooper pairs condense into a single, collective quantum state, which means they all behave as a single entity. This allows the manifestation of quantum-mechanical effects, which are normally confined to the world of sub-microscopic particles, on a scale that is visible to the naked eye.

New insights into power-generating windows Posted: 03 Jul 2012 01:15 PM PDT Researchers have calculated how much electricity can be generated using power-generating windows, so-called luminescent solar concentrators. These are windows which have been fitted with a thin film of material that absorbs sunlight and directs it to narrow solar cells at the perimeter of the window. New research shows the relationship between the color of the material used and the maximum amount of power that can be generated. Such power-generating windows offer potential as a cheap source of solar energy.

Young rapidly spinning star flaunts its X-ray spots in McNeil's Nebula Posted: 03 Jul 2012 11:29 AM PDT X-ray observations have revealed something curious about the young star that illuminates McNeil's Nebula, a glowing jewel of cosmic dust in the Orion constellation: The object is a protostar rotating once a day, or 30 times faster than the sun. The stellar baby also has distinct birthmarks -- two X-ray-emitting spots, where gas flows from a surrounding disk, fueling the infant star.

Strength in numbers: Physicists identify new quantum state allowing three -- but not two -- atoms to stick together Posted: 03 Jul 2012 11:25 AM PDT A recent quantum mechanics study has discovered a new bound state in atoms that may help scientists better understand matter and its composition. The yet-unnamed bound state, which the physicists simply refer to as "our state" in their study, applies to three identical atoms loosely bound together -- a behavior called three-body bound states in quantum mechanics. In this state, three atoms can stick together in a group but two cannot. Additionally, in some cases, the three atoms can stick together even when any two are trying to repel each other and break the connection.

Cosmic skyrocket: Geyser of hot gas flowing from a newborn star Posted: 03 Jul 2012 11:25 AM PDT Resembling a Fourth of July skyrocket, Herbig-Haro 110 is a geyser of hot gas from a newborn star that splashes up against and ricochets from the dense core of a cloud of molecular hydrogen.

Hidden portals in Earth's magnetic field Posted: 03 Jul 2012 11:05 AM PDT A favorite theme of science fiction is "the portal" -- an extraordinary opening in space or time that connects travelers to distant realms. A good portal is a shortcut, a guide, a door into the unknown. If only they actually existed. It turns out that they do, sort of, and a researcher has figured out how to find them.

The 'Flame' burns bright in new WISE image Posted: 03 Jul 2012 10:58 AM PDT A new image from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, shows the candle-like Flame nebula lighting up a cavern of dust. The Flame nebula is part of the Orion complex, a turbulent star-forming area located near the constellation's star-studded belt.

Artificial cerebellum than enables robotic human-like object handling developed Posted: 03 Jul 2012 09:05 AM PDT Researchers have developed an artificial cerebellum (a biologically-inspired adaptive microcircuit) that controls a robotic arm with human-like precision. The cerebellum is the part of the human brain that controls the locomotor system and coordinates body movements.

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