ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

---

• Controlling your computer with your eyes
• Messy experiment cleans up cornstarch and water mystery
• Solar system ice: Source of Earth's water
• Questions raised about iris recognition systems
• Solar storm protection
• Highest resolution ever for human protein
• Plasmonic chains act like polymers
• Disentangling information from photons
• Highly conductive and elastic conductors created using silver nanowires
• Physicists invent 'spintronic' LED
• Sailing with nerves of glass
• Platinum is wrong stuff for fuel cells because it wastes energy, expert says
• Keeping electric vehicle batteries cool
• Blue-fluorescent molecular nanocapsules created by simple mixing 'green-environmentally friendly' metal ions and bent organic blocks
• Peering into the heart of a supernova: How to detect a rapidly spinning stellar core

Controlling your computer with your eyes Posted: 12 Jul 2012 07:46 PM PDT Millions of people suffering from multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, muscular dystrophy, spinal cord injuries or amputees could soon interact with their computers and surroundings using just their eyes, thanks to a new device that costs less than £40. Composed from off-the-shelf materials, the new device can work out exactly where a person is looking by tracking their eye movements, allowing them to control a cursor on a screen just like a normal computer mouse.

Messy experiment cleans up cornstarch and water mystery Posted: 12 Jul 2012 07:45 PM PDT Most people buy cornstarch to make custard or gravy, but two scientists have used it to solve a longstanding physics problem with a substance known to generations of Dr. Seuss readers as "Oobleck," and to scientists as a non-Newtonian liquid.

Solar system ice: Source of Earth's water Posted: 12 Jul 2012 11:47 AM PDT Scientists have long believed that comets and, or a type of very primitive meteorite were the sources of early Earth's volatile elements. Understanding where these volatiles came from is crucial for determining the origins of both water and life. New research focuses on ice that was distributed throughout much of the early Solar System. The team's findings contradict prevailing theories and suggest that meteorites are the most-likely sources of the Earth's water.

Questions raised about iris recognition systems Posted: 12 Jul 2012 11:19 AM PDT Since the early days of iris recognition technologies, it has been assumed that the iris was a "stable" biometric over a person's lifetime -- "one enrollment for life." However, new research has found that iris biometric enrollment is susceptible to an aging process that causes recognition performance to degrade slowly over time.

Solar storm protection Posted: 12 Jul 2012 11:19 AM PDT Massive explosions on the sun unleash radiation that could kill astronauts in space. Now, researchers have developed a warning system capable of forecasting the radiation from these violent solar storms nearly three hours (166 minutes) in advance, giving astronauts, as well as air crews flying over Earth's polar regions, time to take protective action.

Highest resolution ever for human protein Posted: 12 Jul 2012 11:18 AM PDT Never has a crystal structure of a human protein molecule in a cell wall been so crystal clear. Researchers have achieved the most detailed crystal structure ever of a target protein for medicines.

Plasmonic chains act like polymers Posted: 12 Jul 2012 10:17 AM PDT New research that seeks to establish points of reference between plasmonic particles and polymers might lead to smaller computer chips, better antennae and improvements in optical computing. Materials scientists take advantage of strong interactions between chemicals to form polymers that self-assemble into patterns and are the basis of things people use every day. Anything made of plastic is a good example.

Disentangling information from photons Posted: 12 Jul 2012 10:17 AM PDT Theoretical physicists have found a new method of reliably assessing the information contained in photon pairs used for applications in cryptography and quantum computing. The findings are so robust that they enable access to the information even when the measurements on photon pairs are imperfect.

Highly conductive and elastic conductors created using silver nanowires Posted: 12 Jul 2012 10:17 AM PDT Researchers have developed highly conductive and elastic conductors made from silver nanoscale wires. These elastic conductors could be used to develop stretchable electronic devices. Stretchable circuitry would be able to do many things that its rigid counterpart cannot. For example, an electronic "skin" could help robots pick up delicate objects without breaking them, and stretchable displays and antennas could make cell phones and other electronic devices stretch and compress without affecting their performance.

Physicists invent 'spintronic' LED Posted: 12 Jul 2012 10:15 AM PDT University of Utah physicists invented a new "spintronic" organic light-emitting diode that promises to be brighter, cheaper and more environmentally friendly than the kinds of LEDs now used in television and computer displays, lighting, traffic lights and numerous electronic devices.

Sailing with nerves of glass Posted: 12 Jul 2012 08:17 AM PDT In the world of racing, tiny details can be the difference between victory and defeat. It is no wonder, then, that manufacturers of racing yachts are always on the lookout for new technologies to optimize boats and sails. An ingenious new sensor technology now helps them to extend the boundaries of what is possible.

Platinum is wrong stuff for fuel cells because it wastes energy, expert says Posted: 12 Jul 2012 08:17 AM PDT Fuel cells are inefficient because the catalyst most commonly used to convert chemical energy to electricity is made of the wrong material, a researcher argues. During the oxygen reduction reaction, intermediate molecules bond too tightly or too loosely to platinum, slowing the reaction and causing a drop in voltage.

Keeping electric vehicle batteries cool Posted: 12 Jul 2012 08:17 AM PDT Heat can damage the batteries of electric vehicles – even just driving fast on the freeway in summer temperatures can overheat the battery. An innovative new coolant conducts heat away from the battery three times more effectively than water, keeping the battery temperature within an acceptable range even in extreme driving situations.

Blue-fluorescent molecular nanocapsules created by simple mixing 'green-environmentally friendly' metal ions and bent organic blocks Posted: 12 Jul 2012 08:16 AM PDT New fluorescent molecular nanocapsules have potential applications as sensors, displays, and drug delivery systems (DDS).

Peering into the heart of a supernova: How to detect a rapidly spinning stellar core Posted: 12 Jul 2012 07:15 AM PDT Using computer simulations, researchers have determined that if the interior of a dying star is spinning rapidly just before it explodes in a magnificent supernova, two different types of signals emanating from that stellar core will oscillate together at the same frequency. This could be a piece of "smoking-gun evidence" that would lead to a better understanding of supernovae.

You are subscribed to email updates from ScienceDaily: Top Technology News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610