ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Mars rock touched by NASA Curiosity has surprises
• Fusion energy: Mug handles could help hot plasma give lower-cost, controllable fusion energy
• Making Sudoku puzzles less puzzling
• Earth sunblock only needed if planet warms easily
• Hubble sees a planetary nebula in the making
• Meteorite delivers Martian secrets
• New web-based model for sharing research datasets could have huge benefits
• Quantum effects observed in cold chemistry
• Organic solar cells with high electric potential for portable electronics
• Eco-friendly optics: Spider silk's talents harnessed for use in biosensors, lasers, microchips
• Researchers create 'nanoflowers' for energy storage, solar cells
• Bouncing on Saturn's moon Titan
• Plasma screens enhanced as disorder strikes: Study looks at ways to improve the quality of matter akin to that found in plasma screens
• Nearby super-Earth likely a diamond planet
• Studying stars on Earth: Physicists simulate gigantic magnetic fields that occur on neutron stars
• Method to study the atomic structure of complex surfaces developed

Mars rock touched by NASA Curiosity has surprises Posted: 11 Oct 2012 09:48 PM PDT The first Martian rock NASA's Curiosity rover has reached out to touch presents a more varied composition than expected from previous missions. The rock also resembles some unusual rocks from Earth's interior. The rover team used two instruments on Curiosity to study the chemical makeup of the football-size rock called "Jake Matijevic." The results support some surprising recent measurements and provide an example of why identifying rocks' composition is such a major emphasis of the mission. Rock compositions tell stories about unseen environments and planetary processes.

Fusion energy: Mug handles could help hot plasma give lower-cost, controllable fusion energy Posted: 11 Oct 2012 12:16 PM PDT New hardware lets engineers maintain the plasma used in fusion reactors in an energy-efficient, stable manner, making the system potentially attractive for use in fusion power plants.

Making Sudoku puzzles less puzzling Posted: 11 Oct 2012 12:16 PM PDT For anyone who has ever struggled while attempting to solve a Sudoku puzzle, mathematicians are coming to the rescue. They can not only explain why some Sudoku puzzles are harder than others, they have also developed a mathematical algorithm that solves Sudoku puzzles very quickly, without any guessing or backtracking.

Earth sunblock only needed if planet warms easily Posted: 11 Oct 2012 12:14 PM PDT A new computer analysis of future climate change that considers emissions reductions together with sunlight reduction shows that such drastic steps to cool Earth would only be necessary if the planet heats up easily with added greenhouse gases.

Hubble sees a planetary nebula in the making Posted: 11 Oct 2012 11:23 AM PDT The Universe is filled with mysterious objects. Many of them are as strange as they are beautiful. Among these, planetary nebulae are probably one of the most fascinating objects to behold in the night sky. No other type of object has such a large variety of shapes and structures. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has provided a striking image of Hen 3-1475, a planetary nebula in the making.

Meteorite delivers Martian secrets Posted: 11 Oct 2012 11:14 AM PDT A meteorite that landed in the Moroccan desert 14 months ago is providing more information about Mars, the planet where it originated.

New web-based model for sharing research datasets could have huge benefits Posted: 11 Oct 2012 11:14 AM PDT A group of researchers have proposed creating a new web-based data network to help researchers and policymakers worldwide turn existing knowledge into real-world applications and technologies and improve science and innovation policy.

Quantum effects observed in cold chemistry Posted: 11 Oct 2012 11:08 AM PDT Physicists have combined two low-temperature supersonic beams to produce chemical reactions in quantum conditions, near absolute zero. The method, a first, confirms longstanding theories.

Organic solar cells with high electric potential for portable electronics Posted: 11 Oct 2012 10:47 AM PDT A new breakthrough in solar technology means portable electronic devices such as e-book readers could soon be re-charged on the move in low light levels and partial shading. Scientists have created an organic solar cell that generates a sufficiently high voltage to recharge a lithium-ion battery directly, without the need to connect multiple individual cells in series. Modules of these high voltage cells perform well in different light conditions including partial shade making them well matched to consumer electronic devices such as e-book readers, cameras and some mobile phones.

Eco-friendly optics: Spider silk's talents harnessed for use in biosensors, lasers, microchips Posted: 11 Oct 2012 09:40 AM PDT Spiders use their silk to catch lunch. Now physicists are using it to catch light. New research shows that natural silk could be an eco-friendly alternative to more traditional ways of manipulating light, such as through glass or plastic fiber optic cables.

Researchers create 'nanoflowers' for energy storage, solar cells Posted: 11 Oct 2012 09:40 AM PDT Researchers have created flower-like structures out of germanium sulfide (GeS) -- a semiconductor material -- that have extremely thin petals with an enormous surface area. The GeS flower holds promise for next-generation energy storage devices and solar cells.

Bouncing on Saturn's moon Titan Posted: 11 Oct 2012 09:37 AM PDT ESA's Huygens probe bounced, slid and wobbled its way to rest in the 10 seconds after touching down on Saturn's moon, Titan, in January 2005, a new analysis reveals. The findings provide novel insight into the nature of the moon's surface.

Plasma screens enhanced as disorder strikes: Study looks at ways to improve the quality of matter akin to that found in plasma screens Posted: 11 Oct 2012 09:37 AM PDT A new study improves our understanding of plasma sources, a state of matter similar to gas in which a certain portion of the particles are ionised and which are used for example in plasma display panels.

Nearby super-Earth likely a diamond planet Posted: 11 Oct 2012 06:06 AM PDT New research suggests that a rocky planet twice Earth's size orbiting a nearby star is a diamond planet. The planet -- called 55 Cancri e -- has a radius twice Earth's, and a mass eight times greater, making it a "super-Earth." It is one of five planets orbiting a sun-like star, 55 Cancri, that is located 40 light years from Earth yet visible to the naked eye in the constellation of Cancer. The planet orbits at hyper speed -- its year lasts just 18 hours, in contrast to Earth's 365 days. It is also blazingly hot, with a temperature of about 3,900 degrees Fahrenheit, researchers said, a far cry from a habitable world.

Studying stars on Earth: Physicists simulate gigantic magnetic fields that occur on neutron stars Posted: 11 Oct 2012 05:53 AM PDT Scientists have developed a method to simulate gigantic magnetic fields that normally occur on neutron stars only. The physicists show that when small particles in complex plasmas are set into rotation, they behave as if they were exposed to a huge magnetic field.

Method to study the atomic structure of complex surfaces developed Posted: 10 Oct 2012 01:18 PM PDT With a novel idea, a lot of work and some of the world's most sophisticated equipment, researchers have developed a new way to study the structures of complex surfaces, opening the door to future discoveries in materials, energy and technology.

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