ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Poetry in motion: Gemini Observatory releases image of rare polar ring galaxy
• NASA pursues atom optics to detect the imperceptible
• First-of-its-kind self-assembled nanoparticle for targeted and triggered thermo-chemotherapy
• New technique for nanostructure assembly pioneered
• Optical vortices on a chip: Integrated arrays of emitters of 'optical vortex beams' on a silicon chip
• Researchers unveil 3-D structure of 'molecular machine' that initiates DNA transcription
• Germs in space: Preventing infection on long flights
• Avoiding future stock market crashes: 'Diversification effect' that protects portfolio of shares disappears during general slump
• Manufacturing complex 3-D metallic structures at nanoscale made possible
• World's largest subwoofer: Earthquakes 'pump' ground to produce infrasound
• Taking the bite out of baseball bats
• Helmet-to-helmet collisions: Scientists model how vibrations from football hits wobble the brain

Poetry in motion: Gemini Observatory releases image of rare polar ring galaxy Posted: 18 Oct 2012 03:59 PM PDT Polar-ring galaxies are peculiar objects. Astronomers have found only a handful of them, so not much is known about their origins. Most have an early-type spiral system, called a lenticular galaxy, as the central showpiece. But NGC 660, which lies about 40 million light-years distant toward the direction of Pisces the Fishes, is the only polar-ring galaxy known with what is called a late-type lenticular galaxy as its host. All, however, display a ring of stars, dust, and gas that extends tens of thousands of light-years across space along an orbit nearly perpendicular to the main disk.

NASA pursues atom optics to detect the imperceptible Posted: 18 Oct 2012 03:59 PM PDT A pioneering technology capable of atomic-level precision is now being developed to detect what so far has remained imperceptible: gravitational waves or ripples in space-time caused by cataclysmic events including even the Big Bang itself.

First-of-its-kind self-assembled nanoparticle for targeted and triggered thermo-chemotherapy Posted: 18 Oct 2012 01:22 PM PDT Researchers describe the design and effectiveness of a first-of-its-kind, self assembled, multi-functional, NIR responsive gold nanorods that delivers a chemotherapy drug specifically targeted to cancer cells and selectively release the drug in response to an external beam of light while creating heat for synergistic thermo-chemo mediated anti-tumor efficacy.

New technique for nanostructure assembly pioneered Posted: 18 Oct 2012 11:18 AM PDT A team of researchers has developed a new technique for growing new materials from nanorods. Materials with enhanced properties engineered from nanostructures have the potential to revolutionize the marketplace in everything from data processing to human medicine. However, attempts to assemble nanoscale objects into sophisticated structures have been largely unsuccessful. This latest study represents a major breakthrough in the field, showing how thermodynamic forces can be used to manipulate growth of nanoparticles into superparticles with unprecedented precision.

Optical vortices on a chip: Integrated arrays of emitters of 'optical vortex beams' on a silicon chip Posted: 18 Oct 2012 11:18 AM PDT Researchers have demonstrated integrated arrays of emitters of 'optical vortex beams' on a silicon chip. Contradicting traditional conception, light in such beams does not propagate in straight rays. Instead, its energy travels in a spiral fashion in a hollow conical beam shape. The beams therefore look very much like a vortex or cyclone, with its light rays 'twisted' either left-handed or right-handed. In theory, there is no limit to how twisted the light rays can be.

Researchers unveil 3-D structure of 'molecular machine' that initiates DNA transcription Posted: 18 Oct 2012 11:18 AM PDT Scientists have determined the three-dimensional structure of the transcription initiation complex, the key intermediate in the process by which cells read out genetic information in DNA. The "molecular machine" responsible for transcription initiation -- a protein complex that consists of the enzyme RNA polymerase and the initiation factor sigma -- recognizes a specific site on DNA preceding a gene, binds to DNA, unwinds the DNA helix, and pre-organizes the unwound DNA to enable subsequent reactions.

Germs in space: Preventing infection on long flights Posted: 18 Oct 2012 10:09 AM PDT On a long spaceflight unique conditions including microgravity could give microbes the upper hand, but not if astronauts and their spacecrafts are properly prepared. Infectious disease experts have come up with specific recommendations for keeping astronauts safe in deeper space.

Avoiding future stock market crashes: 'Diversification effect' that protects portfolio of shares disappears during general slump Posted: 18 Oct 2012 07:30 AM PDT A 72-year study of the Dow Jones could help avoid the kind of stock market crash that struck the world economy in 2008. New research reveals that the 'diversification effect' that protects a portfolio of shares through the vagaries of the stock market disappears when there is a general slump in the market.

Manufacturing complex 3-D metallic structures at nanoscale made possible Posted: 18 Oct 2012 07:30 AM PDT The fabrication of many objects, machines, and devices around us rely on the controlled deformation of metals by industrial processes such as bending, shearing, and stamping. Is this technology transferrable to nanoscale? Can we build similarly complex devices and machines with very small dimensions? Scientists in Finland and the U.S. have just demonstrated this to be possible. By combining ion processing and nanolithography they have managed to create complex three-dimensional structures at nanoscale.

World's largest subwoofer: Earthquakes 'pump' ground to produce infrasound Posted: 18 Oct 2012 07:29 AM PDT Earthquakes sway buildings, buckle terrain, and rumble -- both audibly and in infrasound, frequencies below the threshold of human hearing. New computer modeling by a team of researchers indicates that most of the low-frequency infrasound comes from an unexpected source: the actual "pumping" of Earth's surface. The researchers confirmed their models by studying data from an actual earthquake.

Taking the bite out of baseball bats Posted: 18 Oct 2012 07:29 AM PDT Miss hitting the "sweet spot" on a baseball bat and the resulting vibrations can zing your hands. Bat companies have tried for decades to reduce these painful shocks with limited success. But acoustics researcher Daniel Russell has figured out that bat vibrations between 600 and 700 hertz (Hz) cause the most pain and that specifically tuned vibration absorbers are the best at combating the sting.

Helmet-to-helmet collisions: Scientists model how vibrations from football hits wobble the brain Posted: 18 Oct 2012 07:29 AM PDT Hard collisions can lead to player concussions, but the physics of how the impact of a helmet hit transfers to the brain are not well understood. A research team has created a simplified experimental model of the brain and skull inside a helmet during a helmet-to-helmet collision.

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