ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Armchair science: Bag and tag glowing galactic clouds
• Saturn mission: Cassini instrument learns new tricks
• On-demand synaptic electronics: Circuits that learn and forget
• Engineers seek ways to convert methane into useful chemicals
• Clays on Mars: More plentiful than expected
• Meteorite triggered scientific 'Gold Rush'
• New kind of magnetism discovered: Experiments demonstrate ‘quantum spin liquid'
• Traffic congestion can be alleviated throughout a metropolitan area by altering trips in specific neighborhoods, model shows
• Paths of photons are random -- but coordinated
• Clean air: New paints break down nitrogen oxides
• Scientists create nanoscale window to biological world
• Steering stem cells to become two different building blocks for new blood vessels
• Peel-and-stick solar panels: Decal-like application process allows thin, flexible solar panels to be applied to virtually any surface
• Motivation, study habits -- not IQ -- determine growth in math achievement
• Biological concrete for constructing 'living' building materials with lichens, mosses
• Silver sheds light on superconductor secrets
• Shedding light on Anderson localization
• Super-fine sound beam could one day be an invisible scalpel
• New dynamic dual-core optical fiber enhances data routes on information superhighway

Armchair science: Bag and tag glowing galactic clouds Posted: 20 Dec 2012 06:06 PM PST A new galactic game launches today that lets citizen scientists identify the glowing clouds where future stars will be born. The online experience, called Clouds, is a new addition to the Milky Way Project, where everyone can help astronomers to sort and measure our galaxy. Clouds features images and data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the Herschel Space Observatory, a European Space Agency mission with important participation from NASA.

Saturn mission: Cassini instrument learns new tricks Posted: 20 Dec 2012 06:04 PM PST For seven years, a mini-fridge-sized instrument aboard NASA's Cassini spacecraft reliably investigated weather patterns swirling around Saturn; the hydrocarbon composition of the surface of Saturn's moon Titan; the aerosol layers of Titan's haze; and dirt mixing with ice in Saturn's rings. But this year the instrument -- the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIMS) -- has been testing out some new telescopic muscles.

On-demand synaptic electronics: Circuits that learn and forget Posted: 20 Dec 2012 01:14 PM PST Researchers in Japan and the US propose a nanoionic device with a range of neuromorphic and electrical multifunctions that may allow the fabrication of on-demand configurable circuits, analog memories and digital–neural fused networks in one device architecture.

Engineers seek ways to convert methane into useful chemicals Posted: 20 Dec 2012 12:35 PM PST With natural gas production rising, engineers and scientists are seeking ways to convert methane into useful chemicals. A new study suggests a pathway.

Clays on Mars: More plentiful than expected Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:42 AM PST A new study indicates that clay minerals, rocks that usually form when water is present for long periods of time, cover a larger portion of Mars than previously thought.

Meteorite triggered scientific 'Gold Rush' Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:41 AM PST A meteorite that exploded as a fireball over California's Sierra foothills this past spring was among the fastest, rarest meteorites known to have hit the Earth, and it traveled a highly eccentric orbital route to get here.

New kind of magnetism discovered: Experiments demonstrate ‘quantum spin liquid' Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:37 AM PST Following up on earlier theoretical predictions, researchers have now demonstrated experimentally the existence of a fundamentally new kind of magnetic behavior, adding to the two previously known states of magnetism. The experiments demonstrate "quantum spin liquid," which could have applications in new computer memory storage.

Traffic congestion can be alleviated throughout a metropolitan area by altering trips in specific neighborhoods, model shows Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:37 AM PST A new study shows that traffic congestion can be alleviated throughout a metropolitan area by altering the trips of drivers in specific neighborhoods.

Paths of photons are random -- but coordinated Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:37 AM PST Researchers have demonstrated that photons (light particles) emitted from light sources embedded in a complex and disordered structure are able to mutually coordinate their paths through the medium. This is a consequence of the photons' wave properties, which give rise to the interaction between different possible routes.

Clean air: New paints break down nitrogen oxides Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:34 AM PST Surfaces with photo-catalytic characteristics clean the air off nitrogen oxides and other health-endangering substances. Using a new test procedure, researchers can find out how the coatings behave during a long-term test.

Scientists create nanoscale window to biological world Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:33 AM PST Researchers have invented a way to directly image biological structures at their most fundamental level and in their natural habitats.

Steering stem cells to become two different building blocks for new blood vessels Posted: 20 Dec 2012 11:31 AM PST Growing new blood vessels in the lab is a tough challenge, but an engineering team has solved a major stumbling block: how to prod stem cells to become two different types of tissue that are needed to build tiny networks of veins and arteries.

Peel-and-stick solar panels: Decal-like application process allows thin, flexible solar panels to be applied to virtually any surface Posted: 20 Dec 2012 07:19 AM PST Decal-like application process allows thin, flexible solar panels to be applied to virtually any surface from business cards to roofs to window panes. Process is the first to use existing processes and materials pointing to potential commercial viability.

Motivation, study habits -- not IQ -- determine growth in math achievement Posted: 20 Dec 2012 05:04 AM PST It's not how smart students are but how motivated they are and how they study that determines their growth in math achievement. That's the main finding of a study that looks at six annual waves of data from a German longitudinal study assessing math ability in 3,520 students in grades five to 10. Students who felt competent; were intrinsically motivated; and avoided rote learning showed more growth in math achievement than those who didn't.

Biological concrete for constructing 'living' building materials with lichens, mosses Posted: 20 Dec 2012 05:03 AM PST It is a material that improves thermal comfort in buildings and helps to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.

Silver sheds light on superconductor secrets Posted: 20 Dec 2012 05:03 AM PST By doping a bismuth-based layered material with silver, Chinese scientists demonstrated that superconductivity is intrinsic to the new material rather than stemming from its impurities.

Shedding light on Anderson localization Posted: 20 Dec 2012 05:01 AM PST Waves do not spread in a disordered medium if there is less than one wavelength between two defects. Physicists have now proved Nobel Prize winner Philip W. Anderson's theory directly for the first time using the diffusion of light in a cloudy medium.

Super-fine sound beam could one day be an invisible scalpel Posted: 19 Dec 2012 02:39 PM PST A carbon-nanotube-coated lens that converts light to sound can focus high-pressure sound waves to finer points than ever before. The engineering researchers who developed the new therapeutic ultrasound approach say it could lead to an invisible knife for noninvasive surgery.

New dynamic dual-core optical fiber enhances data routes on information superhighway Posted: 19 Dec 2012 10:34 AM PST Optical fibers -- the backbone of the Internet -- carry movies, messages, and music at the speed of light. But for all their efficiency, these ultrathin strands of pristine glass must connect to sluggish signal switches, routers, and buffers in order to transmit data. Hoping to do away with these information speed bumps, researchers have developed a new, dual-core optical fiber that can perform the same functions just by applying a minuscule amount of mechanical pressure.

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