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Thursday, January 10, 2013

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News


Herschel spacecraft eyes asteroid Apophis

Posted: 09 Jan 2013 05:06 PM PST

Scientists using the Herschel Space Observatory made new observations of asteroid Apophis as it approached Earth this past weekend. The data show the asteroid to be bigger than first estimated, and less reflective.

Next-generation adaptive optics brings remarkable details to light in stellar nursery

Posted: 09 Jan 2013 03:58 PM PST

A new image reveals how Gemini Observatory's most advanced adaptive optics system will help astronomers study the universe with an unprecedented level of clarity and detail by removing distortions due to the Earth's atmosphere.

Mapping the Milky Way: Radio telescopes give clues to structure, history

Posted: 09 Jan 2013 03:58 PM PST

Surveys of the Milky Way are vastly increasing the number of known sites of massive star formation, tracing the structure of the Galaxy and giving clues to its history, including evidence of possible past mergers with other galaxies.

Machine perception lab shows robotic one year old on video

Posted: 09 Jan 2013 03:56 PM PST

The world is getting a long-awaited first glimpse at a new humanoid robot in action mimicking the expressions of a one-year-old child. The robot will be used in studies on sensory-motor and social development – how babies "learn" to control their bodies and to interact with other people.

Dark energy alternatives to Einstein are running out of room

Posted: 09 Jan 2013 01:20 PM PST

Astronomers have found that a popular alternative to Albert Einstein's theory for the acceleration of the expansion of the universe does not fit newly obtained data on a fundamental constant, the proton to electron mass ratio.

Engineering alternative fuel with cyanobacteria

Posted: 09 Jan 2013 01:09 PM PST

Biologists have engineered two strains of cyanobacteria to produce free fatty acids, a precursor to liquid fuels. Micro-algal fuels might be one way to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign energy. Such fuels would be renewable since they are powered by sunlight. They also could reduce carbon dioxide emissions since they use photosynthesis, and they could create jobs in a new industry.

Farthest supernova yet for measuring cosmic history

Posted: 09 Jan 2013 12:11 PM PST

In 2004 the Supernova Cosmology Project based at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory used the Hubble Space Telescope to find a tantalizing supernova that appeared to be almost 10 billion light-years distant. But researchers had to wait years until a new camera was installed on the Hubble before they could confirm the spectrum and light curve of supernova SCP-0401 -- the supernova furthest back in time useful for precise measures of the expansion history of the universe.

Tree seeds offer potential for sustainable biofuels

Posted: 09 Jan 2013 09:42 AM PST

Tree seeds, rather than biomass or fuel crop plants, could represent an abundant source of renewable energy, according to new research. The study suggests that seeds from the Indian mahua and sal trees have almost as good a thermal efficiency as biodiesel but would produce lower emissions of carbon monoxide, waste hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides.

Chemical modules that mimic predator-prey and other behaviors devised

Posted: 09 Jan 2013 08:00 AM PST

Scientists are reporting development of chemical modules that can reproduce, on an "unprecedented" molecular level, changes and interactions that occur in natural populations of plants and animals, including those of hunting and being hunted for food, conducting mutually beneficial relationships and competing for resources. These new "predator-prey biochemical oscillators" could become building blocks for molecular machines and computers.

News from the world of quantum physics: A non-causal quantum eraser

Posted: 09 Jan 2013 07:59 AM PST

Whether a quantum object behaves like a wave or like a particle depends (according to the Copenhagen interpretation) on the choice of measurement apparatus used for observing the system, and therefore on the type of measurement performed.

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