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Tuesday, January 8, 2013

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

New Chandra movie features neutron star action

Posted: 07 Jan 2013 03:27 PM PST

Unlike with some blockbuster films, the sequel to a movie from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is better than the first. This latest movie features a deeper look at a fast moving jet of particles produced by a rapidly rotating neutron star, and may provide new insight into the nature of some of the densest matter in the universe.

Galaxy's gamma-ray flares erupted far from its black hole

Posted: 07 Jan 2013 02:50 PM PST

In 2011, a months-long blast of energy launched by an enormous black hole almost 11 billion years ago swept past Earth. Using a combination of data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), the world's largest radio telescope, astronomers have zeroed in on the source of this ancient outburst.

Hubble image: The galaxy puzzle in the constellation of Centaurus

Posted: 07 Jan 2013 02:45 PM PST

The Universe loves to fool our eyes, giving the impression that celestial objects are located at the same distance from Earth. A good example can be seen in a new spectacular image produced by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The galaxies NGC 5011B and NGC 5011C are imaged against a starry background.

NASA's NuSTAR catches black holes in galaxy web

Posted: 07 Jan 2013 02:35 PM PST

NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, set its X-ray eyes on a spiral galaxy and caught the brilliant glow of two black holes lurking inside.

Engineered bacteria make fuel from sunlight

Posted: 07 Jan 2013 02:17 PM PST

Chemists have engineered blue-green algae to grow chemical precursors for fuels and plastics -- the first step in replacing fossil fuels as raw materials for the chemical industry.

Detecting dusty clouds and stars: New radio wave technique uncovers shadows of clouds and stars in Milky Way's center

Posted: 07 Jan 2013 02:17 PM PST

Researchers have discovered a new tool for detecting dusty clouds and stars in the center of the Milky Way galaxy: simply take a picture using radio waves. Unlike in the optical, X-ray and infrared wavelengths, it is unusual to see a dark feature with radio waves. The technique has been used to identify so-called radio dark clouds and stars. Knowing details of these clouds is important because the clouds can produce stars.

Exocomets may be as common as exoplanets

Posted: 07 Jan 2013 01:22 PM PST

Astronomers have found thousands of potential exoplanets and many stars with massive disks of gas and dust that suggest planets are forming, but not much of the stuff intermediate between dust and planets, such as asteroids, planetesimals and comets. Astronomers looked closely at a number of stars with dust disks and found evidence that they also have comets, suggesting that comets are a common accompaniment to planets in many stellar systems.

At least one in six stars has an Earth-sized planet, analysis finds

Posted: 07 Jan 2013 01:22 PM PST

The quest for a twin Earth is heating up. Using NASA's Kepler spacecraft, astronomers are beginning to find Earth-sized planets orbiting distant stars. A new analysis of Kepler data shows that about 17 percent of stars have an Earth-sized planet in an orbit closer than Mercury. Since the Milky Way has about 100 billion stars, there are at least 17 billion Earth-sized worlds out there.

Simulated mission to Mars reveals critical data about sleep needs for astronauts

Posted: 07 Jan 2013 12:14 PM PST

In the first study of its kind, researchers have analyzed data on the impact of prolonged operational confinement on sleep, performance, and mood in astronauts from a simulated 520-day space mission to Mars. The findings revealed alterations of life-sustaining sleep patterns and neurobehavioral consequences for crew members that must be addressed for successful human interplanetary spaceflight.

The reason we lose at games: Some games simply too complex for the human mind to understand

Posted: 07 Jan 2013 12:12 PM PST

If you have ever wondered why you never seem to win at skill-based games such as poker or chess, there might be a very good reason. Scientists have discovered that some games are simply impossible to fully learn, or too complex for the human mind to understand.

Researchers show new level of control over liquid crystals

Posted: 07 Jan 2013 12:07 PM PST

An interdisciplinary team of researchers has shown a new way to direct the assembly of liquid crystals, generating small features that spontaneously arrange in arrays based on much larger templates.

NASA's Kepler discovers 461 new planet candidates

Posted: 07 Jan 2013 11:31 AM PST

NASA's Kepler mission Monday announced the discovery of 461 new planet candidates. Four of the potential new planets are less than twice the size of Earth and orbit in their sun's "habitable zone," the region in the planetary system where liquid water might exist on the surface of a planet.

New path to more efficient organic solar cells uncovered

Posted: 07 Jan 2013 10:09 AM PST

Working at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source, an international team of scientists found that for highly efficient polymer/organic solar cells, size matters. Impure domains if made sufficiently small can lead to improved performances in polymer-based organic photovoltaics.

A French nuclear exit?

Posted: 07 Jan 2013 10:09 AM PST

France has been held up, worldwide, as the forerunner in using nuclear fission to produce electricity. However, a third of the nation's nuclear reactors will need replacing in the next decade, and public opinion has shifted toward reducing reliance on nuclear power.

Sudden, massive outburst in neighbor galaxy surprises astronomers

Posted: 07 Jan 2013 10:09 AM PST

Astronomers making a long-term study of galaxies see sudden, energetic outburst in one of them. Still under observation, the outburst probably results from messy eating by a supermassive black hole.

Living cells behave like fluid-filled sponges

Posted: 07 Jan 2013 07:01 AM PST

Animal cells behave like fluid-filled sponges in response to being mechanically deformed according to new research.

Fifteen new planets hint at 'traffic jam' of moons in habitable zone

Posted: 07 Jan 2013 07:00 AM PST

Volunteers from the Planethunters.org website have discovered 15 new planet candidates orbiting in the habitable zones of other stars. Added to the 19 similar planets already discovered in habitable zones, where the temperature is neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water, the new finds suggest that there may be a 'traffic jam' of all kinds of strange worlds in regions that could potentially support life.

How the kilogram has put on weight

Posted: 07 Jan 2013 05:26 AM PST

Using a state-of-the-art Theta-probe XPS machine, experts in the UK have shown the original kilogram is likely to be tens of micrograms heavier than it was when the first standard was set in 1875. And they say a suntan could be the key to helping it lose weight.

New antimatter trapping method to provide 'a major experimental advantage'

Posted: 07 Jan 2013 05:23 AM PST

Researchers have proposed a method for cooling trapped antihydrogen which they believe could provide 'a major experimental advantage' and help to map the mysterious properties of antimatter that have to date remained elusive. The new method could cool trapped antihydrogen atoms to temperatures 25 times colder than already achieved, making them much more stable and a lot easier to experiment on.

3-D color X-Ray imaging radically improved for identifying contraband, corrosion or cancer

Posted: 07 Jan 2013 05:22 AM PST

Scientists have developed a camera that can be used to take powerful three dimensional color X-ray images, in near real-time, without the need for a synchrotron X-ray source. 
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