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Thursday, October 17, 2013

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

Sun's magnetic field going to flip soon: 11-year solar cycle wimpy, but peaking

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 06:24 PM PDT

In a 3-meter diameter hollow aluminum sphere, a physics professor is stirring and heating plasmas to 500,000 degrees Fahrenheit to experimentally mimic the magnetic field-inducing cosmic dynamos at the heart of planets, stars and other celestial bodies.

What makes a data visualization memorable?

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 11:56 AM PDT

"Chart junk" -- the noisy visual elements that attract criticism in design circles -- can help make a data visualization more memorable. And the chart types we learned about in school (bar graphs, pie charts, etc.) are not the easiest to recall.

New soil testing kit for third world countries

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 11:53 AM PDT

Researchers have developed a new soil testing kit designed to help farmers in third world countries. On-the-spot soil testing could have major impact in improving crop yields due to poor soils, and can test for the availability of nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, and potassium, as well as active organic matter, and certain soil physical limitations. The raw results of the tests are sent by cell phone to a central website where calculations are made and recommendations are delivered back to the extension agent.

Curiosity confirms origins of Martian meteorites

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 10:40 AM PDT

Earth's most eminent emissary to Mars has just proven that those rare Martian visitors that sometimes drop in on Earth -- a.k.a. Martian meteorites -- really are from the Red Planet. A key new measurement of Mars' atmosphere by NASA's Curiosity rover provides the most definitive evidence yet of the origins of Mars meteorites while at the same time providing a way to rule out Martian origins of other meteorites.

New survey tools unveil two celestial explosions

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 10:22 AM PDT

A team of researchers used a novel astronomical survey software system -- the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF) -- to link a new stripped-envelope supernova, named iPTF13bvn, to the star from which it exploded. The iPTF team also pinpointed the first afterglow of an explosion called a gamma-ray burst that was found by the Fermi satellite.

New light on star death: Super-luminous supernovae may be powered by magnetars

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 10:21 AM PDT

Astronomers have shed new light on the rarest and brightest exploding stars ever discovered in the universe. Their research proposes that the brightest exploding stars, called super-luminous supernovae, are powered by magnetars -- small and incredibly dense neutron stars, with gigantic magnetic fields, that spin hundreds of times a second.

Software uses cyborg swarm to map unknown environs

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 08:27 AM PDT

Researchers have developed software that allows them to map unknown environments -- such as collapsed buildings -- based on the movement of a swarm of insect cyborgs, or "biobots."

New heat-resistant materials could vastly improve solar cell efficiency

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 07:04 AM PDT

Scientists have created a heat-resistant thermal emitter that could significantly improve solar cell efficiency. The novel component is designed to convert heat from the sun into infrared light that can be absorbed by solar cells to make electricity -- a technology known as thermophotovoltaics.

ALMA probes mysteries of jets from giant black holes

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 07:04 AM PDT

Astronomers have focused on jets from the huge black holes at the centers of galaxies and observe how they affect their surroundings. They have now obtained the best view yet of the molecular gas around a nearby, quiet black hole and caught an unexpected glimpse of the base of a powerful jet close to a distant black hole.

How the largest star known is tearing itself apart

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 07:03 AM PDT

Astronomers have observed part of the final death throes of the largest known star in the Universe as it throws off its outer layers. The discovery is a vital step in understanding how massive stars return enriched material to the interstellar medium - the space between stars - which is necessary for forming planetary systems.

Quantum particles find safety in numbers

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 07:01 AM PDT

Researchers have uncovered a novel effect that, in principle, offers a means of stabilizing quantum systems against decoherence. The discovery could represent a major step forward for quantum information processing.

New imaging technique can identify breast cancer subtypes, early treatment response

Posted: 15 Oct 2013 06:37 AM PDT

An optical imaging technique that measures metabolic activity in cancer cells can accurately differentiate breast cancer subtypes, and it can detect responses to treatment as early as two days after therapy administration.

Most stroke victims not being seen by doctors within the recommended timeframe

Posted: 14 Oct 2013 07:15 PM PDT

In a study of over 270 patients newly diagnosed with minor strokes or transient ischaemic attack (TIA), only a minority sought medical help within the timeframe recommended by the Royal College of Physicians. This is despite the high profile FAST campaign, which was taking place at the time that the study was conducted.
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