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Tuesday, December 17, 2013

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

Cellulose nanocrystals possible 'green' wonder material

Posted: 16 Dec 2013 12:50 PM PST

The same tiny cellulose crystals that give trees and plants their high strength, light weight and resilience, have now been shown to have the stiffness of steel. The nanocrystals might be used to create a new class of biomaterials with wide-ranging applications, such as strengthening construction materials and automotive components.

Microprinting leads to low-cost artificial cells

Posted: 16 Dec 2013 12:50 PM PST

Easily manufactured, low-cost artificial cells manufactured using microprinting may one day serve as drug and gene delivery devices and in biomaterials, biotechnology and biosensing applications, according to biomedical engineers. These artificial cells will also allow researchers to explore actions that take place at the cell membrane.

Recipe to fine-tune diameter of silica rods devised

Posted: 16 Dec 2013 12:43 PM PST

By controlling the temperature of silica rods as they grow, researchers could be setting the stage for advances in anti-reflective solar cells, computer monitors, TV screens, eye glasses and more.

Graphene nanoribbons an ice-melting coat for radar

Posted: 16 Dec 2013 11:28 AM PST

A composite of graphene nanoribbons and polyurethane paint is a robust, light, cost-effective coating to keep radar domes free of ice.

Nearby failed stars may harbor planet, astronomers find

Posted: 16 Dec 2013 11:28 AM PST

Astronomers took precise measurements of the closest pair of failed stars to the Sun, which suggest that the system harbors a third, planetary-mass object.

Ultrafast heating of water: This pot boils faster than you can watch it

Posted: 16 Dec 2013 11:26 AM PST

Scientists have devised a novel way to boil water in less than a trillionth of a second. The theoretical concept, which has not yet been demonstrated in practice, could heat a small amount of water by as much as 600 degrees Celsius in just half a picosecond (a trillionth of a second). This would make the technique the fastest water-heating method on Earth.

Golden trap: Highly sensitive system to detect individual molecules

Posted: 16 Dec 2013 11:26 AM PST

Medical diagnostics is searching for substances capable of documenting whether a disease is developing. In many cases, the treacherous molecules are present only in trace amounts -- which is why sensitive methods of detection are needed. Researchers have come up with a method of detection, which allowed them to notice the presence of only 17 dye molecules. The method might be used to scan a tiny drop of blood for potential diseases.

Brain waves encode information as time signals

Posted: 16 Dec 2013 11:26 AM PST

A research team has examined the synaptic mechanisms of rhythmic brain waves. This was made possible through custom-design tools developed in collaboration with the institute's machine shop.

Smithsonian's Submillimeter Array reveals giant star cluster in the making

Posted: 16 Dec 2013 11:24 AM PST

W49A might be one of the best-kept secrets in our galaxy. This star-forming region shines 100 times brighter than the Orion nebula, but is so obscured by dust that very little visible or infrared light escapes. Astronomers have peered through the dusty fog to provide the first clear view of this stellar nursery.

SOFs take to water: First soluble 2-D supramolecular organic frameworks created

Posted: 16 Dec 2013 11:24 AM PST

Researchers have unveiled the first two-dimensional SOFs -- supramolecular organic frameworks -- that self-assemble in solution, an important breakthrough that holds implications for sensing and separation technologies, energy sciences, and biomimetics.

Piece-by-piece approach to emissions policies can be effective, study finds

Posted: 16 Dec 2013 11:24 AM PST

New analysis shows that policies addressing energy consumption and technology choices individually can play an important part in reducing emissions.

Innovative instrument probes close binary stars, may soon image exoplanets

Posted: 16 Dec 2013 11:24 AM PST

Close binary stars cannot be resolved with today's optical telescopes, despite adaptive optics that removes the fuzziness caused by atmospheric turbulence. An international team of astronomers has built and mounted on a 3-meter California telescope a fibered optic imager that combines AO and interferometry to resolve for the first time close binaries such as Capella, and have mounted an improved imager on an 8-meter Subaru telescope that may one day resolve planets around dwarf stars.

Loudspeaker is first-ever 3-D-printed consumer electronic

Posted: 16 Dec 2013 11:22 AM PST

Researchers have 3-D printed a working loudspeaker, seamlessly integrating the plastic, conductive and magnetic parts, and ready for use almost as soon as it comes out of the printer.

Small size enhances charge transfer in quantum dots

Posted: 16 Dec 2013 11:20 AM PST

Scientists show that shrinking the core of a quantum dot can enhance the ability of a surrounding polymer to extract electric charges generated in the dot by the absorption of light.

No math gene: Learning mathematics takes practice

Posted: 16 Dec 2013 07:28 AM PST

New research shows that if you want to be good at math, you have to practice all different kinds of mathematics.

Timing is everything in new nanotechnology for medicine, security and research

Posted: 16 Dec 2013 06:55 AM PST

A team of researchers has created a way to control the length of time light from a luminescent nanocrystal lingers, adding a new dimension of time to color and brightness in optical detection technology. This exponentially boosts the number of different combinations that can be created and used as unique tags for biomedical screens. In addition, light emitted by the new nanocrystals far outlasts that which occurs naturally in biological systems. That difference in timing distinctly separates the signal from background noise.

Better first response medical care during catastrophes

Posted: 16 Dec 2013 05:03 AM PST

When large-scale emergencies occur, it often takes far too long before victims receive the care their injuries demand. Now a new electronic system has been designed to support helpers during the initial assessment of victims and to speed up patient care.

A Terahertz generator with the highest signal quality

Posted: 16 Dec 2013 05:03 AM PST

Researchers are developing an innovative Terahertz generator that improves signal quality by one million times as compared to the best device of this kind currently on the market; it will allow this technology to be applied in the areas of biomedicine, transportation safety, industry and radio astronomy, among others.

Swift satellite catches a hundred thousand new cosmic X-ray sources

Posted: 16 Dec 2013 05:01 AM PST

Astronomers have published a major list of celestial X-ray sources. The result of many years work, this list of over 150,000 high-energy stars and galaxies will be a vital resource for future astronomical studies.

Nanoparticles and their orbital positions

Posted: 16 Dec 2013 05:01 AM PST

Physicists have developed a "planet-satellite model" to precisely connect and arrange nanoparticles in three-dimensional structures. Inspired by the photosystems of plants and algae, these artificial nanoassemblies might in the future serve to collect and convert energy.

Alzheimer substance may be the nanomaterial of tomorrow

Posted: 16 Dec 2013 05:01 AM PST

Amyloid protein causes diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. But amyloid also carries unique characteristics that may lead to the development of new composite materials for the nano processors and data storage of tomorrow, and even make objects invisible.
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