ScienceDaily Technology Headlines -- for Wednesday, September 14, 2011 ~ gwinnetttech

ScienceDaily Technology Headlines

for Wednesday, September 14, 2011

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In immune cells, super-resolution imaging reveals natural killers' M.O. (September 14, 2011) -- Making use of a new "super resolution" microscope that provides sharp images at extremely small scales, scientists have achieved unprecedented views of the immune system in action. The new tool, a stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscope, shows how granules from natural killer cells pass through openings in dynamic cell structures to destroy their targets: tumor cells and cells infected by viruses. ... > full story

Team finds stable RNA nano-scaffold within virus core (September 14, 2011) -- With the discovery of a RNA nano-scaffold that remains unusually stable in the body, researchers have overcome another barrier to the development of therapeutic RNA nanotechnology. The nanoparticle, constructed from a three-way junction (3WJ) motif of packaging RNA (pRNA) molecules, can serve as a platform for building larger, multifunctional nanoparticles -- which can then be injected into the body to deliver therapeutics to targeted cells. ... > full story

Intense magnetic fields probably formed shortly after Big Bang, researchers say (September 14, 2011) -- Intense magnetic fields were probably generated in the universe shortly after the Big Bang, according to an international team of researchers. ... > full story

Cyber security report identifies key research priorities (September 14, 2011) -- Developing self-learning, self aware cyber security technologies, protecting smart utility grids and enhancing the security of mobile networks are among the top research priorities needed to safeguard the internet of tomorrow, according to a new report. ... > full story

In the early life of an embryo, a monster lurks: Newly fertilized cells only narrowly avoid degenerating into fatal chaos (September 13, 2011) -- Research has revealed that newly fertilized cells only narrowly avoid degenerating into fatal chaos. At the same time, scientists have discovered that embryos have acquired a mechanism to contain this dangerous instability, a finding that could help biologists unravel other mysteries about the first hours of life. ... > full story

Terahertz radiation's impact on cellular function and gene expression (September 13, 2011) -- Relatively little is known about the effect of terahertz radiation on biological systems. A team of researchers have now evaluated the cellular response of mouse stem cells exposed to THz radiation. They reported that temperature increases were minimal, and that heat shock protein expression was unaffected, while the expression of certain other genes showed clear effects of the THz irradiation. ... > full story

Pressure for positive results puts science under threat, study shows (September 13, 2011) -- Scientific research may be in decline across the globe because of growing pressures to report only positive results, new analysis suggests. ... > full story

Civil engineering professor develops 'superlaminate' industrial pipe repair system (September 13, 2011) -- Even when structural problems with the aging US infrastructure can be detected early, currently available methods of repair are often technologically outdated, logistically complex, prohibitively expensive, or all of the above. A professor of civil engineering may have developed a feasible solution to a rapidly growing domestic infrastructure problem. ... > full story

Star blasts planet with X-rays (September 13, 2011) -- A nearby star is pummeling a companion planet with a barrage of X-rays a hundred thousand times more intense than the Earth receives from the Sun. New data suggest that high-energy radiation is evaporating about 5 million tons of matter from the planet every second. This result gives insight into the difficult survival path for some planets. ... > full story

Graphene may open the gate to future terahertz technologies (September 13, 2011) -- Nestled between radio waves and infrared light is the terahertz (THz) portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. By adding a nanoscale bit of graphene, researchers have found a better way to tune radiation for a THz transmitter. ... > full story

Astronomers find extreme weather on an alien world: Cosmic oddball may harbor a gigantic storm (September 13, 2011) -- A University of Toronto-led team of astronomers has observed extreme brightness changes on a nearby brown dwarf that may indicate a storm grander than any seen yet on a planet. Because old brown dwarfs and giant planets have similar atmospheres, this finding could shed new light on weather phenomena of extra-solar planets. ... > full story

First proof in patients of an improved 'magic bullet' for cancer detection and radio-therapy (September 13, 2011) -- Oncologists have long sought a powerful "magic bullet" that can find tumors wherever they hide in the body so that they can be imaged and then destroyed. ... > full story

Nuclear detector: New materials hold promise for better detection of nuclear weapons (September 13, 2011) -- Scientists have developed new materials that can detect hard radiation, a very difficult thing to do. The method could lead to a handheld device for detecting nuclear weapons and materials, such as a "nuclear bomb in a suitcase" scenario. The materials perform as well as materials that have emerged from five decades of research and development. ... > full story

Is smartphone technology the future of US elections? (September 13, 2011) -- With more and more Americans upgrading to smartphones, and as smartphone capabilities continue to improve, even the US government is considering innovative ways to harness this advancing technology. Human factors/ergonomics researchers have evaluated the potential benefits of using smartphones to enable online voting in future US elections and will present their findings at an upcoming meeting. ... > full story

Ferroelectrics could pave way for ultra-low power computing (September 13, 2011) -- Engineers have shown that it is possible to reduce the minimum voltage necessary to store charge in a capacitor, an achievement that could reduce the power draw and heat generation of today's electronics. They used ferroelectric materials to amplify the charge accumulated at the capacitor for a given voltage, a phenomenon called negative capacitance. ... > full story

Parabolic mirrors concentrate sunlight to power lasers (September 13, 2011) -- Borrowing from modern telescope design, researchers have proposed a way to concentrate sunlight to ramp up laser efficiency. ... > full story

Taming light: Mastering the fine structuring of ultrashort light fields (September 13, 2011) -- Physicists have generated for the first time “white” light pulses. They are able to control their field on a time scale shorter than an optical oscillation. These new tools hold promise for unprecedented control of the motion of electrons. ... > full story

Fast, cheap, and accurate: Detecting CO<sub>2</sub> with a fluorescent twist (September 13, 2011) -- Detecting specific gases in the air is possible using a number of different existing technologies, but typically all of these suffer from one or more drawbacks including high energy cost, large size, slow detection speed, and sensitivity to humidity. Overcoming these deficiencies with a unique approach, scientists have designed an inexpensive new material capable of quick and accurate detection of a specific gas under a wide variety of circumstances. ... > full story

Blood vessels from your printer? (September 13, 2011) -- Researchers have been working on growing tissue and organs in the laboratory for a long time. Today, tissue engineering enables us to build up artificial tissue, although science still hasn't been successful with larger organs. ... > full story

Memorial image taken on Mars on Sept. 11, 2011 (September 13, 2011) -- A view of a memorial to victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center towers was taken on Mars on Sept. 11, 2011, on the 10th anniversary of the attacks. ... > full story

Methodology applied to historical walls may explain why moss gathers and how paint blackens (September 13, 2011) -- For the correct restoration of deteriorated works of cultural heritage, it helps to know what causes the degradation in the first place. There are studies that characterize these types of damage in detail, but that rarely touch on the origin and development of the deterioration. A chemist has now come up with an analytical methodology with the intention of filling this need. ... > full story

Sustainability scientists suggest how countries can cooperate on climate (September 12, 2011) -- Experts suggest using game theory and a scalable method of rewards and punishments (called linear compensation) to help develop strategies that encourage all nations to participation fully in greenhouse gas mitigation programs. ... > full story

Health fears over CO<sub>2</sub> storage are unfounded, study shows (September 12, 2011) -- Capturing carbon dioxide from power stations and storing it deep underground carries no significant threat to human health, despite recently voiced fears that it might, a new study shows. Researchers found that the risk of death from poisoning as a result of exposure to CO2 leaks from underground rocks is about one in 100 million -- far less than the chances of winning the lottery jackpot. ... > full story

Nanopatterning technique throws new light on photovoltaics (September 12, 2011) -- Do better with less. That is the challenge that Swiss researchers have set for themselves. Their specialty: manufacturing solar cells that are one thousand times thinner than conventional cells. In order to boost the output of the cells, they have developed a new nanopatterning technique. ... > full story

'Trojan Horse' particle sneaks chemotherapy in to kill ovarian cancer cells (September 12, 2011) -- A common chemotherapy drug has been successfully delivered to cancer cells inside tiny microparticles using a method inspired by our knowledge of how the human immune system works. The drug, delivered in this way, reduced ovarian cancer tumors in an animal model by 65 times more than using the standard method. This approach is now being developed for clinical use. ... > full story

New clues to molecular understanding of autism (September 12, 2011) -- The first transgenic mouse model of a rare and severe type of autism called Timothy Syndrome is improving the scientific understanding of autism spectrum disorder in general and may help researchers design more targeted interventions and treatments. ... > full story

Physicist detects movement of macromolecules engineered into our food (September 12, 2011) -- Toxin proteins are genetically engineered into our food because they kill insects by perforating body cell walls, and now researchers studying membrane proteins have detected the molecular mechanism involved. ... > full story

Astronomers find 50 new exoplanets: Richest haul of planets so far includes 16 new super-Earths (September 12, 2011) -- Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory's world-leading exoplanet hunter HARPS have announced a rich haul of more than 50 new exoplanets, including 16 super-Earths, one of which orbits at the edge of the habitable zone of its star. By studying the properties of all the HARPS planets found so far, the team has found that about 40% of stars similar to the Sun have at least one planet lighter than Saturn. ... > full story

Airplanes: New tool analyzes black-box data for flight anomalies (September 12, 2011) -- Scientists have created a new tool that analyzes black-box data for flight anomalies. An airplane's digital flight-data recorder, or "black box," holds massive amounts of data, documenting the performance of engines, cockpit controls, hydraulic equipment and GPS systems, typically at regular one-second intervals throughout a flight. Inspectors use such data to reconstruct the final moments of an accident, looking for telltale defects that may explain a crash. More recently, analysts have probed black-box data in an effort to prevent such accidents from ever occurring. Using software tools that can rapidly search data, operators can flag problem areas and determine whether a plane needs to be pulled off the line to be physically inspected, or if there are problems with flight procedures. ... > full story

Breath and sweat used to detect trapped humans (September 12, 2011) -- Molecules in their breath, sweat and skin have been used to detect humans in a simulation of a collapsed building, raising the prospect of portable sensors for use in real-life situations, such as the devastating aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and more recent disasters in New Zealand and Japan. ... > full story

Hubble to target 'Hot Jupiters' (September 12, 2011) -- An international team of astronomers has set out on the largest program to date exploring the alien atmospheres of "Hot Jupiters" -- massive planets in solar systems far away from our own. ... > full story

Physicists report progress in understanding high-temperature superconductors (September 12, 2011) -- Although high-temperature superconductors are widely used in technologies such as MRI machines, explaining the unusual properties of these materials remains an unsolved problem for theoretical physicists. Major progress in this important field has now been reported by physicists in California. ... > full story

Mitosis: New techniques expose surprises in cell division (September 12, 2011) -- Researchers have obtained the first high-resolution, three-dimensional images of a cell with a nucleus undergoing cell division. The observations, made using a powerful imaging technique in combination with a new method for slicing cell samples, indicate that one of the characteristic steps of mitosis is significantly different in some cells. ... > full story

Acoustic tests verify Orion’s sound engineering (September 12, 2011) -- Engineers have successfully completed the first of a series of acoustic tests on the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) ground test vehicle, which consists of two major components of the Orion spacecraft: the crew module and the launch abort system. Built to spaceflight specifications, the Orion MPCV ground test vehicle is the first full-scale spacecraft built to support the development of the final human space flight vehicle, which is slated for its first orbital flight test in about two years. ... > full story

Young stars take a turn in the spotlight (September 12, 2011) -- The European Southern Observatory's New Technology Telescope has captured a striking image of the open cluster NGC 2100. This brilliant star cluster is around 15 million years old, and located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a nearby satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. The cluster is surrounded by glowing gas from the nearby Tarantula Nebula. ... > full story

A guiding light for new directions in energy production: Optofluidics could help solve the energy challenge (September 12, 2011) -- Optofluidics is the study of microfluidics -- the microscopic delivery of fluids through extremely small channels or tubes -- combined with optics. In a new review, researchers argue that optofluidics is poised to take on one of this century's most important challenges: energy. ... > full story

Researchers find way to measure effect of Wi-Fi attacks (September 12, 2011) -- Researchers have developed a way to measure how badly a Wi-Fi network would be disrupted by different types of attacks -- a valuable tool for developing new security technologies. ... > full story

Squeezed laser will bring gravitational waves to the light of day (September 11, 2011) -- Measuring at the limits of the laws of nature -- this is the challenge which researchers repeatedly take up in their search for gravitational waves. The interferometers they use here measure with such sensitivity that a particular quantum phenomenon of light -- shot noise -- limits the measuring accuracy. With the "squeezed light" method, scientists in Germany likewise use quantum physics in a countermove in order to remove the interfering effect. The new type of laser light improves the measuring accuracy of the gravitational wave detector GEO600 by around 50 percent and thus increases its effective sensitivity. This is the first time this technology has been used outside of a test laboratory anywhere in the world. ... > full story

Reducing costs of electric vehicle batteries (September 11, 2011) -- Costs of manufacture of batteries and power trains of electric vehicles can be halved by 2018, if the gaps in the innovation chain can be closed. For reaching this objective, scientists develop concrete, close-to-industry solutions for energy stores and power trains and combine them on the system level. ... > full story

Research on US nuclear levels after Fukushima could aid in future nuclear detection (September 11, 2011) -- What do increased atmospheric radioactivity concentrations in Washington state tell us about what happened in the Fukushima nuclear disaster? For one expert, the story is in the numbers. ... > full story

Researcher sees spring-like protein as key to muscle behavior (September 11, 2011) -- An idea with its origins in ballistic prey catching -- the way toads and chameleons snatch food with their tongues -- may change fundamental views of muscle movement while powering a new approach to prosthetics. ... > full story

NASA Launches Mission to Study Moon From Crust to Core (September 10, 2011) -- NASA's twin lunar Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 9:08 a.m. EDT (6:08 a.m. PDT) Saturday, Sept. 10, to study the moon in unprecedented detail. GRAIL-A is scheduled to reach the moon on New Year's Eve 2011, while GRAIL-B will arrive New Year's Day 2012. The two solar-powered spacecraft will fly in tandem orbits around the moon to measure its gravity field. GRAIL will answer longstanding questions about the moon and give scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed. ... > full story

Nanoscale spin waves can replace microwaves (September 10, 2011) -- Scientists have now demonstrated that theories about nanoscale spin waves agree with observations. This opens the way to replacing microwave technology in many applications, such as mobile phones and wireless networks, by components that are much smaller, cheaper, and that require less resources. ... > full story

Fermi's latest gamma-ray census highlights cosmic mysteries (September 10, 2011) -- Every three hours, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope scans the entire sky and deepens its portrait of the high-energy universe. Every year, the satellite's scientists reanalyze all of the data it has collected, exploiting updated analysis methods to tease out new sources. These relatively steady sources are in addition to the numerous transient events Fermi detects, such as gamma-ray bursts in the distant universe and flares from the sun. Earlier this year, the Fermi team released its second catalog of sources detected by the satellite's Large Area Telescope, producing an inventory of 1,873 objects shining with the highest-energy form of light. ... > full story

Milestones for two radiation machines used to test U.S. defenses against atomic weapons (September 9, 2011) -- Two remarkable pulsed-power machines used to test the nation's defenses against atomic weapons have surpassed milestones at Sandia National Laboratories: 4,000 firings, called "shots," on the Saturn accelerator and 9,000 shots on the HERMES III accelerator. Saturn -- originally projected to last 5 to 10 years -- began operating in 1987. Its major function has been to produce X-rays to test the effectiveness of countermeasures used to protect electronics and other materials against X-ray radiation from nuclear weapons. ... > full story

What's in a name? Names, not social networks, bind us to global cultural and ethnic communities (September 9, 2011) -- Links between hundreds of millions of names belonging to people around the world have been analyzed by geographers in the UK and New Zealand. The results reveal how our forenames and surnames are connected in distinct global networks of cultural, ethnic and linguistic communities. The researchers' methods could be of use to social scientists and health researchers investigating migration, identity and integration. ... > full story

Designing high-rise buildings: World still learning lessons of 9/11 (September 9, 2011) -- A university professor who carried out a major study into the evacuation of the World Trade Centre after 9/11 says the "far-reaching impact" of the attacks is still being felt when it comes to the design of new high-rise buildings across the world. ... > full story

Where does all Earth's gold come from? Precious metals the result of meteorite bombardment, rock analysis finds (September 9, 2011) -- Ultra high precision analyses of some of the oldest rock samples on Earth provides clear evidence that the planet's accessible reserves of precious metals are the result of a bombardment of meteorites more than 200 million years after Earth was formed. ... > full story