ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Engineer working to put more science behind bloodstain pattern analysis
• Nanoparticles found in everyday items can inhibit fat storage: Gold nanoparticles accelerate aging
• Three super-Earth-size planets found in 'habitable zone'
• New solar-cell coating could enable a major boost in efficiency
• Distant blazar is a high-energy astrophysics puzzle
• Discovery paves the way for ultrafast high-resolution imaging in real time
• New algorithm helps evaluate, rank scientific literature
• Robot hands gain a gentler touch: Tactile sensing technology builds on tiny barometer chips
• 'Big data’ algorithm used to customize video game difficulty

Engineer working to put more science behind bloodstain pattern analysis Posted: 18 Apr 2013 06:39 PM PDT Scientists are working to put more fluid dynamics behind the bloodstain pattern analysis used at crime scenes. They are developing instruments and methods to produce, study and analyze bloodstains.

Nanoparticles found in everyday items can inhibit fat storage: Gold nanoparticles accelerate aging Posted: 18 Apr 2013 01:21 PM PDT An increase in gold nanoparticles can accelerate aging and wrinkling, slow wound healing and cause the onset of diabetes.

Three super-Earth-size planets found in 'habitable zone' Posted: 18 Apr 2013 11:29 AM PDT NASA's Kepler mission has discovered two new planetary systems that include three super-Earth-size planets in the "habitable zone," the range of distance from a star where the surface temperature of an orbiting planet might be suitable for liquid water. The Kepler-62 system has five planets; 62b, 62c, 62d, 62e and 62f. The Kepler-69 system has two planets; 69b and 69c. Kepler-62e, 62f and 69c are the super-Earth-sized planets.

New solar-cell coating could enable a major boost in efficiency Posted: 18 Apr 2013 11:23 AM PDT Throughout decades of research on solar cells, one formula has been considered an absolute limit to the efficiency of such devices in converting sunlight into electricity: Called the Shockley-Queisser efficiency limit, it posits that the ultimate conversion efficiency can never exceed 34 percent for a single optimized semiconductor junction. Now, researchers have shown that there is a way to blow past that limit as easily as today's jet fighters zoom through the sound barrier -- which was also once seen as an ultimate limit.

Distant blazar is a high-energy astrophysics puzzle Posted: 18 Apr 2013 09:57 AM PDT Blazars are the brightest of active galactic nuclei, and many emit very high-energy gamma rays. New observations of the blazar known as PKS 1424+240 show that it is the most distant known source of very high-energy gamma rays, but its emission spectrum now appears highly unusual in light of the new data.

Discovery paves the way for ultrafast high-resolution imaging in real time Posted: 18 Apr 2013 07:43 AM PDT Ultrafast high-resolution imaging in real time could be a reality thanks to a new discovery. Researchers have demonstrated that ultra short durations of electron bunches generated from laser-cooled atoms can be both very cold and ultra-fast.

New algorithm helps evaluate, rank scientific literature Posted: 18 Apr 2013 07:43 AM PDT Keeping up with current scientific literature is a daunting task, considering that hundreds to thousands of papers are published each day. Now researchers have developed a computer program to help them evaluate and rank scientific articles in their field.

Robot hands gain a gentler touch: Tactile sensing technology builds on tiny barometer chips Posted: 18 Apr 2013 07:42 AM PDT What use is a hand without nerves, that can't tell what it's holding? A hand that lifts a can of soda to your lips, but inadvertently tips or crushes it in the process? Scientists have now developed a very inexpensive tactile sensor for robotic hands that is sensitive enough to turn a brute machine into a dextrous manipulator.

'Big data’ algorithm used to customize video game difficulty Posted: 18 Apr 2013 07:42 AM PDT Researchers have developed a computational model that can predict video game players' in-game performance and provide a corresponding challenge they can beat, leading to quicker mastery of new skills. The advance not only could help improve user experiences with video games but also applications beyond the gaming world.

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