ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Gas-giant exoplanets cling close to their parent stars
• Breakthrough in Internet bandwidth: New fiber optic technology could ease Internet congestion, video streaming
• NASA's Voyager 1 explores final frontier of our 'solar bubble'
• 'Shields to maximum, Mr. Scott': Simulating orbital debris impacts on spacecraft and fragment impacts on body armor
• Exotic alloys for potential energy applications
• New low-cost, transparent electrodes
• Chemists work to desalinate the ocean for drinking water, one nanoliter at a time
• Polymer coatings a key step toward oral delivery of protein-based drugs
• Making hydrogenation greener: Using iron as catalyst for widely used chemical process, replacing heavy metals
• Improving measurements by reducing quantum noise
• No more leakage of explosive electrolytes in batteries
• Spiral galaxies like Milky Way bigger than thought
• Sterilizing Mars spacecraft is largely a waste of money, two experts argue
• Keeping networks under control: New approach can control large complex networks, from cells to power grids
• Stabilizing sloping land: 'Blowing' a slope into place
• Violent birth of neutron stars: Computer simulations confirm sloshing and spiral motions as stellar matter falls inward
• New iron catalyst promises green future for hydrogenation
• Power for seaports may be the next job for hydrogen fuel cells
• Big environmental footprints: 21 percent of homes account for 50 percent of greenhouse gas emissions

Gas-giant exoplanets cling close to their parent stars Posted: 27 Jun 2013 01:14 PM PDT Gemini Observatory's Planet-Finding Campaign finds that, around many types of stars, distant gas-giant planets are rare and prefer to cling close to their parent stars. The impact on theories of planetary formation could be significant.

Breakthrough in Internet bandwidth: New fiber optic technology could ease Internet congestion, video streaming Posted: 27 Jun 2013 11:24 AM PDT A team of engineers has devised a new fiber optic technology that promises to increase bandwidth dramatically.

NASA's Voyager 1 explores final frontier of our 'solar bubble' Posted: 27 Jun 2013 11:08 AM PDT Data from Voyager 1, now more than 11 billion miles (18 billion kilometers) from the sun, suggest the spacecraft is closer to becoming the first human-made object to reach interstellar space.

'Shields to maximum, Mr. Scott': Simulating orbital debris impacts on spacecraft and fragment impacts on body armor Posted: 27 Jun 2013 10:18 AM PDT Running hundreds of simulations on TACC supercomputers, University of Texas mechanical engineering professor Eric Fahrenthold assisted NASA in the development of ballistic limit curves that predict whether a shield will be perforated when hit by a projectile of a given size and speed. The framework they developed also allows them to study the impact of projectiles on body armor materials and to predict the response of different fabric weaves upon impact.

Exotic alloys for potential energy applications Posted: 27 Jun 2013 10:09 AM PDT "Thermoelectric materials," used in wine refrigerators and spacecraft, promise to help deliver greener energy in the future.

New low-cost, transparent electrodes Posted: 27 Jun 2013 10:09 AM PDT A durable, multilayered thin film is a possible replacement for expensive indium-based electrodes in devices such as liquid crystal displays and solar cells.

Chemists work to desalinate the ocean for drinking water, one nanoliter at a time Posted: 27 Jun 2013 09:55 AM PDT By creating a small electrical field that removes salts from seawater, chemists have introduced a new method for the desalination of seawater that consumes less energy and is dramatically simpler than conventional techniques. The new method requires so little energy that it can run on a store-bought battery.

Polymer coatings a key step toward oral delivery of protein-based drugs Posted: 27 Jun 2013 09:53 AM PDT In a new study, a "bioadhesive" coating significantly improved the intestinal absorption into the bloodstream of nanoparticles that someday could carry protein drugs such as insulin. Such a step is necessary for drugs taken by mouth, rather than injected directly into the blood.

Making hydrogenation greener: Using iron as catalyst for widely used chemical process, replacing heavy metals Posted: 27 Jun 2013 09:45 AM PDT Researchers have discovered a way to make the widely used chemical process of hydrogenation more environmentally friendly -- and less expensive.

Improving measurements by reducing quantum noise Posted: 27 Jun 2013 07:26 AM PDT The principle of interferometry is often used in high precision measurements: A beam is split in two parts, which then interfere, yielding intricat interference patterns, from which very precise data can be obtained. Usually, this is done with photons or small massive particles such as electrons or neutrons. At the Vienna University of Technology, an interferometer has now been built which instead uses Bose-Einstein-condensates, consisting of hundreds of atoms.

No more leakage of explosive electrolytes in batteries Posted: 27 Jun 2013 07:26 AM PDT A research team from South Korea has found a new physical organogel electrolyte with two unique characteristics: an irreversible thermal gelation and a high value of the Li+ transference number.

Spiral galaxies like Milky Way bigger than thought Posted: 27 Jun 2013 07:26 AM PDT Let's all fist bump: Spiral galaxies like our own Milky Way appear to be much larger and more massive than previously believed, according to a new study.

Sterilizing Mars spacecraft is largely a waste of money, two experts argue Posted: 27 Jun 2013 07:26 AM PDT Two university researchers say environmental restrictions have become unnecessarily restrictive and expensive -- on Mars.

Keeping networks under control: New approach can control large complex networks, from cells to power grids Posted: 27 Jun 2013 07:26 AM PDT The need to ensure the proper functioning of the world's many underlying networks -- such as the Internet, power grids and global air transportation -- is increasing. But controlling networks is very difficult. A research team has developed the first broadly applicable computational approach identifying interventions that can both rescue complex networks from the brink of failure and reprogram them to a desired task. The approach to control could have a transformative impact on the complex networks field.

Stabilizing sloping land: 'Blowing' a slope into place Posted: 27 Jun 2013 05:31 AM PDT Research scientists have developed a new method for stabilizing areas with difficult soil mechanics. The concept is based on blowing expanded clay (Leca) spheres into enormous "sausage skins" made from geotextiles.

Violent birth of neutron stars: Computer simulations confirm sloshing and spiral motions as stellar matter falls inward Posted: 27 Jun 2013 05:30 AM PDT Scientists have conducted the most expensive and most elaborate computer simulations so far to study the formation of neutron stars at the center of collapsing stars with unprecedented accuracy. These worldwide first three-dimensional models with a detailed treatment of all important physical effects confirm that extremely violent, hugely asymmetric sloshing and spiral motions occur when the stellar matter falls towards the center. The results of the simulations thus lend support to basic perceptions of the dynamical processes that are involved when a star explodes as supernova.

New iron catalyst promises green future for hydrogenation Posted: 27 Jun 2013 05:30 AM PDT A new iron nanoparticle catalyst promises to drastically improve the efficiency of hydrogenation, a key chemical process used in a wide array of industrial applications. Cleaner, safer and cheaper than traditional rare metal-based catalysts, the new, more environmentally friendly technique marks a breakthrough for the emerging field of green chemistry.

Power for seaports may be the next job for hydrogen fuel cells Posted: 27 Jun 2013 05:27 AM PDT Providing auxiliary hydrogen power to docked or anchored ships may soon be added to the list of ways in which hydrogen fuel cells can provide efficient, emissions-free energy.

Big environmental footprints: 21 percent of homes account for 50 percent of greenhouse gas emissions Posted: 26 Jun 2013 11:29 AM PDT Energy conservation in a small number of households could go a long way to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, scientists are reporting. Their study measured differences in energy demands at the household level.

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