ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

---

• Quest for better superconducting materials
• Crowdsourced RNA designs outperform computer algorithms
• New method rescues DNA from contaminated Neandertal bones
• River of hydrogen flowing through space observed
• Graphene-like material made of boron a possibility, experiments suggest
• Solving a 30-year-old problem in massive star formation
• Quality of white matter in the brain is crucial for adding and multiplying (but not subracting and dividing)
• Facelift complications eased with help of new 3-D imaging technique
• Study helps researchers better estimate citrus crop yields
• Put a plastic bag in your tank: Converting polyethylene waste into liquid fuel
• Lungs may suffer when certain elements go nano
• Silk coat for diamonds makes sleek new imaging, drug delivery tool
• Position paper reveals enormous variation in worldwide usage of FRAX
• New quantum dots herald a new era of electronics operating on a single-atom level
• Low-power spintronics: Magnetic switch gets closer to application
• Swiss cheese crystal, or high-tech sponge?
• Electrical generator uses bacterial spores to harness power of evaporating water
• 'Element of surprise' explains why motorcycles are greater traffic hazard than cars
• Quantum computing? Moving an atom inside a crystal to investigate its function
• Video games: New way to prepare students for community service
• Early tumor response from stereotactic radiosurgery predicts outcome
• Electrical current sensors harvest wasted electromagnetic energy
• Exceptionally close stellar explosion discovered
• Robotic operation for heart valve reconstruction holds promise
• New research warns world to prepare for power outages
• App may signal cellphone dependency
• Tracheotomies faster and safer with new device?
• New biomedical diagnostics using personalized 3D imaging
• One step closer to low cost solar cells

Quest for better superconducting materials Posted: 27 Jan 2014 01:48 PM PST Nearly 30 years after the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity, many questions remain, but scientists are now providing insight that could lead to better superconductors.

Crowdsourced RNA designs outperform computer algorithms Posted: 27 Jan 2014 01:48 PM PST An enthusiastic group of non-experts, working through an online interface and receiving feedback from lab experiments, has produced designs for RNA molecules that are consistently more successful than those generated by the best computerized design algorithms, researchers report.

New method rescues DNA from contaminated Neandertal bones Posted: 27 Jan 2014 01:47 PM PST Retrieval of ancient DNA molecules is usually performed with special precautions to prevent DNA from researchers or the environment to get mixed in with the DNA from the fossil. However, many ancient fossils have been lying in museum collection for decades, and are contaminated with present-day human DNA before they enter the DNA-laboratory. A new method provides a solution to this problem.

River of hydrogen flowing through space observed Posted: 27 Jan 2014 01:44 PM PST Astronomers have discovered what could be a never-before-seen river of hydrogen flowing through space. This very faint, very tenuous filament of gas is streaming into the nearby galaxy NGC 6946 and may help explain how certain spiral galaxies keep up their steady pace of star formation.

Graphene-like material made of boron a possibility, experiments suggest Posted: 27 Jan 2014 11:18 AM PST Graphene, a sheet of carbon one atom thick, may soon have a new nanomaterial partner. In the lab and on supercomputers, chemists have determined that a cluster of 36 boron atoms forms a flat disc with a hexagonal hole in the middle. The shape fits theoretical predictions for a potential new nanomaterial: "borophene."

Solving a 30-year-old problem in massive star formation Posted: 27 Jan 2014 11:17 AM PST Astrophysicists have found evidence strongly supporting a solution to a long-standing puzzle about the birth of some of the most massive stars in the universe. Young massive stars shine brightly in the ultraviolet, heating the gas around them, and it has long been a mystery why the hot gas doesn't explode outwards. Now, observations have confirmed predications that as the gas cloud collapses, it forms dense filamentary structures that absorb the star's ultraviolet radiation.

Quality of white matter in the brain is crucial for adding and multiplying (but not subracting and dividing) Posted: 27 Jan 2014 11:17 AM PST A new study has found that healthy 12-year-olds who score well in addition and multiplication have higher-quality white matter tracts. This correlation does not appear to apply to subtraction and division.

Facelift complications eased with help of new 3-D imaging technique Posted: 27 Jan 2014 11:15 AM PST New imaging technology allows scientists to analyze what happens within the smallest blood vessels during a cosmetic facelift. This finding could be used to prevent accidents during procedures and help clinicians reverse the ill effects if an injection doesn't go as planned.

Study helps researchers better estimate citrus crop yields Posted: 27 Jan 2014 11:15 AM PST An algorithm could help scientists assist citrus growers predict when to plant and harvest their crop further in advance.

Put a plastic bag in your tank: Converting polyethylene waste into liquid fuel Posted: 27 Jan 2014 09:28 AM PST Researchers in India have developed a relatively low-temperature process to convert certain kinds of plastic waste into liquid fuel as a way to reuse discarded plastic bags and other products.

Lungs may suffer when certain elements go nano Posted: 27 Jan 2014 09:21 AM PST Nanoparticles are used in all kinds of applications — electronics, medicine, cosmetics, even environmental clean-ups. More than 2,800 commercially available applications are now based on nanoparticles, and by 2017, the field is expected to bring in nearly $50 billion worldwide. But this influx of nanotechnology is not without risks, say researchers. But this influx of nanotechnology is not without risks, say researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology.

Silk coat for diamonds makes sleek new imaging, drug delivery tool Posted: 27 Jan 2014 08:27 AM PST Silk and diamonds aren't just for ties and jewelry anymore. They're ingredients for a new kind of tiny glowing particle that could provide doctors and researchers with a novel technique for biological imaging and drug delivery. A team of researchers describes this new hybrid diamond-silk material in a paper published.

Position paper reveals enormous variation in worldwide usage of FRAX Posted: 27 Jan 2014 08:27 AM PST Doctors worldwide now use tools such as FRAX, a widely available online calculator, to help identify patients in need of osteoporosis treatment. A new position paper by the IOF Epidemiology and Quality of Life Working Group has assessed the uptake of FRAX worldwide. The study concludes that there were approximately 2.3 million FRAX calculations during a one-year period beginning in May 2012, with enormous variation in worldwide usage.

New quantum dots herald a new era of electronics operating on a single-atom level Posted: 27 Jan 2014 08:27 AM PST New types of solotronic structures, including the world's first quantum dots containing single cobalt ions, have been created and studied. The materials and elements used to form these structures allow us forecast new trends in solotronics -- a field of experimental electronics and spintronics of the future, based on operations occurring on a single-atom level.

Low-power spintronics: Magnetic switch gets closer to application Posted: 27 Jan 2014 08:27 AM PST Scientists have been able to switch on and off robust ferromagnetism close to room temperature by using low electric fields. Their results are inspiring for future applications in low-power spintronics, such as in fast, efficient and nonvolatile data storage technologies.

Swiss cheese crystal, or high-tech sponge? Posted: 27 Jan 2014 08:23 AM PST The sponges of the future will do more than clean house. Delivering drugs and trapping gases are all potential applications. That's what chemist Jason Benedict had in mind when he led the design of a new, porous material whose pores change shape in response to ultraviolet light.

Electrical generator uses bacterial spores to harness power of evaporating water Posted: 27 Jan 2014 07:12 AM PST A new type of electrical generator uses bacterial spores to harness the untapped power of evaporating water, according to new research. Its developers foresee electrical generators driven by changes in humidity from sun-warmed ponds and harbors.

'Element of surprise' explains why motorcycles are greater traffic hazard than cars Posted: 27 Jan 2014 07:10 AM PST "I didn't see it, because I wasn't expecting it there," might be the more accurate excuse for motorists who have just crashed into a bus or a motorcycle. The mere fact that such vehicles are less common than cars on our roads actually makes it harder for drivers to notice them, research shows. This so-called "low-prevalence effect" increases the likelihood of accidents.

Quantum computing? Moving an atom inside a crystal to investigate its function Posted: 27 Jan 2014 07:10 AM PST Physicists have moved an atom inside a crystal and investigate its function. Nanotechnology is a thriving science. Parts for computers for example are becoming smaller and more precise by the minute. One of the most efficient computers would be the so-called quantum computer. Up to now, its existence has been merely a concept that is based on the laws of quantum mechanics. Here, the ability to control the state of single atoms is decisive. For the first time ever, scientists have managed to move single atoms vertically inside a crystal.

Video games: New way to prepare students for community service Posted: 27 Jan 2014 07:09 AM PST Educators have developed and tested Civic Seed, an interactive video game to see if it can better prepare college students to engage with the community —- and if it can do so more effectively than a non-gaming alternative.

Early tumor response from stereotactic radiosurgery predicts outcome Posted: 27 Jan 2014 07:09 AM PST The response of a patient with metastatic brain tumors to treatment with stereotactic radiosurgery in the first six-to-twelve weeks can indicate whether follow-up treatments and monitoring are necessary, according to research.

Electrical current sensors harvest wasted electromagnetic energy Posted: 27 Jan 2014 07:07 AM PST Electricity is the lifeblood of modern cities. It flows at every moment and everywhere to power up everything from home appliances which improve our comfort and convenience, to services like transportation, building, communication and manufacturing that are essential to our daily life. To ensure a reliable operation of power grids and a proper delivery of electricity to where it needs to be, it is crucial to have a loyal guard to keep watch on the activities of electricity transport. As technology advances, the safety, reliability and availability of electrical engineering assets and public utilities can now be guarded by one tiny chip of electrical current sensors.

Exceptionally close stellar explosion discovered Posted: 27 Jan 2014 06:32 AM PST An exceptionally close stellar explosion discovered on Jan. 21 has become the focus of observatories around and above the globe, including several NASA spacecraft. The blast, designated SN 2014J, occurred in the galaxy M82 and lies only about 12 million light-years away. This makes it the nearest optical supernova in two decades and potentially the closest type Ia supernova to occur during the life of currently operating space missions.

Robotic operation for heart valve reconstruction holds promise Posted: 27 Jan 2014 06:31 AM PST A potentially fatal bacterial disease of the heart, infective endocarditis frequently affects the heart's tricuspid valve, often resulting in permanent tissue damage. A reconstructive technique, in which the valve is repaired with a bioscaffold on which new tissue can grow, can give some patients a new lease on life.

New research warns world to prepare for power outages Posted: 27 Jan 2014 06:30 AM PST Living without electricity in today's technological world may be difficult to imagine. Yet the reality of living without computers, mobile phones and entertainment systems, and managing a transport system thrown into chaos by an absence of traffic lights, trains and subways, may become increasingly common, according to a new study.

App may signal cellphone dependency Posted: 27 Jan 2014 06:30 AM PST A new, free app will allow smartphone users to measure their cellphone use. Computer scientists and psychologists have developed an application for this purpose. Whoever installs it can see, e.g., how much time s/he spends on the phone or which apps s/he uses most frequently. The relevant key data is sent to a server anonymously for the scientists to analyze. They are already using a similar technology for the early detection of depression.

Tracheotomies faster and safer with new device? Posted: 27 Jan 2014 06:30 AM PST A new device has been created to minimize the risks associated to emergency tracheotomies and the reduce the time needed to perform planned tracheotomies. This is possible thanks to the combination of mechanical and drilling devices with medical imaging elements and information management that it would allow the adaptation of the surgery to the physical conditions of the patient.

New biomedical diagnostics using personalized 3D imaging Posted: 27 Jan 2014 06:29 AM PST A new innovation enables 3D images of living organisms to be obtained with greater speed and precision. In broad terms, helical optical projection tomography consists in rotating a sample while moving it vertically in order to then obtain a three-dimensional image of it, explain its creators.

One step closer to low cost solar cells Posted: 27 Jan 2014 06:29 AM PST The dwindling resources for conventional energy sources make renewable energy an exciting and increasingly important avenue of research. However, even seemingly new and green forms of energy production, like silicon-based solar cells, are not as cost effective as they could be. Scientists are now investigating solar cells based on organic materials that have electrodes both flexible and transparent, enabling the fabrication of these solar cells at a low cost.

You are subscribed to email updates from Top Technology News -- ScienceDaily To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610