ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• A new renewable energy source? Device captures energy from Earth's infrared emissions to outer space
• Electronics based on a two dimensional electron gas
• Greater music dynamics in shoebox-shaped concert halls
• Think it’s safe to type a quick text while walking? Think again
• Particle beam cancer therapy: The promise and challenges
• Magnet for fast and cheap data storage invented
• Fire prevention: Water-mist may prevent rain of sparks
• Usain Bolt's superhuman speed would give him the power of flight on Saturn's moon Titan
• Black hawks downed: Bird threat to U.S. military helicopters revealed
• World-class orchestras judged by sight not sound
• Relativity shakes a magnet: New principle for magnetic recording
• Homing in on cancer with new imaging method
• First highly sensitive, small molecule fluorescence probe to evaluate risk, monitor progression of Parkinson's disease
• Peptides imaged in unprecedented detail in laser lab

A new renewable energy source? Device captures energy from Earth's infrared emissions to outer space Posted: 03 Mar 2014 12:40 PM PST When the sun sets on a remote desert outpost and solar panels shut down, what energy source will provide power through the night? A battery, perhaps, or an old diesel generator? Perhaps something strange and new. Scientists now envision a device that would harvest energy from Earth's infrared emissions into outer space. Heated by the sun, our planet is warm compared to the frigid vacuum beyond. Thanks to recent technological advances, the researchers say, that heat imbalance could soon be transformed into direct-current (DC) power, taking advantage of a vast and untapped energy source.

Electronics based on a two dimensional electron gas Posted: 03 Mar 2014 12:40 PM PST Usually, microelectronic devices are made of silicon or similar semiconductors. Recently, the electronic properties of metal oxides have become quite interesting. These materials are more complex, yet offer a broader range of possibilities to tune their properties. An important breakthrough has now been achieved: a two dimensional electron gas was created in strontium titanate. In a thin layer just below the surface electrons can move freely and occupy different quantum states.

Greater music dynamics in shoebox-shaped concert halls Posted: 03 Mar 2014 11:34 AM PST Researchers in Finland have found that music is perceived to have greater dynamic range in rectangular, shoebox shaped concert halls than in other types of halls.

Think it’s safe to type a quick text while walking? Think again Posted: 03 Mar 2014 11:33 AM PST Texting and walking is a known danger, but an emergency doctor says distracted walking results in more injuries per mile than distracted driving. Consequences include bumping into walls, falling down stairs, tripping over clutter or stepping into traffic. The issue is so common that in London, bumpers were placed onto light posts along a frequented avenue to prevent people from slamming into them. Though injuries from car accidents involving texting are often more severe, physical harm resulting from texting and walking occurs more frequently, research shows.

Particle beam cancer therapy: The promise and challenges Posted: 03 Mar 2014 11:32 AM PST Advances in accelerators built for fundamental physics research have inspired improved cancer treatment facilities. Accelerator physicists are natural-born problem solvers, finding ever more powerful ways to generate and steer particle beams for research into the mysteries of physics, materials, and matter. And from the very beginning, this field born at the dawn of the atomic age has actively sought ways to apply advanced technologies to tackle more practical problems. At the top of the list has always been taking aim at cancer, the second leading cause of death in the U.S. today, affecting one in two men and one in three women. But will one of the most promising -- a carbon ion treatment facility -- be built in the U.S.?

Magnet for fast and cheap data storage invented Posted: 03 Mar 2014 07:37 AM PST Physicists have come up with a new synthetic material for optical data storage. Optical data storage does not require expensive magnetic materials as synthetic alternatives work just as well. The team's discovery brings the much cheaper method for storing data using light a step closer.

Fire prevention: Water-mist may prevent rain of sparks Posted: 03 Mar 2014 05:43 AM PST Fire researchers have shown that sparks from a burning house can be prevented from spreading if the loft is fitted with an extinguishing system based on water-mist, i.e. tiny water droplets that turn into steam. Shortly after the catastrophic fire in Lærdal in Western Norway, which destroyed 40 buildings, an eleven-year-old report from the Norwegian Fire Research Laboratory, has once again become highly relevant.

Usain Bolt's superhuman speed would give him the power of flight on Saturn's moon Titan Posted: 03 Mar 2014 05:43 AM PST We all know Usain Bolt is one of the fastest people on Earth. Now, students have shown his superhuman speeds would actually allow him to fly like a bird on one of Saturn's moons while wearing a wingsuit. The world-record holding sprinter has reached top speeds of 12.27 meters per second, which would be fast enough for him to take off on Titan while wearing a regular wingsuit. Theoretically, the Olympic athlete would then be able to soar above the planet – without any need for propulsion.

Black hawks downed: Bird threat to U.S. military helicopters revealed Posted: 03 Mar 2014 05:39 AM PST Rotary-wing aircraft, such as Apache and Chinook helicopters, play vital combat and logistical roles across the U.S. military services, but new research reveals how vulnerable these aircraft are to wildlife strikes. Many types of aircraft are vulnerable to strikes, estimated to cost the aviation industry $1.2 billion worldwide per year; however, to date no assessment of strikes to military rotary-wing aircraft has been conducted.

World-class orchestras judged by sight not sound Posted: 03 Mar 2014 05:39 AM PST World-class orchestras can be accurately identified by silent video footage of performances, but not through sound recordings, a new study has found.

Relativity shakes a magnet: New principle for magnetic recording Posted: 03 Mar 2014 05:35 AM PST Scientists have predicted and discovered a new physical phenomenon that allows to manipulate the state of a magnet by electric signals. Current technologies for writing, storing, and reading information are either charge-based or spin-based. Semiconductor flash or random access memories are prime examples among the large variety of charge-based devices. They utilize the possibility offered by semiconductors to easily electrically manipulate and detect their electronic charge states representing the "zeros" and "ones". The downside is that weak perturbations such as impurities, temperature change, or radiation can lead to uncontrolled charge redistributions and, as a consequence, to data loss. Spin-based devices operate on an entirely distinct principle.

Homing in on cancer with new imaging method Posted: 03 Mar 2014 05:35 AM PST There are many reasons why in the era of cutting-edge medicine it is still difficult to cure cancer. A tumor may, for instance, consist of different tumor cell subpopulations, each of which has its own profile and responds differently to therapy – or not. Furthermore, the cancer cells and the healthy cells in the body interact and communicate with one another. How a tumor then actually develops and whether metastases form depends on which signals a tumor cell receives from its environment. With the development of a new method a team of reserachers has succeeded in comprehensively profiling and visualizing tumor cells from patient samples.

First highly sensitive, small molecule fluorescence probe to evaluate risk, monitor progression of Parkinson's disease Posted: 03 Mar 2014 05:35 AM PST The first two-photon, small molecule fluorogenic probe that can serve as a useful tool for the rapid assessment of an individual's potential risk for Parkinson's disease has been developed by scientists. The probe can detect with high precision the activity of Monoamine Oxidase B (MAO-B), an enzyme that is found in elevated levels in patients with Parkinson's disease. This innovation paves the way for the development of less costly non-invasive technologies and devices to help monitor the risk and progression of Parkinson's disease.

Peptides imaged in unprecedented detail in laser lab Posted: 27 Feb 2014 06:20 AM PST Detailed 3D structures of selected peptides -– the building blocks of proteins -- have been successfully produced by chemists. To do this, they worked with far-infrared light. The results are important for all the follow-up research on the structure elucidation of peptides and other classes of molecules.

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