ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Immune cells to be tested on the International Space Station
• SpaceX-3 launches science cargo to International Space Station
• 'Dressed' laser aimed at clouds may be key to inducing rain, lightning
• 'Exotic' material is like a switch when super thin
• Gecko-like adhesives now useful for real world surfaces
• Impact glass from asteroids and comets stores biodata for millions of years
• Impurity size affects performance of emerging superconductive material

Immune cells to be tested on the International Space Station Posted: 19 Apr 2014 06:00 AM PDT The human body is fine-tuned to Earth's gravity. Scientists are now conducting an experiment on the International Space Station (ISS) to study whether this also applies to human cells. We know the effect of gravity on muscles, bones and joints inside out; it has been studied extensively in medicine for centuries. For a long time, however, exactly how gravity affects the cells remained a mystery.

SpaceX-3 launches science cargo to International Space Station Posted: 18 Apr 2014 06:26 PM PDT A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft full of NASA cargo, experiments and equipment blazed into orbit Friday, April 18, aboard the company's Falcon 9 rocket. The astronauts aboard the International Space Station will unload the supplies after the Dragon arrives at the orbiting research laboratory.

'Dressed' laser aimed at clouds may be key to inducing rain, lightning Posted: 18 Apr 2014 11:12 AM PDT The adage "Everyone complains about the weather but nobody does anything about it" may one day be obsolete if researchers further develop a new technique to aim a high-energy laser beam into clouds to make it rain or trigger lightning. Other possible uses of this technique could be used in long-distance sensors and spectrometers to identify chemical makeup.

'Exotic' material is like a switch when super thin Posted: 18 Apr 2014 11:11 AM PDT Researchers have shown how to switch a particular transition metal oxide, a lanthanum nickelate, from a metal to an insulator by making the material less than a nanometer thick. Ever-shrinking electronic devices could get down to atomic dimensions with the help of transition metal oxides, a class of materials that seems to have it all: superconductivity, magnetoresistance and other exotic properties. These possibilities have scientists excited to understand everything about these materials, and to find new ways to control their properties at the most fundamental levels.

Gecko-like adhesives now useful for real world surfaces Posted: 18 Apr 2014 11:11 AM PDT The ability to stick objects to a wide range of surfaces such as drywall, wood, metal and glass with a single adhesive has been the elusive goal of many research teams across the world, but now a team inventors describe a new, more versatile version of their invention, Geckskin, that can adhere strongly to a wider range of surfaces, yet releases easily, like a gecko's feet.

Impact glass from asteroids and comets stores biodata for millions of years Posted: 18 Apr 2014 11:11 AM PDT Bits of plant life encapsulated in molten glass by asteroid and comet impacts millions of years ago give geologists information about climate and life forms on the ancient Earth. Scientists exploring large fields of impact glass in Argentina suggest that what happened on Earth might well have happened on Mars millions of years ago. Martian impact glass could hold traces of organic compounds.

Impurity size affects performance of emerging superconductive material Posted: 18 Apr 2014 11:11 AM PDT Impurities can hurt performance -- or possibly provide benefits -- in a key superconductive material that is expected to find use in a host of applications, including future particle colliders. The size of the impurities determines whether they help or hinder the material's performance, according to new research.

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