ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• NASA Mars Orbiter examines dramatic new crater
• Credit card-sized device could analyze biopsy, help diagnose pancreatic cancer in minutes
• Theorists predict new forms of exotic insulating materials: Six new types?
• Molecular traffic jam makes water move faster through nanochannels
• Digital music gets a cubist makeover
• New microchip demonstrates how metastasis takes place
• Proteins snap those wrinkly fingers back into shape: Physicists model skin from wet to dry
• 'Friendly' robots could allow for more realistic human-android relationships
• Red skies discovered on extreme brown dwarf
• New stem cell research removes reliance on human and animal cells
• Study of brokers' potential conflict of interest in routing limit orders leaked to Wall Street
• Crossover sound: Unambiguous evidence for coherent phonons in superlattices
• Inducing climate-smart global supply networks
• Semiconductors: First ever atom-by-atom simulation of ALD nanoscale film growth
• Approach helps identify new biofuel sources that don't require farmland
• Electronically controlled drugs could minimize side effects
• How to tell when bubbly goes bad before popping the cork
• New kinds of maths skills needed in the future – and new educational practices
• Time to act on mobile phone use while driving, say experts
• 3-D mapping biopsy finds three times the prostate cancer of ultrasound-guided biopsy

NASA Mars Orbiter examines dramatic new crater Posted: 06 Feb 2014 01:44 PM PST Space rocks hitting Mars excavate fresh craters at a pace of more than 200 per year, but few new Mars scars pack as much visual punch as one seen in a NASA image released Feb. 5, 2014.

Credit card-sized device could analyze biopsy, help diagnose pancreatic cancer in minutes Posted: 06 Feb 2014 12:53 PM PST Scientists and engineers are developing a low-cost device that could help pathologists diagnose pancreatic cancer earlier and faster. The prototype can perform the basic steps for processing a biopsy, relying on fluid transport instead of human hands to process the tissue.

Theorists predict new forms of exotic insulating materials: Six new types? Posted: 06 Feb 2014 11:21 AM PST Topological insulators could exist in six new types not seen before. Topological insulators -- materials whose surfaces can freely conduct electrons even though their interiors are electrical insulators -- have been of great interest to physicists in recent years because of unusual properties that may provide insights into quantum physics. But most analysis of such materials has had to rely on highly simplified models.

Molecular traffic jam makes water move faster through nanochannels Posted: 06 Feb 2014 10:38 AM PST Water molecules traveling through tiny carbon nanotube pipes do not flow continuously but rather intermittently, like stop-and-go traffic, with unexpected results, researchers say.

Digital music gets a cubist makeover Posted: 06 Feb 2014 10:34 AM PST An 8-inch wooden cube may be an unlikely spark for a musical revolution -- but that's the hope of a collaboration of electronic engineers and musicians working towards hackable electronic instruments that performers can easily modify to produce sounds in surprising new ways.

New microchip demonstrates how metastasis takes place Posted: 06 Feb 2014 08:14 AM PST Nearly 70 percent of patients with advanced breast cancer experience skeletal metastasis, in which cancer cells migrate from a primary tumor into bone -- a painful development that can cause fractures and spinal compression. While scientists are attempting to better understand metastasis in general, not much is known about how and why certain cancers spread to specific organs, such as bone, liver, and lungs. Now researchers have developed a three-dimensional microfluidic platform that mimics the spread of breast cancer cells into a bonelike environment.

Proteins snap those wrinkly fingers back into shape: Physicists model skin from wet to dry Posted: 06 Feb 2014 08:13 AM PST You know how your fingers wrinkle up in the bath? The outer layer of your skin absorbs water and swells up, forming ridges -- but quickly returns to its old state when dry. Physicists have shown just why skin has this remarkable ability.

'Friendly' robots could allow for more realistic human-android relationships Posted: 06 Feb 2014 05:24 AM PST Two 'friendly' robots, including a 3D-printed humanistic android, are helping scientists to understand how more realistic long-term relationships might be developed between humans and androids.

Red skies discovered on extreme brown dwarf Posted: 06 Feb 2014 05:23 AM PST A peculiar example of a celestial body, known as a brown dwarf, with unusually red skies has been discovered by a team of astronomers.

New stem cell research removes reliance on human and animal cells Posted: 05 Feb 2014 06:04 PM PST A new study has found a new method for growing human embryonic stem cells, that doesn't rely on supporting human or animal cells.

Study of brokers' potential conflict of interest in routing limit orders leaked to Wall Street Posted: 05 Feb 2014 03:45 PM PST A new academic paper about potential conflict of interest in large retail brokers' routing of limit orders has stirred controversy on Wall Street and caught regulators' attention -- even before the paper has been submitted to a journal. While some in the industry have compared the study's possible impact to an earlier one that reformed Nasdaq trading, the authors caution that the paper is not yet final and the findings should be taken in proper context.

Crossover sound: Unambiguous evidence for coherent phonons in superlattices Posted: 05 Feb 2014 11:37 AM PST The first "unambiguous demonstration" of the atomic-scale sound waves known as phonons crossing over from particle-like to wave-like behavior in superlattices opens the door to improved thermoelectrics and possibly even phonon lasers.

Inducing climate-smart global supply networks Posted: 05 Feb 2014 10:32 AM PST Extreme weather events like super-typhoon Haiyan and hurricane Sandy can have major negative impacts on the world economy. So far, however, the effects on global production and consumption webs are missing from most assessments. This is a serious deficit, argues one expert: "World markets as well as local economies are highly interlinked and rely on global supply chains -- adaptation therefore requires a global perspective, not just a local one."

Semiconductors: First ever atom-by-atom simulation of ALD nanoscale film growth Posted: 05 Feb 2014 09:54 AM PST Researchers have produced the first ever atom-by-atom simulation of nanoscale film growth by atomic layer deposition (ALD) -- a thin-film technology used in the production of silicon chips.

Approach helps identify new biofuel sources that don't require farmland Posted: 05 Feb 2014 08:34 AM PST While the debate over using crops for fuel continues, scientists are now reporting a new, fast approach to develop biofuel in a way that doesn't require removing valuable farmland from the food production chain. Their work examining the fuel-producing potential of Streptomyces, a soil bacterium known for making antibiotics could help researchers identify other microbes that could be novel potential fuel sources.

Electronically controlled drugs could minimize side effects Posted: 05 Feb 2014 08:34 AM PST Potential side effects of many of today's therapeutic drugs can be downright frightening -- just listen carefully to a drug commercial on TV. These effects often occur when a drug is active throughout the body, not just where and when it is needed. But scientists are reporting progress on a new tailored approach to deliver medicine in a much more targeted way.

How to tell when bubbly goes bad before popping the cork Posted: 05 Feb 2014 08:34 AM PST In the rare case that New Year's revelers have a bottle of leftover bubbly, they have no way to tell if it'll stay good until they pop the cork and taste it at the next celebration. But now scientists are reporting a precise new way for wineries -- and their customers -- to predict how long their sparkling wines will last.

New kinds of maths skills needed in the future – and new educational practices Posted: 05 Feb 2014 06:15 AM PST The nature of the mathematical skills required from competent citizens is changing. Gone are the days of inertly applying and performing standard calculations. The mathematical minds of the future will need to understand how different economic, social, technological and work-related processes can be mathematically represented or modeled. A project is exploring new pedagogical practices and technological environments to prepare students for the flexible use of their math skills in future environments.

Time to act on mobile phone use while driving, say experts Posted: 04 Feb 2014 03:56 PM PST It's time to act on mobile phone use while driving, say two senior Canadian physicians. Although there is still some uncertainty about the association between mobile phone use and risk of crashes, given the proliferation of mobile phones, the prevalence of distracted driving is undoubtedly increasing, they write.

3-D mapping biopsy finds three times the prostate cancer of ultrasound-guided biopsy Posted: 04 Feb 2014 12:43 PM PST A new study shows common locations of prostate cancers missed by ultrasound-guided biopsy, that were found by 3-D mapping biopsy.

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