ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Languages written to design synthetic living systems useful for new products, health care
• Roomy cages built from DNA could one day deliver drugs, devices
• When big isn't better: How the flu bug bit Google
• Turning raw natural gas into upgraded liquid alcohol fuel
• Better way to make unnatural amino acids devised
• Equation to describe competition between genes
• 'Super circles' to lessen rush-hour traffic congestion
• Graphene-metal sandwich: Combining graphene and copper may shrink electronics
• Oxygen's different shapes described
• Cancer stem cells destroyed with cryoablation and nanoparticle-encapsulated anticancer drug
• Soft robotic fish moves like the real thing: New robotic fish can change direction almost as rapidly as a real fish
• A brake for spinning molecules: Precise control of rotational temperature of molecular ions for lab-based astrochemistry
• Origin of life: Simulating how Earth kick-started metabolism
• Exchange rate behaves like particles in a molecular fluid
• Trapped by an avalanche, saved by an app
• Environmentally friendly fashion? Dress knitted out of birch cellulose fiber
• Virtual lab for nuclear waste repository research
• 3-D X-ray film: Rapid movements in real time
• New wireless network to revolutionize soil testing
• No greater injury risk on artificial playing surfaces, study shows

Languages written to design synthetic living systems useful for new products, health care Posted: 13 Mar 2014 01:45 PM PDT A computer-aided design tool has been developed to create genetic languages to guide the design of biological systems. Known as GenoCAD, the open-source software was developed by researchers to help synthetic biologists capture biological rules to engineer organisms that produce useful products or health-care solutions from inexpensive, renewable materials.

Roomy cages built from DNA could one day deliver drugs, devices Posted: 13 Mar 2014 11:27 AM PDT A set of self-assembling DNA cages one-tenth as wide as a bacterium have been created by scientists. These DNA nanostructures are some of the largest and most complex structures ever constructed solely from DNA, and they could one day deliver drugs, or house tiny bioreactors or photonic devices that diagnose disease.

When big isn't better: How the flu bug bit Google Posted: 13 Mar 2014 11:26 AM PDT Numbers and data can be critical tools in bringing complex issues into focus. The understanding of diseases, for example, benefits from algorithms that help monitor their spread. But without context, a number may be just a number, or even misleading. Google's data-aggregating tool Google Flu Trend was designed to provide real-time monitoring of flu cases around the world, but it also illustrates where 'big-data' analysis can go wrong.

Turning raw natural gas into upgraded liquid alcohol fuel Posted: 13 Mar 2014 11:26 AM PDT Chemists have discovered of a new way to turn raw natural gas into upgraded liquid alcohol fuel. The process uses ordinary 'main group' metals like thallium and lead to trigger the conversion of natural gas to liquid alcohol. The process occurs at far lower temperatures than current industry practices. This could help reduce dependence on petroleum.

Better way to make unnatural amino acids devised Posted: 13 Mar 2014 11:24 AM PDT Chemists have devised a greatly improved technique for making amino acids not found in nature. These "unnatural" amino acids traditionally have been very difficult to synthesize, but are sought after by the pharmaceutical industry for their potential medical uses.

Equation to describe competition between genes Posted: 13 Mar 2014 10:43 AM PDT Biologists typically conduct experiments first, and then develop models afterward to show how data fit with theory. New research flips that practice on its head. A biophysicist tackles questions in cellular biology as a physicist would -- by first formulating a model that can make predictions and then testing those predictions. Using this strategy, this research group has recently developed a mathematical model that accounts for the way genes compete with each other for the proteins that regulate their expression.

'Super circles' to lessen rush-hour traffic congestion Posted: 13 Mar 2014 09:25 AM PDT While Mother Nature continues to challenge drivers across the country, a team of traffic engineers is working hard on a new way to make rush-hour commutes safer and faster in any weather. A "super circle" involves adding a stop light to one approach of a roundabout to control the number of vehicles entering during rush hours.

Graphene-metal sandwich: Combining graphene and copper may shrink electronics Posted: 13 Mar 2014 08:19 AM PDT Researchers have discovered that creating a graphene-copper-graphene 'sandwich' strongly enhances the heat conducting properties of copper, a discovery that could further help in the downscaling of electronics.

Oxygen's different shapes described Posted: 13 Mar 2014 08:19 AM PDT Oxygen-16, one of the key elements of life on Earth, is produced by a series of reactions inside of red giant stars. Now physicists have revealed how the element's nuclear shape changes depending on its state, even though other attributes such as spin and parity don't appear to differ. Their findings may shed light on how oxygen is produced.

Cancer stem cells destroyed with cryoablation and nanoparticle-encapsulated anticancer drug Posted: 13 Mar 2014 07:17 AM PDT Combining nanodrug-based chemotherapy and cryoablation provides an effective strategy to eliminate cancer stem-like cells -- the root of cancer resistance and metastasis, which will help to improve the safety and efficacy of treating malignancies that are refractory to conventional therapies. Cryoablation (also called cryosurgery or cryotherapy) is an energy-based, minimally invasive surgical technique that has been investigated to treat a variety of diseases including cancer, which is done by freezing the diseased tissue to subzero temperature to induce irreversible damage.

Soft robotic fish moves like the real thing: New robotic fish can change direction almost as rapidly as a real fish Posted: 13 Mar 2014 07:17 AM PDT Soft robots don't just have soft exteriors but are also powered by fluid flowing through flexible channels. Researchers now report the first self-contained autonomous soft robot capable of rapid body motion: a "fish" that can execute an escape maneuver, convulsing its body to change direction in just a fraction of a second, or almost as quickly as a real fish can.

A brake for spinning molecules: Precise control of rotational temperature of molecular ions for lab-based astrochemistry Posted: 13 Mar 2014 07:17 AM PDT Chemical reactions taking place in outer space can now be more easily studied on Earth. Scientists discovered an efficient and versatile way of braking the rotation of molecular ions. The spinning speed of these ions is related to a rotational temperature. Using an extremely tenuous, cooled gas, the researchers have lowered this temperature to about -265 °C. From this record-low value, the researchers could vary the temperature up to -210 °C in a controlled manner.

Origin of life: Simulating how Earth kick-started metabolism Posted: 13 Mar 2014 06:27 AM PDT Researchers have developed a new approach to simulating the energetic processes that may have led to the emergence of cell metabolism on Earth -- a crucial biological function for all living organisms. The research could help scientists to understand whether it is possible for life to have emerged in similar environments on other worlds.

Exchange rate behaves like particles in a molecular fluid Posted: 13 Mar 2014 06:27 AM PDT The swings in market prices and exchange rates have the same foundations as molecule movements in physics. This has been demonstrated by a team of scientists from Switzerland and Japan.

Trapped by an avalanche, saved by an app Posted: 13 Mar 2014 06:24 AM PDT An app makes it possible for skiers with smartphones to find people buried in the snow after an avalanche. For those buried under the weight of an avalanche, every minute is precious. A person saved from a snow mass within 15 minutes has a 90 per cent chance of survival. But after 45 minutes, that chance diminishes considerably.

Environmentally friendly fashion? Dress knitted out of birch cellulose fiber Posted: 13 Mar 2014 06:24 AM PDT The first garment made out of birch cellulose fiber using the Ioncell method is displayed at a fashion show. The Ioncell method is an environmentally friendly alternative to cotton in textile production. The dress is a significant step forward in the development of fiber for industrial production.

Virtual lab for nuclear waste repository research Posted: 13 Mar 2014 06:24 AM PDT A nuclear waste repository must seal in radioactive waste safely for one million years. Researchers currently have to study them and their processes in real underground laboratories but a virtual underground laboratory will soon simplify their work.

3-D X-ray film: Rapid movements in real time Posted: 13 Mar 2014 06:22 AM PDT How does the hip joint of a crawling weevil move? A technique to record 3-D X-ray films showing the internal movement dynamics in a spatially precise manner and, at the same time, in the temporal dimension has now been developed. The scientists applied this technique to a living weevil. From up to 100,000 two-dimensional radiographs per second, they generated complete 3D film sequences in real time or slow motion.

New wireless network to revolutionize soil testing Posted: 12 Mar 2014 10:23 AM PDT A revolutionary sensor that can carry out non-destructive testing of soil samples has been developed by researchers. The sensor is capable of measuring the chloride (salt) in the soil moisture and linking up with other sensors to create a wireless network that can collate and relay the measurement readings. The network can also control the time intervals at which measurements are taken. The sensor is placed in the soil and measures the chloride levels in the soil moisture in a non-destructive way. These chloride levels make up a high proportion of the overall soil salinity.

No greater injury risk on artificial playing surfaces, study shows Posted: 11 Mar 2014 07:13 AM PDT No greater injury risk for athletes playing on artificial playing surfaces was found, according to a new study. The use of artificial playing surfaces at sport venues has increased significantly in recent years, primarily due to the advantages of artificial turf over natural grass: longer playing hours, lower maintenance costs and greater resilience to harsh weather conditions. Despite these advantages, many elite professional soccer teams are reluctant to install artificial turf because of a perception that injuries occur more often on these types of surfaces. The study authors concluded that there are no major differences between the nature and causes of injuries sustained on artificial turf and those that occur on natural grass surfaces.

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