ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Pioneer strategy for creating new materials
• Assortativity signatures of transcription factor networks contribute to robustness
• Cellphone addiction harming academic performance is 'an increasingly realistic possibility'
• Socially-assistive robots help kids with autism learn by providing personalized prompts
• New analytical technology reveals 'nanomechanical' surface traits
• New solutions needed to recycle fracking water, experts say
• Big data approach identifies Europe's most dangerous human, domestic animal pathogens

Pioneer strategy for creating new materials Posted: 29 Aug 2014 10:59 AM PDT Making something new is never easy. Scientists constantly theorize about new materials, but when the material is manufactured it doesn't always work as expected. To create a new strategy for designing materials, scientists combined two different approaches at two different facilities to synthesize new materials. This new strategy gives faster feedback on what growth schemes are best, thus shortening the timeframe to manufacture a new, stable material for energy transport and conversion applications.

Assortativity signatures of transcription factor networks contribute to robustness Posted: 29 Aug 2014 07:32 AM PDT The type and number of connections in transcription factor networks (TFNs) have been studied to evaluate the role assortativity plays on robustness. The study found that the assortativity signature contributes to a network's resilience against mutations. Transcription factors (TFs) are proteins that initiate and regulate the expression of a gene. To achieve their genetic mission, TFs also regulate one another's expression.

Cellphone addiction harming academic performance is 'an increasingly realistic possibility' Posted: 28 Aug 2014 03:47 PM PDT Women college students spend an average of 10 hours a day on their cellphones, with men college students spending nearly eight hours, according to a study on cellphone activity. "As cellphone functions increase, addictions to this seemingly indispensable piece of technology become an increasingly realistic possibility," researchers noted.

Socially-assistive robots help kids with autism learn by providing personalized prompts Posted: 28 Aug 2014 02:00 PM PDT Children with autism spectrum disorders showed improved or maintained performance in learning imitative behavior by interacting with humanoid robots that provided graded cueing, an occupational therapy technique that shapes behavior by providing increasingly specific cues to help a person learn new skills.

New analytical technology reveals 'nanomechanical' surface traits Posted: 28 Aug 2014 08:53 AM PDT A new research platform uses a laser to measure the 'nanomechanical' properties of tiny structures undergoing stress and heating, an approach likely to yield insights to improve designs for microelectronics and batteries.

New solutions needed to recycle fracking water, experts say Posted: 28 Aug 2014 08:53 AM PDT Scientists have produced a detailed analysis of water produced by hydraulic fracturing of three gas reservoirs and suggested environmentally friendly remedies are needed to treat and reuse it.

Big data approach identifies Europe's most dangerous human, domestic animal pathogens Posted: 27 Aug 2014 09:26 AM PDT The pathogens posing the greatest risk to Europe based upon a proxy for impact have been identified by researchers using a 'big data' approach to scientific research. The top risk for both humans and animals was E.coli and in humans this was followed by two forms of HIV, Hepatitis C and Staphylococcus aureus, a bacteria which causes food poisoning and is increasingly resistant to antibiotics.

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