ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Scientists change butterflies wing color in just six generations
• 'Treatments Waiting to Be Discovered' Inside New Database
• Watching chemistry in motion: Chemical environments mapped using molecular vibrations
• Scientists introduce new cosmic connectivity: Quantum pigeonhole paradox
• Photo editing tool enables object images to be manipulated in 3-D
• LEDs made from 'wonder material' perovskite
• Surprise discovery could see graphene used to improve health
• Diamond defect interior design: Planting imperfections at specific spots within a diamond lattice could advance quantum computing
• 3-in-1 optical skin cancer probe
• ALMA pinpoints Pluto to help guide NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft
• Teaching by Twitter: A viable option?
• Planet-like object may have spent its youth as hot as a star
• Used cigarette butts offer energy storage solution
• 3-D printing finds its 'sweet spot' through 'nifty shades of gray'
• Hepatitis C will become a rare disease in 22 years, study predicts
• Combustion mechanism to better predict warming by wildfires uncovered by scientists
• Learning how things fall apart: How bonded materials, from airplane wings to dental crowns, lose their bonding
• Minuscule chips for NMR spectroscopy promise portability, parallelization
• Version 2.0 of Prostate Cancer Risk Calculator now online, complete with emojis

Scientists change butterflies wing color in just six generations Posted: 05 Aug 2014 12:10 PM PDT Scientists have chosen the most fleeting of mediums for their groundbreaking work on biomimicry: They've changed the color of butterfly wings. In so doing, they produced the first structural color change in an animal by influencing evolution. The discovery may have implications for physicists and engineers trying to use evolutionary principles in the design of new materials and devices.

'Treatments Waiting to Be Discovered' Inside New Database Posted: 05 Aug 2014 12:06 PM PDT A database named multiMiR has been described in a new article. It is the most comprehensive database collecting information about microRNAs and their targets, researchers report. In addition to assisting researchers search for relationships between microRNAs and their genetic targets, the database includes drugs known to affect these microRNAs and also lists diseases associated with microRNAs.

Watching chemistry in motion: Chemical environments mapped using molecular vibrations Posted: 05 Aug 2014 12:06 PM PDT Scientists have long known that a molecule's behavior depends on its environment. Taking advantage of this phenomenon, a group of researchers has developed a new technique to map microscopic environments using the vibrations of molecules. "It's a special new advance that will be broadly useful in studies of molecular and materials phenomena," said one scientist.

Scientists introduce new cosmic connectivity: Quantum pigeonhole paradox Posted: 05 Aug 2014 10:25 AM PDT In the 20th century, two revolutions in physics shook the world. One of them was relativity, discovered by Einstein. It revealed that spacetime is not what we experience in everyday life. For example, if you travel close to the speed of light, then you will age more slowly than somebody who stays on Earth. The second revolution was quantum theory, the microscopic theory of particles, such as electrons, atoms, or photons. Quantum theory showed that nature is not deterministic -- as Einstein put it, "God plays with dice." After a century of careful testing, most physicists believe that the "chanciness" or "capriciousness" of the microscopic world is fundamental.

Photo editing tool enables object images to be manipulated in 3-D Posted: 05 Aug 2014 10:21 AM PDT Editors of photos routinely resize objects, or move them up, down or sideways, but researchers are adding an extra dimension to photo editing by enabling editors to turn or flip objects any way they want, even exposing surfaces not visible in the original photograph.

LEDs made from 'wonder material' perovskite Posted: 05 Aug 2014 10:21 AM PDT Colourful LEDs made from a material known as perovskite could lead to LED displays which are both cheaper and easier to manufacture in future. A hybrid form of perovskite -- the same type of material which has recently been found to make highly efficient solar cells that could one day replace silicon -- has been used to make low-cost, easily manufactured LEDs, potentially opening up a wide range of commercial applications in future, such as flexible color displays.

Surprise discovery could see graphene used to improve health Posted: 05 Aug 2014 10:20 AM PDT A chance discovery about the 'wonder material' graphene -- already exciting scientists because of its potential uses in electronics, energy storage and energy generation -- takes it a step closer to being used in medicine and human health.

Diamond defect interior design: Planting imperfections at specific spots within a diamond lattice could advance quantum computing Posted: 05 Aug 2014 10:17 AM PDT By carefully controlling the position of an atomic-scale diamond defect within a volume smaller than what some viruses would fill, researchers have cleared a path toward better quantum computers and nanoscale sensors.

3-in-1 optical skin cancer probe Posted: 05 Aug 2014 10:17 AM PDT Researchers have now developed a probe that combines into one device three unique ways of using light to measure the properties of skin tissue and detect cancer. The researchers have begun testing their 3-in-1 device in pilot clinical trials.

ALMA pinpoints Pluto to help guide NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft Posted: 05 Aug 2014 10:17 AM PDT Astronomers are making high-precision measurements of Pluto's location and orbit around the Sun to help NASA's New Horizons spacecraft accurately home in on its target when it nears Pluto and its five known moons in July 2015.

Teaching by Twitter: A viable option? Posted: 05 Aug 2014 07:25 AM PDT There is a wealth of opportunity in social networking sites: for shared academic knowledge, distribution of information, dialogue amongst peers and academic networking. However, with 40% of 300 million tweeters using Twitter passively as a newsfeed, are these opportunities going to waste? In other words, should Twitter really be used as a learning tool?

Planet-like object may have spent its youth as hot as a star Posted: 05 Aug 2014 07:25 AM PDT Astronomers have discovered an extremely cool object that could have a particularly diverse history - although it is now as cool as a planet, it may have spent much of its youth as hot as a star. The current temperature of the object is 100-150 degrees Celsius, intermediate between that of the Earth and Venus. But the object shows evidence of a possible ancient origin, implying that a large change in temperature has taken place.

Used cigarette butts offer energy storage solution Posted: 05 Aug 2014 06:11 AM PDT A group of scientists have converted used-cigarette butts into a high-performing material that could be integrated into computers, handheld devices, electrical vehicles and wind turbines to store energy.

3-D printing finds its 'sweet spot' through 'nifty shades of gray' Posted: 04 Aug 2014 05:21 PM PDT A 'less is more' approach has enabled engineers to make 3-D printed parts lighter and stronger, using methods that will also make 3-D printing faster and more economical.

Hepatitis C will become a rare disease in 22 years, study predicts Posted: 04 Aug 2014 05:20 PM PDT Effective new drugs and screening would make hepatitis C a rare disease by 2036, according to a computer simulation. "Hepatitis C (HCV) is the leading cause of liver cancer and accounts for more than 15,000 deaths in the U.S. each year," said a corresponding author on the study. "If we can improve access to treatment and incorporate more aggressive screening guidelines, we can reduce the number of chronic HCV cases, prevent more cases of liver cancer and reduce liver-related deaths."

Combustion mechanism to better predict warming by wildfires uncovered by scientists Posted: 04 Aug 2014 02:15 PM PDT Scientists have uncovered key attributes of so-called 'brown carbon' from wildfires, airborne atmospheric particles that may have influenced current climate models that failed to take the material's warming effects into account.

Learning how things fall apart: How bonded materials, from airplane wings to dental crowns, lose their bonding Posted: 04 Aug 2014 12:14 PM PDT Materials that are firmly bonded together with epoxy and other tough adhesives are ubiquitous in modern life -- from crowns on teeth to modern composites used in construction. Yet it has proved remarkably difficult to study how these bonds fracture and fail, and how to make them more resistant to such failures. New research reveals how bonded materials, from airplane wings to dental crowns, lose their bonding.

Minuscule chips for NMR spectroscopy promise portability, parallelization Posted: 04 Aug 2014 12:12 PM PDT Engineers have created a truly portable device for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.

Version 2.0 of Prostate Cancer Risk Calculator now online, complete with emojis Posted: 04 Aug 2014 10:43 AM PDT A calculator to help men and their doctors assess their risk of prostate cancer has had a major upgrade. 'The current version gives a more nuanced result that helps understand a man's risk of prostate cancer,' said one expert who helped develop the risk calculator.

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