ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Facebook posts reveal personality traits, but recent changes could make it harder to do so
• The quantum revolution is a step closer: New way to run a quantum algorithm
• Excitonic dark states shed light on TMDC atomic layers: New promise for nanoelectronic and photonic applications
• World's largest DNA origami created
• Graphene paints a corrosion-free future: Keep food fresh longer?
• Lurking bright blue star caught: The last piece of a supernova puzzle
• Urban design with emotions: Designing to cut stress of city commuting
• Astronomers pinpoint 'Venus Zone' around stars
• Self-cleaning surfaces: The importance of a single groove
• Chemical detection: A purer solution
• More efficient fuel cells for vehicles: Angling chromium to let oxygen through
• New 3-D imaging techniques may improve understanding of biofuel plant material: Never-before-seen details
• Electronics that need very little energy? Nanotechnology used to help cool electrons with no external sources
• Cyberbullying increases as students age, study finds
• Mysterious quasar sequence explained
• New observing capabilities for ALMA
• Algorithms reveal forecasting power of tweets, predicts individual's behavior
• Highest resolution ever with X-ray microscopy
• Where to grab space debris: Algorithm analyzes the rotation of objects in space
• Residual hydraulic fracturing water not a risk to groundwater
• Advancing understanding of graphene's friction properties
• A novel method for portable detection of potent drugs known as 'bath salts'
• 'Electronic skin' could improve early breast cancer detection
• How skin falls apart: Pathology of autoimmune skin disease revealed at the nanoscale
• Nerve impulses can collide, continue unaffected
• Video game teaches kids how to code
• Researchers watch lipid molecules in motion
• First 500 GHz photon switch built
• How to estimate energy footprint in highways
• Nanostructured coatings for aircraft turbines developed
• Algorithm for accurate calculation of average distance traveled by low-speed electrons without energy loss

Facebook posts reveal personality traits, but recent changes could make it harder to do so Posted: 11 Sep 2014 10:00 AM PDT People can accurately detect the personality traits of strangers through Facebook activity; however, changes to the social media site in the past three years could be making it harder to do so.

The quantum revolution is a step closer: New way to run a quantum algorithm Posted: 11 Sep 2014 07:30 AM PDT A new way to run a quantum algorithm using much simpler methods than previously thought has been discovered. These findings could dramatically bring forward the development of a 'quantum computer' capable of beating a conventional computer.

Excitonic dark states shed light on TMDC atomic layers: New promise for nanoelectronic and photonic applications Posted: 11 Sep 2014 06:47 AM PDT Researchers believe they have uncovered the secret behind the unusual optoelectronic properties of single atomic layers of TMDC materials, the two-dimensional semiconductors that hold great promise for nanoelectronic and photonic applications.

World's largest DNA origami created Posted: 11 Sep 2014 06:47 AM PDT Researchers have created the world's largest DNA origami, which are nanoscale constructions with applications ranging from biomedical research to nanoelectronics. DNA origami are self-assembling biochemical structures that are made up of two types of DNA.

Graphene paints a corrosion-free future: Keep food fresh longer? Posted: 11 Sep 2014 06:47 AM PDT A thin layer of graphene paint can make impermeable and chemically resistant coatings which could be used for packaging to keep food fresh for longer and protect metal structures against corrosion, new findings show.

Lurking bright blue star caught: The last piece of a supernova puzzle Posted: 11 Sep 2014 06:47 AM PDT Astronomers have found evidence of a hot binary companion star to a yellow supergiant star, which had become a bright supernova. Its existence had been predicted by the team. This finding provides the last link in a chain of observations that have so far supported the team's theoretical picture for this supernova.

Urban design with emotions: Designing to cut stress of city commuting Posted: 11 Sep 2014 06:33 AM PDT Unsafe bike paths, traffic jam stress, frightening underpasses -- modern city dwellers face a number of stressors. According to experts, sustainable urban design needs to take into account citizens' emotional responses to their environment. Scientists are now developing creative methods to capture information about those feelings from user-generated data.

Astronomers pinpoint 'Venus Zone' around stars Posted: 10 Sep 2014 06:41 PM PDT Astronomers have defined the 'Venus Zone,' the area around a star in which a planet is likely to exhibit the unlivable conditions found on the planet Venus. The research will aid Kepler astronomers searching for exoplanets, helping them determine which are likely to be similar to Earth and which are more likely to resemble Venus.

Self-cleaning surfaces: The importance of a single groove Posted: 10 Sep 2014 06:37 PM PDT An innovative algorithm exposes the energy pathways that cause super-repellent surfaces to stop working. 'Superhydrophobic' surfaces, such as anti-icing or self-cleaning windows, are remarkably effective at repelling water molecules. However, they may suddenly -- and dramatically -- lose their superhydrophobic features. Researchers have now identified a cause for the widespread 'wetting transition' by pinpointing how infiltration of a single microscopic groove can cause such an event.

Chemical detection: A purer solution Posted: 10 Sep 2014 06:37 PM PDT A separation method that isolates protein-protected gold clusters enables improved sensing of toxic mercury compounds and pesticides. Fluorescence-based detection of pesticides and other environmentally harmful chemicals is limited by the ability of current methods to reliably and selectively sense specific chemical species. Researchers have now developed a co-precipitation process that removes excess reagents to improve the efficiency of fluorescent sensors.

More efficient fuel cells for vehicles: Angling chromium to let oxygen through Posted: 10 Sep 2014 03:59 PM PDT More efficient fuel cells might gain wider use in vehicles or as quiet, pollution-free, neighborhood electricity generating stations. A serendipitous finding has resulted in a semiconducting material that could enable fuel cells to operate at temperatures two-thirds lower than current technology, scientists report.

New 3-D imaging techniques may improve understanding of biofuel plant material: Never-before-seen details Posted: 10 Sep 2014 12:25 PM PDT A comparison of 3-D transmission electron microscopy imaging techniques reveals never-seen-before details of plant cell walls.

Electronics that need very little energy? Nanotechnology used to help cool electrons with no external sources Posted: 10 Sep 2014 10:25 AM PDT A team of researchers has discovered a way to cool electrons to minus 228 degrees Celsius without external means and at room temperature, an advancement that could enable electronic devices to function with very little energy.

Cyberbullying increases as students age, study finds Posted: 10 Sep 2014 10:25 AM PDT As students' age they are verbally and physically bullied less but cyberbullied more, non-native English speakers are not bullied more often than native English speakers and bullying increases as students' transition from elementary to middle school. Those are among the findings of a wide-ranging paper just released.

Mysterious quasar sequence explained Posted: 10 Sep 2014 10:25 AM PDT Quasars are supermassive black holes that live at the center of distant massive galaxies. They shine as the most luminous beacons in the sky by rapidly accelerating matter into their gravitationally inescapable centers. New work solves a quasar mystery that astronomers have been puzzling over for decades. It shows that most observed quasar phenomena can be unified with two simple quantities: how efficiently the hole is being fed, and the viewing orientation of the astronomer.

New observing capabilities for ALMA Posted: 10 Sep 2014 10:24 AM PDT The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has reached a major milestone by extending its vision fully into the realm of the submillimeter, the wavelengths of cosmic light that hold intriguing information about the cold, dark, and distant Universe.

Algorithms reveal forecasting power of tweets, predicts individual's behavior Posted: 10 Sep 2014 10:24 AM PDT Researchers used 500 million tweets to develop algorithms that not only paint a picture of everyday human dynamics, but can predict an individual's behavior hours in advance.

Highest resolution ever with X-ray microscopy Posted: 10 Sep 2014 09:06 AM PDT Researchers used 'soft' X-rays to image structures only five nanometers in size. This resolution is the highest ever achieved with X-ray microscopy.

Where to grab space debris: Algorithm analyzes the rotation of objects in space Posted: 10 Sep 2014 09:06 AM PDT Objects in space tend to spin -- and spin in a way that's totally different from the way they spin on earth. Understanding how objects are spinning, where their centers of mass are, and how their mass is distributed is crucial to any number of actual or potential space missions, from cleaning up debris in the geosynchronous orbit favored by communications satellites to landing a demolition crew on a comet.

Residual hydraulic fracturing water not a risk to groundwater Posted: 10 Sep 2014 09:05 AM PDT Hydraulic fracturing -- fracking or hydrofracturing -- raises many concerns about potential environmental impacts, especially water contamination. Currently, data show that the majority of water injected into wells stays underground, triggering fears that it might find its way into groundwater. New research by a team of scientists should help allay those fears.

Advancing understanding of graphene's friction properties Posted: 10 Sep 2014 09:05 AM PDT On the macroscale, adding fluorine atoms to carbon-based materials makes for water-repellant, non-stick surfaces, such as Teflon. However, on the nanoscale, adding fluorine to graphene had been reported to vastly increase the friction experienced when sliding against the material. Through a combination of physical experiments and atomistic simulations, scientists have discovered the mechanism behind this surprising finding, which could help researchers better design and control the surface properties of new materials.

A novel method for portable detection of potent drugs known as 'bath salts' Posted: 10 Sep 2014 09:05 AM PDT Despite being outlawed in 2012 in the US, the synthetic drugs known as 'bath salts' -- which really aren't meant for your daily bath -- are still readily available in some retail shops, on the Internet and on the streets. To help law enforcement, scientists are developing a novel method that could be the basis for the first portable, on-site testing device for identifying the drugs.

'Electronic skin' could improve early breast cancer detection Posted: 10 Sep 2014 09:04 AM PDT For detecting cancer, manual breast exams seem low-tech compared to other methods such as MRI. But scientists are now developing an 'electronic skin' that 'feels' and images small lumps that fingers can miss. Knowing the size and shape of a lump could allow for earlier identification of breast cancer, which could save lives.

How skin falls apart: Pathology of autoimmune skin disease revealed at the nanoscale Posted: 10 Sep 2014 09:04 AM PDT Researchers studying a rare, blistering disease have discovered new details of how autoantibodies destroy healthy cells in skin. The research has the potential to help clinicians identify who may be at risk for developing Pemphigus vulgaris (PV), an autoimmune skin disorder, by distinguishing pathogenic (disease-causing) autoimmune antibodies from other nonpathogenic autoimmune antibodies.

Nerve impulses can collide, continue unaffected Posted: 10 Sep 2014 09:04 AM PDT According to the traditional theory of nerves, two nerve impulses sent from opposite ends of a nerve annihilate when they collide. New research now shows that two colliding nerve impulses simply pass through each other and continue unaffected. This supports the theory that nerves function as sound pulses.

Video game teaches kids how to code Posted: 10 Sep 2014 09:04 AM PDT Computer scientists have successfully funded on Kickstarter a new and improved version of CodeSpells, a first-person player game they developed that teaches players how to code.

Researchers watch lipid molecules in motion Posted: 10 Sep 2014 07:29 AM PDT Researchers have 'filmed' the movement of lipid molecules using an X-ray stroboscope. Their study offers new insights into the dynamics of biomolecules, which compose materials such as cell membranes.

First 500 GHz photon switch built Posted: 10 Sep 2014 06:32 AM PDT The work took nearly four years to complete and it opens a fundamentally new direction in photonics -- with far-reaching potential consequences for the control of photons in optical fiber channels.

How to estimate energy footprint in highways Posted: 10 Sep 2014 06:31 AM PDT Researchers have developed an application to estimate energy footprint in highways. The energy footprint of a highway is defined as the energy consumption produced during its whole life cycle that includes construction phases, maintenance, operation and deconstruction.

Nanostructured coatings for aircraft turbines developed Posted: 10 Sep 2014 05:33 AM PDT A group of specialists have developed nanostructured coatings capable of withstanding temperatures exceeding 1000 degrees Celsius, which are used in aviation turbine components.

Algorithm for accurate calculation of average distance traveled by low-speed electrons without energy loss Posted: 10 Sep 2014 05:33 AM PDT Scientists have developed a theoretical algorithm to accurately calculate the average distance traveled by low-energy/low-speed electrons without energy loss that are sensitive to the surface structures of materials through which they travel while retaining their energy information.

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