ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Solar energy-driven process could revolutionize oil sands tailings reclamation
• Does size matter? MRI measures of joint's geometry suggest role in athletes' severe knee injuries
• Study questions accuracy of lung cancer screens in some geographic regions
• Fourth Dragon for commercial resupply services arrives at International Space Station
• Interface surprises may motivate novel oxide electronic devices
• State policies effective in reducing power plant emissions, study finds
• Properties in nanocomposite oxide ceramics for reactor fuel
• 'Plasma bubbles' may have aided enemy in fatal Afghan battle
• Nanotubes help healing hearts keep the beat
• Recreating the stripe patterns found in animals by engineering synthetic gene networks
• Future flexible electronics based on carbon nanotubes
• Complexity of diabetes: More to tiny fluctuations in blood sugar than meets the eye
• 'Bendy' LEDs: Displays and solar cells with inorganic compound semiconductor micro-rods one step closer
• Solar explosions 'inside' a computer: Understanding solar flares to improve predictions
• Magnetized fusion technique produces significant results: 'Break-even' point close
• Could suburban sprawl be good for segregation?
• The origin of Uranus and Neptune elucidated
• Smart meters could cause conflict for housemates
• Food affected by Fukushima disaster harms animals, even at low-levels of radiation, study shows
• Video blinds us to the evidence, study finds
• Paraffins to cut energy consumption in homes
• Scientists grow a new challenger to graphene
• New computer model to aid greener, leaner aircraft design
• Artificial intelligence that imitates children’s learning
• Various possibilities for controlling light in terahertz frequency range
• Graphene: When a doughnut becomes an apple
• Artificial liver tested as potential therapy for patients with alcohol-related organ failure
• Plant variants point the way to improved biofuel production
• Fine line between breast cancer, normal tissues

Solar energy-driven process could revolutionize oil sands tailings reclamation Posted: 23 Sep 2014 03:21 PM PDT A civil engineering research team has developed a new way to clean oil sands process affected water and reclaim tailings ponds in Alberta's oil sands industry. Using sunlight as a renewable energy source instead of UV lamps, and adding chlorine to the tailings, oil sands process affected water is decontaminated and detoxified -- immediately.

Does size matter? MRI measures of joint's geometry suggest role in athletes' severe knee injuries Posted: 23 Sep 2014 03:20 PM PDT With only 200-300,000 per year, ACL injuries are far less common than ankle ligament injuries, which number more than two million annually. But ACL injuries can end sports careers and are proven to lead to the early onset of osteoarthritis, putting young athletes on track for joint replacement as early as their 30s. Research provides insight into the potential role of the knee's geometric characteristics in increasing injury risk.

Study questions accuracy of lung cancer screens in some geographic regions Posted: 23 Sep 2014 01:11 PM PDT FDG-PET technology is less accurate in diagnosing lung cancer versus benign disease in regions where infections like histoplasmosis or tuberculosis are common, a new study suggests. Misdiagnosis of lung lesions suspicious for cancer could lead to unnecessary tests and surgeries for patients, with additional potential complications and mortality.

Fourth Dragon for commercial resupply services arrives at International Space Station Posted: 23 Sep 2014 12:44 PM PDT The Dragon commercial cargo craft has completed a two day trip to the International Space Station after launching early Sunday morning. NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman and European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst were at the controls of the robotics workstation in the Cupola when the Canadarm2 grappled Dragon at 6:52 a.m. EDT Tuesday.

Interface surprises may motivate novel oxide electronic devices Posted: 23 Sep 2014 11:25 AM PDT Complex oxides have long tantalized the materials science community for their promise in next-generation energy and information technologies. Complex oxide crystals combine oxygen atoms with assorted metals to produce unusual and very desirable properties.

State policies effective in reducing power plant emissions, study finds Posted: 23 Sep 2014 10:14 AM PDT Different strategies used by states to reduce power plant emissions -- direct ones such as emission caps and indirect ones like encouraging renewable energy -- are both effective, a study has found. The study is the first analysis of its kind, the authors report.

Properties in nanocomposite oxide ceramics for reactor fuel Posted: 23 Sep 2014 09:15 AM PDT The relationship between the termination chemistry and the dislocation structure of the interface offers potential avenues for tailoring transport properties and radiation damage resistance of oxide nanocomposites.

'Plasma bubbles' may have aided enemy in fatal Afghan battle Posted: 23 Sep 2014 08:18 AM PDT Plasma bubbles may have contributed to communications outages during the 2002 battle of Takur Ghar in Afghanistan. A new model could help predict the impact of such bubbles on future military operations.

Nanotubes help healing hearts keep the beat Posted: 23 Sep 2014 08:07 AM PDT Patches to heal pediatric heart defects are improved when infused with carbon nanotubes, researchers report. The nanotubes serve as bridges for cell-to-cell electrical signals and help cells in the patches beat in sync with surrounding heart muscle.

Recreating the stripe patterns found in animals by engineering synthetic gene networks Posted: 23 Sep 2014 08:07 AM PDT Researchers are trying to understand how networks of genes work together to create specific patterns like stripes. They have gone beyond studying individual networks and have created computational and synthetic mechanisms for a whole 'design space' of networks in the bacteria Escherichia coli. The system proves to be more efficient and powerful than building networks one-by-one, they report.

Future flexible electronics based on carbon nanotubes Posted: 23 Sep 2014 08:06 AM PDT Researchers have demonstrated a new method to improve the reliability and performance of transistors and circuits based on carbon nanotubes, a semiconductor material that has long been considered by scientists as one of the most promising successors to silicon for smaller, faster and cheaper electronic devices.

Complexity of diabetes: More to tiny fluctuations in blood sugar than meets the eye Posted: 23 Sep 2014 08:06 AM PDT For millions of people in the United States living with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, measuring the daily rise and fall of blood glucose (sugar) is a way of life. Now a group of researchers has discovered that there may be more to tiny fluctuations in blood sugar than meets the eye -- in fact, the largely-ignored instantaneous dynamics may provide a wealth of information encoded in the small, seemingly inconsequential ups and downs of blood sugar.

'Bendy' LEDs: Displays and solar cells with inorganic compound semiconductor micro-rods one step closer Posted: 23 Sep 2014 08:06 AM PDT "Bendy" light-emitting diode (LED) displays and solar cells crafted with inorganic compound semiconductor micro-rods are moving one step closer to reality, thanks to graphene. Currently, most flexible electronics and optoelectronics devices are fabricated using organic materials. But inorganic compound semiconductors such as gallium nitride (GaN) can provide plenty of advantages over organic materials for use in these devices -- including superior optical, electrical and mechanical properties.

Solar explosions 'inside' a computer: Understanding solar flares to improve predictions Posted: 23 Sep 2014 07:22 AM PDT Strong solar flares can bring down communications and power grids on Earth. By demonstrating how these gigantic eruptions are caused, physicists are laying the foundations for future predictions. The shorter the interval between two explosions in the solar atmosphere, the more likely it is that the second flare will be stronger than the first one.

Magnetized fusion technique produces significant results: 'Break-even' point close Posted: 23 Sep 2014 07:17 AM PDT Working with two magnetic fields and a laser, all at low points of their power outputs, Sandia's Z machine has released neutrons in an amount surprisingly close to 'break-even' fusion.

Could suburban sprawl be good for segregation? Posted: 23 Sep 2014 07:17 AM PDT Racially and economically mixed cities are more likely to stay integrated if the density of households stays low, finds a new analysis of a now-famous model of segregation. By simulating the movement of families between neighborhoods in a virtual 'city,' mathematicians show that cities are more likely to become segregated along racial, ethnic or other lines when the proportion of occupied sites rises above a certain critical threshold -- as low as 25 percent.

The origin of Uranus and Neptune elucidated Posted: 23 Sep 2014 07:15 AM PDT Astronomers have just proposed a solution to the problematic chemical composition of Uranus and Neptune, thus providing clues for understanding their formation. The researchers focused on the positioning of these two outermost planets of the Solar System, and propose a new model explaining how and where they formed.

Smart meters could cause conflict for housemates Posted: 23 Sep 2014 07:15 AM PDT Arguments about whose turn it is to do the washing up, negotiating rights to the TV remote control and disputes over noise -- as many students returning to university for the new academic year are about to learn the hard way, sharing a house can be a tricky business. And now research has revealed that new technology to allow people to monitor their energy usage in the home could be about to ratchet up the tension.

Food affected by Fukushima disaster harms animals, even at low-levels of radiation, study shows Posted: 23 Sep 2014 06:02 AM PDT Butterflies eating food collected from cities around the Fukushima nuclear meltdown site showed higher rates of death and disease, according to a study. "Our study demonstrated that eating contaminated foods could cause serious negative effects on organisms. Such negative effects may be passed down the generations. On the bright side, eating non-contaminated food improves the negative effects, even in the next generation," the lead author noted.

Video blinds us to the evidence, study finds Posted: 23 Sep 2014 06:02 AM PDT Where people look when watching video evidence varies wildly and has profound consequences for bias in legal punishment decisions, a team of researchers at two Law Schools has found.

Paraffins to cut energy consumption in homes Posted: 23 Sep 2014 06:00 AM PDT Forty percent of the total consumption of energy in Europe takes place in buildings, so reducing this consumption is becoming increasingly important. Integrating renewables into the energy supply for buildings is a further step towards moving towards this aim. Scientist have now developed a modular device based on paraffins that allows thermal energy to be stored, thus reducing the total volume of the system by 50% with respect to storage by means of water, traditionally used in buildings.

Scientists grow a new challenger to graphene Posted: 23 Sep 2014 05:59 AM PDT Scientists have developed a new way to fabricate a potential challenger to graphene. Graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms in a honeycomb lattice, is increasingly being used in new electronic and mechanical applications, such as transistors, switches and light sources, thanks to the unprecedented properties it offers: very low electrical resistance, high thermal conductivity and mechanically stretchable yet harder than diamond. Now researchers have developed molybdenum di-sulphide.

New computer model to aid greener, leaner aircraft design Posted: 23 Sep 2014 05:59 AM PDT A computer model that accurately predicts how composite materials behave when damaged will make it easier to design lighter, more fuel-efficient aircraft.

Artificial intelligence that imitates children’s learning Posted: 23 Sep 2014 05:59 AM PDT The computer programs used in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) are highly specialized. They can for example fly airplanes, play chess or assemble cars in controlled industrial environments. Scientists have now created an AI program that can learn how to solve problems in many different areas. The program is designed to imitate certain aspects of children's cognitive development.

Various possibilities for controlling light in terahertz frequency range Posted: 23 Sep 2014 05:59 AM PDT Scientists have proposed various devices capable of redirecting electromagnetic waves with efficiency levels close to 100%. Metamaterials are artificial materials with properties that go beyond those of natural occurring materials.

Graphene: When a doughnut becomes an apple Posted: 23 Sep 2014 05:59 AM PDT In experiments using the wonder material graphene, researchers have been able to demonstrate a phenomenon predicted by a Russian physicist more than 50 years ago. They analyzed a layer structure that experts believe may hold great promise.

Artificial liver tested as potential therapy for patients with alcohol-related organ failure Posted: 22 Sep 2014 02:57 PM PDT A novel, human cell based, bioartificial liver support system is being tested for patients with acute liver failure, often a fatal diagnosis. The external organ support system is designed to perform critical functions of a normal liver, including protein synthesis and the processing and cleaning of a patient's blood. The filtered and treated blood is then returned to the patient through the central line.

Plant variants point the way to improved biofuel production Posted: 22 Sep 2014 12:28 PM PDT Scientists have discovered variant plants with straw that are more easily digested for biofuel production. Critically, the plants are not significantly smaller or weaker than normal plants. The discovery could make biofuels from plant residues easier and cheaper to make, reducing pressure on food crops used for biofuels.

Fine line between breast cancer, normal tissues Posted: 22 Sep 2014 12:28 PM PDT A tool has been successfully tested that will help surgeons better distinguish cancerous breast tissue from normal tissue, thereby decreasing the chances for repeat operations. The tool, known as DESI mass spectrometry imaging, works by turning molecules into electrically charged versions of themselves, called ions, so that they can be identified by their mass.

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