ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Peptoid nanosheets at the oil-water interface
• Newly identified galactic supercluster is home to the Milky Way
• 'Clear' choice for clearing 3-D cell cultures
• Changing temperature powers sensors in hard-to-reach places
• Grooving crystal surfaces repel water
• Breakthrough for carbon nanotube solar cells: Twice as efficient as current models
• Wind energy cuts the electricity bill
• 'Brightpoints': New clues to determining the solar cycle
• Ultracold atoms juggle spins with exceptional symmetry
• Switching clicks in polymers: Thermoset materials acquire thermoplastic properties with the aid of triazolinediones
• Fingerprints for freight items
• Touchscreens and solar cells: Simulations for better transparent oxide layers
• Greater safety and security at Europe's train stations
• Ethanol fireplaces: The underestimated risk
• On the way to a safe and secure Smart Home
• Ship ahoy! 3-D yacht walk-arounds and other innovations
• Cosmic forecast: Dark clouds will give way to sunshine
• Scientists' work may lead to mission to find out what's inside asteroids
• Cool calculations for cold atoms: New theory of universal three-body encounters
• New synthesis method may shape future of nanostructures, clean energy
• Carbon emissions of downloaded PlayStation 3 games revealed
• In pro baseball pitchers, weak core linked to more missed days
• Renewable fossil fuel alternative created using bacteria
• Can a stack of computer servers survive an earthquake?
• New method for non-invasive prostate cancer screening
• Ride-sharing could cut cabs' road time by 30 percent

Peptoid nanosheets at the oil-water interface Posted: 03 Sep 2014 10:33 AM PDT Researchers have developed peptoid nanosheets that form at the interface between oil and water, opening the door to increased structural complexity and chemical functionality for a broad range of applications.

Newly identified galactic supercluster is home to the Milky Way Posted: 03 Sep 2014 10:33 AM PDT Astronomers using the Green Bank Telescope -- among other telescopes -- have determined that our own Milky Way galaxy is part of a newly identified ginormous supercluster of galaxies, which they have dubbed 'Laniakea,' which means 'immense heaven' in Hawaiian.

'Clear' choice for clearing 3-D cell cultures Posted: 03 Sep 2014 09:18 AM PDT Scientists have hailed recent demonstrations of chemical technologies for making animal tissues see-through, but a new study is the first to evaluate three such technologies side-by-side for use with engineered 3-D tissue cultures.

Changing temperature powers sensors in hard-to-reach places Posted: 03 Sep 2014 09:17 AM PDT Researchers have taken inspiration from a centuries-old clock design and created a power harvester that uses natural fluctuations in temperature and pressure as its power source.

Grooving crystal surfaces repel water Posted: 03 Sep 2014 07:58 AM PDT Researchers have developed a porous polymer that stores and sorts organic molecules in the presence of water, which could have big implications for various industrial processes such as energy storage.

Breakthrough for carbon nanotube solar cells: Twice as efficient as current models Posted: 03 Sep 2014 07:58 AM PDT Lighter, more flexible, and cheaper than conventional solar-cell materials, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have long shown promise for photovoltaics. But research stalled when CNTs proved to be inefficient, converting far less sunlight into power than other methods. Scientists have now developed a carbon nanotube solar cell that is twice as efficient as its predecessors.

Wind energy cuts the electricity bill Posted: 03 Sep 2014 07:56 AM PDT The promoting of renewable energy is at the heart of the current debate on energy policy. From an economic perspective, the question focuses on determining the cost of the feed-in tariff systems. A new study tackles this question empirically, and concludes that wind energy continues to produce greater savings than what its incentives amount to, while photovoltaic solar technologies are still in the development phase.

'Brightpoints': New clues to determining the solar cycle Posted: 03 Sep 2014 07:47 AM PDT Approximately every 11 years, the sun undergoes a complete personality change from quiet and calm to violently active. However, the timing of the solar cycle is far from precise. Now, researchers have discovered a new marker to track the course of the solar cycle -- brightpoints, little bright spots in the solar atmosphere that allow us to observe the constant roiling of material inside the sun.

Ultracold atoms juggle spins with exceptional symmetry Posted: 03 Sep 2014 06:19 AM PDT Scientists have succeeded in revealing a highly symmetric exchange of spins between ytterbium atoms in different electronic orbital states.

Switching clicks in polymers: Thermoset materials acquire thermoplastic properties with the aid of triazolinediones Posted: 03 Sep 2014 06:19 AM PDT A new type of so-called 'click' chemistry has now been introduced. Like with most of click chemistry, it is based on a long-known efficient chemical reaction, which was now also found to be very practical for diverse and demanding applications. In particular, the unique reactivity of the studied 1,2,4-triazoline-3,5-dione (TAD) reagents has been harnessed to reversibly crosslink polyurethanes, or almost any other polymer matrix. At higher temperatures the TAD-induced crosslinks can temporarily open up, giving the thermoset the ability to be reshaped or even extruded like a typical thermoplastic polymer.

Fingerprints for freight items Posted: 03 Sep 2014 06:17 AM PDT Security is a top priority in air freight logistics but screening procedures can be very time consuming and costly. Researchers intend to boost efficiency with a new approach to digital logistics, without sacrificing the security of air freight operations.

Touchscreens and solar cells: Simulations for better transparent oxide layers Posted: 03 Sep 2014 06:17 AM PDT Touchscreens and solar cells rely on special oxide layers. However, errors in the layers' atomic structure impair not only their transparency, but also their conductivity. Using atomic models, researchers have found ways of identifying and removing these errors.

Greater safety and security at Europe's train stations Posted: 03 Sep 2014 06:17 AM PDT When a suspicious individual fleas on a bus or by train, then things usually get tough for the police. This is because the security systems of the various transportation companies and security services are typically incompatible. A new project aims at creating remedies and establishing better collaboration within the same city.

Ethanol fireplaces: The underestimated risk Posted: 03 Sep 2014 06:17 AM PDT Ethanol fireplaces are becoming more and more popular. However, they are not only  highly combustible -- in the past, severe accents have occurred repeatedly with decorative fireplaces. The devices also pollute the air in the rooms.

On the way to a safe and secure Smart Home Posted: 03 Sep 2014 06:17 AM PDT A growing number of household operations can be managed via the Internet. Today's "Smart Home" promises efficient building management. But often the systems are not secure and can only be retrofitted at great expense. Scientists are working on a software product that defends against hacker attacks before they reach the building.

Ship ahoy! 3-D yacht walk-arounds and other innovations Posted: 03 Sep 2014 06:17 AM PDT There are new developments in the area of seafaring and navigation. Among the novelties is a 3-D configurator that makes it possible for owners to experience cruise ships and yachts in real time, down to the last detail – even before the shipbuilding begins. Researchers will additionally display a new software program for crew management, and a ship and logistics system so that inland water routes become more feasibly useable.

Cosmic forecast: Dark clouds will give way to sunshine Posted: 03 Sep 2014 06:17 AM PDT Lupus 4, a spider-shaped blob of gas and dust, blots out background stars like a dark cloud on a moonless night in this intriguing new image. Although gloomy for now, dense pockets of material within clouds such as Lupus 4 are where new stars form and where they will later burst into radiant life.

Scientists' work may lead to mission to find out what's inside asteroids Posted: 02 Sep 2014 05:51 PM PDT Future asteroid mining operations and how we deal with an impending strike could be influenced by research on a potential NASA mission.

Cool calculations for cold atoms: New theory of universal three-body encounters Posted: 02 Sep 2014 12:13 PM PDT Chemical reactions drive the mechanisms of life as well as a million other natural processes on earth. These reactions occur at a wide spectrum of temperatures, from those prevailing at the chilly polar icecaps to those at work churning near earth's core. At nanokelvin temperatures, by contrast, nothing was supposed to happen. Chemistry was expected to freeze up. Experiments and theoretical work have now show that this is not true. Even at conditions close to absolute zero atoms can interact and manage to form chemical bonds. Now the first full theory that accounts for interactions at nano-kelvin temperatures -- in those situations where 3-atom states can form even while all 2-atom states are unstable has been developed.

New synthesis method may shape future of nanostructures, clean energy Posted: 02 Sep 2014 12:12 PM PDT A team of physicists has published new nanoscience advances that they and other scientists say make possible new nanostructures and nanotechnologies with huge potential applications ranging from clean energy and quantum computing advances to new sensor development.

Carbon emissions of downloaded PlayStation 3 games revealed Posted: 02 Sep 2014 11:42 AM PDT It's not always true that digital distribution of media will have lower carbon emissions than distribution by physical means, at least when file sizes are large.

In pro baseball pitchers, weak core linked to more missed days Posted: 02 Sep 2014 11:40 AM PDT Professional baseball pitchers with poor core stability are more likely to miss 30 or more days in a single season because of injury than are pitchers who have good control of muscles in their lower back and pelvis, research shows.

Renewable fossil fuel alternative created using bacteria Posted: 02 Sep 2014 08:46 AM PDT Researchers have engineered the harmless gut bacteria E. coli to generate renewable propane. Propane is an appealing source of cleaner fuel because it has an existing global market. used Escherichia coli to interrupt the biological process that turns fatty acids into cell membranes. The researchers used enzymes to channel the fatty acids along a different biological pathway, so that the bacteria made engine-ready renewable propane instead of cell membranes. Their ultimate goal is to insert this engineered system into photosynthetic bacteria, so as to one day directly convert solar energy into chemical fuel.

Can a stack of computer servers survive an earthquake? Posted: 02 Sep 2014 08:42 AM PDT In high-seismic regions, new facilities often are engineered with passive protective systems that provide overall seismic protection. But often, existing facilities are conventional fixed-base buildings in which seismic demands on sensitive equipment located within are significantly amplified. In such buildings, sensitive equipment needs to be secured from these damaging earthquake effects.

New method for non-invasive prostate cancer screening Posted: 02 Sep 2014 08:40 AM PDT A team of researchers has demonstrated the potential of a new, non-invasive method to screen for prostate cancer, a common type of cancer in men worldwide. They describe their laboratory success testing an existing spectroscopy technique called surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) with a new, sophisticated analysis technique called support vector machine (SVM).

Ride-sharing could cut cabs' road time by 30 percent Posted: 01 Sep 2014 06:15 PM PDT Cellphone apps that find users car rides in real time are exploding in popularity. What if the taxi-service app on your cellphone had a button on it that let you indicate that you were willing to share a ride with another passenger? How drastically could cab-sharing reduce traffic, fares, and carbon dioxide emissions? Analysis suggests that ride-sharing could cut taxis' road time by 30 percent.

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