ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Titan glowing at dusk and dawn
• Bipolar disorder discovery at the nano level
• New ultra-thin 3-D display technology promises greater energy efficiency
• As permafrost soils thaw soil microbes amplify global climate change
• Two families of comets found around nearby star: Biggest census ever of exocomets around beta pictoris
• Drones help show how environmental changes affect the spread of infectious diseases
• Nanoparticle-based invention moves new drugs closer to clinical testing
• Mathematical model shows how brain remains stable during learning
• An effective, cost-saving way to detect natural gas pipeline leaks
• A 'Star Wars' laser bullet -- this is what it really looks like
• Skin patch could replace the syringe for disease diagnosis
• Association between air toxics, childhood autism
• Sopping up proteins with thermosponges
• New devices based on metamaterials
• Nanoparticle technology triples the production of biogas
• Cooling to almost absolute zero with magnetic molecules
• New window on the early Universe
• Susceptibility for relapsing major depressive disorder can be calculated
• Assessing safety of masks: Efficacy of anti-particle filters under examination
• Cheaper silicon means cheaper solar cells
• Technology helps even the odds for blind students
• Screening tools to detect lung, heart disease developed by two high school students

Titan glowing at dusk and dawn Posted: 22 Oct 2014 02:01 PM PDT New maps of Saturn's moon Titan reveal large patches of trace gases shining brightly near the north and south poles. These regions are curiously shifted off the poles, to the east or west, so that dawn is breaking over the southern region while dusk is falling over the northern one.

Bipolar disorder discovery at the nano level Posted: 22 Oct 2014 12:47 PM PDT A nano-sized discovery helps explain how bipolar disorder affects the brain and could one day lead to new drug therapies to treat the mental illness, researchers report.

New ultra-thin 3-D display technology promises greater energy efficiency Posted: 22 Oct 2014 12:47 PM PDT Researchers have devised an ultra-thin LCD screen that operates without a power source, making it a compact, energy-efficient way to display visual information. The technology may one day have applications in products such as e-book readers, flexible displays or as a security measure on credit cards.

As permafrost soils thaw soil microbes amplify global climate change Posted: 22 Oct 2014 10:14 AM PDT Scientists have discovered how an invisible menagerie of microbes in permafrost soils acts as global drivers of Earth processes such as climate via gas exchange between soils and the atmosphere. These findings will help climate modelers more accurately predict Earth's future climate.

Two families of comets found around nearby star: Biggest census ever of exocomets around beta pictoris Posted: 22 Oct 2014 10:06 AM PDT The HARPS instrument at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile has been used to make the most complete census of comets around another star ever created. Astronomers have studied nearly 500 individual comets orbiting the star Beta Pictoris and has discovered that they belong to two distinct families of exocomets: old exocomets that have made multiple passages near the star, and younger exocomets that probably came from the recent breakup of one or more larger objects.

Drones help show how environmental changes affect the spread of infectious diseases Posted: 22 Oct 2014 09:34 AM PDT Unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, can collect detailed information in real time at relatively low cost for ecological research. In a new article, experts demonstrate that drones can be used to understand how environmental factors influence the spread of infectious diseases.

Nanoparticle-based invention moves new drugs closer to clinical testing Posted: 22 Oct 2014 09:31 AM PDT A nanoparticle has been developed to deliver a melanoma-fighting drug directly to the cancer. Delivering cancer drugs directly to tumors is difficult. Scientists are working on new approaches to overcome the natural limitations of drugs, including loading them into nanoparticles.

Mathematical model shows how brain remains stable during learning Posted: 22 Oct 2014 09:30 AM PDT Complex biochemical signals that coordinate fast and slow changes in neuronal networks keep the brain in balance during learning, according to an international team of scientists. Neuronal networks form a learning machine that allows the brain to extract and store new information from its surroundings via the senses. Researchers have long puzzled over how the brain achieves sensitivity and stability to unexpected new experiences during learning -- two seemingly contradictory requirements.

An effective, cost-saving way to detect natural gas pipeline leaks Posted: 22 Oct 2014 07:35 AM PDT Major leaks from oil and gas pipelines have led to home evacuations, explosions, millions of dollars in lawsuit payouts and valuable natural resources escaping into the air, ground and water. Scientists say they have now developed a new software-based method that finds leaks even when they're small, which could help prevent serious incidents -- and save money for customers and industry.

A 'Star Wars' laser bullet -- this is what it really looks like Posted: 22 Oct 2014 07:35 AM PDT Action-packed science-fiction movies often feature colourful laser bolts. But what would a real laser missile look like during flight, if we could only make it out? How would it illuminate its surroundings?

Skin patch could replace the syringe for disease diagnosis Posted: 22 Oct 2014 07:35 AM PDT Drawing blood and testing it is standard practice for many medical diagnostics. As a less painful alternative, scientists are developing skin patches that could one day replace the syringe. Scientists now they have designed and successfully tested, for the first time, a small skin patch that detected malaria proteins in live mice. It could someday be adapted for use in humans to diagnose other diseases, too.

Association between air toxics, childhood autism Posted: 22 Oct 2014 07:35 AM PDT Children with autism spectrum disorder were more likely to have been exposed to higher levels of certain air toxics during their mothers' pregnancies and the first two years of life compared to children without the condition, according to the preliminary findings of an investigation of American children.

Sopping up proteins with thermosponges Posted: 22 Oct 2014 07:34 AM PDT A research team has developed and tested a novel nanoparticle platform that efficiently delivers clinically important proteins in vivo in initial proof-of-concept tests.

New devices based on metamaterials Posted: 22 Oct 2014 07:33 AM PDT Researchers have designed and manufactured new devices based on metamaterials (artificial materials with properties not found in nature). They achieved the first experimental demonstration ever with epsilon-near-zero metamaterials. "These materials have surprising characteristics, such as the fact that a wave traveling within them can do so at almost infinite speed and, thus, can be transmitted from one place to another without hardly any loss of energy, no matter how unusual or complicated the shape of the material," according to a researcher.

Nanoparticle technology triples the production of biogas Posted: 22 Oct 2014 07:33 AM PDT BiogàsPlus, a technology which allows increasing the production of biogas by 200% with a controlled introduction of iron oxide nanoparticles to the process of organic waste treatment, has been developed by scientists.

Cooling to almost absolute zero with magnetic molecules Posted: 22 Oct 2014 06:29 AM PDT For the first time, scientists have successfully reached temperatures below minus 272.15 degrees Celsius -- only just above absolute zero -- using magnetic molecules.

New window on the early Universe Posted: 22 Oct 2014 05:43 AM PDT Scientists see good times approaching for astrophysicists after hatching a new observational strategy to distill detailed information from  galaxies at the edge of the Universe. Using two world-class supercomputers, the researchers were able to demonstrate the effectiveness of their approach by simulating the formation of a massive galaxy at the dawn of cosmic time. The ALMA radio telescope – which stands at an elevation of 5,000 meters in the Atacama Desert of Chile, one of the driest places on earth – was then used to forge observations of the galaxy, showing how their method improves upon previous efforts.

Susceptibility for relapsing major depressive disorder can be calculated Posted: 22 Oct 2014 05:43 AM PDT The question if an individual will suffer from relapsing major depressive disorder is not determined by accident. Neuroscientists have chosen a new research approach, using computer-based models to study the disease. They show that chronic depression is triggered due to an unfortunate combination of internal and external factors.

Assessing safety of masks: Efficacy of anti-particle filters under examination Posted: 22 Oct 2014 05:43 AM PDT Researchers have developed a method to assess the efficacy of anti-particle filters and masks. This method will help to decide the most suitable system depending on the professional activity. Thanks to the development of a simulation model for the breathing process of a person in a dusty work environment, researchers have designed a method capable to experimentally determine the efficacy of a series of existing filters and masks in the market.

Cheaper silicon means cheaper solar cells Posted: 22 Oct 2014 05:42 AM PDT Researchers have pioneered a new approach to manufacturing solar cells that requires less silicon and can accommodate silicon with more impurities than is currently the standard. Those changes mean that solar cells can be made much more cheaply than at present.

Technology helps even the odds for blind students Posted: 21 Oct 2014 01:21 PM PDT Technology to help a blind student see math clearly and pursue a degree has been uncovered by researchers. Despite losing her vision three years ago due to complications from the flu, one study entered university last fall with the specific goal of pursuing a dual degree in mathematics and business. Technology is helping her make this a reality.

Screening tools to detect lung, heart disease developed by two high school students Posted: 21 Oct 2014 05:56 AM PDT Screening tools using electronic stethoscopes to detect lung and heart disease have been developed by two Michigan high school students. An electronic stethoscope overcomes the problem of low sound levels by electronically amplifying body sounds, using an electromagnetic diaphragm that captures the diaphragm movement as an electrical signal.

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