ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• New tool for exploring cells in 3D created
• Possible read head for quantum computers
• New method to determine surface properties at the nanoscale
• Can cockpit automation cause pilots to lose critical thinking skills? Research says yes
• Girls better than boys at making story-based computer games, study finds
• Physicists create new kind of pasta to explain mysterious, ring-shaped polymers
• WHACK! Study measures head blows in girls' lacrosse
• Research confirms how global warming links to carbon emissions
• Magnetic memory filmed in super slow motion
• Unravelling the complexity of proteins
• Microbullet hits confirm graphene's strength: Possible uses include body armor and spacecraft protection
• Ground-based detection of super-Earth transit paves way to remote sensing of exoplanets
• 3-D printing used to guide human face transplants
• Herschel observes Andromeda's past and future stars
• Longer and more accurate shelf-life with 'Smart' packaging material technologies

New tool for exploring cells in 3D created Posted: 01 Dec 2014 01:37 PM PST Researchers can now explore viruses, bacteria and components of the human body in more detail than ever before with new software recently developed. Researchers demonstrated how the software, called cellPACK, can be used to model viruses such as HIV.

Possible read head for quantum computers Posted: 01 Dec 2014 10:26 AM PST Nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamonds could be used to construct vital components for quantum computers. But hitherto it has been impossible to read optically written information from such systems electronically. Using a graphene layer, a team of scientists has now implemented just such a read unit.

New method to determine surface properties at the nanoscale Posted: 01 Dec 2014 10:25 AM PST As machines get smaller, knowing characteristics can make huge engineering differences. Engineers have now developed a method for characterizing the surface properties of materials at different temperatures at the nanoscale.

Can cockpit automation cause pilots to lose critical thinking skills? Research says yes Posted: 01 Dec 2014 09:50 AM PST Researchers studied how the prolonged use of cockpit automation negatively impacts pilots' ability to remember how to perform key critical thinking tasks. "There is widespread concern among pilots and air carriers that as the presence of automation increases in the airline cockpit, pilots are losing the skills they still need to fly the airplane the 'old-fashioned way' when the computers crash," said a coauthor.

Girls better than boys at making story-based computer games, study finds Posted: 01 Dec 2014 08:34 AM PST Teenage boys are perhaps more known for playing computer games but girls are better at making them, a study has found. Researchers asked pupils at a secondary school to design and program their own computer game using a new visual programming language that shows pupils the computer programs they have written in plain English.

Physicists create new kind of pasta to explain mysterious, ring-shaped polymers Posted: 01 Dec 2014 08:34 AM PST Physicists have taken to the kitchen to explain the complexity surrounding what they say is one of the last big mysteries in polymer physics.

WHACK! Study measures head blows in girls' lacrosse Posted: 01 Dec 2014 08:32 AM PST As debate increases about whether female lacrosse players should wear headgear, a new study reports measurements of the accelerations that stick blows deliver to the head. The study also measured the dampening effect of various kinds of headgear.

Research confirms how global warming links to carbon emissions Posted: 01 Dec 2014 08:30 AM PST Research has identified, for the first time, how global warming is related to the amount of carbon emitted. A team of researchers has derived the first theoretical equation to demonstrate that global warming is a direct result of the build-up of carbon emissions since the late 1800s when human-made carbon emissions began. The results are in accord with previous data from climate models.

Magnetic memory filmed in super slow motion Posted: 01 Dec 2014 07:04 AM PST Researchers have used high-speed photography to film one of the candidates for the magnetic data storage devices of the future in action. The film was taken using an X-ray microscope and shows magnetic vortices being formed in ultrafast memory cells. The work provides a better understanding of the dynamics of magnetic storage materials. Magnetic memory cells are found in every computer hard drive.

Unravelling the complexity of proteins Posted: 01 Dec 2014 07:03 AM PST Knowledge of the three-dimensional structures of proteins is essential for understanding biological processes. Structures help to explain molecular and biochemical functions, visualize details of macromolecular interactions, facilitate understanding of underlying biochemical mechanisms and define biological concepts. A new article seeks to address the fundamental question of whether the three-dimensional structures of all proteins and all functional annotations can be determined using X-ray crystallography.

Microbullet hits confirm graphene's strength: Possible uses include body armor and spacecraft protection Posted: 01 Dec 2014 07:03 AM PST Scientists have use dmicrobullets in experiments to show graphene is 10 times better than steel at absorbing the energy of a penetrating projectile. Graphene's great strength appears to be determined by how well it stretches before it breaks, according to scientists who tested the material's properties by peppering it with microbullets.

Ground-based detection of super-Earth transit paves way to remote sensing of exoplanets Posted: 01 Dec 2014 07:03 AM PST Astronomers have measured the passing of a super-Earth in front of a bright, nearby Sun-like star using a ground-based telescope for the first time. The transit of the exoplanet 55 Cancri e is the shallowest detected from the ground yet. Since detecting a transit is the first step in analyzing a planet's atmosphere, this success bodes well for characterizing the many small planets that upcoming space missions are expected to discover in the next few years.

3-D printing used to guide human face transplants Posted: 01 Dec 2014 06:06 AM PST Researchers are using computed tomography and 3-D printing technology to recreate life-size models of patients' heads to assist in face transplantation surgery, according to a new study.

Herschel observes Andromeda's past and future stars Posted: 01 Dec 2014 06:04 AM PST Recently, the infrared Herschel Space Observatory, has taken a series of beautiful high-resolution infrared images of Andromeda. It is the first time we can see M31, at these wavelengths, at such a high resolution. The quality and sensitivity of the Herschel data is so good scientists were able to study the properties of individual regions in Andromeda as small as about 400 light years.

Longer and more accurate shelf-life with 'Smart' packaging material technologies Posted: 01 Dec 2014 06:00 AM PST Companies in an A*STAR IMRE-led industry consortium will have access to new active packaging that protects perishables with a layered plastic that is not only extremely effective at keeping out oxygen and moisture, but extends the shelf-life of food by absorbing oxygen that may be present in packaging.

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