ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Chemicals released during natural gas extraction may harm reproduction, development
• 45-year physics mystery shows a path to quantum transistors
• Text messages prevent one in six patients from failing to take medicine
• Successful launch of NASA's Orion spacecraft heralds first step on journey to Mars
• Computers that teach by example: New computer system enables pattern-recognition systems to convey what they learn to humans
• New technique offers spray-on solar power
• Social networking during a campus emergency
• New research paves the way for nano-movies of biomolecules
• Give flawed payments database time to improve
• Dawn snaps its best-yet image of dwarf planet Ceres
• Teleophthalmology for screening, recurrence of age-related macular degeneration
• 3-D printed heart could reduce heart surgeries in children
• Dopamine helps with math rules as well as mood
• How stroke survivors could benefit from computer games
• Astronomers observe two stars so close to each other that they will end up merging into a supermassive star
• Light propagation in solar cells made visible
• Stardust not likely to block planet portraits
• PET scans help identify effective TB drugs
• Light-triggered approach to aptamer-based cancer therapeutics

Chemicals released during natural gas extraction may harm reproduction, development Posted: 05 Dec 2014 02:50 PM PST Unconventional oil and gas operations combine directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing to release natural gas from rock. Discussions have centered on potential air and water pollution from chemicals and how they affect the more than 15 million Americans living within one mile of UOG operations. Now, a researcher has conducted the largest review of research centered on fracking byproducts and their effects on human reproductive and developmental health.

45-year physics mystery shows a path to quantum transistors Posted: 05 Dec 2014 11:24 AM PST An odd, iridescent material that's puzzled physicists for decades turns out to be an exotic state of matter that could open a new path to quantum computers and other next-generation electronics.

Text messages prevent one in six patients from failing to take medicine Posted: 05 Dec 2014 11:24 AM PST Text messaging prevents one in six patients from forgetting to take, or stopping, their prescribed medicines, researchers have found. Around a third of people do not take their treatment as prescribed, greatly reducing potential benefits and increasing costs in wasted medicines and treating avoidable illness. Some patients forget to take their tablets and others stop because of uncertainty over the benefits or harms of treatment.

Successful launch of NASA's Orion spacecraft heralds first step on journey to Mars Posted: 05 Dec 2014 11:23 AM PST NASA marked a critical step on the journey to Mars with its Orion spacecraft during a roaring liftoff into the dawn sky over eastern Florida on Friday, Dec. 5, 2014, aboard a Delta IV Heavy rocket.

Computers that teach by example: New computer system enables pattern-recognition systems to convey what they learn to humans Posted: 05 Dec 2014 09:43 AM PST Computers are good at identifying patterns in huge data sets. Humans, by contrast, are good at inferring patterns from just a few examples. Researchers have developed a new system that bridges these two ways of processing information, so that humans and computers can collaborate to make better decisions.

New technique offers spray-on solar power Posted: 05 Dec 2014 09:43 AM PST Pretty soon, powering your tablet could be as simple as wrapping it in cling wrap. Scientists have just invented a new way to spray solar cells onto flexible surfaces using miniscule light-sensitive materials known as colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) -- a major step toward making spray-on solar cells easy and cheap to manufacture.

Social networking during a campus emergency Posted: 05 Dec 2014 08:40 AM PST Emergencies at educational establishments are on the increase in recent years and campus officials are beginning to recognize that better communications with their students are now needed. Researchers now describe how social networking sites might be exploited when an emergency situation arises to help safeguard students as well as keeping those not directly involved in the situation informed of events.

New research paves the way for nano-movies of biomolecules Posted: 05 Dec 2014 07:03 AM PST Scientists have caught a light sensitive biomolecule at work using an X-ray laser. Their new study proves that high speed X-ray lasers can capture the fast dynamics of biomolecules in ultra slow-motion, revealing subtle processes with unprecedented clarity.

Give flawed payments database time to improve Posted: 05 Dec 2014 07:03 AM PST A federal database meant to report the financial ties between doctors and drug and device makers debuted Sept. 30, 2014, with major gaps in the data. Despite those flaws, the public should give the site the chance to improve because its value, even if mostly unrealized, is great, argue experts.

Dawn snaps its best-yet image of dwarf planet Ceres Posted: 05 Dec 2014 06:52 AM PST The Dawn spacecraft has delivered a glimpse of Ceres, the largest body in the main asteroid belt, in a new image taken 740,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) from the dwarf planet. This is Dawn's best image yet of Ceres as the spacecraft makes its way toward this unexplored world.

Teleophthalmology for screening, recurrence of age-related macular degeneration Posted: 05 Dec 2014 06:40 AM PST No relevant delay between referral and treatment was found when teleophthalmology was used to screen for suspected age-related macular degeneration and, while teleophthalmology monitoring for recurrence of AMD did result in an average longer wait time for treatment reinitiation, it did not result in worse visual outcomes, according to a study.

3-D printed heart could reduce heart surgeries in children Posted: 05 Dec 2014 06:40 AM PST Being able to practice on a model heart allows doctors to optimize the interventional procedure pre-operatively. 3-D models can also be used to discuss the intervention with the medical team, patients and, in the case of congenital heart defects, with parents. It helps everyone affected to better understand what the procedure will involve.

Dopamine helps with math rules as well as mood Posted: 05 Dec 2014 06:38 AM PST Rule-applying neurons work better under the influence of the happy hormone, researchers have found. The chemical messenger dopamine – otherwise known as the happiness hormone – is important not only for motivation and motor skills. It seems it can also help neurons with difficult cognitive tasks, they report.

How stroke survivors could benefit from computer games Posted: 05 Dec 2014 06:38 AM PST Stroke survivors can have "significant" improvement in arm movements after using the Nintendo Wii as physiotherapy, according to researchers. The popular computer remote could be customized to offer bespoke physiotherapy for stroke survivors in their own home, they say.

Astronomers observe two stars so close to each other that they will end up merging into a supermassive star Posted: 05 Dec 2014 06:37 AM PST A study of "MY Camelopardalis" binary system shows that the most massive stars are made up by merging with other smaller stars, as predicted by theoretical models.

Light propagation in solar cells made visible Posted: 05 Dec 2014 06:37 AM PST How can light which has been captured in a solar cell be examined in experiments? Scientists have succeeded in looking directly at light propagation within a solar cell by using a trick. The photovoltaics researchers are working on periodic nanostructures that efficiently capture a portion of sunlight which is normally only poorly absorbed.

Stardust not likely to block planet portraits Posted: 05 Dec 2014 04:35 AM PST Planet hunters received some good news recently. A new study concluded that, on average, sun-like stars aren't all that dusty. Less dust means better odds of snapping clear pictures of the stars' planets in the future.

PET scans help identify effective TB drugs Posted: 03 Dec 2014 12:18 PM PST Sophisticated lung imaging can reveal whether or not a treatment drug is able to clear tuberculosis lung infection in human and macaque parallel studies, according to researchers. Findings of their new study indicate the animal model can correctly predict which experimental agents have the best chance for success in human trials.

Light-triggered approach to aptamer-based cancer therapeutics Posted: 03 Dec 2014 12:18 PM PST A new light-triggered strategy can provide more accurate control over where aptamers accumulate, researchers report. Aptamers have various applications in cancer imaging, diagnostics, and therapeutics. They can be easily synthesized in the lab, and they can demonstrate high affinity and selectivity toward targets such as molecules, proteins, and cells.

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