ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Gemini Planet Imager produces stunning observations in its first year
• Computer model explains how animals select actions with rewarding outcomes
• Hot showers, lower power bills with heat pump water heaters: How water heaters are installed impacts total home energy use
• Novel imaging technique improves prostate cancer detection
• Eight new planets found in 'Goldilocks' zone: Two are most similar to Earth of any known exoplanets
• Study casts doubt on mammoth-killing cosmic impact
• 'Iron Sun' is not a rock band, but a key to how stars transmit energy
• Pharmaceuticals, personal care products could taint swimming pools
• Planet-hunting satellite observes supermassive black hole
• New technology enables ultra-fast steering and shaping of light beams
• Has car manufacturer taken the corner too fast with boxfish design? Design based on incorrect interpretation of characteristics of the fish
• 'Flying carpet' technique uses graphene to deliver one-two punch of anticancer drugs
• Entrepreneurs design automated cutting equipment applicable to various industries
• Bipolar disorder: New MRI imaging provides new picture, new insight
• New highly effective, eco-friendly flame retardant
• Model helps size boulders to protect buildings from vehicle impacts
• Green walls, effective acoustic insulation
• Freshmen-level chemistry solves solubility mystery of graphene oxide films

Gemini Planet Imager produces stunning observations in its first year Posted: 06 Jan 2015 11:48 AM PST The Gemini Planet Imager GPI is an advanced instrument designed to observe the environments close to bright stars to detect and study Jupiter-like exoplanets (planets around other stars) and see protostellar material (disk, rings) that might be lurking next to the star.

Computer model explains how animals select actions with rewarding outcomes Posted: 06 Jan 2015 11:07 AM PST A computer model charting what happens in the brain when an action is chosen that leads to a reward has been developed by researchers. The model could provide new insights into the mechanisms behind motor disorders such as Parkinson's Disease. It may also shed light on conditions involving abnormal learning, such as addiction.

Hot showers, lower power bills with heat pump water heaters: How water heaters are installed impacts total home energy use Posted: 06 Jan 2015 10:46 AM PST Heat pump water heaters are an energy-efficient alternative to conventional electric resistance water heaters. Now research shows heat pump water heaters can also reduce an entire home's energy use -- if they're connected to the appropriate ducting.

Novel imaging technique improves prostate cancer detection Posted: 06 Jan 2015 10:46 AM PST In 2014, prostate cancer was the leading cause of newly diagnosed cancers in men and the second leading cause of cancer death in men. A team of scientists and physicians now describe a novel imaging technique that measurably improves upon current prostate imaging -- and may have significant implications for how patients with prostate cancer are ultimately treated.

Eight new planets found in 'Goldilocks' zone: Two are most similar to Earth of any known exoplanets Posted: 06 Jan 2015 10:46 AM PST Astronomers announced today that they have found eight new planets in the 'Goldilocks' zone of their stars, orbiting at a distance where liquid water can exist on the planet's surface. This doubles the number of small planets (less than twice the diameter of Earth) believed to be in the habitable zone of their parent stars. Among these eight, the team identified two that are the most similar to Earth of any known exoplanets to date.

Study casts doubt on mammoth-killing cosmic impact Posted: 06 Jan 2015 10:05 AM PST Rock soil droplets formed by heating most likely came from Stone Age house fires and not from a disastrous cosmic impact 12,900 years ago, according to new research. The study, of soil from Syria, is the latest to discredit the controversial theory that a cosmic impact triggered the Younger Dryas cold period.

'Iron Sun' is not a rock band, but a key to how stars transmit energy Posted: 06 Jan 2015 09:15 AM PST Creating the conditions of the sun, researchers for the first time have been able to experimentally revise figures used by theorists to define iron's key role in passing sunlight from the sun's core to its radiative surface.

Pharmaceuticals, personal care products could taint swimming pools Posted: 06 Jan 2015 07:27 AM PST A new study suggests pharmaceuticals and chemicals from personal care products end up in swimming pools, possibly interacting with chlorine to produce disinfection byproducts with unknown properties and health effects. Researchers detected DEET, the active ingredient in insect repellants; caffeine; and tri(2-chloroethyl)-phosphate (TCEP), a flame retardant in some swimming pools. Some chemicals are volatile, which means they can escape into the air to be inhaled. Others can be ingested or absorbed through the skin.

Planet-hunting satellite observes supermassive black hole Posted: 06 Jan 2015 06:51 AM PST Astrophysicists combined ground observations with those from NASA's planet-hunting satellite. The study looked at a black hole more than 100 million light years away. They estimate KA 1858 to have 8 million times the mass of our sun.

New technology enables ultra-fast steering and shaping of light beams Posted: 06 Jan 2015 06:50 AM PST A team of engineers has developed a new acousto-optic device that can shape and steer beams of light at speeds never before achieved.

Has car manufacturer taken the corner too fast with boxfish design? Design based on incorrect interpretation of characteristics of the fish Posted: 06 Jan 2015 06:50 AM PST Billions of years of evolution have provided solutions for countless technical problems, while teaching designers and engineers a thing or two along the way. But now a car manufacturer has designed a concept model based on the supposed characteristics of the boxfish. Researchers have shown that their design is actually based on an incorrect interpretation of the characteristics of this fish.

'Flying carpet' technique uses graphene to deliver one-two punch of anticancer drugs Posted: 06 Jan 2015 06:17 AM PST A drug delivery technique has been developed by an international team of scientists that utilizes graphene strips as "flying carpets" to deliver two anticancer drugs sequentially to cancer cells, with each drug targeting the distinct part of the cell where it will be most effective.

Entrepreneurs design automated cutting equipment applicable to various industries Posted: 06 Jan 2015 05:15 AM PST The "OpeCNC" system, consists of software and hardware for machine control. It can be applied from ornamental ironwork, cutting spare parts, pipes to advertisements.

Bipolar disorder: New MRI imaging provides new picture, new insight Posted: 06 Jan 2015 05:12 AM PST Using a different type of MRI imaging, researchers have discovered previously unrecognized differences in the brains of patients with bipolar disorder. In particular, the study revealed differences in the white matter of patients' brains and in the cerebellum, an area of the brain not previously linked with the disorder.

New highly effective, eco-friendly flame retardant Posted: 05 Jan 2015 02:02 PM PST Fire consumes wood ferociously, in a deadly blaze—but the substances used to treat wood to resist burning can also be noxious and toxic. A professor guided an undergraduate and two high school students as they developed a patent-pending, environmentally sustainable way to render the wood used in construction flame retardant—and 5x stronger—using natural materials.

Model helps size boulders to protect buildings from vehicle impacts Posted: 05 Jan 2015 12:10 PM PST Boulders can be effective barriers to protect embassies and other buildings from large vehicle impacts, and a simple model is sufficient to select the right size boulder for the job, according to a team of researchers.

Green walls, effective acoustic insulation Posted: 05 Jan 2015 09:59 AM PST The benefits provided by green walls has been the focus of recent research. A scientist has concluded that walls comprising plants offer great potential for absorbing noise and could be used as acoustic insulation.

Freshmen-level chemistry solves solubility mystery of graphene oxide films Posted: 05 Jan 2015 09:59 AM PST For many years, researchers did not understand why graphene oxide remained stable in water. Now a research team finds that it's due to a common contaminant introduced during filtration.

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