ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• NASA Curiosity Mars rover installing smarts for driving
• Quantum cryptography theory has a demonstrated security defect
• Stabilizing shell effects in heaviest elements directly measured
• Rooting out rumors, epidemics, and crime -- with math
• Project Morpheus vehicle experiences hardware component failure
• Autonomous robotic plane dodges obstacles when flying indoors
• Physicists explore properties of electrons in revolutionary material
• Wireless power for the price of a penny?
• The power to heal at the tips of your fingers
• Security risk: Sensitive data can be harvested from a PC even if it is in standby mode, experts say
• Minimally invasive building renovations with prefabricated window modules
• The spin racket: Ping-pong champs are intuitive masters of fluid dynamics
• Cost-effective production of infrared lenses

NASA Curiosity Mars rover installing smarts for driving Posted: 10 Aug 2012 02:20 PM PDT NASA's Mars rover Curiosity will spend its first weekend on Mars transitioning to software better suited for tasks ahead, such as driving and using its strong robotic arm. The rover's "brain transplant," which will occur during a series of steps Aug. 10 through Aug. 13, will install a new version of software on both of the rover's redundant main computers. This software for Mars surface operations was uploaded to the rover's memory during the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft's flight from Earth.

Quantum cryptography theory has a demonstrated security defect Posted: 10 Aug 2012 11:49 AM PDT Researchers have just demonstrated the incompleteness and limit of the security theory in quantum key distribution. The present theory cannot guarantee unconditional security.

Stabilizing shell effects in heaviest elements directly measured Posted: 10 Aug 2012 10:31 AM PDT An international research team has succeeded in directly measuring the strength of shell effects in very heavy elements. The results provide information on the nuclear structure of superheavy elements, thus promising to enable drastically improved predictions concerning the location and extension of the island of stability of superheavy elements.

Rooting out rumors, epidemics, and crime -- with math Posted: 10 Aug 2012 10:31 AM PDT Scientists have developed an algorithm that can identify the source of an epidemic or information circulating within a network, a method that could also be used to help with criminal investigations.

Project Morpheus vehicle experiences hardware component failure Posted: 10 Aug 2012 09:49 AM PDT NASA's prototype Morpheus lander crashed in a test flight on Thursday (Aug. 9, 2012), at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The vehicle lifted off the ground and then experienced a hardware component failure. This failure prevented the vehicle from maintaining stable flight. No one was injured, and the resulting fire was extinguished by Kennedy Space Center fire personnel.

Autonomous robotic plane dodges obstacles when flying indoors Posted: 10 Aug 2012 08:28 AM PDT New algorithms allow an autonomous robotic plane to dodge obstacles in a subterranean parking garage, without the use of GPS.

Physicists explore properties of electrons in revolutionary material Posted: 10 Aug 2012 08:28 AM PDT Scientists have found a new way to examine certain properties of electrons in graphene – a very thin material that may hold the key to new technologies in computing and other fields.

Wireless power for the price of a penny? Posted: 10 Aug 2012 05:37 AM PDT The newspaper-style printing of electronic equipment has led to a cost-effective device that could change the way we interact with everyday objects.

The power to heal at the tips of your fingers Posted: 10 Aug 2012 05:37 AM PDT The intricate properties of the fingertips have been mimicked and recreated using semiconductor devices in what researchers hope will lead to the development of advanced surgical gloves.

Security risk: Sensitive data can be harvested from a PC even if it is in standby mode, experts say Posted: 10 Aug 2012 05:36 AM PDT When you switch off your computer any passwords you used to login to web pages, your bank or other financial account evaporate into the digital ether, right? Not so fast! Researchers in Greece have discovered a security loophole that exploits the way computer memory works and could be used to harvest passwords and other sensitive data from a PC even if it is in standby mode.

Minimally invasive building renovations with prefabricated window modules Posted: 08 Aug 2012 07:45 AM PDT Renovation projects to improve the energy performance of residential buildings involve a lot of messy construction work. Researchers have come up with a new modernization concept that reduces on-site installation times. Prefabricated multifunctional window modules offer a more convenient alternative to the usual renovation methods.

The spin racket: Ping-pong champs are intuitive masters of fluid dynamics Posted: 08 Aug 2012 07:44 AM PDT Curve balls may help a pitcher strike out batters in baseball; and some nasty spin can make an opponent sweat to return a tennis serve. But more so than in any other ball game, in table tennis – where the ball is so light and so small –dedicated players must master the physics of spin.

Cost-effective production of infrared lenses Posted: 08 Aug 2012 06:38 AM PDT If visibility is poor, thermal cameras can warn drivers of people or animals on the road. Yet such devices have been very expensive – until now. An important step has been taken to manufacture them more cheaply. A new process will make the infrared lenses – a component of such cameras – up to 70 percent cheaper.

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