ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• New NASA mission to take first look deep inside Mars
• Curiosity stretches its arm
• First evidence discovered of planet's destruction by its star
• Nanoparticles added to platelets double internal injury survival rate: Early lab study hold promise for trauma cases
• Boon to fusion: New way to predict heat layer troublemaker
• Patterning defect-free nanocrystal films with nanometer resolution
• Teaching a microbe to make fuel
• Powerful new chip helps diagnose disease, analyzes protein interactions
• Scientists shed light on glowing materials
• Next generation 3-D theater: Optical science makes glasses a thing of the past
• Fueling the future with renewable gasoline and diesel
• Imprisoned molecules 'quantum rattle' in their cages
• Neural interface for hand prosthesis can restore function in brain areas responsible for motor control
• Big Bang theory challenged by big chill
• Why aren't there more stars?
• New biorefinery finds treasure in Starbucks' spent coffee grounds and stale bakery goods

New NASA mission to take first look deep inside Mars Posted: 20 Aug 2012 05:22 PM PDT NASA has selected a new mission, set to launch in 2016, that will take the first look into the deep interior of Mars to see why the Red Planet evolved so differently from Earth as one of our solar system's rocky planets. The new mission, named InSight, will place instruments on the Martian surface to investigate whether the core of Mars is solid or liquid like Earth's, and why Mars' crust is not divided into tectonic plates that drift like Earth's. Detailed knowledge of the interior of Mars in comparison to Earth will help scientists understand better how terrestrial planets form and evolve.

Curiosity stretches its arm Posted: 20 Aug 2012 05:14 PM PDT NASA's Mars rover Curiosity flexed its robotic arm Aug. 20, 2012 for the first time since before launch in November 2011. The 7-foot-long (2.1-meter-long) arm maneuvers a turret of tools including a camera, a drill, a spectrometer, a scoop and mechanisms for sieving and portioning samples of powdered rock and soil.

First evidence discovered of planet's destruction by its star Posted: 20 Aug 2012 02:07 PM PDT The first evidence of a planet's destruction by its aging star has been discovered by an international team of astronomers. A similar fate may await the Earth and other inner planets in our solar system, when the sun expands all the way out to Earth's orbit some five-billion years from now.

Nanoparticles added to platelets double internal injury survival rate: Early lab study hold promise for trauma cases Posted: 20 Aug 2012 01:11 PM PDT Naonparticles tailored to latch onto blood platelets rapidly create healthy clots and nearly double the survival rate in the vital first hour after injury lab research shows.

Boon to fusion: New way to predict heat layer troublemaker Posted: 20 Aug 2012 12:22 PM PDT Researchers at a recent worldwide conference on fusion power have confirmed the surprising accuracy of a new model for predicting the size of a key barrier to fusion.

Patterning defect-free nanocrystal films with nanometer resolution Posted: 20 Aug 2012 11:39 AM PDT A new process could enable better LED displays, solar cells and biosensors -- and foster basic physics research.

Teaching a microbe to make fuel Posted: 20 Aug 2012 11:39 AM PDT A genetically modified organism could turn carbon dioxide or waste products into a gasoline-compatible transportation fuel.

Powerful new chip helps diagnose disease, analyzes protein interactions Posted: 20 Aug 2012 10:23 AM PDT Researchers have synthesized a grid-like array of short pieces of a disease-associated protein on silicon chips normally used in computer microprocessors.

Scientists shed light on glowing materials Posted: 20 Aug 2012 09:11 AM PDT Researchers have succeeded in mapping how light behaves in complex photonic materials inspired by nature, like iridescent butterfly wings. Scientists have broken the limit of light resolution at the nanoscale and delivered a fundamental insight into how light and matter interact, which could lead to the development of enhanced bio-sensors for healthcare and more efficient solar cells and displays.

Next generation 3-D theater: Optical science makes glasses a thing of the past Posted: 20 Aug 2012 09:11 AM PDT Even with current digital technology, the latest Hollywood blockbusters still rely on clunky glasses to achieve a convincing 3-D effect. New optics research offers the prospect of glasses-free, 3-D display technology for commercial theaters. Their new technique uses space more efficiently and is cheaper than current 3-D projection technology.

Fueling the future with renewable gasoline and diesel Posted: 20 Aug 2012 09:10 AM PDT A new process for converting municipal waste, algae, corn stalks and similar material to gasoline, diesel and jet fuel is showing the same promise in larger plants as it did in laboratory-scale devices, the developers have reported.

Imprisoned molecules 'quantum rattle' in their cages Posted: 20 Aug 2012 08:41 AM PDT Scientists have discovered that a space inside a special type of carbon molecule can be used to imprison other smaller molecules such as hydrogen or water.

Neural interface for hand prosthesis can restore function in brain areas responsible for motor control Posted: 20 Aug 2012 08:40 AM PDT Amputation disrupts not only the peripheral nervous system but also central structures of the brain. While the brain is able to adapt and compensate for injury in certain conditions, in amputees the traumatic event prevents adaptive cortical changes. A group of scientists reports adaptive plastic changes in an amputee's brain following implantation of multielectrode arrays inside peripheral nerves.

Big Bang theory challenged by big chill Posted: 20 Aug 2012 08:09 AM PDT The start of the Universe should be modeled not as a Big Bang but more like water freezing into ice, according to a team of theoretical physicists.

Why aren't there more stars? Posted: 20 Aug 2012 08:07 AM PDT Astronomers may have found the answer to a universal question: Why aren't there more stars?

New biorefinery finds treasure in Starbucks' spent coffee grounds and stale bakery goods Posted: 20 Aug 2012 06:37 AM PDT With 1.3 billion tons of food trashed, dumped in landfills and otherwise wasted around the world every year, scientists have described development and successful laboratory testing of a new "biorefinery" intended to change food waste into a key ingredient for making plastics, laundry detergents and scores of other everyday products.

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