ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Sliding metals show fluidlike behavior, new clues to wear
• Planets can form in the galactic center
• Body heat, fermentation drive new drug-delivery 'micropump'
• Length of yellow caution traffic lights could prevent accidents, researchers say
• Improved nanoparticles deliver drugs into brain
• Microbiologist patents process to improve biofuel production
• Vesta in Dawn's rear view mirror
• Extreme Life Forms Might be Able to Survive on Eccentric Exoplanets
• NASA Observations Point to 'Dry Ice' Snowfall on Mars
• Was Kepler's supernova unusually powerful?
• Engineers built a supercomputer from 64 Raspberry Pi computers and Lego
• High-temperature superconductivity induced in a semiconductor with Scotch tape
• Public maps out an A to Z of galaxies

Sliding metals show fluidlike behavior, new clues to wear Posted: 11 Sep 2012 12:19 PM PDT Researchers have discovered a swirling fluid-like behavior in a solid piece of metal sliding over another, providing new insights into the mechanisms of wear and generation of machined surfaces that could help improve the durability of metal parts.

Planets can form in the galactic center Posted: 11 Sep 2012 12:19 PM PDT At first glance, the center of the Milky Way seems like a very inhospitable place to try to form a planet. Powerful gravitational forces from a supermassive black hole twist and warp the fabric of space itself. Yet new research by astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics shows that planets still can form in this cosmic maelstrom.

Body heat, fermentation drive new drug-delivery 'micropump' Posted: 11 Sep 2012 12:19 PM PDT Researchers have created a new type of miniature pump activated by body heat that could be used in drug-delivery patches powered by fermentation.

Length of yellow caution traffic lights could prevent accidents, researchers say Posted: 11 Sep 2012 12:18 PM PDT Researchers are studying drivers' behaviors as they approach yellow lights. Their goal is to determine signal times for intersections that are safer and still efficient.

Improved nanoparticles deliver drugs into brain Posted: 11 Sep 2012 12:18 PM PDT The brain is a notoriously difficult organ to treat, but researchers report they are one step closer to having a drug-delivery system flexible enough to overcome some key challenges posed by brain cancer and perhaps other maladies affecting that organ.

Microbiologist patents process to improve biofuel production Posted: 11 Sep 2012 12:18 PM PDT Biofuel production can be an expensive process that requires considerable fossil fuels, but a Missouri S&T microbiologist's patented process could reduce the cost and the reliance on fossil fuels, while streamlining the process.

Vesta in Dawn's rear view mirror Posted: 11 Sep 2012 12:11 PM PDT NASA's Dawn mission is releasing two parting views of the giant asteroid Vesta, using images that were among the last taken by the spacecraft as it departed its companion for the last year.

Extreme Life Forms Might be Able to Survive on Eccentric Exoplanets Posted: 11 Sep 2012 12:09 PM PDT Astronomers have discovered a veritable rogues' gallery of odd exoplanets -- from scorching hot worlds with molten surfaces to frigid ice balls. And while the hunt continues for the elusive "blue dot" -- a planet with roughly the same characteristics as Earth -- new research reveals that life might actually be able to survive on some of the many exoplanetary oddballs that exist.

NASA Observations Point to 'Dry Ice' Snowfall on Mars Posted: 11 Sep 2012 12:08 PM PDT NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter data have given scientists the clearest evidence yet of carbon-dioxide snowfalls on Mars. This reveals the only known example of carbon-dioxide snow falling anywhere in our solar system. Frozen carbon dioxide, better known as "dry ice," requires temperatures of about minus 193 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 125 Celsius), which is much colder than needed for freezing water. Carbon-dioxide snow reminds scientists that although some parts of Mars may look quite Earth-like, the Red Planet is very different.

Was Kepler's supernova unusually powerful? Posted: 11 Sep 2012 10:26 AM PDT A new analysis of Kepler's supernova suggests that the supernova explosion was not only more powerful, but might have also occurred at a greater distance, than previously thought.

Engineers built a supercomputer from 64 Raspberry Pi computers and Lego Posted: 11 Sep 2012 09:51 AM PDT Computational engineers have built a supercomputer from 64 Raspberry Pi computers and Lego. The son of one of the professors (aged 6) provided specialist support on Lego and system testing.

High-temperature superconductivity induced in a semiconductor with Scotch tape Posted: 11 Sep 2012 08:28 AM PDT An international team has developed a simple new technique using Scotch poster tape that has enabled them to induce high-temperature superconductivity in a semiconductor for the first time. The method paves the way for novel new devices that could be used in quantum computing and to improve energy efficiency.

Public maps out an A to Z of galaxies Posted: 11 Sep 2012 06:17 AM PDT Members of the public have constructed an A to Z of galaxies in the night sky. Volunteers participating in the Galaxy Zoo project have been helping scientists gain new insights by classifying galaxies seen in hundreds of thousands of telescope images as spiral or elliptical. Along the way they've also stumbled across odd-looking galaxies which resemble each letter of the alphabet.

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