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Friday, January 11, 2013

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

ScienceDaily: Top Technology News


NASA's GALEX reveals the largest-known spiral galaxy

Posted: 10 Jan 2013 02:08 PM PST

The spectacular barred spiral galaxy NGC 6872 has ranked among the biggest stellar systems for decades. Now astronomers have crowned it the largest-known spiral.

Cloudy mystery solved: A puzzling cloud near the galaxy's center may hold clues to how stars are born

Posted: 10 Jan 2013 11:21 AM PST

It's the mystery of the curiously dense cloud. And astronomers are on the case. Despite being very dense, the cloud -- situated near the crowded galactic center -- does not form many stars. But now astronomers have discovered why.

A rock is a clock: Physicist uses matter to tell time

Posted: 10 Jan 2013 11:21 AM PST

What is the simplest, most fundamental clock? Physicists have shown that a single atom is sufficient to measure time using its high-frequency matter wave. Conversely, the frequency of matter can be used to define its mass. The feat is a fundamental demonstration of wave-particle duality central to quantum mechanics.

New material harvests energy from water vapor

Posted: 10 Jan 2013 11:21 AM PST

Engineers have created a new polymer film that can generate electricity by drawing on a ubiquitous source: water vapor.

New nanotech fiber: Robust handling, shocking performance

Posted: 10 Jan 2013 11:21 AM PST

Scientists have created the first pure carbon nanotube fibers that combine many of the best features of highly conductive metal wires, strong carbon fibers and pliable textile thread. Researchers have now developed an industrially scalable process for making the threadlike fibers, which outperform commercially available products in a number of ways.

Molecular machine could hold key to more efficient manufacturing

Posted: 10 Jan 2013 11:21 AM PST

An industrial revolution on a minute scale is taking place in the laboratory with the development of a highly complex machine that mimics how molecules are made in nature.

Scientists design, control movements of molecular motor; Study offers blueprint for creating machines at the nanoscale

Posted: 10 Jan 2013 08:17 AM PST

An international team of scientists has taken the next step in creating nanoscale machines by designing a multi-component molecular motor that can be moved clockwise and counterclockwise.

NASA researchers studying advanced nuclear rocket technologies

Posted: 10 Jan 2013 07:35 AM PST

Advanced propulsion researchers at NASA are a step closer to solving the challenge of safely sending human explorers to Mars and other solar system destinations. By using an innovative test facility at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, researchers are able to use non-nuclear materials to simulate nuclear thermal rocket fuels -- ones capable of propelling bold new exploration missions to the Red Planet and beyond.

Solving puzzles without a picture: New algorithm assembles chromosomes from next generation sequencing data

Posted: 10 Jan 2013 07:24 AM PST

One of the most difficult problems in the field of genomics is assembling short "reads" of DNA into complete chromosomes. Now an interdisciplinary group of genome and computer scientists has solved this problem, creating an algorithm that can rapidly create "virtual chromosomes" with no prior information about how the genome is organized.

Death on a nanometer scale: Study measures holes antibacterials create in cell walls

Posted: 10 Jan 2013 06:43 AM PST

Researchers have created a biophysical model of the response of a Gram-positive bacterium to the formation of a hole in its cell wall, then used experimental measurements to validate the theory.

Scientists develop strongest, lightest glass nanofibers in the world

Posted: 10 Jan 2013 04:54 AM PST

Globally the quest has been on to find ultrahigh strength composites, leading scientists to investigate light, ultrahigh strength nanowires that are not compromised by defects. Historically, carbon nanotubes were the strongest material available, but high strengths could only be measured in very short samples just a few microns long, providing little practical value. Now research has resulted in the creation of the strongest, lightest weight silica nanofibers -- 'nanowires' that are 15 times stronger than steel and can be manufactured in lengths potentially of thousands of kilometers.

A jumble of exotic stars: New VISTA snap of star cluster 47 Tucanae

Posted: 10 Jan 2013 04:54 AM PST

A new infrared image from the European Southern Observatory's VISTA telescope shows the globular cluster 47 Tucanae in striking detail. This cluster contains millions of stars, and there are many nestled at its core that are exotic and display unusual properties. Studying objects within clusters like 47 Tucanae may help us to understand how these oddballs form and interact.

Life possible on extrasolar moons

Posted: 10 Jan 2013 04:53 AM PST

In their search for habitable worlds, astronomers have started to consider exomoons, or those likely orbiting planets outside the solar system. In a new study, a pair of researchers has found that exomoons are just as likely to support life as exoplanets. 

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