ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• NASA's polar robotic ranger passes first Greenland test
• Nano-tool for designing the next big battery: Eavesdropping on lithium ions
• Buckling up to turn: Marine microbes change swimming direction via a high-speed mechanical instability
• 135-year-old meteorite mystery solved? Chondrules may have formed from high-pressure collisions in early solar system
• Breakthrough could lead to 'artificial skin' that senses touch, humidity and temperature
• Not-weak knots bolster carbon fiber
• How well can you see with your ears? Device offers new alternative to blind people
• New metallic bubble wrap offers big benefits over other protective materials
• Robot mom would beat robot butler in popularity contest
• Scientists solve titanic puzzle of popular photocatalyst
• Brain and eye combined monitoring breakthrough could lead to fewer road accidents
• Enhanced yet affordable material for supercapacitors
• Matter-antimatter asymmetry: Using the sun to illuminate a basic mystery of matter
• Historical clues to Stradivari's craft: Evidence that violin maker's workmanship was based on traditions of ancient artists
• Zombies offer key to understanding how crowds evacuate
• Cosmic dust belts without dust
• Light transistor: Efficient transistor for light could lead to optical computers
• Math game more effective than paper exercises
• Detection of single photons via quantum entanglement

NASA's polar robotic ranger passes first Greenland test Posted: 08 Jul 2013 11:33 AM PDT Defying 30 mph gusts and temperatures down to minus 22 F, NASA's new polar rover recently demonstrated in Greenland that it could operate completely autonomously in one of Earth's harshest environments.

Nano-tool for designing the next big battery: Eavesdropping on lithium ions Posted: 08 Jul 2013 11:33 AM PDT It's a jungle down there at batteries' atomic level, with ions whacking into electrodes, eventually causing the battery to fail. Now, a scientist has developed a device that lets researchers spy on the actions of lithium ions inside a nanobattery -- and use that data to develop better, longer-lasting batteries to power everything from electric cars to cell phones.

Buckling up to turn: Marine microbes change swimming direction via a high-speed mechanical instability Posted: 08 Jul 2013 11:33 AM PDT Bacteria swim by rotating the helical, hairlike flagella that extend from their unicellular bodies. Some bacteria, including the Escherichia coli (E. coli) living in the human gut, have multiple flagella that rotate as a bundle to move the cell forward. These cells turn somewhat acrobatically by unbundling their flagella, causing the cell to tumble, reorient and strike out in another direction.

135-year-old meteorite mystery solved? Chondrules may have formed from high-pressure collisions in early solar system Posted: 08 Jul 2013 11:29 AM PDT A normally staid scientist has stunned many of his colleagues with his radical solution to a 135-year-old mystery in cosmochemistry. At issue is how numerous small, glassy spherules had become embedded within specimens of the largest class of meteorites—the chondrites.

Breakthrough could lead to 'artificial skin' that senses touch, humidity and temperature Posted: 08 Jul 2013 09:44 AM PDT Using tiny gold particles and a kind of resin, a team of scientists has discovered how to make a new kind of flexible sensor that one day could be integrated into electronic skin, or e-skin. If scientists learn how to attach e-skin to prosthetic limbs, people with amputations might once again be able to feel changes in their environments.

Not-weak knots bolster carbon fiber Posted: 08 Jul 2013 08:51 AM PDT Scientists have created carbon fiber from graphene oxide flakes. The surprising strength of knots in the fiber should make it suitable for advanced fabrics.

How well can you see with your ears? Device offers new alternative to blind people Posted: 08 Jul 2013 08:51 AM PDT A device that trains the brain to turn sounds into images could be used as an alternative to invasive treatment for blind and partially-sighted people, researchers have found.

New metallic bubble wrap offers big benefits over other protective materials Posted: 08 Jul 2013 08:49 AM PDT Researchers have developed a new metallic bubble wrap that is lighter, stronger and more flexible than sheet metal and more heat- and chemical-resistant than plastic or other polymer-based bubble wraps. Potential applications include automobile body panels, the wing edges of airplanes, suitcases, helmets and cases for computers and other electronic devices.

Robot mom would beat robot butler in popularity contest Posted: 08 Jul 2013 08:49 AM PDT If you tickle a robot, it may not laugh, but you may still consider it humanlike -- depending on its role in your life, reports an international group of researchers.

Scientists solve titanic puzzle of popular photocatalyst Posted: 08 Jul 2013 08:49 AM PDT A breakthrough in our understanding of the properties of titania (titanium dioxide) -- the basis of self-cleaning window technology -- has been made by scientists, uncovering a decades old misunderstanding that has clouded our knowledge of how mixed phase titania catalysts operate.

Brain and eye combined monitoring breakthrough could lead to fewer road accidents Posted: 08 Jul 2013 08:49 AM PDT Latest advances in capturing data on brain activity and eye movement are being combined to open up a host of 'mindreading' possibilities for the future. These include the potential development of a system that can detect when drivers are in danger of falling asleep at the wheel.

Enhanced yet affordable material for supercapacitors Posted: 08 Jul 2013 07:35 AM PDT Scientists have developed a new method to massively synthesize enhanced yet affordable materials for supercapacitors.

Matter-antimatter asymmetry: Using the sun to illuminate a basic mystery of matter Posted: 08 Jul 2013 07:34 AM PDT Antimatter has been detected in solar flares via microwave and magnetic-field data, according to researchers. The finding sheds light on the puzzling strong asymmetry between matter and antimatter by gathering data on a very large scale using the Sun as a laboratory.

Historical clues to Stradivari's craft: Evidence that violin maker's workmanship was based on traditions of ancient artists Posted: 08 Jul 2013 07:33 AM PDT Scientists have used a range of analytical methods to identify the techniques used by violin master Antonio Stradivari in the 17th century, and attempted to replicate his craftsmanship. Antonio Stradivari is universally recognized as one of the most famous violin makers in the world. During his life, he and his apprentices built more than a thousand violins, violas, cellos and other stringed instruments.

Zombies offer key to understanding how crowds evacuate Posted: 08 Jul 2013 07:32 AM PDT Zombies might not be the most obvious candidates to use when researching how crowds evacuate buildings, but they have proved a key factor in a new study into crowd behaviour.

Cosmic dust belts without dust Posted: 08 Jul 2013 07:29 AM PDT Planets and asteroids, red giants and brown dwarfs – there are all kinds of objects in our Universe. Debris disks are among them. These are belts consisting of countless dust particles and planetesimals, circling around one central star. Debris disks are an important piece in the puzzle to be able to better understand the variety of planetary systems.

Light transistor: Efficient transistor for light could lead to optical computers Posted: 08 Jul 2013 07:29 AM PDT Light can oscillate in different directions, as we can see in the 3-D cinema: Each lens of the glasses only allows light of a particular oscillation direction to pass through. However, changing the polarization direction of light without a large part of it being lost is difficult. Scientists have now managed this feat, using a type of light – terahertz radiation – that is of particular technological importance.

Math game more effective than paper exercises Posted: 08 Jul 2013 07:29 AM PDT To measure the effectiveness of Monkey Tales, a study was carried out with 88 second grade pupils divided into three groups. One group was asked to play the game for a period of three weeks while the second group had to solve similar math exercises on paper and a third group received no assignment. The math performance of the children was measured using an electronic arithmetic test before and after the test period.

Detection of single photons via quantum entanglement Posted: 08 Jul 2013 07:29 AM PDT Almost 200 years ago, Bavarian physicist Joseph von Fraunhofer discovered dark lines in the sun's spectrum. It was later discovered that these spectral lines can be used to infer the chemical composition and temperature of the sun's atmosphere. Today we are able to gain information about diverse objects through light measurements in a similar way. Because often very little light needs to be detected for this, physicists are looking for ever more sensitive spectroscopy methods. In extreme cases, also single particles of light (photons) need to be measured reliably, which is technically challenging.

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