ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Injectable 3-D vaccines could fight cancer, infectious diseases
• Visualizing DNA double-strand break process for the first time
• Wind farms to do not affect property values, study finds
• Saturn's largest moon is a windy place: Titan dune puzzle solved
• World record for compact particle accelerator: Researchers ramp up energy of laser-plasma 'tabletop' accelerator
• Warm gas pours 'cold water' on galaxy's star-making
• NASA's Curiosity rover finds clues to how water helped shape Martian landscape
• Finding Achilles' heel of GaN-based LEDs in harsh radiation environments
• Complex mineralogy on the Red Planet: First X-ray diffraction measurements on Mars
• Powering space craft of the future
• New technique allows low-cost creation of 3-D nanostructures
• Fracking and pollution: Technology-dependent emissions of gas extraction in the US
• Easy measurement of the effect of fine dust
• Is it okay to vet candidates on social media during recruitment?
• Unusual electronic state found in new class of unconventional superconductors
• Physicist presents new observational solar weather model
• Scientists reveal parchment's hidden stories
• Optogenetics: Identifying new targets for intervention
• Crowdsourcing advances epileptic seizure detection, prediction
• Ultrafast complex molecular simulations by ‘cutting up molecules’
• Blood brain barrier on a chip could stand in for children in pediatric brain research
• Predicting the storm: Can computer models improve stem cell transplantation?

Injectable 3-D vaccines could fight cancer, infectious diseases Posted: 08 Dec 2014 02:07 PM PST A non-surgical injection of programmable biomaterial that spontaneously assembles in vivo into a 3-D structure could fight and even help prevent cancer and also infectious disease such as HIV, scientists have demonstrated. Tiny biodegradable rod-like structures made from silica, known as mesoporous silica rods (MSRs), can be loaded with biological and chemical drug components and then delivered by needle just underneath the skin, they explain.

Visualizing DNA double-strand break process for the first time Posted: 08 Dec 2014 11:57 AM PST Scientists have developed a method for producing biological crystals that has allowed scientists to observe -- for the first time -- DNA double chain breaks. They have also developed a computer simulation that makes this process, which lasts in the order of millionths of a second, visible to the human eye.

Wind farms to do not affect property values, study finds Posted: 08 Dec 2014 11:56 AM PST Wind turbine developments have no effect on property values of nearby homes and farms, according to new Canadian research. Researchers analyzed more than 7,000 home and farm sales in Melancthon Township and 10 surrounding townships in Dufferin, Grey, Simcoe and Wellington counties. Melancthon, located about 100 kilometres northwest of Toronto, is home to one of Ontario's first and largest wind farms; 133 wind turbines were erected between 2005 and 2008.

Saturn's largest moon is a windy place: Titan dune puzzle solved Posted: 08 Dec 2014 11:44 AM PST Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is a peculiar place. Unlike any other moon, it has a dense atmosphere. It has rivers and lakes made up of components of natural gas, such as ethane and methane. It also has windswept dunes that are hundreds of yards high, more than a mile wide and hundreds of miles long -- despite data suggesting the body to have only light breezes. Winds on Titan must blow faster than previously thought to move sand. The discovery may explain how the dunes were formed.

World record for compact particle accelerator: Researchers ramp up energy of laser-plasma 'tabletop' accelerator Posted: 08 Dec 2014 10:56 AM PST Using one of the most powerful lasers in the world, researchers have accelerated subatomic particles to the highest energies ever recorded from a compact accelerator. The team used a specialized petawatt laser and a charged-particle gas called plasma to get the particles up to speed. The setup is known as a laser-plasma accelerator, an emerging class of particle accelerators that physicists believe can shrink traditional, miles-long accelerators to machines that can fit on a table.

Warm gas pours 'cold water' on galaxy's star-making Posted: 08 Dec 2014 09:43 AM PST Some like it hot, but for creating new stars, a cool cosmic environment is ideal. As a new study suggests, a surge of warm gas into a nearby galaxy -- left over from the devouring of a separate galaxy -- has extinguished star formation by agitating the available chilled gas.

NASA's Curiosity rover finds clues to how water helped shape Martian landscape Posted: 08 Dec 2014 09:29 AM PST Observations by NASA's Curiosity Rover indicate Mars' Mount Sharp was built by sediments deposited in a large lake bed over tens of millions of years. This interpretation of Curiosity's finds in Gale Crater suggests ancient Mars maintained a climate that could have produced long-lasting lakes at many locations on the Red Planet.

Finding Achilles' heel of GaN-based LEDs in harsh radiation environments Posted: 08 Dec 2014 07:54 AM PST Proton irradiation of gallium nitride causes more damage in p-type material than n- doped layers, scientists have discovered. This unexpected finding is important for the application of GaN-based devices in extreme environments.

Complex mineralogy on the Red Planet: First X-ray diffraction measurements on Mars Posted: 08 Dec 2014 07:54 AM PST In 2012 the Mars Science Laboratory landed in the fascinating Gale crater. The Gale crater is of such great interest because of the 5.5 km high mountain of layered materials in the middle. This material tells an intricate story of the history of Mars, perhaps spanning much of the existence of this mysterious planet. CheMin is one of ten instruments on or inside Curiosity, all designed to provide detailed information on the rocks, soils and atmosphere. CheMin is actually a miniaturized X-ray diffraction/X-ray fluorescence (XRD/XRF) instrument.

Powering space craft of the future Posted: 08 Dec 2014 06:31 AM PST Engineers are working on powering future 'giant leaps' for mankind.

New technique allows low-cost creation of 3-D nanostructures Posted: 08 Dec 2014 04:45 AM PST Researchers have developed a new lithography technique that uses nanoscale spheres to create 3-D structures with biomedical, electronic and photonic applications. The new technique is less expensive than conventional methods and does not rely on stacking two-dimensional patterns to create 3-D structures.

Fracking and pollution: Technology-dependent emissions of gas extraction in the US Posted: 08 Dec 2014 04:43 AM PST Not all boreholes are the same. Scientists used mobile measurement equipment to analyze gaseous compounds emitted by the extraction of oil and natural gas in the US. For the first time, organic pollutants emitted during a fracking process were measured at a high temporal resolution using a vapor capture system. The highest values measured by this process exceeded typical mean values in urban air by a factor of about one thousand.

Easy measurement of the effect of fine dust Posted: 08 Dec 2014 04:43 AM PST Fine dusts from industry, traffic, and households are omnipresent. Still, they are difficult to capture by reliable medical measurements. Researchers have now developed an exposure system, by means of which biological cells are exposed to fine dust-loaded air flows in an exact and reproducible manner. Using this system, it is possible to collect data on the adverse impact of fine dusts of variable sources in a rapid and inexpensive manner and without animal experiments being needed.

Is it okay to vet candidates on social media during recruitment? Posted: 08 Dec 2014 04:43 AM PST The practice of cybervetting potential employees online as part of the recruitment process is the focus of recent study. Is such surveillance an unethical invasion of privacy? Or, is it simply a way for employers to enhance their review of formal credentials to ensure a good person-environment fit? The authors explore the legitimacy and outcomes of this practice following interviews with 45 recruiting managers.

Unusual electronic state found in new class of unconventional superconductors Posted: 08 Dec 2014 04:41 AM PST Scientists have discovered an unusual form of electronic order in a new family of unconventional superconductors, giving scientists a new group of materials to explore to understand the ability to carry current with no energy loss. Harnessing the power of superconductivity, or the ability of certain materials to conduct electricity with zero energy loss, is one of the most exciting possibilities for creating a more energy-efficient future.

Physicist presents new observational solar weather model Posted: 08 Dec 2014 04:41 AM PST Scientists now have an observational framework to help predict solar weather. Being able to predict such events is important because a powerful direct hit by a coronal mass ejection (CME) is like a huge space hurricane that can deform Earth's magnetic field and fry the circuits of orbiting satellites, spacecraft and delicate terrestrial electronics.

Scientists reveal parchment's hidden stories Posted: 07 Dec 2014 07:27 PM PST Millions of documents stored in archives could provide scientists with the key to tracing the development of agriculture in the British Isles over the last 700 years, according to new research.

Optogenetics: Identifying new targets for intervention Posted: 07 Dec 2014 06:14 AM PST The reliability of optogenetics as a method of intervention of temporal lobe seizures, and the role the cerebellum may play in hippocampal function and seizure reduction, have been the focus of recent study. Optogenetics is one of the hottest tools in biomedical research today, a method that uses gene therapy to deliver light-sensitive proteins into specific cells.

Crowdsourcing advances epileptic seizure detection, prediction Posted: 06 Dec 2014 08:12 AM PST An international competition using the wisdom of crowds has developed computer algorithms to detect, predict, and ultimately prevent epileptic seizures. A total of five-hundred and four teams competed in two challenges, one for Seizure Detection and a second for Seizure Prediction.

Ultrafast complex molecular simulations by ‘cutting up molecules’ Posted: 05 Dec 2014 02:51 PM PST Scientists have developed an ultrafast quantum chemical method, which allows rapid and accurate simulations of complex molecular systems consisting of thousands of molecules.

Blood brain barrier on a chip could stand in for children in pediatric brain research Posted: 05 Dec 2014 08:35 AM PST Bioengineering researchers have come up with an experimental workaround -- a synthetic pediatric blood-brain barrier on a small chip -- and have tested it successfully using rat brain endothelial cells (RBECs) from rat pups and human endothelial cells.

Predicting the storm: Can computer models improve stem cell transplantation? Posted: 05 Dec 2014 06:49 AM PST Is the human immune system similar to the weather, a seemingly random yet dynamical system that can be modeled based on past conditions to predict future states? Scientists believe it is.

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