Sci-Tech news

• Study finds that a comet's tail may shed light on solar wind heating

  13-10-2015 21:48
  
  We can't see the wind, but we can learn about it by observing things that are being blown about. And by studying changes in a comet's bright tail of gas and ions, scientists are on the trail to solving two big mysteries about the solar wind, the supersonic outflow of electrically charged gas from the Sun's million-degree upper atmosphere or corona.
  
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• In dryland African regions, limiting wildlife water access can reduce water quality

  13-10-2015 21:25
  
  Water-dependent wildlife populations in sensitive African dryland regions need continued access to limited surface water resources—even as human development increases in these areas—because restricting access and concentrating wildlife populations along riparian regions can impact water quality and, potentially, human health, according to Virginia Tech research published this week in the journal PLOS ONE.
  
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• Hubble's planetary portrait captures changes in Jupiter's Great Red Spot

  13-10-2015 21:24
  
  Scientists using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have produced new maps of Jupiter that show the continuing changes in its famous Great Red Spot. The images also reveal a rare wave structure in the planet's atmosphere that has not been seen for decades. The new image is the first in a series of annual portraits of the Solar System's outer planets, which will give us new glimpses of these remote worlds, and help scientists to study how they change over time.
  
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• Straight up, with a twist: New model derives homochirality from basic life requirements

  13-10-2015 21:18
  
  Life is quirky. Although the molecules that make up all living things obey physical and chemical laws, they do so with a puzzling twist. How did the distinctive molecular features of life emerge, and what can they tell us about life on Earth and elsewhere in the universe?
  
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• Suomi NPP spots twenty-fifth tropical depression in Northwestern Pacific

  13-10-2015 21:12
  
  2015 has been an active year for tropical cyclones in the northwestern Pacific Ocean as NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite spotted the twenty-fifth tropical depression.
  
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• Suomi NPP gets an infrared look at Tropical Storm Nora

  13-10-2015 21:08
  
  Tropical Storm Nora's cloud top temperatures appeared to be warming up on infrared imagery from NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite. Warming cloud top temperatures means less uplift in the air and a weaker storm. Nora is on a weakening trend according to NOAA's Central Pacific Hurricane Center as wind shear continues to batter the storm.
  
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• NASA sees birth of Tropical Storm Koppu in Northwestern Pacific

  13-10-2015 21:07
  
  Tropical Storm Koppu formed in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean as a depression early on October 13 as NASA's Terra satellite passed over the storm and quickly intensified.
  
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• Facebook 'On This Day' Feature Introduces New Filters

  13-10-2015 20:24
  
  Facebook's "On This Day" feature has brought up a lot of happy memories, but it's also dredged up moments some users would rather not re-live.
  
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• Twitter sidelines sports highlight accounts

  13-10-2015 20:03
  
  Twitter sidelined a pair of popular sports publication accounts after fielding complaints they ran afoul of copyright rules for sharing video snippets from US football games.
  
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• New research maps areas most vulnerable to ocean acidification

  13-10-2015 20:01
  
  New NOAA-led research maps the distribution of aragonite saturation state in both surface and subsurface waters of the global ocean and provides further evidence that ocean acidification is happening on a global scale. The study identifies the Arctic and Antarctic oceans, and the upwelling ocean waters off the west coasts of North America, South America and Africa as regions that are especially vulnerable to ocean acidification.
  
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• Engineers quantify amount of Android root exploits available in commercial software

  13-10-2015 19:57
  
  In recent years the practice of Android rooting, that is the process of allowing an Android phone or tablet to bypass restrictions set by carriers, operating systems or hardware manufacturers, has become increasingly popular.
  
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• Video: Nanobots: The rise of the molecular machines

  13-10-2015 19:56
  
  Nanomachines - including nano-sized motors, rockets and even cars - are many orders of magnitude smaller than a human cell, but they have huge promise. In the future, they could deliver drugs anywhere in the body, clean up oil spills and might even be used as artificial muscle cells.
  
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• Research shows diversity can improve stores' sales performance

  13-10-2015 19:53
  
  Matching levels of racial diversity between store employees and the surrounding community impacts the store unit's sales performance, according to a new study from the Naveen Jindal School of Management at UT Dallas.
  
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• Plant hormone 'switch' unravels chromatin to form flowers, biologists find

  13-10-2015 19:52
  
  Because plants cannot pick up and move, they have evolved a plethora of strategies to cope with environmental stresses, whether they bring a harsh spell of drought or a browsing deer.
  
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• Manuscript at the click of a button

  13-10-2015 19:48
  
  Data collection and analysis are at the core of modern research, and often take months or even years during which researchers remain uncredited for their contribution. A new plugin to a workflow previously developed by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and Pensoft, and tested with datasets shared through GBIF and DataONE, now makes it possible to convert metadata into a manuscript for scholarly publications, with a click of a button.
  
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• Research sheds new light on the Great Recession

  13-10-2015 19:46
  
  It's no secret that a housing bubble kicked off the financial crisis that began in 2007, rippling through institutions caught holding subprime mortgages. But a fresh look suggests much of the lingering damage was caused by the forced sale of corporate bonds at below-market prices, starting a chain reaction that cascaded through the supply chain.
  
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• NASA sees the short life of Tropical Cyclone 03A

  13-10-2015 19:40
  
  Tropical Cyclone 03A formed in the Arabian Sea, Northern Indian Ocean on October 10 and by October 12 it weakened to a remnant low pressure area. NASA's Terra satellite happened over the storm when it developed and caught a visible image of this short-lived storm.
  
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• Scientific breakthrough can lead to cheaper and environmentally friendly solar cells

  13-10-2015 19:37
  
  The hope is to develop efficient and environmentally friendly solar energy applications. Solar energy is an inexhaustible resource that we currently only utilise to a very limited extent. Researchers around the world are therefore trying to find new and more efficient ways to use the energy in sunlight.
  
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• Building a better liposome

  13-10-2015 19:36
  
  Using computational modeling, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, the Colorado School of Mines and the University of California, Davis have come up with a design for a better liposome. Their findings, while theoretical, could provide the basis for efficiently constructing new vehicles for nanodrug delivery.
  
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• Toward clearer, cheaper imaging of ultrafast phenomena

  13-10-2015 19:34
  
  Many mysteries of nature are locked up in the world of the very small and the very fast. Chemical reactions and material phase transitions, for example, happen on the scale of atoms—which are about one tenth of one billionth of a meter across—and attoseconds—which are one quintillionth (10^-18) of a second long. A research team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Massachusetts, in collaboration with the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech), Si
  
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• On the precision frontier: A new calculation holds promise for new physics

  13-10-2015 19:33
  
  A team of theoretical high-energy physicists in the Fermilab Lattice and MILC Collaborations has published a new high-precision calculation that could significantly advance the indirect search for physics beyond the Standard Model (SM). The calculation applies to a particularly rare decay of the B meson (a subatomic particle), which is sometimes also called a "penguin decay" process.
  
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• A resonator for electrons

  13-10-2015 19:30
  
  Resonators are an important tool in physics. The curved mirrors inside the resonators usually focus light waves that act, for instance, on atoms. Physicists at ETH Zurich have now managed to build a resonator for electrons and to direct the standing waves thus created onto an artificial atom.
  
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• Fin24.com | Twitter to cut 8% of workforce

  13-10-2015 19:01
  
  Twitter says it will slash 8% of its workforce as newly returned chief executive Jack Dorsey seeks to carve out a strategy to boost users and revenues for the platform.
  
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• High efficiency rating shines on Panasonic solar panel

  13-10-2015 19:00
  
  How to get more electricity from a given area of solar panels—this is an important question that scientists explore as companies focus on the future of solar panels. Inhabitat said Panasonic has developed the most efficient solar panel as it offers 22.5% sunlight conversion.
  
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• Mysterious oak leaf itch mite leaves its tiny bite mark across lower Plains

  13-10-2015 18:40
  
  The mysterious bug bites first appeared a few weeks ago.
  
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• “Halos” of Cosmic Rays and Magnetic Fields More Common Than Previously Thought

  13-10-2015 18:32 via scitechdaily.com
  
  Newly published research from the CHANG-ES consortium reveals that “halos” of cosmic rays and magnetic fields above and below the galaxies’ disks are much more common than previously thought. An international team of astronomers used the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) to study 35 edge-on spiral galaxies at distances from 11 million to […]
  The post “Halos” of Cosmic Rays and Magnetic Fields More Common Than Previously Thought appeared first on SciTech D
  
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• Drinking Water Contamination Likely from Hydraulic Fracturing Surface Releases, Not Migration from Gas Wells or Deep Shale Layers

  13-10-2015 18:08 via scitechdaily.com
  
  Engineers at Yale University reveal that the presence of organic compounds in groundwater aquifers in Pennsylvania is likely the result of surface releases from hydraulic fracturing operations and not migration from gas wells or deep shale layers. In the largest study of its kind, a Yale-led investigation found no evidence that trace contamination of organic […]
  The post Drinking Water Contamination Likely from Hydraulic Fracturing Surface Releases, Not Migration from Gas Wells or Deep Sh
  
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• Researchers learn how to keep pathogens, pests from traveling with grain

  13-10-2015 18:04
  
  University of Florida researchers say new research can help grain handlers and grain inspectors find key locations for pathogens and pests along rail routes in the United States and Australia.
  
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• Team extends the lifetime of atoms using a mirror

  13-10-2015 18:02
  
  Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have succeeded in an experiment where they get an artificial atom to survive ten times longer than normal by positioning the atom in front of a mirror. The findings were recently published in the journal Nature Physics.
  
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• India's TCS beats expectations with $928 million profit

  13-10-2015 17:58
  
  India's biggest IT outsourcing firm Tata Consultancy Services on Tuesday reported expectation-beating quarterly profits, citing robust orders from its core US and European markets.
  
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• EU lawmakers reject GM crop compromise

  13-10-2015 17:57
  
  EU lawmakers on Tuesday rejected a hard-won compromise which allows member states to decide for themselves whether or not to import Genetically Modified Organisms for use in food and animal feed.
  
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• Belief in higher returns from private equity may be misplaced

  13-10-2015 17:56
  
  New research at the Luxembourg School of Finance suggests that investor belief in higher returns by investing in private equity investment funds may be misplaced, calling into question their rising popularity.
  
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• Measurements of dinosaur body temperatures shed new light on 150-year debate

  13-10-2015 17:52
  
  Were dinosaurs really fast, aggressive hunters like the ones depicted in the movie "Jurassic World"? Or did they have lower metabolic rates that made them move more like today's alligators and crocodiles? For 150 years, scientists have debated the nature of dinosaurs' body temperatures and how those temperatures influenced their activity levels.
  
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• With this new universal wireless charger, compatibility won't be an issue

  13-10-2015 17:51
  
  A wireless charger that's compatible with different consumer electronics from different brands is one step closer to becoming a reality thanks to research by electrical engineers at the University of California, San Diego.
  
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• New Research Shows Individual Brain Activity Is As Unique As Fingerprints

  13-10-2015 17:50 via scitechdaily.com
  
  A newly published study from Yale University reveals that a person’s brain activity appears to be as unique as his or her fingerprints. These brain “connectivity profiles” alone allow researchers to identify individuals from the fMRI images of brain activity of more than 100 people, according to the study published October 12 in the journal […]
  The post New Research Shows Individual Brain Activity Is As Unique As Fingerprints appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• New gorgeous coffee tree species from Honduras is critically endangered

  13-10-2015 17:49
  
  Amid the challenging terrain of north-western Honduras, where Dr. Kelly's team faced rugged and steep forest areas cut across here and there by a few trails, a gorgeous tree with cherry-like fruits was discovered. Being about 10 metres (33 ft) high and covered with cream-colored flowers, it was quickly sorted into the Coffee family (Rubiaceae), but it was its further description that took much longer. Eventually, it was named Sommera cusocoana, with its specific name stemming from its so far onl
  
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• Workplace mentors benefit female employees more than men

  13-10-2015 17:47
  
  The success of online networking sites such as LinkedIn illustrates the popularity of building a wide-ranging contact list. Yet when it comes to raising one's profile within the workplace, female employees stand much to gain from formal, face-to-face mentoring programs, according to a new study.
  
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• Quantum coherent-like state observed in a biological protein for the first time

  13-10-2015 17:45
  
  If you take certain atoms and make them almost as cold as they possibly can be, the atoms will fuse into a collective low-energy quantum state called a Bose-Einstein condensate. In 1968 physicist Herbert Fröhlich predicted that a similar process at a much higher temperature could concentrate all of the vibrational energy in a biological protein into its lowest-frequency vibrational mode. Now scientists in Sweden and Germany have the first experimental evidence of such so-called Fröhlic
  
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• Researchers create light emitting diodes from food and beverage waste

  13-10-2015 17:44
  
  Most Christmas lights, DVD players, televisions and flashlights have one thing in common: they're made with light emitting diodes (LEDs). LEDs are widely used for a variety of applications and have been a popular, more efficient alternative to fluorescent and incandescent bulbs for the past few decades. Two University of Utah researchers have now found a way to create LEDs from food and beverage waste. In addition to utilizing food and beverage waste that would otherwise decompose and be of no u
  
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• Scientists track speed of powerful internal waves

  13-10-2015 17:43
  
  For the first time researchers directly measured the speed of a wave located 80 meters below the ocean's surface from a single satellite image. The new technique developed by researchers from the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science is a major advancement in the study of these skyscraper-high internal waves that rarely break the ocean surface.
  
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• Noninvasive imaging method looks deeper inside the body to study living brain

  13-10-2015 17:40
  
  Researchers at the University of Washington (UW) have used a noninvasive light-based imaging technology to literally see inside the living brain, providing a new tool to study how diseases like dementia, Alzheimer's, and brain tumors change brain tissue over time.
  
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• VLA reveals spectacular 'halos' of spiral galaxies

  13-10-2015 17:39
  
  A study of spiral galaxies seen edge-on has revealed that "halos" of cosmic rays and magnetic fields above and below the galaxies' disks are much more common than previously thought.
  
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• Pebbles on Mars likely traveled tens of miles down a riverbed, study finds

  13-10-2015 17:38
  
  While new evidence suggests that Mars may harbor a tiny amount of liquid water, it exists today as a largely cold and arid planet. Three billion years ago, however, the situation may have been much different.
  
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• New Cassini Image of Saturn’s Moons Mimas and Pandora

  13-10-2015 17:38 via scitechdaily.com
  
  This NASA image of the day shows Saturn’s moons Mimas and Pandora. Although Mimas and Pandora, shown here, both orbit Saturn, they are very different moons. Pandora, “small” by moon standards (50 miles or 81 kilometers across) is elongated and irregular in shape. Mimas (246 miles or 396 kilometers across), a “medium-sized” moon, formed into […]
  The post New Cassini Image of Saturn’s Moons Mimas and Pandora appeared first on SciTech Daily.
  
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• New deposition technique enhances optoelectronic properties of lasers

  13-10-2015 17:37
  
  A simple new electron-beam multilayer deposition technique for creating intracavity contacts—an important component of gallium nitride-based (III-nitride) vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs)—not only yields intriguing optoelectronic properties but also paves the way for others entering this realm of research. The new technique was developed by a team of researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
  
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• Global warming may cause East Asian monsoon belt to shift north

  13-10-2015 17:33
  
  (Phys.org)—A small team of researchers with the Chinese Academy of Sciences has conducted a study of organic matter in parts of China and in so doing has concluded that the southern drift of the East Asian monsoon rain belt will reverse itself and travel north—courtesy of global warming.In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team describes how they studied the past to predict the future of summer monsoon rain patterns over China.
  
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• Study finds local government supervisor training can be more efficient

  13-10-2015 17:30
  
  City department supervisors would benefit from training roughly every eight to nine months on conceptual leadership skills, like strategic planning and conflict resolution, according to a study that includes two University of Kansas professors.
  
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• Health care, research failing to adapt to US's growing multiracial population

  13-10-2015 17:27
  
  Multiracial people who change their racial identity from a single race to multiracial over time may be healthier than their minority peers who consistently identify as monoracial, new research suggests.
  
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• Flood hazards: Vermont and Colorado as case studies

  13-10-2015 17:26
  
  Catastrophic floods in 2011 in Vermont and 2013 in Colorado devastated many communities. While flood waters were the highest in recorded history, much of the damage done by these floods was not related to inundation by flood water, but instead caused by abundant erosion and sedimentation. These floods provided a rare opportunity to better understand controls on the locations of these different hazards.
  
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• Sixth sense: How do we sense electric fields?

  13-10-2015 17:21
  
  A variety of animals are able to sense and react to electric fields, and living human cells will move along an electric field, for example in wound healing. Now a team lead by Min Zhao at the UC Davis Institute for Regenerative Cures has found the first actual "sensor mechanism" that allows a living cell detect an electric field. The work is published Oct. 9 in the journal Nature Communications.
  
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