Sci-Tech news

• Old quarry near runway now saves airport $430,000 a year

  17-05-2016 23:21
  
  An abandoned rock quarry near a runway at Nashville International Airport was thought of as a liability, so risky that authorities considered filling it in a decade ago. Now, the water-filled pit is enabling the airport to save $430,000 a year.
  
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• Girls Beat Boys in Tech, Engineering Tests: Survey

  17-05-2016 22:19 via nbcnews.com
  
  Girls scored three points higher than boys overall — a reversal of expectations because boys typically score higher than girls in math testing.
  
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• Deep space experiment could measure the gravitational constant with nearly 1,000 times improvement in accuracy

  17-05-2016 22:10
  
  (Phys.org)—Scientists have proposed the first experiment that could measure the value of Newton's gravitational constant, G, from deep space instead of an Earth-based laboratory. The researchers predict that the deep space experiment could estimate G with an improvement in precision of nearly three orders of magnitude, since it would avoid the influence of Earth's gravity.
  
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• Adding microbial xylanase to diets containing rice bran increases energy value for pigs

  17-05-2016 22:03
  
  Research at the University of Illinois is finding ways to make rice bran, an abundant co-product of the production of white rice for human consumption, more efficient as a feed ingredient for pigs.
  
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• Girls outperform boys in test of tech-engineering literacy

  17-05-2016 22:00
  
  A new study shows that eighth-grade girls are better than boys at thinking through problems and using technology to solve them.
  
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• Using carbon nanotubes for drug delivery

  17-05-2016 21:49
  
  Carbon nanotubes, or tiny hollow cylinders of one-atom-thick carbon sheets, have incredible potential for a wide variety of applications due to their strength, flexibility, and other uniquely powerful properties. They are particularly promising in nanotechnology and electronics applications, but Carnegie Mellon University's Kris Dahl and Mohammad Islam are on an interdisciplinary mission to put these carbon nanotubes to a new use—in medicine.
  
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• Researchers discover melanin could make for great batteries

  17-05-2016 21:48
  
  Melanin is best known as the pigment that dictates our skin tones, but it is found just about everywhere—in our brains, in our hair. It is even found in cuttlefish. But as abundant as melanin is, its exact macromolecular chemical structure is surprisingly not well understood.
  
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• Squeezing out mountains, mathematically, on Jupiter's moon Io

  17-05-2016 21:34
  
  Mountains aren't the first thing that hit you when you look at images of Jupiter's innermost moon, Io. But once you absorb the fact that the moon is slathered in sulfurous lava erupted from 400 active volcanoes, you might turn your attention to scattered bumps and lumps that turn out, on closer inspection, to be Io's version of mountains.There are about 100 of them, and they don't look anything like the low lying volcanoes.
  
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• Complex life a billion years earlier than thought?

  17-05-2016 21:09
  
  Researchers said Tuesday they had uncovered fossils showing that complex life on Earth began more than 1.5 billion years ago, nearly a billion years earlier than previously thought.
  
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• Twitter's 140 character limit—time to ditch it?

  17-05-2016 21:00
  
  Many Twitter users—and more importantly, the billions more who don't use Twitter—feel constrained by the company's somewhat archaic 140-
  
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• Biologist: Rabbits and skunks can pass bird flu to ducks

  17-05-2016 21:00
  
  A government wildlife researcher has found that rabbits and skunks can become infected with the bird flu virus and shed it enough to infect ducks—offering scientists one more clue about how bird flu may move in the environment and spread between farms, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.
  
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• Apple's Latest iOS is 'Bricking' Some iPads, Users Say

  17-05-2016 21:00 via nbcnews.com
  
  Apple's latest operating system update is "bricking" some iPads, users complained Tuesday.
  
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• Video shows 109-mph wind tossing man on Mount Washington

  17-05-2016 20:49
  
  Winter has been over for nearly two months, but you wouldn't know it from recent conditions at the tallest peak in the Northeast.
  
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• Report finds segregation in education on the rise (Update)

  17-05-2016 20:49
  
  Six decades after the Supreme Court outlawed separating students by race, stubborn disparities persist in how the country educates its poor and minority children.
  
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• Report finds segregation in education on the rise

  17-05-2016 20:49
  
  Six decades after the Supreme Court outlawed separating students by race, stubborn disparities persist in how the country educates its poor and minority children.
  
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• New insights into human rare disorders with dogs

  17-05-2016 20:38
  
  Professor Hannes Lohi's research group at the University of Helsinki has discovered three novel canine genes for Caffey, Raine and van den Ende-Gupta syndromes. Research reveals close similarities of the canine models of human rare disorders and highlights the potential of comparative research approach for the development of rare disease diagnostics and treatments. Gene discoveries will benefit also veterinary diagnostics and breeding programs. The study was published in PLOS Genetics on May 17,
  
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• Europa's ocean may have an Earthlike chemical balance

  17-05-2016 20:37
  
  The ocean of Jupiter's moon Europa could have the necessary balance of chemical energy for life, even if the moon lacks volcanic hydrothermal activity, finds a new study.
  
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• Researchers keep networks moving to stay safe from hacker attacks

  17-05-2016 20:33
  
  Imagine burglars have targeted your home, but before they break in, you've already moved and are safe from harm.
  
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• Team first to measure microscale granular crystal dynamics

  17-05-2016 20:32
  
  Designing materials that better respond to dynamic loading can help vehicles minimize vibration, better protect military convoys or potentially make buildings safer during an earthquake.
  
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• Study shows how neurons reach their final destinations

  17-05-2016 20:31
  
  As the human brain develops, neurons leave their birthplace and take a trip to distant locations. Once they reach their final destination, the neurons then send out axons and dendrites—the branches that receive and send messages from other cells.
  
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• 'Overwatch' game developers find creativity in diversity

  17-05-2016 20:19
  
  When the makers of the globe-hopping video game "Overwatch" were coming up with the backstory for a character with the ability to freeze enemies and erect ice walls, their initial inclination was to make her homeland a stereotypically chilly place, someplace like Iceland, Canada or Norway.
  
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• Relationship satisfaction depends on the mating pool, study finds

  17-05-2016 20:14
  
  Relationship satisfaction and the energy devoted to keeping a partner are dependent on how the partner compares with other potential mates, a finding that relates to evolution's stronghold on modern relationship psychology, according to a study at The University of Texas at Austin.
  
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• Hacks, Negligence Lead to More Medical Data Breaches

  17-05-2016 19:48 via nbcnews.com
  
  America's healthcare organizations are being attacked by data thieves, but the industry is not doing nearly enough to deal with the growing threat, ac
  
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• Chesapeake Bay health improves in 2015

  17-05-2016 19:47
  
  The overall health of Chesapeake Bay improved in 2015, according to scientists at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. The largest estuary in the nation scored a C (53%) in 2015, one of the three highest scores since 1986. Only 1992 and 2002 scored as high or higher, both years of major sustained droughts.
  
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• Oregon's Coos Bay historically has avoided serious hypoxic conditions

  17-05-2016 19:46
  
  A study of the 15-mile length of Coos Bay, from the ocean to the city of the same name, finds the bay is free of toxic levels of reduced oxygen that often affect other Oregon locations.
  
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• Thinning out the carbon capture viscosity problem

  17-05-2016 19:45
  
  To make "clean" fossil fuel burning a reality, researchers have to pull carbon dioxide out of the exhaust gases that rise from coal or natural gas power plants and store or reuse it. For the capturing feat, researchers are studying special scrubbing liquids that bind and release the gas, but some of the most promising ones thicken up to a cold honey consistency when binding carbon dioxide, rendering them inefficient and expensive to use.
  
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• Financial status affects success of students with learning disabilities

  17-05-2016 19:45
  
  College students who receive special accommodations because of a learning disability say they have less difficulty completing assignments and more contact with faculty outside of class than peers who don't receive extra help.
  
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• Allan Sandage's last paper unravels 100-year-old astronomical mystery

  17-05-2016 19:43
  
  Carnegie's Allan Sandage, who died in 2012, was a tremendously influential figure in the field of astronomy. His final paper, published posthumously, focuses on unraveling a surprising historical mystery related to one of his own seminal discoveries.
  
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• Genetically Modified Crops Pretty Much OK: Report

  17-05-2016 18:47 via nbcnews.com
  
  But the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are not just asking people to take their word for it.
  
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• Pipeline firm says it faces charges in California oil spill

  17-05-2016 18:40
  
  A Texas oil pipeline company responsible for spilling more than 140,000 gallons of crude on the California coast last year has been indicted on dozens of criminal charges, the company said Tuesday.
  
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• Company charged in oil spill that fouled California beaches (Update)

  17-05-2016 18:40
  
  A Texas pipeline company responsible for spilling more than 140,000 gallons of crude oil on the California coast last year was indicted on dozens of criminal charges in the disaster that closed popular beaches and killed sea lions and birds, prosecutors said Tuesday.
  
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• Company charged in oil spill that fouled California beaches

  17-05-2016 18:40
  
  A Texas pipeline company responsible for spilling more than 140,000 gallons of crude oil on the California coast last year was indicted on dozens of criminal charges in the disaster that closed popular beaches and killed sea lions and birds, prosecutors said Tuesday.
  
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• Twitter’s 140-Character Rule May Be Changing

  17-05-2016 18:38
  
  Twitter has undergone a gradual metamorphosis over the past year to make the site more user friendly and enticing to new users
  
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• Words, more words ... and statistics

  17-05-2016 18:25
  
  Picking out single words in a flow of speech is no easy task and, according to linguists, to succeed in doing it the brain might use statistical methods. A group of SISSA scientists has applied a statistics-based method for word segmentation and measured its efficacy on natural language, in nine different languages, to discover that linguistic rhythm plays an important role. The study has just been published in the Journal of Developmental Science.
  
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• Meteor captured on dashcam video lights up New England sky (Update)

  17-05-2016 18:23
  
  A police sergeant looking for speeders captured a fireball streaking across the sky on his dashboard camera early Tuesday.
  
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• Meteor captured on dashcam video lights up New England sky

  17-05-2016 18:23
  
  A Maine police sergeant looking for speeders has captured a fireball streaking across the sky on his dashboard camera.
  
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• Genetically engineered crops: Experiences and prospects: new report

  17-05-2016 18:21
  
  An extensive study by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has found that new technologies in genetic engineering and conventional breeding are blurring the once clear distinctions between these two crop-improvement approaches. In addition, while recognizing the inherent difficulty of detecting subtle or long-term effects on health or the environment, the study committee found no substantiated evidence of a difference in risks to human health between current commercially
  
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• Peering into tissue stiffness with VIPA-based Brillouin spectroscopy

  17-05-2016 18:20
  
  At a microscopic level, every material contains spontaneous sound waves—acoustic phonons—that have properties dependent on the material's mechanical properties. When light interacts with these acoustic phonons, it scatters and acquires a frequency shift related to the material's elastic modulus, a characteristic measure of its ability to resist deformation and stress.
  
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• Wyss Institute collaborates with ReWalk Robotics to develop wearable exosuits for patients with limited mobility

  17-05-2016 18:18
  
  The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University has entered into a collaboration with ReWalk Robotics Ltd., to accelerate the development of the Institute's lightweight, wearable soft exosuit technologies for assisting people with lower limb disabilities. The agreement with ReWalk will help speed the design of assistive exosuits that could help patients suffering from stroke and multiple sclerosis (MS) to regain mobility.
  
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• Gone with the wind: Argonne coating shows surprising potential to improve reliability in wind power

  17-05-2016 18:06
  
  Despite the rigors of scientific inquiry and the methodical approaches of the world's most talented researchers, sometimes science has a surprise in store.
  
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• Study proves removing beach debris increases sea turtle nests

  17-05-2016 18:05
  
  Conventional wisdom says removing beach debris helps sea turtles nest; now, as sea-turtle nesting season gets underway, a new University of Florida study proves it.
  
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• Iowa State professor says 'it pays to be paranoid' when acquiring other firms

  17-05-2016 18:04
  
  Not long after Marriott announced plans to buy Starwood Hotels and Resorts, a Chinese insurance group offered to sweeten the deal setting off a brief bidding war. Marriott eventually secured the merger, but only after agreeing to pay more than its original offer.
  
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• Humans have been causing earthquakes in Texas since the 1920s

  17-05-2016 18:00
  
  Earthquakes triggered by human activity have been happening in Texas since at least 1925, and they have been widespread throughout the state ever since, according to a new historical review of the evidence published online May 18 in Seismological Research Letters.
  
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• Cooling, time in the dark preserve perovskite solar power

  17-05-2016 17:58
  
  A new study has found both the cause and a solution for the pesky tendency of perovskite solar cells to degrade in sunlight, a research breakthrough potentially removing one roadblock to commercialization for this promising technology. In a key finding, researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have found those degraded devices exhibit self-healing powers when given a little time in the dark. The team determined that photo-degradation in perovskite cells is a purely electronic process due to
  
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• 'Alien Megastructure' May Have Less Exotic Explanation

  17-05-2016 17:57 via nbcnews.com
  
  A mysterious darkening star might not be home to an alien megastructure after all.
  
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• At attention, molecules! Chemists report molecules in ionic liquids arrange themselves, but it takes time

  17-05-2016 17:56
  
  When you touch your phone's screen, you might not realize that you've set off a molecular chain reaction.
  
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• Invention promises rapid detection of E. coli in water

  17-05-2016 17:55
  
  Tragedies like the E. coli outbreak in Ontario's Walkerton in May 2000 could be averted today with a new invention by researchers at York University that can detect the deadly contaminant in drinking water early.
  
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• Video: What happens when you swallow gum?

  17-05-2016 17:54
  
  It's a legendary piece of playground lore: If you swallow a piece of gum, it stays stuck in your stomach forever. So was your elementary-school buddy right?
  
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• Schools need to provide better access to community services so all students can learn

  17-05-2016 17:52
  
  All across the country, there are low-performing school districts, under-achieving students and frustrated teachers, but current literature doesn't fully address the root of the problems.
  
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• How efficient can solar cells be? Team nudges closer to physical limits

  17-05-2016 17:52
  
  A new solar cell configuration developed by engineers at the University of New South Wales in Sydney has pushed sunlight-to-electricity conversion efficiency to 34.5% - establishing a new world record for unfocussed sunlight and nudging closer to the theoretical limits for such a device.
  
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