ScienceDaily: Top Technology News


NASA's Perseverance Mars rover extracts first oxygen from Red Planet

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 12:49 PM PDT

The milestone, which the MOXIE instrument achieved by converting carbon dioxide into oxygen, points the way to future human exploration of the Red Planet.

Carbon dioxide-rich liquid water in ancient meteorite

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 12:12 PM PDT

Scientists detect small pockets of carbon dioxide-rich liquid water in a meteorite dating from the early solar system.

AI algorithms can influence people's voting and dating decisions in experiments

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 12:12 PM PDT

Researchers have found that artificial intelligence algorithms can influence people's preferences for fictitious political candidates or potential romantic partners, depending on whether recommendations were explicit or covert.

Fast material manipulation through a laser

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 12:12 PM PDT

Researchers have found out that ultrafast switches in material properties can be prompted by laser pulses -- and why. This knowledge may enable new transistor concepts.

In calculating the social cost of methane, equity matters

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 09:46 AM PDT

A new study reports that the social cost of methane - a greenhouse gas that is 30 times as potent as carbon dioxide in its ability to trap heat - varies by as much as an order of magnitude between industrialized and developing regions of the world.

Bi-stable pop-up structures inspired by origami

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 09:46 AM PDT

Researchers have developed bi-stable inflatable structures inspired by origami.

To design truly compostable plastic, scientists take cues from nature

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 09:46 AM PDT

Scientists have designed an enzyme-activated compostable plastic that could diminish microplastics pollution. Household tap water or soil composts break the hybrid plastic material down to reusable small molecules, called monomers, in just a few days or weeks.

Solar panels are contagious - but in a good way

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 09:45 AM PDT

The number of solar panels within shortest distance from a house is the most important factor in determining the likelihood of that house having a solar panel, when compared with a host of socio-economic and demographic variables. This is shown in a new study by scientists using satellite and census data of the city of Fresno in the US, and employing machine learning.

Cracking open the mystery of how many bubbles are in a glass of beer

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 09:45 AM PDT

After pouring beer into a glass, streams of little bubbles appear and start to rise, forming a foamy head. As the bubbles burst, the released carbon dioxide gas imparts the beverage's desirable tang. But just how many bubbles are in that drink? By examining various factors, researchers estimate between 200,000 and nearly 2 million of these tiny spheres can form in a gently poured lager.

Illuminating invisible bloody fingerprints with a fluorescent polymer

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 09:45 AM PDT

Careful criminals usually clean a scene, wiping away visible blood and fingerprints. However, prints made with trace amounts of blood, invisible to the naked eye, could remain. Dyes can detect these hidden prints, but the dyes don't work well on certain surfaces. Now, researchers have developed a fluorescent polymer that binds to blood in a fingerprint -- without damaging any DNA also on the surface -- to create high-contrast images.

Bubble with titanium trigger titanic explosions

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 09:45 AM PDT

Scientists have found fragments of titanium blasting out of a famous supernova. This discovery, made with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, could be a major step in pinpointing exactly how some giant stars explode.

Enormous flare from sun's nearest neighbor breaks records

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 09:45 AM PDT

On May 1, 2019, researchers observed a record-setting flare from the star Proxima Centauri -- a burst of energy roughly 100 times more powerful than any similar event seen from Earth's sun.

Identification of the wettability of graphene layers at the molecular level

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 07:09 AM PDT

Scientists identify the wettability of graphene layers and improve the understanding of graphene interface properties at molecular levels.

Outback radio telescope discovers dense, spinning, dead star

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 06:25 AM PDT

Astronomers have discovered a pulsar -- a dense and rapidly spinning neutron star sending radio waves into the cosmos -- using a low-frequency radio telescope in outback Australia. The new pulsar is located more than 3,000 light-years from Earth and spins about once every second. Pulsars are used by astronomers for applications including testing the laws of physics under extreme conditions.

Augmented reality in retail and its impact on sales

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 05:29 AM PDT

Augmented reality is an effective technology that marketers can use to improve sales.

Energy unleashed by submarine volcanoes could power a continent

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 05:29 AM PDT

Volcanic eruptions deep in our oceans are capable of extremely powerful releases of energy, at a rate high enough to power the whole of the United States, according to new research.

New conductive polymer ink opens for next-generation printed electronics

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 05:28 AM PDT

Researchers have developed a stable high-conductivity polymer ink. The advance paves the way for innovative printed electronics with high energy efficiency.

Physicists map new route to control sound in thin films

Posted: 16 Apr 2021 09:01 AM PDT

In a new paper, physicists describe a theoretical path to make artificial composite thin films in which sound waves can be stopped, reversed and even stored for later use.