ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

A spacecraft has 'touched' the sun for the first time

Posted: 14 Dec 2021 10:49 AM PST

On April 28, 2021, NASA's Parker Solar Probe reached the sun's extended solar atmosphere, known as the corona, and spent five hours there. The spacecraft is the first to enter the outer boundaries of our sun.

Physics of coral as an indicator of reef health

Posted: 14 Dec 2021 07:42 AM PST

New research shows that physics measurements of just a small portion of reef can be used to assess the health of an entire reef system. The findings may help scientists grasp how these important ecosystems will respond to a changing climate.

Deepest images yet of Milky Way's supermassive black hole

Posted: 14 Dec 2021 07:42 AM PST

Astronomers have obtained the deepest and sharpest images to date of the region around the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. The new images zoom in 20 times more than what was possible before the VLTI and have helped astronomers find a never-before-seen star close to the black hole. By tracking the orbits of stars at the centre of our Milky Way, the team has made the most precise measurement yet of the black hole's mass.

Creating the human-robotic dream team

Posted: 14 Dec 2021 07:42 AM PST

Using autonomous vehicle guidelines, a team has developed a system to improve interactions between people and robots. The way people interact safely with robots is at the forefront of today's research related to automation and manufacturing, explains a researcher. She is one of several researchers who are working to develop systems that allow humans and robots to interact safely and efficiently.

More microbes that can degrade plastics in places with heavy plastic pollution

Posted: 14 Dec 2021 05:45 AM PST

The number of microbial enzymes with the ability to degrade plastic is growing, in correlation with local levels of plastic pollution. That is the finding of a new study that measured samples of environmental DNA from around the globe. The results illustrate the impact plastic pollution is having on the environment, and hint at potential new solutions for managing the problem.

Cancer-spotting AI and human experts can be fooled by image-tampering attacks

Posted: 14 Dec 2021 05:45 AM PST

Artificial intelligence (AI) models that evaluate medical images have potential to speed up and improve accuracy of cancer diagnoses, but they may also be vulnerable to cyberattacks. Researchers simulated an attack that falsified mammogram images, fooling both an AI breast cancer diagnosis model and human breast imaging radiologist experts.

Boosting anti-cancer action by driving up immunity at tumor site

Posted: 14 Dec 2021 05:45 AM PST

Driving up the immune response at the site of a cancer tumor with nanotechnology may help enhance immunotherapy treatments in advanced stages of the disease, new research in mice suggests.

New method to measure spin waves brings us one step closer to spin superfluidity

Posted: 13 Dec 2021 03:15 PM PST

Researchers have demonstrated the ability to both excite and detect spin waves in a two-dimensional graphene magnet, but they couldn't measure any of the wave's specific properties. Now, researchers have demonstrated a new way to measure the quintessential properties of spin waves in graphene.

First optical oscilloscope

Posted: 13 Dec 2021 02:50 PM PST

Engineers have developed the first optical oscilloscope, an instrument that is able to measure the electric field of light. The device converts light oscillations into electrical signals, much like hospital monitors convert a patient's heartbeat into electrical oscillation.

With fuzzy nanoparticles, researchers reveal a way to design tougher ballistic materials

Posted: 13 Dec 2021 11:22 AM PST

Researchers have discovered a new method to improve the toughness of materials that could lead to stronger versions of body armor, bulletproof glass and other ballistic equipment. The team produced films composed of nanometer-scale ceramic particles decorated with polymer strands (resembling fuzzy orbs) and made them targets in miniature impact tests that showed off the material's enhanced toughness. Further tests unveiled a unique property not shared by typical polymer-based materials that allowed the films to dissipate energy from impacts rapidly.

Air flow key to ensuring black soldier fly larvae thrive as a sustainable food source

Posted: 13 Dec 2021 10:32 AM PST

New research demonstrates how using airflow can keep black soldier fly larvae, an important animal protein source, from overheating while feeding as a collective.

Want to limit carbon and curb wildfire? Create a market for small trees

Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:18 AM PST

Thinning treatments reduce the risk of wildfire and provide ecological benefits for California's forests, but they also generate wood residues that are often burnt or left to decay, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. A new analysis shows how incentivizing industries that convert wood residues into useful products -- including biofuels and construction-quality engineered lumber -- could fund forest thinning treatments while preventing the release of carbon.

Zooming in on tiny defects

Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:18 AM PST

Researchers have looked at what limits the efficiency of a promising solar material to reveal the nature of multiple different kinds of defects, their varied roles in device efficiency and their responses to treatment.

A new spin on MRI

Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:18 AM PST

Researchers have demonstrated a proof-of-concept modification to enable standard MRI systems to detect frequencies associated with the presence of sodium-23 ions. This low-cost and convenient approach requires the installation of a radio-frequency repeater inside the magnetic bore of an MRI machine. The wide applicability of this method for sodium and other nuclei may allow advanced medical imaging to be performed on existing machines, and substantially reduce MRI scanner upgrade costs for hospitals.

New copper surface eliminates bacteria in just two minutes, scientists report

Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:18 AM PST

A new copper surface that kills bacteria more than 100 times faster and more effectively than standard copper could help combat the growing threat of antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

Scientists give new lease of life to e-waste plastics

Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:18 AM PST

Plastics found in electronic waste (e-waste) are rarely recycled due to their complex composition and hazardous additives, but scientists have now developed a new use for them -- by repurposing them as an alternative to the plastics used in laboratory cell culture containers, such as petri dishes.

Losing isn’t always bad: Gaining topology from loss

Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:18 AM PST

Losing particles can lead to positive, robust effects. An international collaboration has demonstrated a novel topology arising from losses in hybrid light-matter particles, introducing a new avenue to induce the highly-prized effects inherent to conventional topological materials, which can potentially revolutionise electronics. The study represents an experimental observation of a non-Hermitian topological invariant in a semiconductor in the strong light-matter coupling regime supporting formation of exciton-polaritons.

N-type conductive tin sulfide thin films: Towards environmentally friendly solar cells

Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:18 AM PST

Abundant, safe, and environmentally friendly, tin sulfide is predicted to be used in next generation solar cell panels. Now, a research group has used impurity doping to fabricate n-type conductive tin sulfide thin films, paving the way for their use in solar cells.

Technique speeds up thermal actuation for soft robotics

Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:17 AM PST

Researchers have come up with a new design for thermal actuators, which can be used to create rapid movement in soft robotic devices.

The changing patterns of DNA microcapsules

Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:16 AM PST

Biophysicists have found ways to make and manipulate capsule-like DNA structures that could be used in the development of artificial molecular systems. Such systems could function, for example, inside the human body.

Gunfire or plastic bag popping? Trained computer can tell the difference

Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:13 AM PST

Engineering researchers have developed a gunshot detection algorithm and classification model that can discern similar sounds such as gunfire or a plastic bag popping. Discerning between a dangerous audio event like a gun firing and a non-life-threatening event, such as a plastic bag bursting, can mean the difference between life and death. Additionally, it also can determine whether or not to deploy public safety workers. Humans, as well as computers, often confuse the sounds of a plastic bag popping and real gunshot sounds.

How organic neuromorphic electronics can think and act

Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:13 AM PST

The human brain works differently from a computer - while the brain works with biological cells and electrical impulses, a computer uses silicon-based transistors. Scientists have equipped a toy robot with a smart and adaptive electrical circuit made of soft organic materials, similarly to the biological matter. With this bio-inspired approach, they were able to teach the robot to navigate independently through a maze using visual signs for guidance.

Quantum algorithms bring ions to a standstill

Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:12 AM PST

Laser beams can do more than just heat things up; they can cool them down too. That is nothing new for physicists who have devoted themselves to precision spectroscopy and the development of optical atomic clocks. But what is new is the extremely low temperature that researchers at the QUEST Institute at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) have been able to reach with their highly charged ions -- this type of ion has never been cooled down as far as 200 µK before. The team working on this succeeded by combining their established methods which include the laser cooling of coupled ions and methods from the field of quantum computing. The application of quantum algorithms ensured that ions that are too dissimilar for traditional laser cooling to work effectively could be cooled down together after all. This means that we are getting closer to an optical atomic clock with highly charged ions, and this clock might have the potential to be even more accurate than existing optical atomic clocks.

Challenging Einstein’s greatest theory with extreme stars

Posted: 13 Dec 2021 08:17 AM PST

Researchers have conducted a 16-year long experiment to challenge Einstein's theory of general relativity. The international team looked to the stars - a pair of extreme stars called pulsars to be precise -- through seven radio telescopes across the globe. And they used them to challenge Einstein's most famous theory with some of the most rigorous tests yet. The study reveals new relativistic effects that, although expected, have now been observed for the first time.

Discovery of ‘split’ photon provides a new way to see light

Posted: 13 Dec 2021 08:16 AM PST

Nearly a century after Italian physicist Ettore Majorana laid the groundwork for the discovery that electrons could be divided into halves, researchers predict that split photons may also exist. The finding advances the fundamental understanding of light and how it behaves.

Super-bright stellar explosion is likely a dying star giving birth to a black hole or neutron star

Posted: 13 Dec 2021 08:16 AM PST

A powerful cosmic burst dubbed AT2018cow, or 'the Cow,' was much faster and brighter than any stellar explosion astronomers had seen. They have now determined it was likely a product of a dying star that, in collapsing, gave birth to a compact object in the form of a black hole or neutron star.

Ultrarapid cooling enables the observation of molecular patterns of life

Posted: 13 Dec 2021 06:48 AM PST

Fluorescence light microscopy has the unique ability to observe cellular processes over a scale that bridges four orders of magnitude. Yet, its application to living cells is fundamentally limited by the very rapid and unceasing movement of molecules that define its living state. What is more, the interaction of light with fluorescent probes that enables the observation of molecular processes causes their very destruction. Ultrarapid cryo-arrest of cells during live observation on a microscope now circumvents these fundamental problems. The heart of the approach is the cooling of living cells with enormous speeds up to 200,000 °C per second to -196 °C. This enables an unprecedented preservation of cellular biomolecules in their natural arrangement at the moment of arrest. In this low temperature state, molecular movement and light-induced destruction is stopped, enabling the observation of molecular patterns of life that are otherwise invisible.

From flashing fireflies to cheering crowds -- Physicists unlock secret to synchronization

Posted: 13 Dec 2021 06:48 AM PST

Physicists have unlocked the secret that explains how large groups of individual 'oscillators' -- from flashing fireflies to cheering crowds, and from ticking clocks to clicking metronomes -- tend to synchronize when in each other's company. This new discovery has a suite of potential applications, including developing new types of computer technology that uses light signals to process information.

Computer-, smartphone-based treatments effective at reducing symptoms of depression

Posted: 13 Dec 2021 06:48 AM PST

Computer- and smartphone-based treatments appear to be effective in reducing symptoms of depression, and while it remains unclear whether they are as effective as face-to-face psychotherapy, they offer a promising alternative to address the growing mental health needs spawned by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research.

Significant energy savings when electric distribution vehicles take their best route

Posted: 13 Dec 2021 05:41 AM PST

Range anxiety with electric commercial vehicles is real, since running out of battery can have serious consequences. Researchers have developed tools to help electric delivery-vehicles navigate strategically to use as little energy as possible. The secret lies in looking beyond just the distance traveled, and instead focusing on overall energy usage -- and has led to energy savings of up to 20 per cent.

High-tech sleeping bag could solve vision issues in space

Posted: 09 Dec 2021 09:42 AM PST

Researchers found that while just three days of lying flat induced enough pressure to slightly alter the eyeball's shape, no such change occurred when the suction technology was used.