ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

Researchers have developed a dome-shaped device, which fits over a person's head and can be worn during a brain scan, that boosts MRI performance, creating crisper images that can be captured at twice the normal speed. Eventually, the magnetic metamaterial has the potential to be used in conjunction with cheaper low-field MRI machines to make the technology more widely available, particularly in the developing world.

For a long time, anthropologists believed that a written language was a hallmark of a society being complex or 'advanced.' A new study on precolonial Mesoamerican societies shows that you can have a society with a big population and a complex government without a writing system. However, societies with writing systems tended to be less egalitarian than ones without.

A new machine learning process designed to identify and classify hip fractures has been shown to outperform human clinicians. Two convolutional neural networks (CNNs) were able to identify and classify hip fractures from X-rays with a 19% greater degree of accuracy and confidence than hospital-based clinicians.

In conflict with the current prevailing theory used to describe the universe, a new study suggests the existence of a direct interaction between the elementary particles that make up the dark matter halo and those that make up ordinary matter.

Researchers may have cleared a significant hurdle on the path to quantum computing, demonstrating step-change improvements in the spin transport characteristics of nanoscale graphene-based electronic devices.

Researchers have found several hundred different chemical substances in tap water stored in reusable plastic bottles. Several of these substances are potentially harmful to human health. There is a need for better regulation and manufacturing standards for manufacturers, according to the chemists behind the study.

More than eight million tons of plastic end up in the oceans every year -- a serious danger for the environment and health. Biodegradable bioplastics could provide an alternative. A research team has now introduced a new method for the production of protein-based plastics that are easily processable, biodegradable, and biocompatible, as well as having favorable mechanical properties.

A new study could be a game changer for users of prosthetic hands who have long awaited advances in dexterity. Researchers examined if people could precisely control the grip forces applied to two different objects grasped simultaneously with a dexterous artificial hand. They designed a multichannel wearable soft robotic armband to convey artificial sensations of touch to the robotic hand users. Subjects were able to successfully grasp and transport two objects simultaneously with the dexterous artificial hand without breaking or dropping them, even when their vision of both objects was obstructed. The study is the first to show the feasibility of this complex simultaneous control task while integrating multiple channels of haptic/touch sensation feedback noninvasively.

Researchers have developed a new blood-clotting test that uses only a single drop of blood and a smartphone vibration motor and camera.

A new woody composite is tough as bone and hard as aluminum, and might pave way for naturally derived plastics.

Researchers published a new sample catalog of more than 24 million stars that can be used to decipher the chemical history of elements in the Milky Way galaxy.

Paying thousands of dollars to advertise on television is a huge proposition -- never more so than for the Super Bowl, for which 30-second TV spots this year will cost advertisers as much as $6.5 million. Contrary to Super Bowl advertisements, which are some of the most high-profile commercials, new research shows nearly a third of TV ads play to empty rooms.

A ring of planetary debris studded with moon-sized structures has been observed orbiting close to a white dwarf star, hinting at a nearby planet in the 'habitable zone' where water and life could exist, according to a new study. White dwarfs are glowing embers of stars that have burned through all their hydrogen fuel. Nearly all stars, including the Sun, will eventually become white dwarfs, but very little is known about their planetary systems.

Community structure, including relationships between and within groups, is foundational to our understanding of the world around us.

Clean energy researchers have designed a molecule to boost the performance of lithium-oxygen batteries to give electric vehicles the same driving range as petrol-fueled cars. Lithium-oxygen batteries are aimed to deliver maximum energy density through breathing air to generate electricity. To date, they have been beset by challenges, including low discharge capacity, poor energy efficiency and severe parasitic reactions. This molecule can simultaneously tackle those issues.

Researchers show how magnetic flux sensors can be used to monitor the operation of proton exchange membrane fuel cells that run on hydrogen. By detecting changes in current, failure states due to incorrect water levels can be identified. This work may lead to cost-effective sustainable energy generation for electric vehicles.