ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

Developing a flight strategy to land heavier vehicles on Mars

Posted: 11 Feb 2019 01:40 PM PST

The heaviest vehicle to successfully land on Mars is the Curiosity Rover at 1 metric ton, about 2,200 pounds. Sending more ambitious robotic missions to the surface of Mars, and eventually humans, will require landed payload masses in the 5- to 20-ton range. To do that, we need to figure out how to land more mass. That was the goal of a recent study.

Scientists use smartphones to improve dismal rating of nation's civil infrastructure

Posted: 11 Feb 2019 01:39 PM PST

In the United States, aging civil infrastructure systems are deteriorating on a massive scale. A recent report by the American Society of Civil Engineers gave these systems a D+ rating nationwide on an A-F scale. Now scientists at the have developed smartphone-based technologies that can monitor civil infrastructure systems such as crumbing roads and aging bridges, potentially saving millions of lives.

Scientists use machine learning to ID source of Salmonella

Posted: 11 Feb 2019 01:39 PM PST

A team of scientists has developed a machine-learning approach that could lead to quicker identification of the animal source of certain Salmonella outbreaks.

Engineers develop room temperature, two-dimensional platform for quantum technology

Posted: 11 Feb 2019 11:00 AM PST

Researchers have now demonstrated a new hardware platform based on isolated electron spins in a two-dimensional material. The electrons are trapped by defects in sheets of hexagonal boron nitride, a one-atom-thick semiconductor material, and the researchers were able to optically detect the system's quantum states.

Puzzling sizes of extremely light calcium isotopes

Posted: 11 Feb 2019 11:00 AM PST

Researchers have measured for the first time the nuclei of three protein-rich calcium isotopes.

Chirality of Weyl fermions

Posted: 11 Feb 2019 11:00 AM PST

Quasiparticles that behave like massless fermions, known as Weyl fermions, have been in recent years at the center of a string of exciting findings in condensed matter physics. Physicists now report experiments in which they got a handle on one of the defining properties of Weyl fermions -- their chirality.

Toward automated animal identification in wildlife research

Posted: 11 Feb 2019 11:00 AM PST

A new program automatically detects regions of interest within images, alleviating a serious bottleneck in processing photos for wildlife research.

Scientists build the smallest optical frequency comb to-date

Posted: 11 Feb 2019 10:14 AM PST

Scientists have built a photonic integrated, compact, and portable soliton microcomb source. The device is less than 1 cm3 in size, and is driven by an on-chip indium phosphide laser consuming less than 1 Watt of electrical power. It can be used in LIDAR, data center interconnects, and even satellites.

X-rays used to understand the flaws of battery fast charging

Posted: 11 Feb 2019 10:14 AM PST

Researchers imaged a battery as it was quickly charged and discharged, allowing for the observation of lithium plating behavior that can inhibit the battery's long-term function.

Next-generation optics in just two minutes of cooking time

Posted: 11 Feb 2019 10:14 AM PST

One of the key building blocks of flexible photonic circuits and ultra-thin optics are metasurfaces. And engineers have now discovered a simple way of making these surfaces in just a few minutes -- without needing a clean room -- using a method already employed in manufacturing.

New model predicts how ground shipping will affect future human health, environment

Posted: 11 Feb 2019 10:14 AM PST

The trucks and trains that transport goods across the United States emit gases and particles that threaten human health and the environment. A new project developed a new model that predicts through 2050 the impact of different environmental policies on human mortality rates and short- and long-term climate change caused by particulate and greenhouse gas emissions.

Flags that generate energy from wind and sun

Posted: 11 Feb 2019 08:42 AM PST

Scientists have created flags that can generate electrical energy using wind and solar power.

Sand from glacial melt could be Greenland's economic salvation

Posted: 11 Feb 2019 08:42 AM PST

As climate change melts Greenland's glaciers and deposits more river sediment on its shores, an international group of researchers has identified one unforeseen economic opportunity for the Arctic nation: exporting excess sand and gravel abroad, where raw materials for infrastructure are in high demand.

Quantum strangeness gives rise to new electronics

Posted: 11 Feb 2019 08:42 AM PST

Today, a new breed of electronic devices, bearing unique properties, is being developed. As ultra-miniaturization continues apace, researchers have begun to explore the intersection of physical and chemical properties occurring at the molecular scale.

Theories describe dynamically disordered solid materials

Posted: 11 Feb 2019 08:42 AM PST

Theoretical physicists have developed a computational method to calculate the transition from one phase to another in dynamically disordered solid materials. This is a class of materials that can be used in many eco-friendly applications.

Acoustic waves can monitor stiffness of living cells

Posted: 11 Feb 2019 08:41 AM PST

Engineers have devised a new, non-invasive way to monitor the stiffness of single living cells, using acoustic waves. Their technique could be used to study many biological phenomena, such as cell division, programmed cell death or metastasis.

Marine scientists find toxic bacteria on microplastics retrieved from tropical waters

Posted: 11 Feb 2019 08:03 AM PST

A team of marine scientists had uncovered toxic bacteria living on the surfaces of microplastics (which are pieces of plastic smaller than 5 millimeters in size) collected from the coastal areas of Singapore. These bacteria are capable of causing coral bleaching, and triggering wound infections in humans. The team also discovered a diversity of bacteria, including useful organisms - such as those that can degrade marine pollutants like hydrocarbons - in the plastic waste.

New device simplifies measurement of fluoride contamination in water

Posted: 11 Feb 2019 05:32 AM PST

Seeking to address fluoride contamination in drinking water, chemical engineers have developed a portable and user-friendly device that can measure fluoride concentration accurately and reliably.

Boosting solid state chemical reactions

Posted: 11 Feb 2019 05:32 AM PST

Adding olefin enables efficient solvent-free cross-coupling reactions, leading to environmentally friendly syntheses of a wide range of organic materials.

Across the spectrum: Researchers find way to stabilize color of light in next-gen material

Posted: 11 Feb 2019 05:31 AM PST

Researchers have found a way to stabilize the color of light emitted from a class of next-generation materials.

Scientists advance new technology to protect drinking water from Lake Erie algal toxins

Posted: 11 Feb 2019 05:31 AM PST

A microbiologist has identified groups of bacteria in Lake Erie that degrade microcystin and can be used to naturally purify water.

Supercomputing propels jet atomization research for industrial processes

Posted: 08 Feb 2019 08:53 AM PST

Researchers employ high-performance computing to help bring spray simulations to a commercial level.

New legislation needed to regulate police facial recognition technology

Posted: 08 Feb 2019 06:43 AM PST

Facial recognition technology, being trialled by two major police forces in Britain, should be subjected to more rigorous testing and transparency, according to new research.