Tech

Mini- thrusters or miniature, electric propulsion systems are being developed, which could make it easier for the Air Force's small satellites, including the latest CubeSats, to perform space maneuvers and undertake formidable tasks like searching for planets beyond our solar system.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University researchers have developed a miniature device capable of converting ultrafast laser pulses into bursts of radio-frequency signals, a step toward making wires obsolete for communications in the homes and offices of the future.

Such an advance could enable all communications, from high-definition television broadcasts to secure computer connections, to be transmitted from a single base station, said Minghao Qi, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering.

LAWRENCE, Kan. — People who lie on online dating services likely are people-pleasers who want to present themselves in the most favorable light to get someone to like them — just as they would in face-to-face dating, according to a University of Kansas researcher.

Scientists at L'Oréal, in hot pursuit of the hidden elements of beauty, seem well on their way to disputing the old adage, "beauty is only skin deep." In fact, their work indicates that what makes hair curly or straight and skin smooth or rough, is much deeper. It actually is linked to molecules within the body, according to an article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), ACS' weekly newsmagazine.

Far from being a food spoiler, the fluorescent lighting in supermarkets actually can boost the nutritional value of fresh spinach, scientists are reporting. The finding could lead to improved ways of preserving and enhancing the nutritional value of spinach and perhaps other veggies, they suggest in a study in ACS' bi-weekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Chemicals that helped solve a global environmental crisis in the 1990s — the hole in Earth's protective ozone layer — may be making another problem — acid rain — worse, scientists are reporting. Their study on the chemicals that replaced the ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) once used in aerosol spray cans, air conditioners, refrigerators, and other products, appears in ACS' Journal of Physical Chemistry A, a weekly publication.

A team of scientists in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands are reporting disturbing evidence that soil microbes have become progressively more resistant to antibiotics over the last 60 years. Surprisingly, this trend continues despite apparent more stringent rules on use of antibiotics in medicine and agriculture, and improved sewage treatment technology that broadly improves water quality in surrounding environments. Their report appears in ACS' bi-weekly journal Environmental Science and Technology.

People who suffer from injuries to the distal biceps tendon may benefit from earlier surgical intervention and new surgical techniques, according to a review article published in the March 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (JAAOS). Located in the front of the elbow, the distal biceps tendon attaches to the lower end of the biceps muscle, and is responsible for two primary motions:

A low-cost water purification technique published in Current Protocols in Microbiology could help drastically reduce the incidence of waterborne disease in the developing world. The procedure, which uses seeds from the Moringa oleifera tree, can produce a 90.00% to 99.99% bacterial reduction in previously untreated water, and has been made free to download as part of access programs under John Wiley & Sons' Corporate Citizenship Initiative.

Researchers from the University of Cádiz (UCA) have studied the connection between professional preferences and personality, based on interviews and questionnaires carried out on 735 secondary school students from the province of Cadiz. The results indicate that personality does not have an influence when choosing a professional career.

Blacksburg, Va. –– Poor air quality apparently affects the running times of women in marathons, according to a study by Virginia Tech civil and environmental engineer Linsey Marr.

Marr's findings come from a comprehensive study that evaluated marathon race results, weather data, and air pollutant concentrations in seven marathons over a period of eight to 28 years. The top three male and female finishing times were compared with the course record and contrasted with air pollutant levels, taking high temperatures that were detrimental to performance into consideration.

STANFORD, Calif. — A new study helps dispel mounting confusion over the safety of blockbuster anemia drugs — erythropoiesis-stimulating agents — for people with kidney disease requiring dialysis, as federal regulators prepare to decide whether to impose additional restrictions on their use.

ESAs are the most expensive drugs reimbursed by Medicare in patients requiring long-term dialysis, costing the agency nearly $2 billion annually.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - High humidity present in bathrooms and kitchens could be degrading the vitamins and health supplements stored in those rooms, even if the lids are on tight, a Purdue University study shows.

Lisa Mauer, an associate professor of food science, said that crystalline substances - including vitamin C, some vitamin B forms and other dietary supplements - are prone to a process called deliquescence, in which humidity causes a water-soluble solid to dissolve. Keeping those supplements away from warm, humid environments can help ensure their effectiveness.

Sixty-seven million years ago, when dinosaur hatchlings first scrambled out of their eggs, their first—and last—glimpse of the world might have been the open jaws of a 3.5-metre-long snake named Sanajeh indicus, based on the discovery in India of a nearly complete fossilized skeleton of a primitive snake coiled inside a dinosaur nest.

"Each microscopic drop can trap an individual cell and thus it becomes like a miniature test tube," explains Amy Rowat, a postdoctoral fellow at SEAS. "The drops are coated with a surfactant, or stabilization molecule, that prevents the drops from coalescing with each other and also prevents the contents from sticking to the wall of the drops."