Tech | Page 1249 | Science Codex

A new, flying jellyfish-like machine

WASHINGTON D.C. Nov. 24, 2013 -- Up, up in the sky: It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a . . . jellyfish? That's what researchers have built -- a small vehicle whose flying motion resembles the movements of those boneless, pulsating, water-dwelling creatures.

The work, which will be presented at the American Physical Society's Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting on November 24 in Pittsburgh, demonstrates a new method of flight that could transport miniaturized future robots for surveillance, search-and-rescue, and monitoring of the atmosphere and traffic.

Decay used to construct quantum information

Usually, when researchers work with quantum information, they do everything they can to prevent the information from decaying. Now researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute, among others, have flipped things around and are exploiting the decay to create the so-called entanglement of atomic systems, which is the foundation for quantum information processing. The results are published in the scientific journal, Nature.

NIST demonstrates how losing information can benefit quantum computing

BOULDER, Colo -- Suggesting that quantum computers might benefit from losing some data, physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have entangled—linked the quantum properties of—two ions by leaking judiciously chosen information to the environment.

UNL scientists develop novel X-ray device

Lincoln, Neb., Nov. 24 – Using a compact but powerful laser, a research team at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has developed a new way to generate synchrotron X-rays.

Although the high quality of synchrotron X-rays make them ideal for research ranging from the structure of matter to advanced medical images, access to the technology has been limited until now. Most traditional synchrotron X-ray devices are gigantic and costly, available only at a few sites around the world.

Great lakes waterfowl die-offs: Finding the source

WASHINGTON D.C. Nov. 24, 2013 -- A deadly menace stalks the loons, gulls and other water birds of the Great Lakes region: Type E botulism, a neuromuscular disease caused when birds eat fish infected with toxin-producing bacteria. Cases of the disease are on the rise, killing approximately 10,000 more waterfowl in 2007 than when it was first reported in 1963.

'Wise chisels': Art, craftsmanship, and power tools

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- It's often easy to tell at a glance the difference between a mass-produced object and one that has been handcrafted: The handmade item is likely to have distinctive imperfections and clear signs of an individual's technique and style.

What can happen when graphene meets a semiconductor

For all the promise of graphene as a material for next-generation electronics and quantum computing, scientists still don't know enough about this high-performance conductor to effectively control an electric current.

Graphene, a one-atom-thick layer of carbon, conducts electricity so efficiently that the electrons are difficult to control. And control will be necessary before this wonder material can be used to make nanoscale transistors or other devices.

Will 2-D tin be the next super material?

A single layer of tin atoms could be the world's first material to conduct electricity with 100 percent efficiency at the temperatures that computer chips operate, according to a team of theoretical physicists led by researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University.

Researchers call the new material "stanene," combining the Latin name for tin (stannum) with the suffix used in graphene, another single-layer material whose novel electrical properties hold promise for a wide range of applications.

Pre-eclampsia rates on the rise in the US

November 20, 2013 -- A latest study by researchers at the Mailman School of Public Health and Columbia University Medical Center reports that pre-eclampsia, characterized by an elevation in the blood pressure and excess protein in the urine of pregnant women, has a 1.5-fold to 2-fold higher incidence in first pregnancies. The condition, which causes complications in approximately 3-6% of all pregnancies, is also associated with high risks of preterm delivery, intrauterine growth restriction, placental abruption, and perinatal mortality.

Scripps oceanography researchers engineer breakthrough for biofuel production

Researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego have developed a method for greatly enhancing biofuel production in tiny marine algae.

As reported in this week's online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Scripps graduate student Emily Trentacoste led the development of a method to genetically engineer a key growth component in biofuel production.

Rotavirus vaccination may also protect children against seizures

[EMBARGOED UNTIL THURSDAY, NOV. 21] A new study suggests an additional—and somewhat surprising—potential benefit of vaccinating children against rotavirus, a common cause of diarrhea and vomiting. Besides protecting kids from intestinal illness caused by rotavirus, immunization may also reduce the risk of related seizures, according to findings published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and available online.

Let's just harvest invasive species -- problem solved?

URBANA, Ill. – Although invasive Asian carp have been successfully harvested and served on a dinner plate, harvesting invasive plants to convert into ethanol isn't as easy.

According to a recent study at the University of Illinois, harvesting invasive plants for use as biofuels may sound like a great idea, but the reality poses numerous obstacles and is too expensive to consider, at least with the current ethanol pathways.

Researchers break a theoretical time barrier on bouncing droplets

CAMBRIDGE, Mass-- Those who study hydrophobic materials — water-shedding surfaces such as those found in nature and created in the laboratory — are familiar with a theoretical limit on the time it takes for a water droplet to bounce away from such a surface. But MIT researchers have now found a way to burst through that perceived barrier, reducing the contact time by at least 40 percent.

BU, MIT team engineers add new wrinkles to waterproofing

(BOSTON) Nov. 20, 2013 -- Intuition tells us that a smooth surface should shed water faster than a textured one. But a team of engineers from Boston University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have engineered a wrinkled surface that sheds liquid much faster than a smooth one, an innovation that has implications for a wide variety of materials that work better when dry.

National survey finds frog abnormalities are rare

A 10-year study shows some good news for frogs and toads on national wildlife refuges. The rate of abnormalities such as shortened or missing legs was less than 2 percent overall — indicating that the malformations first reported in the mid-1990s were rarer than feared. But much higher rates were found in local "hotspots," suggesting that where these problems occur they have local causes. The results were published Nov. 18 in the journal PLOS ONE.