ScienceDaily: Matter & Energy News

Arachnid Rapunzel: Researchers Spin Spider Silk Proteins Into Artificial Silk Posted: 10 Feb 2015 11:17 AM PST Incredibly tough, slightly stretchy spider silk is a lightweight, biodegradable wonder material with numerous potential biomedical applications. But although humans have been colonizing relatively placid silkworms for thousands of years, harvesting silk from territorial and sometimes cannibalistic spiders has proven impractical. Instead, labs hoping to harness spider silk's mechanical properties are using its molecular structure as a template for their own biomimetic silks.

DNA 'cage' could improve nanopore technology Posted: 10 Feb 2015 10:31 AM PST Researchers have designed a tiny cage that can trap a single strand of DNA after it has been pulled through a nanopore. While caged, biochemical experiments can be performed on the strand, which can then be zipped back through the nanopore. The device could enable researchers to probe DNA before and after a reaction takes place.

Eruptions evicted: Anti-geyser testing completed for Space Launch System liquid oxygen tank Posted: 10 Feb 2015 10:29 AM PST Goodbye, geysers! NASA engineers have successfully finished anti-geyser testing for the liquid oxygen tank that will help fuel the agency's new rocket, the Space Launch System, on the journey to Mars.

Electronics you can wrap around your finger Posted: 10 Feb 2015 10:01 AM PST A new multiferroric film keeps its electric and magnetic properties even when highly curved, paving the way for potential uses in wearable devices.

Cracks in the surface coating of gas turbines are necessary for longer life-span and better thermal insulation Posted: 10 Feb 2015 07:33 AM PST Gas turbines are used for the production of electricity and in aircraft engines. To increase the life-span of the turbines, they are sprayed with a surface coating. The coating consists of two layers – one of metal to protect against oxidation and corrosion , and one of ceramic to give thermal insulation. The structure of the coating varies greatly, consisting of pores and cracks of different sizes. It is these cracks and pores that largely determine the efficiency of the thermal insulation and the length of the  coating life-span.

Historic Indian sword was masterfully crafted Posted: 10 Feb 2015 07:33 AM PST The master craftsmanship behind Indian swords was highlighted when scientists and conservationists from Italy and the UK joined forces to study a curved single-edged sword called a shamsheer. The 75-centimeter-long sword from the Wallace Collection in London was made in India in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. The design is of Persian origin, from where it spread across Asia and eventually gave rise to a family of similar weapons called scimitars being forged in various Southeast Asian countries. Two different approaches were used to examine the shamsheer: the classical one (metallography) and a non-destructive technique (neutron diffraction).

Hybrid perovskite nanoparticles with 80% luminescence yield obtained Posted: 10 Feb 2015 05:37 AM PST Researchers have developed a method for preparing methylammonium-lead bromide hybrid nanoparticles with extraordinary luminescence. They have successfully increased the luminescence efficiency of nanoparticles up to 80% and has also proven their high stability under ultraviolet visible light.

Water ice renders short-lived molecule sustainable Posted: 10 Feb 2015 05:36 AM PST “Antiaromatic compounds” is what chemists call a class of ring molecules which are extremely instable – the opposite of the highly stable aromatic molecules. Because they exist for mere split seconds, they can only be detected by extremely demanding, ultrafast methods. Scientists have now succeeded in isolating the antiaromatic fluorenyl cation at extremely low temperatures in water ice. Thus, they were able to conduct a spectroscopic analysis for the very first time.

Construction of the world's biggest solar telescope Posted: 10 Feb 2015 02:08 AM PST With a four-meter diameter primary mirror, the telescope will be able to pick up unprecedented detail on the surface of the Sun -- the equivalent of being able to examine a coin from 100 kms away. It will address fundamental questions at the core of contemporary solar physics. It will do this via high-speed (sub-second timescales) spectroscopic and magnetic measurements of the solar photosphere, chromosphere and corona.

Novel bio-inspired robotic sock promotes blood circulation and prevents blood clots in legs Posted: 10 Feb 2015 02:08 AM PST Innovative robotic sock, which mimics tentacle movements of corals, can benefit bedridden or immobile patients.

Bringing texture to your flat touchscreen with virtual bumps Posted: 09 Feb 2015 01:14 PM PST What if the touchscreen of your smartphone or tablet could touch you back? Researchers now report a discovery that provides insight into how the brain makes sense of data from fingers. When people draw their fingers over a flat surface with two 'virtual bumps,' the researchers found that, under certain circumstances, the subjects feel only one bump when there really are two. And the researchers can explain why the brain comes to this conclusion.

Bionic leaf: Researchers use bacteria to convert solar energy into liquid fuel Posted: 09 Feb 2015 01:14 PM PST Solar energy can be harnessed using electricity from photovoltaic cells to yield hydrogen that can be stored in fuel cells. But hydrogen has failed to catch on as a practical fuel for cars or for power. Converting solar energy into liquid fuel could accelerate its adoption as a power source.

A centimeter of time: Cool clocks pave the way to new measurements of Earth Posted: 09 Feb 2015 08:30 AM PST Two cryogenically cooled optical lattice clocks that can be synchronized to a tremendous one part in 2.0 x 10-18--meaning that they would only go out of synch by a second in 16 billion years. This is nearly 1,000 times more precise than the current international timekeeping standard cesium atomic clock.

X-ray pulses uncover free nanoparticles for the first time in 3-D Posted: 04 Feb 2015 08:19 AM PST For the first time, researchers have determined the three-dimensional shape of free-flying silver nanoparticles, using DESY's X-ray laser FLASH. The tiny particles, hundreds of times smaller than the width of a human hair, were found to exhibit an unexpected variety of shapes, as physicists report.

An end to the medicine dropper for eye injuries? Posted: 04 Feb 2015 08:19 AM PST For years, treating scratches and burns to the eyes has usually involved dropping medicine onto the eyes several times a day, sometimes for weeks -- a treatment that lends itself to missed doses and other side effects. But scientists are now reporting a novel, drug-releasing wafer that patients can put directly on their affected eyes just once a day. The team says the device works better than drops and could help patients recover faster.