Tech : Science World Report

Mar 14, 2012 10:24 AM EDT

NASA and CSA Robotic Operations Advance Satellite Servicing

NASA's Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) experiment aboard the International Space Station has demonstrated remotely controlled robots and specialized tools can perform precise satellite-servicing tasks in space. The project marks a milestone in the use of the space station as a technology test bed.

Mar 14, 2012 09:57 AM EDT

Functional Oxide Thin Films Create New Field of Oxide Electronics

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed the first functional oxide thin films that can be used efficiently in electronics, opening the door to an array of new high-power devices and smart sensors. This is the first time that researchers have been able to produce positively ch...

Mar 14, 2012 06:38 AM EDT

Boeing Wins Contract for All-electric Satellites

Boeing Co on Tuesday announced a four-satellite contract for a new "small platform" version of its 702 satellite that will be powered solely by electric motors - a technology breakthrough that Boeing said would help reduce costs in the highly competitive satellite market.

Mar 13, 2012 02:04 PM EDT

Optics Express Focus Issue: Modular Ultrafast Lasers

Ultrafast lasers, lasers that emit light pulses that are as short as a few femtoseconds, have enabled a wide-range of fundamental science and applications over the past two decades. To highlight recent state-of-the-art developments in femtosecond lasers, the Optical Society (OSA) today published a s...

Mar 13, 2012 12:50 PM EDT

JoVE Shows How Researchers Open the Brain to New Treatments

One of the trickiest parts of treating brain conditions is the blood brain barrier, a blockade of cells that prevent both harmful toxins and helpful pharmaceuticals from getting to the body's control center. But, a technique published in JoVE, uses an MRI machine to guide the use of microbubbles and...

Mar 13, 2012 10:21 AM EDT

3-D Printer with Nano Precision

Printing three dimensional objects with incredibly fine details is now possible using "two-photon lithography". With this technology, tiny structures on a nanometer scale can be fabricated. Researchers at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna) have now made a major breakthrough in speeding ...

Mar 13, 2012 10:15 AM EDT

Laser Lightning Rod: Guiding Bursts of Electricity with a Flash of Light

Using an experimental apparatus reminiscent of a classic Frankenstein movie, French researchers have coaxed laboratory-generated lightning into striking the same place, not just twice, but over and over. This feat of electrical reorientation used femtosecond (one quadrillionth of a second) pulses of...

Mar 13, 2012 09:18 AM EDT

Diamond-based Materials Brighten the Future of Electronics

While diamonds may be a girl's best friend, they're also well-loved by scientists working to enhance the performance of electronic devices.

Mar 13, 2012 08:01 AM EDT

Chicago Hospital Doctors Say iPads Raise Their Efficiency

When doctors-in-training at the University of Chicago were given iPad tablet computers to use on their rounds, they found that using the device helped them be more efficient at ordering tests and procedures for their patients.

Mar 12, 2012 09:04 AM EDT

New 'Pendulum' for the Ytterbium Clock

The faster a clock ticks, the more precise it can be. Due to the fact that lightwaves vibrate faster than microwaves, optical clocks can be more precise than the caesium atomic clocks which presently determine time. The Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) is even working on several of such o...

Mar 11, 2012 04:37 PM EDT

Health Monitoring? There's an App for That

Researchers in New Zealand have developed a prototype Bluetooth-enabled medical monitoring device that can be connected wirelessly to your smart phone and keep track of various physiological parameters, such as body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure and movements. The prototype could be extend...

Mar 09, 2012 11:31 AM EST

Researchers 'Print' Polymers that Bend into 3-D Shapes

Christian Santangelo, Ryan Hayward and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently employed photographic techniques and polymer science to develop a new technique for printing two-dimensional sheets of polymers that can fold into three-dimensional shapes when water is added. The t...