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Top Stories in Science
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February 2005 Issue |
| [D] Defence and security |  |
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According to a report from the UK Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, the international community must invest in reducing future risk of conflict and political instability; otherwise it will continue to pay the high human and financial costs of reacting to repeated crisis. The report proposes four priority areas for action: real investment to build the capacity of vulnerable countries to peacefully manage conflict; stronger regional organisations and relationships to support governments committed to stability, with effective sanctions to tackle destabilising behaviour; greater responsibility by all countries to tackle global causes of instability such as poverty, HIV/AIDS, climate change, financial crises, organised crime and competition for oil; maintaining an effective response to crises when prevention fails, including adequate numbers of well-trained and deployable peace support personnel and better systems to cut off funding to conflict protagonists. [D] Each year 250 million people around the world are affected by natural disasters, 90 percent of them related to weather or water. A programme to develop a global early warning system has now been launched at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan. A tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean will be set up by mid-2006 under the leadership of the United Nations. [D][E][I][R][X] The earthquake that caused the Indian Ocean tsunami is now estimated to have measured 9.3 on the Richter scale. Three-dimensional sonar images of the ocean bed captured by a Royal Navy survey ship reveal that slabs of rock weighing millions of tonnes were dragged up to 10 kilometres along the seabed by the force of the displaced water. Mountainous ridges 1,500 metres tall were forged from debris, and an oceanic trench several kilometres wide was ripped open. [D][E][R] Operation Garron, the British military assistance to tsunami relief, includes airlifting of emergency equipment and supplies, rebuilding bridges and other infrastructure, and providing emergency communications and logistics planning. It also includes local aid, such as decontaminating wells, making water safe for drinking water, repairing and refloating fishing boats, clearing up rubble, and providing shelter for the homeless. [D][A][E][H][I][W] Chinese scientists have developed a new vaccine for poultry and mammals to prevent the spread of bird flu, according to state media. The vaccine is thought to protect chickens for at least 10 months, four months longer than existing drugs. [D][H] If there is a flu pandemic, public events may be banned and people confined to their homes. The measures are likely to be included in the UK government's contingency plan, which will be published in the spring. [D][H] Researchers from the Thai Ministry of Public Health have said that a woman who died of bird flu probably contracted the disease from her daughter. Encouragingly, the infection does not seem to have spread to other people. However, the Thai Ministry has warned that it is likely there will be more cases where the virus is passed from human to human. [D][H] British and Vietnamese scientists have reported that two Vietnamese children who died in 2004 of diarrhoea and apparent encephalitis actually had H5N1 bird flu, raising the possibility that there have been far more human infections with H5N1 than thought, because many cases have been overlooked by doctors watching for the fever and cough of typical flu. The WHO is now analysing blood from people in areas affected by H5N1, to see how many carry antibodies to the virus - indicating they had survived infection by it - and hence how many unsuspected infections there may have been. [D][H] A new technique devised by UC Irvine can greatly help in developing vaccines against diseases such as smallpox, malaria and tuberculosis. The technique involves loading a microchip with every protein from an infectious micro-organism. When people infected with the disease react to some of the proteins in the microchip, laser technology is used to identify these proteins for potential use in vaccines. The new technique can synthesise a large number of proteins very quickly. This could speed vaccine development for countering pandemic and bioterrorism threats. By using just the proteins to which humans react strongly, the vaccine should also have less risk of causing serious side effects. [D][G][H][J][S] Terrorist attacks and environmental disasters have demonstrated repeatedly that the major rate-limiting factor during a disaster medical response is hospital capacity. Better management of current hospital resources and staff, including training and better communications and triage algorithms, could greatly improve preparedness for disasters. [D][H][I][K][W] |
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| [A] Aeronautics and space | |
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Lockheed Martin is developing conceptual designs for a long-range high-speed stealth bomber based on the F/A-22 Raptor stealth fighter. Technologies being considered include conformal fuel tanks that, once empty, can be pulled inside the plane to improve its aerodynamic performance, new composite stealth materials, and electrical systems that enable the aircraft to change colour to match the sky around it. [A][D][M][O] Researchers at Imperial College London are investigating how air travel can be adapted to avoid creating vapour trails (contrails). Vapour trails can persist for hours, trapping heat in the atmosphere and exacerbating global warming. One potential solution is to fly at lower altitudes. In summer, restricting jets to an altitude of 31,000 feet could be sufficient, but in winter, when the colder air makes vapour trails more likely, a ceiling of 24,000 feet may be needed. Day to day variability in atmospheric conditions also affect this, and more complex aircraft routing strategies might help avoid the problem areas. [A][E][R][X] Kliper, Russia's proposed reusable space orbiter, has received good reviews in the space technology community. The question is how its development and construction might be funded, and whether it might be part of the new space collaboration between Russia and the EU. [A][T] The latest version of Ariane 5 has successfully completed its initial qualification flight. This success paves the way for the commercial introduction of the Ariane 5 ECA version, which is due to replace the current Ariane 5G for lifting heavy payloads to geostationary orbit and beyond. After a perfect lift-off, the launcher injected its payload into the predicted transfer orbit. One of the three satellites launched was Sloshsat FLEVO, an experimental mini-satellite to investigate fluid physics in microgravity for understanding how propellant-tank sloshing affects spacecraft control. [A][P] The use of satellite-based information and communications technology for telemedicine is gradually moving from an exploratory phase towards a more stable and operational profile, in which integration into the existing healthcare system and the rapid attainment of self-sustainability are essential preconditions for success. ESA is preparing the ground for a telemedicine programme to be presented at the next ESA Ministerial Conference. [A][H][I][K] Europe's SMART-1 lunar mission has beamed back its first close-up pictures of the Moon. The mosaics of images show the pockmarked surface from an altitude of between 1000 and 5000 kilometres. The long shadows cast by the crater rims should help scientists estimate the height of the walls. The SMART-1 mission has been extended by ESA to August 2006 in order to map both southern and northern hemispheres at high resolution. The mission has now fulfilled its primary objective, which was to demonstrate the viability of solar electric propulsion using ion-beam engines. [A][P] US and European scientists have successfully measured the wind speeds experienced by the Huygens probe during its descent through the atmosphere of Titan. The information was originally thought to have been lost because of a fault in one of Cassini's radio receivers. However, a network of terrestrial radio telescopes picked up Huygens' signal directly, and it has proved possible to determine the wind speed from the signal's Doppler shift. [A][R] ESA's initial report on Titan reveals that its meteorology and geology is extraordinarily Earth-like. Images have shown a complex network of narrow drainage channels running from brighter highlands to lower, flatter, dark regions. These channels merge into river systems running into lakebeds featuring offshore 'islands' and 'shoals' remarkably similar to those on Earth. Titan's rivers and lakes appear dry at the moment, but methane rain may have occurred not long ago. Atmospheric argon 40 indicates that Titan has experienced volcanic activity generating not lava, as on Earth, but water ice and ammonia. [A][E] The surface of Titan revealed by the Huygens probe suggests it may be the best candidate in the Solar System for supporting non-aqueous life. It seems to have rivers and oceans, and its sticky surface is apparently made partly from organic molecules. There are nitrogen-containing organic compounds called nitriles in its atmosphere, which, it has been suggested, could react with water ice to form a rich blend of organic ingredients for possible life forms. Hydrocarbon solvents can support complex organic reactions, and because they are less reactive than water, they may be able to support more delicate organic processes. [A][E][M][R] Titan is thought to resemble a deep-frozen version of Earth 4.6 billion years ago, dominated by nitrogen, methane and other organic molecules. Liquid methane rains down on Titan and reservoirs of methane probably lie on or just below the surface. There must be a source renewing the methane, since the Sun's UV radiation would otherwise destroy all the methane on Titan's surface within 10 million years. Measuring the ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-13 in the atmospheric methane could indicate if this source is biological. Models of Titan's interior suggest that around 300km below the surface there could be an ocean 100km deep, composed mostly of liquid water with about 15 percent ammonia at a temperature of about -80 degrees C. This might support life similar to that on the early Earth and this could be the source of the methane. [A][F] |
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| [U] Unmanned vehicles and robotics | |
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DARPA's $4bn 5 year programme to develop UAV attack aircraft, such as Boeing's X-45 and Northrop's X-47, involves research not only on the aircraft themselves but also on creating new airborne communications networks and command and control, sensor, and weapons systems to enable the UAVs to operate, individually and collectively. [U][A][D][I][R][T] The US military is planning to send armed robotic vehicles into combat in Iraq for the first time. Eighteen of the remotely operated robots, equipped with cameras, will be sent to the combat zone between March and April. The special weapons observation reconnaissance detection system (SWORDS) is based on the Talon robot, which has been used in troublespots such as Northern Ireland and Iraq to defuse roadside bombs. [U][D][R] In Sweden, a spherical roving robot that was originally designed for planetary exploitation has been developed as a robot security guard for detecting and reporting intruders. [U][D][R] NASA and DARPA are collaborating to develop a humanoid robot, Robonaut, designed specifically to work with and around humans, particularly in space. Construction of Robonaut A began in 1998, and was followed by Robonaut B, completed in 2002. The project has now grown into a broad R&D portfolio comprising a host of robotic technologies. Five key areas of investigation focus on improving human-robot collaboration in space: operator interfaces for teleoperation in the presence of time delay; configurations and strategies for mobile manipulation; sensor technologies that support autonomous behaviours (including contact force management and automated grasping); software that implements autonomous behaviours, skills, and tasks; and system maturation in preparation for eventual space deployment. [U][A][D][S][T][V] Australian scientists have successfully carried out the world's first on-the-spot robotic repair of power station turbine blades. Low pressure turbine blades are susceptible to pitting and erosion from wet steam, requiring replacement at intervals of 10 to 15 years. The robotic technology involves re-surfacing the blades with a metallic formulation that extends their working life almost indefinitely. This means that they can last the life of the power station, saving up to $10 million over the life of each power station. [U][M][P][W] A real-time machine vision system developed at Oxford University can automatically build an accurate three dimensional model of the world using only a video camera feed. To calibrate the model the system needs only one object of known size in its field of view. It then skilfully picks out its own visual markers from a scene. By measuring the way these markers move the computer can judge how far away each marker is, and determine how the camera is moving. The system should improve the ability of robots to understand and navigate through their environment. [U][K][R][V] A computer that learns to play a 'scissors, paper, stone' game by observing and mimicking human players has been developed at the University of Leeds. The system's visual processor analyses the action by separating periods of movement and inactivity and then extracting features based on colour and texture. Combining this with audio input, the system develops hypotheses about the game's rules using inductive logic programming. The work could be a significant step towards the ideal of a system that can observe events in an unknown scenario, and learn and participate like a child. [U][C][K][R] |
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| [P] Propulsion and energy | |
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Ford has developed a hybrid diesel electric transit van that automatically switches off its engine while idling, and restarts again instantly the clutch pedal is pressed. The company claims that on average the van consumes over 21 percent less fuel than a standard vehicle. The biggest benefit is for door-to-door delivery, which involves a high proportion of stop-start driving. [P][E] It may be possible to increase the efficiency of solar cells by 2 percent and also to reduce their cost by using diffractive nanostructured arrays of gratings on the cell's surface to trap light inside it. [P][J] The lunar dust gathered by the Apollo missions was found to be composed half of silicon dioxide and half of a blend of oxides of 12 metals, including aluminium, magnesium and iron. This finding led to the suggestion that solar-powered crawling robots could pave the Moon's surface with silicon solar cells manufactured in situ from the dust. In the context of NASA's new lunar mission, researchers at the University of Houston have now shown that the concept is feasible. Using manufacturing processes that precisely reflect the conditions and limitations on the Moon's surface, they turned simulated lunar dust directly into solar cell substrates. The solar cells deposited on these substrates using thermal evaporation (exploiting the vacuum on the Moon's surface) had an efficiency of 1 percent. [P][A][M][U] A small Alaskan town with a population of 700 could become the site for an experimental mini nuclear power plant. If approved, it would be the first new reactor in the US since 1974. Developed by Toshiba, the reactor will generate about 10 megawatts of power, roughly 1 percent of a typical nuclear plant's capacity. [P][E] Hardwood biomass, such as willow, can not only be burned directly to generate electric power but also gassified. Dutch research shows that efficient hardwood gassification at 900 to 1200 degrees C can be achieved if the wood is first roasted at 250 to 300 degrees C. The gas produced can be used for making electricity, fuels and chemicals. [P][E] A state of the art energy buoy 12 miles of the Cornish coast is recording wave activity and measuring wave power. The project is designed to speed up the installation of one the world's first wave farms, which could be in place within three years off the north Cornwall coast. [P][E] A laser radar (lidar) system used for locating the best sites for offshore wind farms has been successfully tested on land. It is now being developed for off-shore use, where it is necessary to compensate for wave motion. [P][O][R] |
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| [M] Materials, structures and surfaces | |
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Researchers have for the first time developed a method to measure temperature in granular materials. This should help in understanding the peculiar properties of granular materials that make them behave at times like solids, liquids, and even gases. This is of great importance to industries that handle powders and particulate materials, from pharmaceutical pills and food powders to sand and cement in the construction industry. [M][N][S] Researchers at the University of Illinois have created high-quality superconducting wires with molecular dimensions, and measured their behaviour in magnetic fields of various strengths. The results have confirmed that theories developed for bulk superconductors also apply to molecular-scale superconductors. The superconductivity in the ultrathin wires can withstand stronger magnetic fields. This makes the wires potentially useful for producing higher magnetic fields from superconducting magnets. [M][R][S] Evolution has produced some very clever and subtle catalytic processes, and understanding these better can help improve industrial catalysts. Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory, using theoretical modelling of catalytic complexes, have found that one bacterial enzyme has a catalytic complex that should be four to five times more reactive than the catalysts currently used in industry. This complex is a particular configuration of iron and sulphur atoms and the surrounding amino acids in an enzyme isolated from Desulfovibrio desulfuricans, a bacterium that can live in sulphur-rich environments without oxygen. Similar complexes of iron and sulphur play an important role in many enzymes, catalysts, and sensors. [M][E][G][P] For catalysis, biosensing and molecular electronics, it is important to understand better how organic molecules behave at a metal surface. Large molecules are hard to study because of their size, their tortuous shape and their many internal modes of vibration. By scattering x-ray synchrotron radiation off large molecules adsorbed on a surface, German scientists have been able to decipher how the molecule is distorted by its interaction with the surface. [M][N][S] US scientists have assembled metal chalcogenide nanoparticles to make a chalcogenide aerogel. Previously aerogels were limited to metals oxides and carbon. The combination of high surface area, quantum confinement effects and photoluminescence could make metal chalcogenide aerogels useful for photocatalytic, photovoltaic and sensing applications. The researchers demonstrated their technique for nanoparticles of cadmium sulphide, cadmium selenide, zinc sulphide and lead sulphide, and believe it can be extended to other materials. [M][J][N][P][S] Scientists at the University of Chicago have made the surprising discovery that when a liquid drop hits a surface the amount of splash depends on the pressure of the surrounding gas, reducing as the pressure is reduced. No splashing at all occurs below a critical pressure, which scales with the molecular weight of the gas. The discovery may have application for high resolution ink-jet printing and for combustion of liquid fuels. [M][P] A theoretical study of a single, very small point being pulled over an atomically flat surface shows that the frictional force at first increases, but then reaches a maximum as the point speeds up, and then falls if the point continues to be accelerated across the surface. Although the model is idealised, the result may be important for designing better braking systems. [M][E][P] |
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| [E] Environment, transport and marine | |
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Computer modelling of the Martian atmosphere suggests that it would be possible to create conditions on Mars suitable for sustaining biological life by using synthetic fluorine-based gases such as octafluoropropane. These are very powerful greenhouse gases and can be manufactured from materials present on the surface of Mars. Adding approximately 300 parts per million of the gas mixture to the current Martian atmosphere (an amount equivalent of only two parts per million in an Earth-like atmosphere) would cause a runaway greenhouse effect, creating an instability in the polar ice sheets that would slowly evaporate the frozen carbon dioxide on the planet's surface. This would lead to further melting and global temperature increases that could then enhance atmospheric pressure and eventually restore a thicker atmosphere to the planet. [E][A][C][X] An international conference on avoiding dangerous climate change has concluded, from collating results of published studies, that large scale damage becomes likely if average temperatures rise by more than 3 degrees C. The EU's target is to keep global warming to under 2 degrees C by 2050. [E][D] To achieve the EU target of limiting global warming by 2050 to less than 2 degrees C, the world's greenhouse gas emissions need to fall to between 30 percent and 50 percent of 1990 levels by 2050, a new study suggests. Carbon dioxide concentrations are currently approaching 380 ppm, having risen from pre-industrial levels of around 280 ppm. The EU has recommended 550 ppm as a suitable goal, but recent climate modelling suggests that even at 450 ppm there is a 50 percent change of exceeding the 2 degrees C target by 2050. A report by the International Climate Change Taskforce advocates keeping concentrations below 400 ppm. On current trends the 400 ppm level will be reached by 2015. [E][D][P] A network of 95,000 home PCs has been used to run a simplistic version of the Met Office Unified Climate Model. This has allowed 2,000 different sets of starting parameters to be used, covering a far wider range of scenarios than previously studied. The outcome is that doubling the world's carbon dioxide levels, from the pre-industrial level of 280 ppm to 560 ppm, is predicted to produce global warming of between 1.9 degrees C and 11 degrees C. This extreme result is surprising because it lies far outside the 1.4 degree to 4.5 degree C range previously predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The results must be treated with caution in view of the simplified model used, but they add to the growing evidence that global warming is still being underestimated. [E][C] Researchers at Scripps and Lawrence Livermore have compared the rise in ocean temperatures over the past 40 years with predictions from climate models. They used different scenarios including natural climate variability, solar radiation and volcanic emissions, but all fell short. Including the effect of greehouse gases, however, reproduced the observed temperature changes in the oceans with a statistical confidence of 95 percent. The correspondence was especially strong in the upper 500 metres of the water column, and the computer models reproduced the penetration of the warming signal in all the oceans. According to the researchers, the results are compelling evidence that the past and likely future evolution of global warming can now be simulated successfully. [E][C] Scientists have puzzled why global temperature in the 20th century seem to have been much less sensitive to rising levels of carbon dioxide that it was during the ice age. The answer may be pollution. The amount of sunlight reaching the Earth's surface has been falling in recent decades. Compared to 1950 it is now 10 percent lower over the US, nearly 30 percent lower in parts of the former Soviet Union, and 16 percent lower in parts of Britain. This appears to be due to atmospheric particulates seeding the formation of water droplets and making clouds more reflective. Increasing pollution may have been compensating for the rising carbon dioxide levels in the past 50 year, masking the true severity of global warming. [E] Satellite data has revealed an immense wintertime pool of pollution over the northern Indian state of Bihar, blanketing around 100 million people, primarily in the Ganges Valley. A large source of the pollution, whose level is about five times higher than typically found over Los Angeles, is the inefficient burning of a variety of biofuels during cooking and other domestic use. Particles in the smoke remain close to the ground, trapped by valley walls, and unable to mix upward because of a high-pressure system that dominates the region during winter. [E][P][R] Humans may have caused major climate change in the past. In Australia, landscape burning by ancient hunters and gatherers may have triggered the failure of the annual Australian monsoon some 12,000 years ago, resulting in the desertification of the country's interior that is evident today, according to a new study. [E] Finland ranks top in the world in environmental sustainability out of 146 countries, according to the latest Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) produced by a team of environmental experts at Yale and Columbia Universities. Norway, Uruguay, Sweden and Iceland were ranked two to five respectively. Their high ESI scores are attributed to substantial natural resource endowments, low population density, and successful management of environment and development issues. The US, despite having the advantage of a large natural-resource base relative to its population, ranked only 45th. None of the 146 countries is on a sustainable trajectory, but countries may be able to exploit some of the best practices of others. Britain, for instance, which ranked 46th, could learn from Japan and Germany, both of which are crowded, industrialised countries like the UK, but which finished 30th and 31st respectively. [E][R] Leaders of seven African nations have signed a joint treaty to protect their continent's massive rainforest - second only to that found in the Amazon basin. However, implementing the treaty will be difficult. Priorities are to curb illegal logging and the illegal trade in bushmeat, and to create a certification system for tropical wood, such as the one which already exists for diamonds, so that consumers in the West will be aware of the origin of the wood in furniture they buy. [E][D][K][R][S] |
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| [R] Remote sensing and sensor systems | |
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Research at Georgia Tech suggests that industrial pollution is an important contributor to ocean fertility by releasing sulphur dioxide. This increases acidity at the ocean surface, releasing iron in soluble form - a critical nutrient for phytoplankton. [R][E] Phytoplankton play a key role in fish stocks and in global warming. They provide the basis for most of the marine food chain, for half the oxygen in the atmosphere, and ultimately for much of the life on Earth. US researchers have discovered how to use space-based sensing to measure phytoplankton biomass from ocean light scattering and how to infer phytoplankton growth rates from the colour. The ability to monitor phytoplankton from space will help in promoting fish stocks and in modelling the carbon cycling in the global oceans. [R][A][E] Seismic surveys to find new oil reserves are often carried out in remote areas and are almost military in scale and expense. A seismic crew exploring a 500-square-kilometre area can require 400 people with up to 50 small and 15 large vehicles working with up to 600,000 geophones, and carrying out 600 seismic 'shots' daily. Earth observation from space can provide a detailed preview of a region's topography and geology to assess areas that will produce the best and worst seismic quality. [R][A][P][T] A signal receiver developed by Raytheon Systems could allow aircraft to fly closer to each other, increasing airport capacity and reducing flight times and fuel costs. The system uses advanced algorithms capable of detecting and decoding individual aircraft messages from among overlapping signals in heavily congested areas. [R][A][I] An advanced radar technique to image forests in three dimensions has undergone an ESA-backed test campaign in Indonesia. A future space-based version could measure global biomass to sharpen the accuracy of climate change models. [R][E] ESA has decided to risk deploying the MARSIS radar on board Mars Express. The radar altimeter will search for water up to 5km (3 miles) beneath the surface of the Red Planet. Two 20m-long hollow fibreglass booms comprise the instrument's primary antenna, and a 7m-long boom acts as a receive-only antenna. MARSIS should have been deployed in April 2004, but it was delayed when it was realised that during deployment a boom may hit delicate components on the spacecraft or become blocked, either by itself or by the spacecraft. ESA has now decided the risk is worth taking. [R][A] |
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| [S] Sensor devices | |
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It would be a great advantage if tumours could be seen visually rather than needing to use x-rays or MRI. Researchers have shown that tumours quite deep under the skin can be seen using infra-red light if they are tagged by highly fluorescent materials called porphyrins. The porphyrins are encapsulated inside self-assembling vesicles called polymersomes, formed of two layers of synthetic co-polymers. The fluorescent materials disperse evenly within the polymersome core, giving rise to a nanometre-sized light-emitting structure. This can then be made to target and tag cancer cell-surface markers, making the tumour visible in near infra-red light. [S][G][H][N] A five-pound, hand-held medical diagnostic device being developed at Sandia should enable doctors to determine in minutes if their patient is prone to conditions, such as heart disease, gum disease, or cancer. The device uses lab-on-a-chip technologies, developed for detecting biotoxins and chemical agents, to analyse bodily fluids, such as saliva and blood. Antibodies specific for biomarkers of interest are tagged with a fluorescent dye and then mixed with a patient's saliva or blood. If biomarkers for the disease are present, the lab-on-a-chip analysis separates the fluorescent antibodies bound to the biomarker from unbound antibodies. A photomultiplier then detects the fluorescence emission with extreme sensitivity. [S][D][H] The combination of MEMS fabrication technology and 10nm thick single crystals of tin oxide has produced a biosensor that is ultrastable and highly sensitive, potentially capable of detecting a single molecule of sarin. The device is also able to recover immediately after chemical exposure and is free from the "poisoning effect" that has previously limited the use of metal oxides as sensors. The researchers believe that the technology is suitable for large-scale manufacturing of biosensor arrays. [S][J][N] Engineers in the University of Michigan have used deep reactive ion etching to build the first life-sized fully micromachined artificial cochlea. The device works in the same way as the cochlea in a real ear, and could be used to make cochlear implants and sensors. [S][J][V] Using a mixture of conventional polymers, such as polyethylene and polypropylene, with small amounts of tailored fluorescent dyes, researchers at Case Western Reserve have created light-emitting polymer blends that reveal mechanical stress by changing colours when deformed. Applications could include internal failure indicators in machinery, anti-counterfeiting devices, as well as tamper-resistant packaging for food or medicines. [S][M][W] Physicists in Canada have developed a new way to investigate single-electron effects in quantum structures that avoids the very difficult problem of having to attach electrical leads to a nanoparticle. The method, dubbed electrostatic force spectroscopy, relies on an atomic force microscope and has a spatial resolution of 50 nm. [S][J][N] Quantum dot (Qdot) molecular imaging is a new way of seeing biological processes at work within cells and in small animals. Probes can be attached to a given protein or receptor to monitor it and see what other molecules it interacts with, what part of the cell it is in, and what signalling pathways the protein may use for performing normal cell functions and for abnormal functions that may result in cancer. Qdots are much more resistant to degradation than other optical imaging probes, allowing them to track cell processes for longer periods of time. [S][G][H][J][N][R][T] Nanoparticle complexes can be specifically targeted to cancer cells and are small enough to enter a diseased cell, either killing it from within or sending out a signal to identify it. But manufacturing the particles is notoriously difficult and time-consuming. University of Michigan researchers have developed a faster, more efficient technique that uses DNA molecules to bind the particles together and can produce a wide variety of nanoparticle drug delivery systems. [S][H][N] |
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| [O] Optoelectronics, optics and lasers | |
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When light meets a metallic surface it generates surface plasmons, an electromagnetic waves coupled with conducting electrons. The surface plasmons have a wavelength around seven times shorter than the incident light, and researchers at the University of Maryland have found how to exploit this for nanoscale imaging. The images resolved holes less than 150 nm apart. The researchers hope that, with improvements in the smoothness of etched mirrors, the technique might in the future be incorporated into normal optical microscopes. [O][M][N][S] Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have used violet light with a wavelength of 436 nm to image features as small as 40 nm, about five times smaller than possible with a conventional optical microscope. They believe that their hybrid version of the optical microscope might eventually be able to image and measure features smaller than 10 nm. [O][N][S] Physicists at Stanford University have produced the shortest ever laser pulse at optical frequencies. The pulse lasts for just 1.6 femtoseconds - just 0.8 of an optical cycle for pulses with a central wavelength of 650 nm. [O][G][M][S] Researchers in Germany claim to have made the first organic semiconductor laser that emits in the UV. It is tuneable over 18 nm and operates down to 378 nm, making it promising for biofluorescent sensors. The laser is optically pumped, but the researchers believe they can develop an electrically pumped version. [O][G][S] A new laser technique for introducing foreign genes into cells (transfection) has been demonstrated at the University of St Andrews. A 40 ms long 0.3 mW pulse of violet light from a diode laser is used to perforate the membrane allowing uptake of the foreign genes. The membrane heals itself shortly after the process and the cell does not appear to suffer any long term damage or mutation. Because the technique is so cheap and simple, and can be applied to individual cells, it could find wide use. [O][G][H] Laser surgery using light from a carbon dioxide laser, transmitted down a hollow optical fibre, together with light from a pulsed dye laser transmitted down a solid optical fibre, could revolutionise the removal of growths in the throat and lungs. Instead of requiring a major operation, the surgery can be done in the doctor's office with the patient completely awake. [O][H] Intel has now achieved CW output from a silicon laser, and the design can easily be modified to switch the laser on and off, allowing it to be modulated electronically. One application may be to use on-chip lasers to sychronise timing across very high-speed chips. Another is for high-speed connection between chips. [O][C][J][M] |
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| [I] IT, communications, networking and secure systems | |
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Using a new signalling architecture, Bell Labs and FCI have demonstrated a data transmission rate of 25 Gbit/sec over an electrical backplane, more than twice the previous record and a significant step towards 100 Gbit/sec Ethernet backplanes. [I][C][J] Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) offers lower cost and greater flexibility. However, according to NIST, because VOIP has a very different architecture than circuit-switched telephony, it results in significant security risks which need to be managed and mitigated. [I] According to cyber security experts, the threat from viruses, trojans and other malicious programs is changing. The era of the amateur hacker driven by technical prowess is giving way to a new era of professional computer crime, with organised crime gangs attracted by the high returns and low risks of being caught. The threat is becoming less leading edge technically but more complex. One can no longer name and categorise viruses by the method they use to spread and how they infect machines. Many of the methods used by criminals combine many technical tricks and also rely on expert deception techniques. [I][D] To make it easier to measure the security of an information technology product or system, NIST has developed a common specification language, called Extensible Configuration Checklist Description Format (XCCDF). XCCDF is an XML-based format that is flexible and vendor-neutral. It is suited for a wide variety of checklist applications, including measuring conformance of an IT system to security benchmarks and generating a record of a benchmark test. [I][D][K] Sophisticated RFID devices can offer cryptographic functionality and therefore support authentication protocols. One of the most popular, known as a Digital Signature Transponder (DST), is used for vehicle immobilisers and electronic payments. A DST contains a 40-bit cryptographic key which is field-programmable via an RF command. In its interaction with a reader, a DST emits a factory-set (24-bit) identifier, and then authenticates itself by engaging in a challenge-response protocol. However, researchers at John Hopkins and RSA Laboratories have shown that with only a 40-bit keys, the DSTs can be cracked with relatively cheap equipment. [I] New spamming programs that pretend to be valid ISP customers and send junk emails from legitimate servers could pose a serious threat. Anti-spam "blacklists" have proven increasingly effective at blocking spam from home computers. However, anti-spam blacklists cannot be used against ISPs themselves without disrupting the whole internet. [I] |
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| [K] Knowledge, information and technology management | |
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The massive body of text that is available on search engines like Google (which has more than 8 billion pages indexed) may solve one of the main problems of artificial intelligence - how to enable computers to learn what words mean. The meaning of a word can usually be gleaned from the words used around it. Dutch researchers have shown that a Google search can be used to measure how closely two words relate to each other, termed the normalised Google distance, or NGD. By repeating this process for lots of pairs of words, it is possible to build a map of their distances, and from this a computer can infer meaning, at least in simple contexts. [K][I] Online search engines are poised for a series of upgrades that should substantially enhance their capability to find information on the Web. This includes being able to find information in pages that are normally hidden because they are constructed on demand, and being able to personalise searches based on knowledge of a user's interests, particularly their past searches and browsing. Other improvements are in the ability to ensure privacy, to take into account the user's location, to retrieve and match graphical material, shapes and music, and to cope with the huge growth in material on the internet. [K][I][T] Microsoft has unveiled the finished version of its new search engine, first released in test version in 2003. The revamped engine indexes more pages than before, can give direct answers to factual questions, and features tools to help people create detailed queries. [K][I] Many companies, including Web-search giants like Google and Yahoo, are competing in the new market for desktop search engines. One approach, instead of waiting for the user to type keywords in a query box, is to monitor what the user is working on and automatically supply links to relevant content from the local hard drive and the Web. [K][T] Internet dating is proving successful as a way to find long-term romance and friendship, according to research at Bath University. [K][I] Experiments reveal that co-operative teamworking generally involves three kinds of co-workers: co-operators, free-riders and reciprocators. Co-operators do the most work and free-riders do as little as possible. But most people are reciprocators, who hold back to determine the chances of success before devoting their full energy to a project. This points to the importance of communicating a project's progress and potential in order to maximise the performance of the team. [K][W] Military commanders today communicate more directly with field personnel, and can exploit a huge amount and variety of information available from real-time sensors, voice communications, archived data and other sources. The result can be ambiguous, disjointed information rather than integrated, organised reports, and this can make decision-taking harder. Research at Georgia Tech into decision-taking under pressure has shown that people develop unconscious strategies that simplify their decisions, and this can lead to errors of judgement. The research identified nine different kinds of biases that can lead to errors. It also showed that training subjects to spot conditions that lead to decision-making biases doubled their ability to identify specific situations likely to lead to wrong decisions. [K][B][D][I] With people now retiring later, it is important to understand how to get the best performance from older brains. New research suggests that as the brain ages the ability of one brain cell to inhibit another reduces. Older people appear to be better and faster at considering all the information and grasping the big picture, but are less adept than younger people at excluding information and concentrating hard on a detailed task. [K][B] Microsoft's Advanced Technology Center (ATC) in Beijing is pioneering a new approach to technology transfer from Microsoft's research laboratories into its software products. Rather than staff being assigned to specific projects, they belong to a flexible organisation that goes wherever it is needed. The ATC illustrates the rapid evolution of China at the technical leading edge in software, and the growth of the Chinese IT market as a driver for IT products - there a now nearly 100 million Internet users in China. As the ATC starts exploiting output from all of Microsoft's research laboratories world wide, it is pioneering how to bridge the gaps in culture, time and distance between China and the West. [K][T] |
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| [C] Computing, supercomputing, modelling and simulation | |
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A new type of microprocessor, called Cell, has been developed jointly by IBM, Sony and Toshiba. It incorporates eight separate processing cores, or "synergistic processing elements", which are capable of communicating with one another at high-speed. The eight cores give the chip the ability to run different software programs simultaneously and to divide up processing tasks more efficiently. It will also be able to run several operating systems, such as Linux or Windows, in tandem. The chip should give an order of magnitude increase for graphics applications, and other parallel computing tasks. Toshiba intends to use it for high definition television from 2006. Cell joins the ranks of several other new microprocessors that are threatening Intel's dominance. [C][J][V][R] Java 2 Enterprise Edition has excelled at standardising many important middleware concepts. For example, J2EE provides a standard interface for distributed transaction management, directory services, and messaging. In addition, Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE), which underpins J2EE, provides a largely successful standard for Java interaction with relational databases. However, the platform has failed to deliver a satisfactory application programming model. Now, J2EE application development frameworks are increasingly meeting this need. [C][K][T] In 1997, the supercomputer Deep Blue beat the world chess champion Kasparov. However, computers cannot yet beat even a good amateur at playing Go. The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NOSR) has now developed a program that can solve the Go game fully for a 5 x 5 board. However, a real Go board has 19 x 19 intersections. Searching techniques that enable computers to play chess expertly are not sufficient to play Go, because the program cannot search deep enough to achieve end positions in Go. Learning techniques, which are used in games such as backgammon or other complex applications such as image recognition, can enable computers to learn from human demonstration games, and this is another way that a Go program can improve its performance. [C][K][R] Typical IT infrastructures are inefficient and costly, because assets are specialised to role and are underutilised. Advances in technology and new management practices are leading to less complex infrastructure models characterised by standard and reusable products, transparent pricing, and better use of IT resources. Technology advances include networked computing, which distributes an application's processing requirements across many servers, and server virtualisation, which allows a single central-processing unit to run a number of different operating systems at the same time. In the new approach, rather than building systems to order, infrastructure groups create portfolios of "productised," reusable services. Streamlined, automated processes and technologies create a "factory" that delivers these products in optimal fashion. [C][I][T][W] |
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| [W] Whole life engineering, manufacture and testing | |
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Conventional system development, in which hardware design precedes software development, does not scale successfully to supersystems. Instead, system-level modelling needs to be used in order to create high-performance, timing-accurate, complete supersystem models that define the architecture as a virtual system prototype. This VSP can then serve as a reference model, driving concurrent software development and supporting hardware and software optimisation for complex control tasks. [W][C][X][T] Applications of biotechnology in medicine and agriculture are well understood, but there is less awareness of the role of biotechnology in a manufacturing context. Yet increasingly, a range of industries are beginning to reap the environmental and economic benefits of using micro-organisms for processes as varied as sensing, waste management and even industrial coating. [W][E][G][M][S][T] |
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| [X] Systems, complexity and risk | |
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A remarkably simple mechanism can enable flocking birds, schooling fish or running herds to travel in unison without any recognised leaders or signalling system, according to research at Princeton. Group coordination can emerge naturally from two basic instincts: the need to stay in a group, and the desire by some individuals to act on their own information about where to go. As well as providing insights about biological systems, the findings may also be useful for managing swarms of robots. [X][C][E][U] Using computer simulation, researchers at Imperial College London have explored how infectious diseases spread. They studied three species: Neisseria meningitidis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Staphylococcus aureus. They found evidence that bacterial communities mirror the social life of the humans they infect, spreading between close family members or friends in the same class at school or nursery. However, the simulations showed that chance circumstances play a very large role in how widely an infection spreads. [X][C][D][H] Mathematical modelling and influenza field trials suggest that the best strategy to cope with a pandemic would be to concentrate vaccination in school children and high-risk groups, according to research commentary at Emory University. The modelling shows that school children are the most important group in spreading the infection. [X][C][D][H] Measurements of traffic flows in cities have shown that short cuts can generate more traffic and increase congestion. Researchers at Oxford University have managed to model this mathematically by taking a new approach to complex networks. They found that with a small number of roads, journeys initially became faster as extra roads were added to the network. But beyond a certain number, adding more roads increased average journey times rather than cutting them. The optimum number of roads depended on just how much extra delay there was to journeys passing through the centre. The model may also be able to explain a long standing problem in biology: why some natural networks are centralised whilst others are decentralised. [X][C] It is well known that large animals live longer than small ones, and that all biological rates for most animals are proportional to the animal's mass raised to a power that is a multiple of 1/4. These relationships are known as quarter-power scaling laws. For instance, an animal's metabolic rate is proportional to mass to the 3/4 power, and its heart rate is proportional to mass to the –1/4 power. The underlying reason for this scaling relates to the rate at which fuel can be delivered to cells by the blood supply network. Now researchers at Cornell believe they have found that quarter-power scaling applies to plants, plant communities and entire ecosystems. They believe that it is a master equation of all biological systems. They have used it to estimate carbon turnover and storage in ecosystems such as oceanic phytoplankton, grasslands, and old-growth forests. [X][E][F][H] Researchers have developed a method to observe the structure of a network on many levels and have found that four different types of complex networks show a common fractal architecture, with self-similarity at all levels. They are the World Wide Web, a network of actors who have been in films together, networks of proteins with links between those that can bind to each other, and networks of other cellular molecules with links between molecules involved in the same biochemical reactions. The discovery should make it easier to model complex networks. Mathematicians have been modelling the World Wide Web as infinite dimensional, but networks with fractal geometry fit into a finite-dimensional space. [X][C][E][G][I] Chaotic systems known as excitable media, which include the firing of neurones in the brain and the growth and receding of blooms of plankton in the sea, are not excited by small signals, but respond fully if stimulated above a threshold level. Researchers at the University of Potsdam have now found from modelling such systems that noise can trigger excitation when it is below threshold. They suggest that noise might be used to control chemical reactions, and ocean and that wave noise may play a key role in sustaining marine ecosystems. [X][B][E][M] |
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| [V] Virtuality and human-machine interface | |
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The shape of a person's ears and head affect the behaviour of sound waves entering the ear, and from this behaviour the brain can interpret directional information. By calculating precisely how these features alter sounds for an individual listener, it is possible to tailor individual surround-sound systems to a specific individual. As well as providing ultra-realistic surround sound at consumer prices, the technology, being developed by UK and Australian scientists, could improve hearing aids and might be used for acoustic display. In the cockpit of a warplane, for example, the system could clearly convey the location of a missile. [V][A] According to engineers at Hewlett Packard, the battery life of PDAs and other mobile devices can be extended many times over by monitoring the screen and automatically dimming unimportant pixels. Moreover, 95 percent of users said they preferred the modified presentation. [V][P] Research on connecting brains to computers in order to circumvent disabilities is fostering a new field of technology - neurotechnology. [V][B][T] |
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| [B] Brain research and human science | |
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Peripheral nerves can readily regenerate, but neurones in the brain and the spinal cord have mechanisms activated that prevent regeneration. Understanding these "braking mechanisms" may make it possible to repair damage to the brain and spinal cord, and to do this without triggering side effects such as childhood brain cancer that results when a gene that helps brain development in the embryo fails to switch off. [B][G][H] Research on how the brain processes languages is revealing that different types of words are processed in quite different parts of the brain. The anterior left temporal lobe is critical for proper nouns, whereas the left inferior prefrontal/premotor region is important for verbs. And, where prepositions are handled depends on whether they refer to time or space, even for the same word, such as "at". The research may help in treating speech damage caused by strokes, as well as increasing understanding of language and cognition. [B][H][K][V] Research on fruit flies has revealed that pacemaker neurones do far more than just control the 24-hour circadian rhythm. They also act as filters, using their molecular clocks to adjust the intensity of the transmitted sensory and brain signals depending on the time of day. Almost all of the genes that make up the fruit fly's molecular clock have counterparts with similar functions in mammals. So it may be possible to identify genes that can be used in humans to treat problems such as sleep disorders and jet lag. [B][A][H] Experiments have confirmed predictions that electrical fields can be used to modify waves travelling through brain tissue. Previously, neural waves had only been modified by pharmacological means, which can be reversed only by washing out the drug used. In contrast, the electrical method takes only microseconds to have an effect. The results might also have practical application in controlling epileptic seizures. [B][H] In 2004, scientists at NIH found that in slices of rat's brain, the cells activated each other in cascades called "neuronal avalanches." New computer models now suggest these brain avalanches are associated with large numbers of stable activity patterns. These patterns are thought to be important for memory, since they have been recorded in the brains of monkeys and rats after they perform memory tasks. [B] The mechanisms by which the brain converts short term memories into long term memory have recently become clearer. When a short-term memory is created, stimulation of the synapse is enough to temporarily sensitise it to subsequent signals. For a long term memory, proteins cause this strengthening of synaptic response to become permanent. This involves genes in the neurone's nucleus being activated and initiating the production of the proteins. In the past decade, scientists have unravelled how the signalling between synapses and genes works, and how neurones use the repeated pattern of a signal to decide to convert it into long term memory. [B][G][T] Brain cells in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease have surprised scientists with their ability to recuperate after being treated with antibodies that cleared the amyloid plaques. This suggests encouragingly that the structural damage caused to neurones by the plaque may not be as permanent as has been supposed. [B][H] While there are essentially no disparities in general intelligence between the sexes, a UC Irvine study has found significant differences in the brain areas where males and females manifest their intelligence. The study shows women having more white matter and men more grey matter related to intellectual skill. This indicates that no single neuroanatomical structure determines general intelligence and that different types of brain designs are capable of producing equivalent intellectual performance. [B][K] Scottish researchers, who previously found that high IQ (whether measured at age 11 or in middle age) is an indicator of longer life span, have now found that reaction time seems to be an even stronger indicator. [B][H] Researchers have discovered an important chemical in the brain's neuronal machinery that triggers some of the withdrawal symptoms of opioid drugs like morphine and heroin. Developing a drug to inhibit the chemical could make it much easier for drug addicts to achieve successful withdrawal. [B][H] It has been often suggested that people with certain personality traits, particularly neuroticism and extroversion, are more likely to get cancer. A new study using personality trait data collected from 29,595 Swedish twins has revealed no such association. The study also finds no evidence that personality traits indirectly lead to cancer through behavioural factors, such as smoking. [B][H] |
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| [H] Healthcare and medicine | |
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Japanese researchers report that long term ingestion of green tea is beneficial for improving endurance capacity. The study found that mice regularly taking green tea extract (GTE) over 10 weeks boosted their "swimming to exhaustion" endurance by up to 24 percent with 0.5 percent GTE supplementation. If the results scale to humans, an athlete weighing 75 kilograms would need to drink about 0.8 litres of green tea daily to achieve the same effect. It appears that the GTE stimulates fatty acid metabolism. A study at UCLA has shown that green tea extract also has potential as an anti-cancer agent and can target cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone. [H][B][D] Research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has identified a molecular mechanism in the liver that explains, for the first time, how consuming foods rich in saturated fats and trans-fatty acids causes elevated blood levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, and increases risk of heart disease and certain cancers. [H][G] Research at the University of California has found that plaques in the carotid artery form ulcerations that support the growth of blood clots. These can cause strokes by either blocking the artery or breaking off and travelling into the brain. The findings suggest there would be great benefit in developing carotid-imaging technologies capable of identifying the ulceration and blood-clot development, so that people likely to get strokes can be screened and plaque surgically removed before it causes a stroke. [H][R][S] Previous research has shown that casual activities like shopping and even fidgeting can keep people trim. Now, a study by Mayo Clinic on non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) has found that obese persons sit, on average, 150 minutes more each day than their naturally lean counterparts, and their lower NEAT levels mean they burn 350 fewer calories a day less than do lean people. The study suggests that NEAT levels are fixed in individuals and probably genetically determined. Nevertheless it should be possible to develop approaches and technology that can increase NEAT in obese people. [H] Stem cell therapy delivered by minimally invasive surgery can relieve congestive heart failure, according to the results of clinical trials. The patients, who had exhausted all other treatment options, showed markedly improved heart function following a procedure in which their own stem cells were deployed directly into the heart by way of four tiny incisions in the chest wall. [H][G] A plastic that releases nitric oxide could be used to make artificial blood vessels that do not clog. This could allow plastic tubes to be used not only in coronary by-pass surgery, as at present, but also for replacing smaller blood vessels, which currently become quickly blocked by platelets. Nitric oxide stored in zeolite-impregnated dressings may also be used to protect wounds against being infected by drug-resistant bacteria such as MRSA. [H][M] Scientists at the UK Medical Research Council say they have discovered the exact mechanism behind the death of brain cells following a stroke. They have confirmed that, as has been suspected for some time, the main culprit is an overload of calcium ions within the brain cells. But whereas researchers have previously been trying to overcome this by blocking the entry of calcium ions into dying nerve cells, the MRC research suggests that the main problem is a fault in the mechanism that removes calcium ions from the nerve cells. Although the work is still at an early stage, it may lead to a way to treat strokes by correcting the calcium imbalance. [H][B] Identifying and tracking Alzheimer's disease currently relies on brain imaging and psychological testing, and a firm diagnosis can still only be made by autopsy. But recent studies have revealed several biochemical markers that may enable early detection and diagnosis. One is a protein called amyloid-beta-derived diffusible ligands (ADDLs). US researchers have now demonstrated that biobarcoding, using magnetic and gold nanoparticles, can measure tiny concentrations of ADDLs in samples of cerebro-spinal fluid, and potentially also in blood samples. [H][B][N][S] The circadian clocks in the brain, lung, liver, heart and skeletal muscles govern a multitude of body functions, including sleeping and waking, rest and activity, fluid balance, body temperature, cardiac output, oxygen consumption, and endocrine gland secretion. Researchers at Howard Hughes have discovered that the circadian clock also affects the immune system, and that this explains why oncologists have found the effectiveness of anti-cancer drugs depends on the time of day they are administered. This raises the possibility that cancer therapy might be enhanced by modulating the circadian clock. [H][B][G] Some two million people in the world die of tuberculosis every year, and about two billion people carry it without developing symptoms. Where TB is endemic, people who have been successfully treated with drugs often become reinfected. The problem is that, whilst the traditional BCG vaccine against TB is still about 85 percent effective in the UK, it has zero efficacy in some other countries. Researchers in South Korea have now developed a DNA vaccine that in tests in TB-infected mice significantly reduced rates of relapse or reinfection when delivered with therapeutic drugs. [H][G] |
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| [G] Genomics, biotechnology and bioinformatics | |
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Acute viral infections, including smallpox, may be halted by aiming a drug at the cellular machinery the virus needs to spread from cell to cell, according to NIH researchers. Targeting drugs at these cellular processes that are co-opted by viruses, rather than at the viruses themselves, may be a way to prevent viruses developing resistance to the drugs. [G][D][H] Cancer cells display large amounts of tumour- and leukaemia-associated antigens (TAA) on their surface, but the body's immune cells fail to recognise these TAAs. In part, this is because many normal cells also produce small amounts of TAAs and therefore the body has some self-tolerance that prevents a vigorous immune attack. German scientists have now found how to make human immune cells that aggressively attack tumour cells, by genetically engineering the immune cells to have a p53-specific receptor that overcomes p53 self-tolerance. The p53 tumour suppressor protein is mutated in the majority of human cancers, and this work could lead to an immunotherapy against a wide spectrum of malignancy. [G][H] Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have discovered a way to overcome one of the major hurdles in gene therapy for cancer: its tendency to kill normal cells in the process of eradicating cancer cells. They genetically engineered an adenovirus to carry a molecular switch, PEG, linked to a toxic protein. Uniquely in tumour cells, PEG is switched by specific molecules, called PEA-3 and AP-1, and this releases the toxin in the tumour cells and kills them. In tests, the virus eradicated prostate cancer cells in the lab and in animals whilst leaving normal cells unscathed. The virus also selectively killed human cancer cells from melanoma and ovarian, breast, and glioma (brain) tumours. [G][H] An international team of researchers led by the Mayo Clinic has devised a system that consistently converts the measles virus into a therapeutic killer that hunts down and destroys cancer cells whilst leaving healthy tissue unaffected. Two key steps were to bioengineer the virus to attack only cancer cells, and secondly to develop a molecular tag that can be attached to the outside of the virus and enables the virus to be mass produced. [G][H] Researchers at Imperial College London and the University of Manchester have discovered that activating the melanopsin gene in nerve cells causes them to become photoreceptive. This may provide a way to treat cases of blindness in which rods and cones, the normal visual receptors in the eye, have been lost. Melanopsin-containing cells are present in the normal retina. They are not used in vision but in adjusting the body's circadian clocks to the day-night cycle. [G][H] In order to use embryonic stem cells to repair tissue, they must first be triggered to differentiate into precursors of the relevant cell types that are needed. Differentiation can be triggered in four ways: by soluble growth factors, adjacent cells, mechanical forces, and extracellular matrix proteins that form the support structure of almost all tissues. About 100 proteins are involved in the extracellular matrix of most mammalian tissues, but in the liver only five proteins dominate. UCSD scientists have unravelled how these five proteins affect stem cell differentiation, alone and in combination with others. The researchers claim that their technique provides an enabling technology that now allows scientists to use inexpensive and widely available reagents and machinery to optimise the conditions needed to promote embryonic stem cell differentiation for many different tissues. [G][H][M] Biologists at Duke University have defined a signalling system between stem cells and the specialised "niche cells" that harbour and regulate them. The findings provide better understanding of the signals that stimulate stem cells to create more copies of themselves or to differentiate into another cell type. [G] Most things that happen in the cell are the work of 'molecular machines' – complexes of proteins that carry out important cellular functions. But it has not been clear whether the complexes are pre-fabricated by the cell or are put together on the spot for each specific job. Bacteria usually start production of all the parts from scratch as they are needed. However, European researchers have discovered that, in yeast, key components needed to create a machine are produced ahead of time and kept in stock. When a new machine is needed, a few crucial last pieces are synthesised and then the apparatus is assembled. Holding off on the last components enables the cell to avoid building machines wastefully at the wrong times. [G] It has been thought that bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, that divide symmetrically, splitting into two apparently identical daughter cells, are functionally immortal. However researchers have now found that E coli does appear to age. At division one half inherits newer parts than the other. Cells with cumulatively older parts were found to have a reduced growth rate, decreased rate of offspring formation, and increased risk of dying. Single-celled organisms that divide asymmetrically, such as yeast and the bacterium Caulobacter crescentus, were recently also revealed to reproduce more slowly as they grow old. These findings may indicate that ageing can be found in all bacterial cells, and possibly in all living cells. Discovering how to monitor bacterial lifespan may help in understanding the genes that control human senescence. [G][E] The complete genomes of hundreds of prokaryotic organisms have now been sequenced. The genomes have great potential - in healthcare, biodefence, energy, the environment and agriculture. But first the roles of the individual genes need to be better understood. Currently, about 40 percent of predicted genes have not been assigned even tentative functions. To tackle this, a new international approach is needed for genome annotation, according to a report by the American Academy of Microbiology. This must provide a coherent way to combine computational methods for predicting gene function with systematic experimental approaches to test the predictions. [G][D][E][H][P][K] To be able to model a complete cell sufficiently accurately to make reliable predictions is a Holy Grail of system biology. At present, this is an intractably complex task because of the huge amounts of data, the large number of dynamic biological processes and feedback mechanisms, and the multitude of possible biological system responses that must be considered. US researchers have made a significant advance by developing and testing a method for integrating modelling and experimentation at the process level. They used their new approach to study a key signalling pathway that helps cells decide whether to grow or die, and tested hypotheses generated by the model. [G][C][H][X] |
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| [N] Nanotechnology and molecular technology | |
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German researchers have developed an assay that can quantify the toxicity to cells of colloidal nanoparticles in aqueous solution, and that can be automated. When nanoparticles are ingested by a cell, they corrode and release any toxic elements they may contain. Nanoparticles built from inert materials, such as gold, can also poison cells by sticking to their surfaces in large numbers. Either way, the toxic effect reduces the cell's ability to attach to a surface, and this loss of adhesion provides a way to measure the toxicity. [N][E][H] Just as the surface of a material has very different properties from the bulk, so also the atoms at the end of a chain of atoms have lower energy states than those within the chain, according to physicists at NIST. The findings may help design nanostructures, such as electrical wires, with desirable electrical properties. [N][M] US and German researchers have unravelled how gold nanoclusters on a ceramic surface act as a catalyst for the low-temperature oxidation of carbon monoxide, and how this process depends on partial transfer of negative charge from the substrate F-centre into the gold nanocluster. The discovery could help in developing other nanocatalytic systems. [N][M] Making computer circuits by bottom-up assembly of nanoparticles and nanowires seems dauntingly difficult. One possibility might be to use the huge variety of self-assembling proteins and other biomolecules to control the assembly of nanowire structures. US researchers have demonstrated the use of two types of biological connectors to produce an assembly of cadmium tellurium (CdTe) nanowires. The nanowires had themselves self-assembled from CdTe nanoparticles in an aqueous environment. [N][C][G] Nanoscale devices based on moving molecular components could radically alter energy storage, drug delivery, computing, communications and chemical manufacture. However, the nanoscale devices must be able, mechanically and chemically, to withstand the extremely hostile conditions that can exist inside the human body and in other environments where they might be expected to operate. At present, friction and wear are a big problem for micro- and nano-electromechanical devices (MEMS and NEMS). This is making nanotribology - the study of friction and wear at atomic scales - an important new field of research. [N][H][J][M][P][T] Chemists in Australia have developed a superbowl molecule that shows promise for precision drug delivery, for removing environmental toxins and for chemical purification. Similar in function to buckyballs, the superbowl molecule is a larger and potentially more useful version of artificial bowl-shaped molecules, which were first developed in the 1980s to mimic naturally occurring enzymes. [N][E][H][M] Researchers at Boston University have built a nanomechanical oscillator that operates at a record frequency of 1.49 GHz, and which shows quantum mechanical behaviour. When cooled to 110 milliKelvin, the oscillator started to jump between two discrete positions without occupying the physical space in between. Nanomechanical oscillators could help miniaturise wireless communication devices, and mechanical / quantum mechanical hybrids might be used for quantum computing. [N][C][I][J][S] Polymer nanoimprint lithography works by pressing a mould with embossed relief structures against a thin polymer film. US researchers have demonstrated reliable patterning at the 2 nm scale, and even some capability down to 1 nm, making the technique interesting for fabricating microelectronic, nanofluidic and biotech devices. [N][J][M][S] |
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| [J] Microelectronics, MEMS and spintronics | |
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Researchers at Hewlett Packard have made nano-scale devices they claim could one day replace current transistor technology. The tiny devices, "crossbar latches", are made of a combination of crossed-over platinum wires with steric acid molecules set at their junctions. Components to perform logic AND and other logic operations already exist on the nanoscale, and the crossbar latch provides the final component needed to build a molecular scale computer, according to HP. [J][C][N] Hewlett Packard have demonstrated a new approach to storing bits of information in a rewritable medium using electron beams instead of optical beams, allowing much higher data densities. The individual bits are written in the form of tiny amorphous regions inside a thin indium-selenium layer. That layer, along with another layer beneath (gallium-selenium) and a silicon substrate, form the principal parts of a pn-junction diode. The electron beam writes a "1" with a short high power pulse that melts a small spot, making it glassy and high resistance. The data can be erased back to "0" with a longer pulse that recrystallises the material, making it low resistance. [J][C][O][N] Intel and QinetiQ have developed a transistor based on indium antimonide, which offers the potential for making integrated circuits with higher speed and lower power consumption. The next step is to design the transistors to be integrated with current silicon manufacturing processes. [J][C][I][M][S] Researchers working on replacement parts for the body are exploiting technology from the semiconductor industry to make micromanufactured support structures that give organs the structure they need. Bioartificial kidneys are the closest to clinical reality, but living heart patches for heart attack victims and lung and liver replacements are also on the way. [J][B][H][M][N][T][V] |
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| [F] Fundamental science | |
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According to the standard model of cosmology, the Universe is made up of about 70 percent dark energy, 25 percent dark matter and 5 percent ordinary baryonic matter. Of the baryonic matter, stars and galaxies account for less than 10 percent and hot gas in galaxy clusters and intergalactic hydrogen account for another 30-40 percent. The remaining 50 percent was believed to be in the form of super-hot rivers of gas surrounding galaxies. This gas has now been observed from very precise x-ray spectra taken using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. The amount of gas appears to account for all of the remaining 50 percent, and possibly more. If it should turn out that there is a lot more baryonic matter than expected, this will be a challenge for the current cosmological model. [F][R] The leading candidate for dark matter is a particle called a neutralino. Computer simulations of how neutralino-based dark matter formed in the early Universe suggest that small clouds of dark matter should pass through the Earth on a regular basis. The clouds are too sparse to have much gravitation effect, and neutralinos otherwise interact very weakly with normal matter. However collisions between neutralinos are predicted to produce a jet of other particles, as well as gamma-rays, and these could be detected. A space telescope called GLAST (Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope), due to launch in 2007, will survey the entire sky at high sensitivity and might reveal neutralino collisions. [F][A] New meteorite data lends support to a controversial theory that the violent explosion of a star was involved in the creation of the Sun and its planets. The meteorite contains the rare isotope sulphur-36 in association with sodalite. Sulphur-36 is a natural decay product of chlorine-36, and its association with the chlorine in the sodalite is strong evidence that chlorine-36 was present in the early Solar System. Chlorine-36 has a half-life of 300,000 years, and the most likely explanation is that it was created by a super nova that occured near the forming Solar System and seeded it with the chlorine-36 and with other significant isotopes, notably iron-60. [F] Astronomers estimate that the "once in a lifetime" starquake of a super-magnetic neutron star observed on 27 December was probably the biggest explosion seen by humans in our galaxy since a supernova in 1604. Fortunately the star was on the far side of the galaxy, at a very safe distance from Earth. [F] |
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| [T] Technology reviews | |
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Gartner has made 30 top predictions for the IT industry, technology and applications in 2005. [T][I][K] |
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