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Top Stories in Science
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January 2005 Issue |
| [D] Defence and security |  |
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The potential of science and technology for tackling poverty is much greater than governments realise. A report for the UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan, on how to radically reduce poverty and hunger within 10 years says policymakers lack scientific inputs, and that scientific advisers should join economists at the heart of governments' policy debates on development issues. [D][E][K] The UK aims to use its presidency of the G8 nations, to achieve international action on global warming and on poverty and disease in Africa. The UK chancellor of the exchequer, Gordon Brown, has called on rich nations to fund a £5.5bn ($10bn) plan to fight the Aids epidemic and to develop a vaccine. [D][H] There is concern that diverting health resources in Thailand to respond to the needs of tsunami survivors could increase the risk of an H5N1 bird flu pandemic. A renewed outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in Vietnam has spread to the central and northern regions of the country. Six people are confirmed as having contracted the virus since the start of 2005, and four of these have died. Vietnam was heavily hit by the H5N1 flu epidemic in 2004, with 31 confirmed human cases, 21 of which proved fatal. It declared the virus under control in March 2004 after killing nearly one fifth of its poultry. But the virus resurfaced in late December 2004. [D][H] A UK flu expert has shown that one antiviral drug, oseltamivir (Tamiflu), blocks all the known types of flu, including the H5N1 strain. However, at present this drug is only available in small quantities. According to research at Harvard, without effective medication, draconian quarantine measures and movement control will be the only hope of containing the pandemic, which WHO officials are now warning is inevitable. [D][H] US, UK and Swedish researchers have deciphered the complete DNA sequence for the bacterium, Francisella tularensis, which causes tularaemia. They have identified protein targets for developing a vaccine. Tularemia is one of the most infectious known diseases and is a likely bioterror weapon. It takes only 10 microbes to infect the average human. [D][G][H] The security problems in Iraq point to the need for better non-lethal weapons (NLW) for controlling crowds, protecting areas and individuals, and incapacitating people, all without causing permanent injury or collateral damage. In 2004, the US government doubled its NLW research. In developing NLWs, it is important to rigorously evaluate their physical effects, and to develop the tactics and training needed to use them properly. [D][H][T][V] Modern manoeuvre warfare means that troops may be rapidly deployed hundreds of miles away from their surgical units. This makes mobile surgical teams very important for treating casualties in the battle area. In Iraq the use of such teams has proved successful and has resulted in the faster treatment of injured US Marines and Iraqi patients. [D][H] The ancient city of Babylon has suffered extensive archaeological damage during the occupation of Iraq, according to a report issued by the British Museum. Prehistoric brickwork has been crushed beneath military vehicles, precious stonework used to fill sandbags and important historical sites damaged by newly dug trenches. Babylon is as one of the world's most important archaeological sites. King Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC) introduced the world's first legal code and King Nebuchadnezzar (604-562 BC) constructed the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. [D] Surveillance technology that was once the province of the state has become far more widely available, thanks to the spread of mobile phones, digital cameras and the internet. The democratisation of surveillance could have benefits for security and liberty by enhancing transparency and accountability, and helping to combat crime. [D][R][T][X] Conventional photofit images used by the police suffer from the problem that people recognise a face as a whole and not through its component parts. A new technology that uses a genetic algorithm to “evolve” faces rather than piece them together seems to offer a better approach. [D][C][R][V] |
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| [A] Aeronautics and space | |
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Airbus has unveiled the A380 super-jumbo jet. The initial version can carry 555 paying customers and has a range of 15,000km. Bigger, longer-range versions are planned. So far orders have been taken for 149 super-jumbos, over halfway to financial break-even point. [A] Luton Airport is being used to test technologies and concepts for greatly reducing aircraft noise - to a level where the noise would be virtually unnoticeable to people outside an airport perimeter in a typical built-up area. Regulators, airport operators, airlines, aerospace manufacturers and representatives of community groups opposed to aircraft noise are all involved. The project is being organised and funded by the Cambridge-MIT Institute. Partners include British Airways, Boeing, the Civil Aviation Authority, Cranfield University, Marshalls Aerospace, National Air Traffic Services, and Rolls-Royce. [A][E][M][P] The first in a new generation of US heavy-lift rockets, the Boeing Delta 4 Heavy, has made a successful maiden flight. The Delta 4 Heavy is designed to lift up to 23 tonnes to low-earth orbit. Unlike the shuttle it can also reach higher orbits. By adding six solid-fuel boosters, Boeing hopes to double the payload so the rocket can carry 50 tonnes to low-earth orbit. [A][P] Russia and the European Space Agency (ESA) have signed an agreement to allow closer co-operation over the use of facilities and exchange of information. ESA will let Russia launch Soyuz rockets from the Kourou site in French Guiana, and ESA and Russia will share information on designing new launchers and fuels. [A] NASA's deep impact spacecraft has been launched successfully. The purpose of the deep impact mission is to find out more about the structure and composition of comets. The spacecraft will reach Comet Tempel 1 on 4 July 2005 and will release a 372-kilogram "impactor" into the comet's path. This will collide with the comet's nucleus at 36,700 km/hour. The material thrown out and the exposed layers of the nucleus will be recorded by the spacecraft from a range of 500 km. The nuclei of comets are thought to be remnants of the early solar system, and could reveal how the solar system evolved. [A] The Huygens probe, which was released from the Cassini spacecraft on 25 December, has successfully descended through the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, and landed on its surface. Titan is the only moon in the Solar System with a significant atmosphere, and this is thought to have a composition similar to the primitive atmosphere of the Earth. The stunning images of Titan's surface sent back from the probe show an orange world littered with small rocks made of frozen water and hydrocarbon ice. Erosion around the base of the rocks, which range from 5 to 20 cm across, may indicate that a liquid has flowed around them. The probe began transmitting data to Cassini four minutes into its descent. The aerial photographs show drainage channels apparently flowing off land into what seems to be a dark ocean, possible of tarry hydrocarbons or liquid methane and ethane. White streaks in the aerial images are likely to be ground fog made of methane. [A] NASA's project for returning to the Moon, called Project Constellation, envisages three 'spiral' stages. In Spiral One, the plan is to get the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) into orbit - by 2014. Spiral Two's aim is to send a small crew to stay on the lunar surface - by 2018. Spiral Three's aim is to consolidate a permanent lunar base and explore the surface - by around 2022. The project currently has a multitude of technical challenges and competing concepts, including the idea of a low-cost lunar lander that uses elements from the US missile shield programme. The key justification for Project Constellation is to use the Moon as a stepping stone to Mars and as a platform to develop the necessary technologies. Astronauts could practise long-term isolation, landers and rovers could be refined, and the reliability of equipment could be proved. Whether a permanent base should be built is widely debated because of the huge costs. [A][D][T] |
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| [U] Unmanned vehicles and robotics | |
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A four-ton four-legged robot called Roboclimber has been constructed using expertise and technology from Europe's space programmes. It is able to prevent landslides by securing steep slopes without endangering human lives. At present, consolidating risky slopes entails setting up high scaffolding and manually inserting stabilising rods. This is very dangerous and expensive, and Roboclimber can do the job much more cheaply and safely. [U][A][E] Tiny robots that can move using the power of living muscle have been created by scientists at UCLA. The devices were formed by "growing" rat heart muscle cells on microscopic silicon chips. Muscle-powered microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) represent an attractive alternative to micromotors. They could operate inside the human body by feeding on glucose in the blood. NASA, which funded the research, hopes that microbots could one day repair damage to remote spacecraft automatically. [U][A][H][N][V] The human eye can correct for local variations in illumination in a scene. Enabling robots to do the same could allow them to function better in dimly lit environments and in the erratic lighting of the natural world. Researchers are producing a chip to do this, and have so far developed software that simulates the chip circuitry and is able of reveal hidden detail in existing images. [U][K][R][S] |
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| [P] Propulsion and energy | |
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For next generation aeroengines, such as the Trent 1000 engine for the Boeing 7E7, key requirements are low running costs, extended durability and reliability, and the capability, even when idling, to generate the more than half a megawatt of electrical power needed by the 7E7. This last requirement has led to significant change in design. [P][A] Aerodynamic improvements on truck trailers, such as rounded corners, coupled with pneumatic controls for blowing air from slots, help reduce drag and improve fuel economy for heavy trucks. Recent tests using a full-size tractor-trailer truck show the techniques could increase fuel economy by as much as 11 percent. The improvements could also enhance braking and directional control. The aerodynamic improvements generate savings of up to 6 percent; a further 5 percent come from pneumatic devices that blow air from slots at the rear of the trailer to improve and prevent separation of air flow. [P][A][E] A £4m trial of three zero-emission buses on routes in central London has been a success. The fuel cell powered buses have excelled in reliability and have proved very popular with passengers. London is one of nine European cities participating in a two-year trial as part of a scheme to reduce pollution. [P][E] Ultracapacitors can store so much charge that they can begin to match batteries in sheer energy capacity. They also provide much higher peak power for a given weight, can be charged in seconds rather than hours, function over a wider temperature range, and are also more efficient and longer-lasting. Ultracapacitors could handle at least part of the power surges needed for accelerating a car and could be used to limit how deeply its batteries are discharged, in order to prolong their working life. [P][E][T] The transition to a “hydrogen economy” may take decades. Meanwhile, hybrid cars can offer many of the benefits of fuel-cell vehicles today, and do not require any changes in driver behaviour or fuel-delivery infrastructure. The success of the Toyota Prius hybrid car shows that consumers will pay the modest price premium of petrol-hybrid vehicles provided there is no compromise on performance. The potential for diesel-electric hybrids is less certain, at least in the US, because they carry a larger price premium. [P][E][T] GM and Sandia have embarked on a four-year, $10 million programme to develop and test tanks that store hydrogen in sodium aluminium hydride. The goal is to develop a pre-prototype solid-state hydrogen storage tank that would store more hydrogen onboard a vehicle than current methods. Researchers also hope to create a tank design that is adaptable to any type of solid-state hydrogen storage. [P][M] Research at Cornell has shown that it is possible to make useful plastics catalytically by combining limonene oxide and carbon dioxide. Limonene oxide is found in citrus fruit, and in oranges it makes up about 95 percent of the oil in the peel. The research raises the intriguing question of whether there might be some way of sequestering carbon dioxide economically in the form of useful plastics. [P][E][M] The provision of ultra-fast broadband internet services over power lines now seems set to take off. As well as having advantages of very high bandwidth and ubiquitous reach, the technology could allow better management of power distribution and peak load by networking computers round the electricity grid; it can also enable remote reading of power and water meters. The major technical challenges have been to by-pass the voltage step-down transformers and to prevent interference with rf communications. There are still major concerns that unless interference from the power line transmissions is tightly controlled, it could spell the end for emergency short-wave communications. [P][D][I][T] |
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| [M] Materials, structures and surfaces | |
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A new chemical state, designated a "protopolymer," has been observed in chains of phenylene molecules on a crystalline copper surface at low temperature. Normally monomers link together chemically to form long chain polymers, but in the protopolymer they instead align and interact without forming chemical bonds. This type of alignment could be used to control growth and assembly of molecules and for manipulating nanostructured materials. [M][N] Concrete was invented by the Romans over 2000 years ago. Today it can be made flexible like metal, translucent, self-cleaning, and photocatalytic to clean-up air pollution. It may even be possible to make concrete without cement and thereby reduce the serious environmental impact of cement manufacture. Other advances are making concrete much cheaper to lay and eliminating the need for steel reinforcing. [M][T][W] Scientists at Penn State have discovered clusters of aluminium atoms that behave like superatoms. When they react with iodine, they have chemical properties similar to single atoms of metallic and nonmetallic elements. The discovery opens the door to using 'superatom chemistry' based on a new periodic table of cluster elements to create unique compounds with distinctive properties never seen before. The researchers examined the chemical properties, electronic structure, and geometry of aluminium clusters both theoretically and experimentally in chemical compounds with iodine atoms. They found that a cluster of 13 aluminium atoms behaves like a single iodine atom, while a cluster of 14 aluminium atoms behaves like an alkaline earth atom. [M][F][N] Researchers at the University of Manchester have developed a process that uses inkjets to print made-to-measure skin and bones, which can be used to treat burn victims or patients who have suffered severe disfigurements. The printer creates a 3-dimensional 'tissue scaffold' that precisely determines the shape of the tissue as it grows. The scaffold is built by printing 10 micron layers of scaffold material repeatedly on top of each other. Cells, suspended in a nutrient rich liquid that ensures their survival, are fed into the printer and are seeded directly into the structure as it is built. This avoids cells 'sticking to the surface', which is a major problem in conventional methods that infuse the cells into a scaffold after it has been built. [M][H] The gecko's amazing climbing ability depends on van der Waals forces - weak electrodynamic forces that operate over very small distances but bond to nearly any material. This discovery led to the development of synthetic gecko hairs. Researchers have now shown that the gecko's feet, unlikely normal adhesives, are self-cleaning. Modelling suggests that this is a result of their geometry, and that synthetic self-cleaning adhesives could be fabricated from a wide variety of materials. Applications for a dry, self-cleaning adhesive would be very wide ranging - from nanosurgery to aerospace. [M][A][H][N][W] |
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| [E] Environment, transport and marine | |
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The EU has launched the world's first carbon trading scheme. Its aim is to force down industrial emissions of greenhouse gases and so moderate global warming, while preserving the competitiveness of European companies. Critics claim that the scheme will be ineffective because governments, under pressure from their companies, have been too generous in issuing carbon allocations, and also because the new rules do not include vehicle emissions. However the hope is that once the scheme is established, and perhaps also adopted outside Europe, it can evolve into an effective mechanism to manage the huge reductions in carbon emissions needed in the future. [E][D][P][W][X] In estimating the likely impact of global warming, a key question is how much of the Antarctic ice sheet will melt and how quickly this could happen. During the Eocene epoch, prior to 35 million years ago, Antarctica was largely ice-free. Climate scientists have long thought that this was due to warm ocean currents between Australia and Antarctica, warming Antarctica, as today the Gulf Stream warms Europe. Now, however, core samples from the ocean bed on both sides of Tasmania have been found to contain only fossils of cold-loving dinoflagellates. This finding makes it more likely that it was the fall in atmospheric carbon dioxide at the end of the Eocene period that created the Antarctic ice sheet, and that rising carbon dioxide levels today will reverse this. Other findings from core samples suggest that it was the loss of warm summers and summer snow melt that established the ice sheets, and not the effect of colder winters. [E][P][X] Northern rivers are discharging increasing amounts of freshwater into the Arctic Ocean, owing to intensified precipitation caused by global warming. This could change the distribution of water on the Earth's surface, with important social and economic consequences, and could alter the balance of the climate system itself, possibly disrupting the Atlantic thermohaline circulation that is responsible for the Gulf Stream. Researchers using the Hadley Climate Model have found that the increased precipitation is entirely the result of human activity. [E][C][D][P][X] Data from the Indonesian earthquake indicates that it decreased the length of day by 2.68 microseconds, slightly changed the planet's shape, and shifted the North Pole by 2.5 cm. The quake occurred along a subduction zone where the India plate is forced beneath the Burma plate at an average rate of 6 cm per year. Slippage occurred along about 1,200 km of the interface. At some spots, one plate may have slid as much as 20 metres past the other. Modelling had previously identified the region as one of about 80 areas in the world likely to be stricken by an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 or greater between 2000 and 2010. [E][C] The Indian Ocean tsunami has caused widespread destruction of water and agricultural resources by poisoning of wells, aquifers and soil with salt. This contamination could prove almost as destructive to the land as the tsunami itself. Current desalination technology is of limited help, because it requires very large plants. Portable desalination technology is being developed, particularly for military forces, but is only at a research stage. [E][D][M] The percentage of Earth's land area stricken by serious drought more than doubled from the 1970s to the early 2000s, increasing from 10 to 15 percent in the 1970s to nearly 30 percent in 2002, according to a new analysis by NCAR. Widespread drying occurred over much of Europe and Asia, Canada, western and southern Africa, and eastern Australia. Rising global temperatures appear to be a major factor in this. [E][D][X] Some agricultural regions are turning into unusable desert so quickly that the UN has put the problem at the top of its environmental agenda. To understand what is happening to ecosystems during desertification requires airborne surveillance because the areas are so vast. Using advanced remote-sensing techniques from a U-2 surveillance plane, US scientists have for the first time determined large-scale interactions between ecosystems and the climate during the process of desertification. Multispectral imaging in the visible and infrared showed that a long-term decrease in litter cover is the most evident sign when an area begins to change to desert. Also, as areas exhibit more desert-like vegetation, there is a shift in plant responses from summer to winter precipitation. [E][R][X] According to research at Oregon University, large, old and oily groundfish are significantly more important than their younger counterparts in maintaining healthy marine fish stocks. Eggs from very old fish have much larger oil globules in their yolk, enabling the larvae to grow faster and survive starvation longer. Older fish also spawn earlier, which can enable larvae to benefit from peak food availability. Intensive fishing severely depletes the stock these large old fish, and fish catches then collapse. According to the researchers, the best solution is a well-devised network of marine reserves. The much higher population of large, old fish within the reserves and a higher level of larvae survival can then replenish other marine areas nearby. [E][R] |
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| [R] Remote sensing and sensor systems | |
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A programme to develop a global early warning system for natural hazards has been launched at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan. Natural disasters including droughts, wildfires, floods, typhoons, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, landslides and tsunamis affect about 250 million people every year. About 90 percent of all natural disasters are related to weather or to water. [R][D][E][X] It would cost only around $20 million to provide a full system of tsunami early warning sensors in the Indian Ocean. The real challenge is how then to provide warning to dispersed populations about tsunamis or other threats. One proposal is that features already built into most mobile telephones could enable warning to be given to every mobile phone in threatened areas. [R][D][I][V] To help rescue operations, satellite imagery has enabled the extent of the tsunami damage to be measured from vegetation loss by comparing infrared imagery before and after the event. [R][D][E] Two radar satellites were able to measure the height of the Indian Ocean tsunami in open ocean, providing the first ever measurements of the detailed structure of tsunami waves. This will help in improving tsunami models and early warning systems. The wave height in open ocean reached a maximum of 50 cm. Unlike wind-driven ocean waves, which affect only the surface layer of the ocean, tsunami waves involve the whole ocean depth, and they therefore become very high in shallow water. [R][C][E] Because hydrocarbons have a higher electrical resistance than brine it is possible to determine if underground reservoirs contain oil, gas or brine by using controlled pulses of electric current to measure the sub-surface resistance. A UK company claims that by using pulses of current with a range of different frequencies it is possible to discover very quickly whether oil or gas is present in a reservoir, and also to correct for effects of changing electrical conduction through the air when making measurements on land. [R][P] A sensor system for military jets that listen for cracks in composite and metal structures during flight is to undergo flight trials on a Hawk jet. It is being developed as part of a European defence programme, Ahmos-2, to evaluate various structural health monitoring techniques. [R][A][D][M] Clutter distortions caused by buildings and trees could be used to improve transmission to a cell phone or radar station, according to researchers at Carnegie-Mellon. Using furniture clutter in a room, they demonstrated the technique by simultaneously focusing two different signals to two specific locations in the room using a single frequency, with an accuracy that would be impossible in an empty room. The researchers propose that cell phones could send "pilot waves," or steady tones to receiving stations, which would then send multiple signals more precisely to cell phones on the same frequency. They propose that for radar the method could enhance the signal from a detected object. [R][I] Astronomers have directly observed an extrasolar planet for the first time. The planet, three times larger than Jupiter, has been seen at infrared wavelengths with the Very Large Telescope in Chile and the Hubble Space Telescope's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer. It is orbiting a brown dwarf star at a remarkably large radius, about a third larger than that of Pluto's orbit round the Sun. Other astronomers looking for large planets orbiting white dwarf stars have found far fewer candidates than they expected. [R][F] Black holes can create jets of charged particles when matter falling towards them gets ejected along strong magnetic fields. Evidence has been accumulating that these jets can trigger the birth of stars. Radio astronomers using the Very Large Array in New Mexico have now observed this phenomenon, which although rare today may have played a significant role in forming galaxies in the early universe. [R][F] It may be possible to glean information about the early Solar System by looking at the solar systems around nearby stars that have formed recently. Astronomers using the Gemini South 8-metre telescope in Chile have observed new details in the dusty disk surrounding the nearby star Beta Pictoris, which is only 10-20 million years old. The mid-infrared observations provide the best evidence yet for the occurrence of collisions between planetesimals (small bodies formed of rock or ice) during the process of planetary formation. Another young star, Vega, which is 350 million years old, shows evidence of a recent collision involving objects of planetary size. A collision between the Earth and a Mars-sized planet is believed to have formed the Moon when the Earth was broadly the same age as Vega is now. [R][F] |
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| [S] Sensor devices | |
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The Mars Organic Analyzer (MOA) is a small glass sensor intended to search for chemical evidence of life on Mars. In tests, it has successfully detected amino acids in the range of 10 to 500 parts per billion from soil samples collected from Mars-like environments on Earth - the Atacama Desert in Chile and the Panoche Valley in California. MAO is being considered for the ESA orbiter/rover mission, called ExoMars, which is scheduled for launch in 2009 or 2011. [S][A][G] By splicing the genes for fluorescent proteins into specific genes in the cell, researchers can detect when those genes are switched on to produce proteins. Using many different fluorescent colours enables researchers to track the effects of multiple genetic alterations in the same cells. [S][G] Physicists in the US and Sweden have shown that the electrical resistance and thermoelectric power of a carbon nanotube is altered by tiny deformations or dents caused by collisions with various atomic or molecular gases. The changes in both thermopower and resistance increased with the cube root of the mass of the atom or molecule. It is possible that carbon nanotubes can be used to detect gases that are very difficult to observe with current measurement techniques. [S][N] Research at Rice University has shown that tailored nanoparticles called nanoshells are able to boost Raman scattering reproducibly by a factor of 10 billion. This could pave the way for ultrasensitive chemical sensors capable of detecting even a few molecules of target substances like drug molecules, proteins, chemical weapons or biotoxins. [S][D][N][O][R] NIST have developed a cheap, low-power magnetometer with a volume of only 12 cubic mm that can measure magnetic fields with a sensitivity of 50 pico-tesla. The sensor is based on the principles of the NIST chip-scale atomic clock. Expected applications could include hand-held devices for sensing unexploded ordnance, precision navigation, geophysical mapping, and medical instruments. Like the NIST chip-scale clock, the new magnetic sensor can be fabricated and assembled on semiconductor wafers using existing techniques for making microelectronics and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), offering the potential for low-cost mass production. [S][D][H][J][R] Using organic electronics, Japanese scientists have created an image scanner that is the size and weight of a business card. The device consists of a polymer laminate sheet containing a two-dimensional array of light sensor cells, each featuring an organic transistor and an organic photodiode. The scanner is ultra-thin and lightweight, and can flex in order to scan the image of a curved surface. It has no moving parts or internal optics, and can be rolled up to carry in a pocket. [S][I][J][M][O] |
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| [O] Optoelectronics, optics and lasers | |
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Liquid zoom lenses have great potential for camera-phones and other portable electronics, and for micro-surveillance and remote sensing applications. Existing approaches involve deforming the surface of the liquid drop. US researchers have developed an alternative approach that works by adjusting the fluid pressure. [O][H][S] Researchers at Strathclyde University and ORC Finland have fabricated what they believe to be the first high-power vertical external cavity surface-emitting laser (VECSEL) to emit directly at visible wavelengths. The VECSEL produced up to 390 mW of CW power, tuneable by 10 nm around 674 nm. The researchers believe that more than 1W is possible in the near future. [O][S] The year 2004 has brought major advances in silicon photonics. In February, Intel demonstrated a 1 GHz optical modulator made entirely from silicon, and in November, scientists at UCLA announced the world's first silicon laser, using a silicon chip inserted in an 8-metre ring of optical fibre to produce picosecond output pulses. Now Intel has announced it has made a compact all-silicon laser on a single silicon chip. Intel's laser comes much closer to the goal of CW operation. However, it does not yet achieve the Holy Grail of an all-on-one chip silicon laser, because, like the UCLA laser, it has to be optically pumped using a non-silicon external laser. Ultimately, the hope is that silicon lasers, photodetectors and modulators may be integrated with electronics to create powerful "one chip solutions" for use in telecommunications and computing. [O][C][I][J] Optics.org has picked three "hot technologies" for 2005. The first is silicon photonics and the prospect of silicon "super-chips" that integrate electronic and optical circuitry in a monolithic design. The second is fibre lasers, with the prospect that increasing applications and falling costs will enable fibre lasers to start taking off commercially. The third "hot technology" is OLED displays, with passive matrix OLED displays starting to find their first applications, and with Sony's starting volume manufacture of active-matrix OLED displays for use in handheld PDA. [O][C][J][T][V] Researchers at Southampton University claim to have developed a fibre laser based on a single strand of fibre (rather than multiple strands), which has an output power of 1.36 kW CW at 1100 nm, the highest power achieved to date with a single strand fibre. The output has near diffraction-limited beam quality. For applications such as welding, cutting and the marking of metals and ceramics, there is a large potential market for high-power, compact and robust solid-state fibre-lasers, provided they can achieve high beam quality. [O][W] |
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| [I] IT, communications, networking and secure systems | |
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A number of US cities are testing mesh wireless technology, developed by the US military, to provide disaster-resistant mobile communications that avoids depending on any vulnerable central nodes. Mesh networks promise several key advantages over traditional wireless solutions, such as Wi-Fi or cellphones. These include higher speeds, less susceptibility to radio interference, tighter security, geolocation, greater resistance to network congestion, ability to prioritise different types of users, faster deployment, and protection against catastrophic failure because the nodes can talk directly to each other and act as relays around damaged network points. [I][D][T] The latest Wi-Fi standard, IEEE 802.11g, has a top speed of 54 megabits per second. The planned 802.11n standard could have a top speed of 540 Mb/s. This can be achieved using MIMO (multiple-input, multiple-output) technology, with four transmitting antennas at both ends. Currently Wi-Fi usually has a pair of antennas at the network end but only one in a laptop's Wi-Fi card. A top speed of 540Mb means that 802.11n would compete with ultrawideband (IEEE 802.15.3a) but also provide longer range. [I] Internet Protocol television (IPTV) can enable telephone companies to deliver telephony, the Internet, and television via old copper networks rather than having to upgrade to optical fibre. Swisscom, the former Swiss national telephone company, is conducting a large market trial of IPTV in Switzerland, with a planned deployment in mid-2005. IPTV is also being tested in Italy, India and the US. If IPTV is widely adopted, it will enable Microsoft to establish itself in the production and distribution of digital audio and video, escaping the confines of the personal computer software world. [I][T] A California company, Allume Systems, has developed software that it claims improves the compression of JPEG images by 28 percent without loss of quality. The JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) standard is a commonly used method for compressing digital images and most photographic images available on the world wide web are in this format. [I][R] Mobile phone firms and manufacturers, including NTT DoCoMo, Vodafone, Cingular, Siemens and Alcatel, will work together on the next generation of high speed networks. The technology known as "super 3G" is intended to be 10 times faster than today's 3G services. [I] Recent studies suggesting cellphone radiation may pose a health hazard have prompted the UK National Radiation Protection Board (NRPB) to warn parents against giving mobile phones to children under the age of 8. The rate of cellphone development is cause for worry, according to the NRPB report. Third generation (3G) phones typically produce more radiation than older handsets, but there have been few studies of the health effects of these devices specifically. The NRPB also said further research should be carried out into the effects of wireless networking technology such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. [I][H][R] Researchers at the Karolinska Institute of Environmental Medicine in Stockholm have found an association between long-term cellphone use and acoustic neuroma, a rare, benign tumour that grows on the nerve connecting the brain and the inner ear, causing hearing loss. The researchers looked at 148 people who had acoustic neuroma and compared them with 604 healthy people. It found that people who used cellphones for more than 10 years doubled their risk of developing the tumour, and that the risk was four times as high on the side of the head where the phone was usually held. [I][H][R] A study funded by the EU and involving 12 research groups from seven European countries, claims to show conclusively that cellphone radiation can affect human cells at power levels comparable to those emitted by mobile phones. The study found that radiation at the level of 0.3 and 2 watts/kg prompted breaks in individual strands of DNA in a variety of human cells. The level of injury increased with the intensity of radiation and the length of exposure. The researchers also saw hints, but not conclusive evidence, of other cell changes, including damage to chromosomes, alterations in the activity of certain genes and a boosted rate of cell division. [I][G][H][R] Radiation emissions absorbed by the head from using mobile phones are halved by using hands-free kits, according to a study by the University of York, which has been welcomed by the UK NRPB. [I][H][R] Microsoft is releasing tools that clean up PCs harbouring viruses and spyware. The virus-fighting program will be updated monthly and is a precursor to Microsoft releasing dedicated anti-virus software. Also being released is a software utility that will help users find and remove any spyware on their home computer. [I] A German company has developed encryption software that aims to make encrypted email communications simple enough for even computer novices to use. [I] |
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| [K] Knowledge, information and technology management | |
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Exploiting the power of wireless communications to provide mobile services to cars and other vehicles has a lot of commercial potential, including for entertainment services, business services, location-based services, traffic data and vehicular diagnostics. But there are technical, cost and usability problems to overcome. [K][E][I][T][V][W] Only about 1 percent of newly developed drugs are for tropical diseases, such as African sleeping sickness and dengue fever. A method is needed that can develop drugs much more cheaply so that they are affordable in Third World countries. A new approach, called the Tropical Disease Initiative (TDI), has been proposed that would exploit the web-based techniques from the open software movement. The TDI would involve a decentralised, Web-based, community-wide effort where scientists from laboratories, universities, institutes, and corporations can work together for a common cause. [K][I][H] A market approach, with appropriate rewards and competition, may be a way to encourage staff inside an organisation to capture and make available their knowledge in a form that is valuable to reuse. Creating an effective company-wide knowledge market is daunting, but some companies have made it a success and built a culture of capturing and reusing valuable expertise and project knowledge. [K][W] One of the aims of making 2005 "Einstein Year" is to encourage more children to study science. In the UK, schools and universities are facing a crisis. For example, fewer than 29,000 students opted to study physics at Advanced-level in UK schools in 2004. Einstein is remembered as the benign and unkempt old sage of poster and T-shirt, but photographs of him at the time he was doing his greatest work show him as a nattily dressed young professor. In today's world this is perhaps a better image for attracting young physicists. [K] |
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| [C] Computing, supercomputing, modelling and simulation | |
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By combining aeronautical engineering and biological mechanics, scientists at Imperial College London have constructed 3D models of the air flow in the nose to reveal where air goes for various types of breathing, from quiet breathing to rapid sniffing. The fluid dynamics of the nose is one of the most complex in the body, even more so than the flow of blood through the heart, with anatomical structures that cause eddies, whirls and recirculation. The model shows that sniffing helps the sense of smell, because a deep sharp sniff greatly increases the air reaching the olfactory bulb at the top of the nose. [C][A][B][S][V] NASA has launched an educational version of its global climate model that runs on desktop PCs. The aim is that teachers and students can learn more about climate science by participating in the full scientific process, including experiment design, running model simulations, analyzing data, and reporting on results via the world wide web. The system allows collaboration among schools, and between schools and research institutions. [C][E][I][K] Peer-to-peer technology is emerging as a powerful new approach to building large-scale computer systems, Over half of all internet traffic is now generated by peer-to-peer applications, according to CacheLogic, a P2P network-services company in Britain. P2P's ability to distribute content efficiently has prompted a number of initiatives to establish legal P2P distribution services. [C][I] Computer scientists at Oregon State University have developed a new "TaskTracer" system that could revolutionise the way people work with their computers - it automatically organises all the materials needed on various projects, and should provide order, simplicity and convenience to a world that is too often paralyzed by information overload. The system also helps in knowledge reuse. [C][K] Increasingly work depends on the collaboration of people, machines and computers over global networks. Understanding of the different dimensions of this "e-work" could help in designing better e-work systems. A professor of industrial engineering at Purdue has defined 15 dimensions of e-work, and claims that any scientist or engineer who is designing an e-work system can identify which dimensions are needed for the particular systems and what roles those dimensions will play. The 15 dimensions are split into four domains: e-work, distributed decision support, active middleware, and integration, coordination and collaboration. The e-work domain includes a dimension called agents and protocols, which could be sensors, robots and software that enable tasks to be carried out autonomously. [C][K][W] |
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| [W] Whole life engineering, manufacture and testing | |
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Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), an IT strategy for managing products and design data from conception to end of life, is being adopted by smaller companies as well as by large companies. It cuts the cost and time for product design and allows everyone involved with the manufacturing stage and with distribution, to access full design and technical information on every product. [W][K][T] The market for wireless industrial products is growing rapidly. In manufacturing and industrial installations, wireless LANs offer the great advantage of removing the need for cabling. The mobile terminal provides the maintenance planner and the on-site maintenance engineer with all the information that previously had to be collected from different locations. [W][I][K][T] A string of recent profit warnings hints that the dynamics of the consumer goods industry may be shifting in important ways. Companies thrived in the tough climate over the past decade by focusing on strong brands and big productivity improvements. But the easiest savings from improvements in purchasing, logistics, and manufacturing have now been pocketed, and companies are starting to look for innovative new strategies - serving emerging markets better, outsourcing production, building new service businesses, or developing neglected product categories. [W][K][T] |
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| [X] Systems, complexity and risk | |
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Modelling an entire hospital as an integrated system can identify the most significant bottlenecks, such as radiology and other ancillary services, as well as the highest payoff strategies for improving patient flow. [X][C][H][K][W] The risk of catastrophic damage from flooding, or other natural disasters, is increasing because of the rapid and extensive underground expansion of mega-cities, for subways, malls, parking and public utilities. This often takes place with too little knowledge of associated risks and too few plans to minimise the effects of a natural disaster, according to UN experts. Computer simulations can help to understand the effects of interlinked, multiple natural hazards in complex environments. [X][C][D] The broad aim of systems microbiology is to understand the relationships between the individual components that build an organism or a community. Micro-organisms are ideal candidates for systems biology research because they are relatively easy to manipulate and because they play critical roles in health, environment, agriculture, and energy production. [X][E][G][T] Researchers at New York University have developed a mathematical model of the intra-cellular biological clock. The model replicates the hundreds of clock-related molecular reactions that occur within each mammalian cell. The 24-hour rhythm is an emergent property of this complex network of molecular interactions and the puzzle has been how the clock can work so precisely when the molecular interactions are inherently random. The simulation showed that reliable 24-hour timekeeping can only be achieved if the regulatory molecules that influence gene expression bind and unbind to DNA quickly, typically within a minute. In this way, the large number of bindings and unbindings helps to compensate statistically for the small numbers of molecules involved. The model also shows that without the inherent randomness of molecular interactions within a cell, biological rhythms may dampen over time. [X][B][C][G][N] |
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| [V] Virtuality and human-machine interface | |
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Smart homes, offices, command posts, factories, health care and education increasingly exploit ubiquitous embedded computing. Many appliances can already communicate wirelessly, but computerised features are often more of a hindrance than a convenience because their user interfaces are too complex to intuitively understand. Handheld devices, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA) or cell phone, might serve as a simpler, more effective remote control. [V][C][D][H][I][K][T][W] As video-game technology has steadily improved and military equipment has grown more expensive, America's military is relying more heavily on computer games as training tools, both off-the-shelf products and proprietary simulations. However it is not clear how well experience and ability translate from the virtual environment to a real conflict situation. This applies particularly for infantry. The larger and more realistic the simulation is the more effective is may turn out to be. [V][C][D][T] Electrocorticography (ECoG) is routinely used to monitor and control seizures in patients with epilepsy. It involves placing an array of electrodes on the surface of the brain. It provides much better signals than electroencephalography, in which the electrodes are placed on the scalp, and is much less traumatic than procedures in which the electrodes actually penetrate the brain. US scientists have now shown that electrocorticographic signals can be used to manipulate an external device. This may provide a way that people with severe motor disability, spinal cord injury and stroke can interact with the world through devices that are controlled by thought alone and do not require the use of peripheral nerves or muscles. [V][B] A test for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder has been developed that is highly accurate and could lead to earlier identification and treatment for children with the condition. The test, which takes only 10 minutes, works by monitoring children's eye movement as they follow spots of light that traverse a computer screen. [V][B][H] |
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| [B] Brain research and human science | |
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The current theory of how memory works at the molecular level is that new proteins are manufactured, in a process known as translation, and these subsequently stabilise the changes underlying the memory. This implies that every new memory has a permanent representation in the brain. A new alternative theory holds that memory is instead a "dynamic, meta-stable" process that involves changing the shape of existing proteins at synapses rather than making new ones. There is some evidence for this from the fact that drugs that block the production of new proteins by more than 90 percent often cause no discernible memory impairments. [B] Genes that control the size and complexity of the brain have undergone much faster evolution in humans than in non-human primates or other mammals. Moreover, the evolution of the human brain has involved a lot of mutations in a surprisingly large number of genes. These findings indicate that bigger and more complex brains must have carried a large advantage for the ancestors of humans, much more so than for other mammals. Humans have extraordinarily large and complex brains, even when compared with macaques and other non-human primates. The human brain is several times larger than that of the macaque, even after correcting for body size, and it is far more complicated in terms of structure. [B][G] In response to stress, the brain signals the adrenal gland to release hormones. These include glucocorticoid, a hormone that preserves physiological equilibrium in many organs. Experiments have found that mice genetically engineered to lack the receptors needed to monitor and control glucocorticoid react abnormally to stress and appear to show symptoms of depression. Genetic variations in the activity of the glucocorticoid receptor gene may be a clue to why some people suffer from depression. [B][G][H] Brain injury resulting from accidents and serious falls is the most common cause of disability in young people. Researchers have found that the injuries involve a reduction in key grey matter in parts of the brain associated with attention, learning and memory, and that they seem to be linked to an imbalance of acetylcholine. Cholinesterase inhibitors, which block the breakdown of acetylcholine, might prove to be an effective treatment. These drugs are currently used to treat the early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, and the link between drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's and the treatment of brain injury has been made before. [B][H] Using a monkey model of Parkinson's disease, researchers from Kyoto University have shown that dopamine-producing neurones generated from monkey embryonic stem cells can reverse Parkinsonism when transplanted into areas of the brain where these neurones have degenerated. [B][H] Studies involving thousands of Britons tracked since they were born in 1946, 1958 or 1970 show increasing levels of obesity, drinking by women, depression and anxiety, and use of drugs such as cannabis. The least well off are the most likely to smoke and not exercise or eat healthily. However, in contrast to the US population, Britain's adult population does appear to be getting as much sleep now as it was nearly 40 years ago, according to a survey of almost 2,000 adults. [B][H] A class of anti-seizure drugs already approved for human use in treating epilepsy can slow the rate of ageing in roundworms, Caenorhabditis elegans. The drug trimethadione was found to have the largest effect and extended the worms' lives by 47 percent. The researchers demonstrated that anticonvulsants did not extend life by protecting the worms from pathogenic bacteria in their environment. Nor did they mimic the anti-ageing effects of caloric restriction, because the worms had abundant food and looked well-fed. They appear to work by stimulating transmission of signals in nerves that control body movement, significantly delaying age-related declines in neuro-muscular activity; the treated worms continued to display the youthful traits of fast body movement and fast pumping of mouthparts during the latter phase of their extended lives. The research suggests there may be an important link between neural mechanisms and longevity. [B][H] |
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| [H] Healthcare and medicine | |
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Women may on average live several years longer than men, because their hearts age less quickly, according to research at John Moores University, in Liverpool. The researchers looked at 250 volunteers aged between 18 and 80 over the course of two years. All were healthy but physically inactive. The team's principal finding was that the power of the male heart falls by 20-25 percent between the ages of 18 and 70 while that of the female heart remains undiminished. However exercise appears to reduce the effect, and the researchers found that the hearts of veteran male athletes were as powerful as those of inactive 20-year-old male undergraduates. [H][B] Healthcare in third world countries can be improved by making equipment more simple and rugged, and able to be used without needing an electricity supply. [H][D][P][S][T][V] Recent advances in therapy for HIV disease, particularly the use of combinations of antiretroviral drugs, can dramatic improve HIV-infected individuals. Unfortunately, however, the virus is able to go into hiding - dormant, practically undetectable in the body, and impervious to attack. Researchers from Thomas Jefferson University have now demonstrated that the growth factor IL-7 potently stimulates HIV-1 activation and may enable dormant reservoirs of the virus to be eradicated. [H][D] The immune system fights cancer partly by producing specialised immune cells called cytolytic T cells (CTL). Each CTL population recognises a different antigen on the cancer cell surface. It was thought that to be effective cancer vaccines need to produce massive numbers of vaccine-specific CTLs. However research now shows that in about 10 percent of patients with metastatic melanoma, the vaccine might also be reawakening different CTL populations that have been effectively deactivated by the tumour, and that these may be able to eliminate the bulk of the tumour. Understanding how to encourage this may provide a new approach for cancer vaccines. [H][G] Cancer cells are able to divide continuously because they produce telomerase, an enzyme which inactivates the shortening of telomeres that limits cell division in normal cells. Therapy targeted against telomerase looked a promising way to treat cancer, but unfortunately it only works if the telomeres in the cancer cells are at the critical short stage that would prevent further cell division. Now Japanese research has shown that a multipronged therapy appears to offer more promise of success. In this approach, telomerase inhibition is combined with inhibition of an enzyme called tankyrase 1 that is involved in making telomeres accessible to telomerase. [H][G] Researchers have found that distinct patterns of messenger RNA (mRNA) can be measured in saliva and can indicate a developing tumour. They are now testing whether saliva could be used to diagnose other human cancers and system diseases. [H][G][S] Swedish research on mice suggests that it may be possible to use vaccination or an injection of antibodies to prevent or treat atherosclerosis by simulating the immune system to attack and remove the fatty plaques lining the heart and arteries. [H][G] In Iceland there are complete records of the entire genealogy and the individual cases of cancer in the population. This has enabled researchers to identify how far cancer runs in families. As well as showing how far genetic factors contribute to the risk of specific cancers, the results also show that certain types of cancer can be looked upon collectively as broad, complex phenotypes. For example, relatives of individuals with stomach, colon, rectal, or endometrial cancer were more likely to develop one of these cancers, although not necessarily in the same site as did their relative. [H][G][X] |
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| [G] Genomics, biotechnology and bioinformatics | |
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Transcription factors (TF) are genes that control the activity of "target" genes. They play a pivotal role in brain development by directing the formation of neurones and glia from progenitor cells. Researchers have now systematically mapped the 349 TF genes that appear to control the development of specific regions of the brains of mice, and probably therefore of humans. [G][B] Researchers have pinpointed crucial differences in a gene found in rhesus monkeys that can prevent HIV infection, and its human counterpart, that cannot. This indicates that changing just one amino acid in one protein can switch a cell from being susceptible to long-term HIV infection to becoming insusceptible. This could make it possible eventually to develop gene therapy to combat AIDS. [G][D][H] Combining stem cells and gene therapy may provide a way to treat diseases such as cystic fibrosis. The researchers first applied gene therapy to bone marrow stem cells, using a virus to replace the defective gene with a healthy version. They then coaxed the stem cells into becoming epithelial cells, which line the airways of the lungs. In the test tube, these corrected cells appeared to function better than the uncorrected ones. [G][H] Researchers have found that temporarily turning off one gene may enable patients to grow new cochlea hair cells, providing a way to treat age related and noise induced hearing impairment caused by loss of hair cells. [G][H] Experiments with guinea pigs have found evidence that genetically engineered heart cells derived from human embryonic stem cells might in the future provide a biological alternative to the electronic pacemakers. [G][H] Attempts to produce a vaccine against the amyloid plaques that cause Alzheimer's disease had to be abandoned because some patients suffered an autoimmune responses that caused encephalitis. Now US scientists are trying again, but this time they are using a DNA-based genetic vaccine rather than a protein-based vaccine. Tests is mice have been encouraging. When the mice were vaccinated with the mouse form of the amyloid gene, they made lots of antibodies against the plaque without stimulating cytotoxic T cells that could cause an auto-immune response. [G][B][H] Previously, RNA was viewed as being merely a messenger molecule shuttling information between the DNA and proteins. Recently, it was realised that small RNA molecules, called microRNAs, play an important role in regulating genes, and this led to the current interest in the therapeutic potential of RNAi. Now, by comparing the human genome with that of other species, researchers have found that microRNAs regulate at least a third of the genome, and that this regulation has been preserved since the last common ancestor of mammals and chicken, which lived 310 million years ago. [G] Genetic modification may be able to produce trees that combine many advantages - faster growing, more suitable for paper-making, higher biomass for conversion to fuels, sequestering more carbon from the atmosphere. GM might also lead to trees that can be used to clean up hazardous waste sites. [G][E][T] |
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| [N] Nanotechnology and molecular technology | |
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Scientists have grown ultra thin films of organic chain molecules on the surface of liquid mercury and discovered that the molecules form ordered structures. Ultra thin organic films are important for molecular electronics, flexible electronic displays and advanced biotechnological materials that can, for example, mimic the function of cell membranes. [N][G] Using magnetic nanoparticles that home in on lymph nodes, researchers are able to use MRI to determine whether or not a cancer has spread to the lymphatic system. Being able to stage cancer progression in this way is important for making correct decisions about treatment and prognosis. [N][H][R][S] Physicists in Germany have used a laser to cool a micron-sized cantilever from room temperature to 18 degrees K. If microlevers can be cooled to sub-milliKelvin temperatures, they could be used to perform a range of fundamental tests of quantum theory with macroscopic objects. [N][F][O] Researchers at New York University have built a nanomechanical device from DNA that synthesises different products according to its configuration. The device could have applications in creating "designer" polymers and possibly for encrypting information or as a variable-input component for DNA-based computing. [N][C][G][M] Research at Texas A&M has shown that it might be possible to condense a chemistry laboratory to the size of a few silicon chips. Using small magnets on the surface of a chip, they successfully levitated micron-sized droplets of fluids and crystals. They managed to move and levitate several substances, including alcohol solutions, oils, some types of powders and even red blood cells and bacteria. [N][J][M][S] |
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| [J] Microelectronics, MEMS and spintronics | |
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Atom lithography, shooting sculpted beams of atoms at a substrate, can create lines of deposited atoms with widths as narrow as 50 nm, and potentially much finer. It should allow microcircuitry to be created without needing etching or use of masks, and it offers great control over line width and spacing. [J][O] Zinc-tin-oxide thin film transistors, and transistors made from similar amorphous heavy-metal cation multicomponent oxides, could be used to make high quality transparent electronics that is inexpensive, stable, and environmentally benign. According to the researchers at Oregon State and HP, these new inorganic oxides have higher mobility, better chemical stability and ease of manufacture. They are also physically more robust, and could have many applications in transparent and flexible electronic, throw-away electronics, and cheap sensors. [J][N][S] Silicon implanted with manganese at concentrations up to 1 percent can be "ferromagnetic" up to 127 degrees C. This could open the door to silicon based spintronic devices that operate at or above room temperature. [J][M] |
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| [F] Fundamental science | |
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As an introduction to "Einstein Year" - the centenary of 1905 in which Einstein published five papers that transformed science - the Economist and PhysicsWorld have both reviewed Einstein's achievements and also his later work searching for a grand unification theory that could combine gravitation and electromagnetism. [F][T] A century after Einstein's annus mirabilis it is now possible to test the predictions of relativity to high precision. Current experiments range from tests of classic general relativity such as the Shapiro delay and the bending of light, through space-based measurements of "frame-dragging" to searches for gravitational waves or violations of the inverse-square law. Over the past 40 years, experiments have confirmed general relativity with great precision, but future tests of strong-field gravity in the vicinity of black holes and neutron stars may reveal new effects. Gamma-ray, X-ray and gravitational-wave astronomy will all play a critical role in this, and quantum gravity, strings and branes may lead to testable effects beyond general relativity. [F][T] Two teams of astrophysicists, using different observations and statistical techniques, have detected features in the large-scale distribution of galaxies that dovetail precisely with the pattern of temperature variation of the cosmic microwave background. This confirms that tiny quantum fluctuations in the very early universe that are believed to have produced the variation in the microwave background were also responsible for forming the galaxies and for their distribution. The results are in perfect accord with the predictions of the standard cosmological model, including dark matter and dark energy, and show with unprecedented accuracy that normal matter makes up only 18 percent of all the mass in the cosmos, with the remaining 82 percent accounted for by dark matter. They also indicate that the Universe has a flat Euclidean geometry, which means it will continue expanding forever. [F] Ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), travelling at nearly the speed of light, have energies up to several tens of ecta-ev, almost a trillion times greater the highest-energy particles created in man-made accelerators. It is a great mystery how UHECRs can originate. Few if any astrophysical systems are capable of accelerating particles to such energies. The most likely candidates would be gamma ray bursts or active galactic nuclei, also known as blazers and quasars. But in that case, the UHECRs should lose energy through interaction with the cosmic microwave background radiation, and would therefore have to originating from a source with the Milky Way. Now the application of a new analysis technique may have identified a source of UHECRs that is outside the Milky Way - a group of around 20 colliding galaxies at 550 million light years from Earth. [F][R] Models of how quickly stars evolve and how elements are formed in supernovae may have to be modified after astrophysicists have found that the rate of the 3-alpha process, in which three helium nuclei transform into carbon-12, is very different from earlier estimates. At temperatures below 50 million degrees the process is much faster. This means that stars would more quickly build up carbon-12 to the level needed to burn hydrogen. The reaction rate is also much slower than previously thought at temperatures of billions of degrees. This is critically important for determining the abundances of elements throughout the universe that are created in supernovae. [F] Japanese researchers have developed a method, using a radio-frequency quadrupole decelerator, of trapping 50 times more antiprotons from high energy collisions than was possible with previous methods. Being able to produce antimatter in much large quantities would make it possible to test fundamental asymmetries in the laws of physics, such as searching for tiny differences between hydrogen and antihydrogen. [F] The belief that during the dinosaur-age mammals were tiny nocturnal creatures has been overturned by the discovery of two fossils in China that show that some mammals 130 million years ago were sizeable carnivores that preyed on young dinosaurs. [F] |
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| [T] Technology reviews | |
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China's economic surge and entry into the WTO are alarming middle-income nations whose rising standards of living make their position as low-wage producers and exporters increasingly tenuous. These nations need to find and exploit any comparative advantage they may have. The former Eastern Bloc countries have highly educated, moderately paid scientists and engineers and are a natural offshoring base for Western European companies. India's well-educated, English-speaking workforce gives it a comparative advantage in information technology and business outsourcing. ASEAN countries have a common market the size of Europe, and Brazil and India also have the advantage of market size. Mexico has the advantage that it sits next to the world's largest consumer market. [T][K] The UK Department of Trade and Industry has published a comprehensive picture of the challenges facing the UK electronics industry, and a strategy for innovation and growth. The study found that the sector is a driver for innovation and growth in almost every other sector of the economy. However, it is largely invisible to industry in general and to Government. It is trying to solve its problems, but through unfocused initiatives, and it lacks critical mass. The sector has almost endless opportunities, not least in areas where public procurement plays a key role, and it is frustrated by barriers to these opportunities. [T][K][W] Highlights of 2004 picked by the American Chemical Society include many advances in biochemistry, molecular biology and pharmaceuticals, and some in microfluidics, nanotechnology, materials and supramolecular chemistry. [T][H][M][N] PhysicsWeb has published its list of 46 highlights in physics for 2004. [T][A][F][M][N][O][S] |
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