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Top Stories in Science
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November 2007 Issue |
| [D] Defence and security |  |
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UN Environmental Audit The fourth UN Environmental Audit, GEO4, paints an alarming picture of continuing degradation of the world’s environment, which it says now bears on humanity's very survival and threatens world peace. The worst problems are climate change, fresh water, agricultural land and the accelerating loss of biodiversity. Many farming systems are at their limits of production and three-quarters of marine fisheries are now exploited to or beyond their limits. Warmer temperatures and ocean acidification further threaten food supplies. The report recommends that proven remedial approaches must be expanded and adapted, especially in lagging countries and regions. But this will not be enough. Action must be shifted from the periphery to the core of decision making and must address the drivers of degradation, such as population and economic growth, resource consumption, globalization and social values. It is also imperative to have tools to help policy-makers to reduce the political risks of making the right decisions. [D][C][E][H][K][P][R][W][X]
IPCC recommendations on fighting climate change The final part of the 2007 report of the IPCC gives very dire warning of the danger from global warming and climate change. As early as 2020, 75 to 250 million people in Africa will suffer water shortages, Asia's megacities will be at great risk of river and coastal flooding, Europe will have extensive species loss, and North Americans will experience longer and hotter heat waves and greater competition for water. The report lays out blueprints for avoiding the worst catastrophes - and various possible outcomes depending on how quickly and decisively action is taken. The recommendations are expected to guide policy makers on an agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has challenged governments to act on the findings. [D][A][E][P][R][X]
Carbon trading A coalition of European countries, US states, Canadian provinces, New Zealand and Norway has launched the International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP). This will bring together governments and public authorities that are designing or implementing carbon markets. As well as joint research activities, it will share best practices in emissions trading schemes, encourage common approaches, and help in linking together to expand the global carbon market and prevent leakage. The ICAP also aims to create a price incentive to innovate, develop and use clean technologies and to encourage private investors to choose low carbon projects and technologies. [D][A][E][K][P][R][W][X]
Carbon trading The UK Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee has expressed concern that carbon trading schemes are currently too complex and too vulnerable to cheating through including reductions that are merely coincidental. It said that greater transparency is needed. [D][A][E][P][R][X]
Impact of limited nuclear war Climate modelling has previously suggested that a small scale local nuclear war could trigger a reduction of over 1 degree in the average temperature at the earth's surface that would last for several years. As a result, the annual growing season in the most important grain-producing areas would shrink by between 10 and 20 days. With world grain stocks now standing at only 49 days supply, the loss in food production might cause over a billion people around the world to starve to death or die from disease, according to one new study. Another study warns that the smoke unleashed by detonating a hundred 15 kiloton nuclear warheads could destroy 30 to 40 percent of the world's ozone layer, so that food production would also be severely affected by UV radiation. [D][E][X]
Nuclear test ban monitoring UN scientists have confirmed that radioactive xenon-133 from the October 2006 nuclear test in North Korea was picked up within two weeks of the test. Unlike radioactive particles which are contained within rock, xenon gas is able to seep through to the atmosphere and this provides a way to monitor for any underground nuclear testing. The level of xenon-133 confirms that the test was small with a yield of around 1 kiloton. Three quarters of the 321 monitoring stations that form the worldwide nuclear test monitoring network are now in place and this should rise to 90 percent by 2008. In the final stage, a station will be located at Ussuriysk in southern Russia. Had this station been in place in 2006, it would have measured a 100-fold increase in the xenon-133 signal just two days after the test took place. [D][R]
Bioterrorism Scientists from the Scripps Research Institute and the Salk Institute have now developed a virus-like particle that successfully prevents anthrax infection in rats given a dose that would normally prove lethal. Each particle of the virus has on its surface 180 copies of a receptor molecule that binds the key anthrax toxin. The vaccine requires only one dose, compared with up to six doses required for current anthrax vaccination of people. It also seems to provide protection even if given to rats after they have already been infected with anthrax. [D][G][H]
Open-source warfare An article in IEEE Spectrum titled "Open-Source Warfare" draws a parallel between the generation of open source software, such as Linux, and the way that insurgent groups now operate in loose and non-hierarchical open networks. In both cases, individuals linked through the internet are able to pursue a common vision, contribute individually, exchange information and work collaboratively on tasks of mutual interest. The open working also makes it possible to respond to problems and to quickly adapt technologies and methods of attack. The article raises the question of how far countries could similarly adopt open-system approaches in their military procurement and operations. [D][I][K][W][Z] |
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| [A] Aeronautics and space | |
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A380 Having suffered almost two years of delays because of a number of construction problems, the A380 superjumbo has now started commercial flights. [A]
Flying cars A US company has demonstrated a prototype air and road craft that can take to the skies, land, fold up its wings and drive home. The anticipated completion date for the full version is late 2008. [A]
Space tourism Rocketplane Global has unveiled a new, roomier design for its suborbital space plane, which it hopes to send passengers on by the end of 2010. But, at least for the first few flights, its passengers will still have to remain strapped to their seats during the weightless portion of the trip. [A]
Space Based Solar Power The DOD National Security Space Office (NSSO) has published a feasibility study on Space Based Solar Power (SBSP). It says that advances in photovoltaics, electronics, robotics and space-based construction, coupled with the increasing importance of energy security and climate change, now make SBSP a serious option. Kilometre-sized solar panel arrays, probably in geostationary orbit (GEO), would gather sunlight and then transmit the electrical power to Earth via laser or microwave beams. A kilometre-wide band at GEO receives a solar flux in one year of about 212 terawatt-years, comparable to the energy in all known recoverable conventional oil reserves (250 TW-yrs). The report recommends the US government should invest $10bn over the next decade to build a test satellite to beam down 5 to 10 MWe. This would be large enough to provide proof-of-concept and would also have great value for military logistics by delivering power flexibly to remote locations. The biggest challenge in building a full system would then be how to launch so much mass into orbit, even if most came from the Moon. [A][D][J][M][O][P][R][U]
Lunar space race China has launched its first lunar probe, an initial step in an ambitious 10-year plan to send a rover to the moon and return it to Earth. Japan and India are also in planning to send unmanned probes to explore the lunar surface in the next decade. Japan's first lunar orbiter is currently circling the moon, and the country is racing with China and India to land a craft on the lunar surface. [A][U]
Deflecting asteroids Focusing sunlight onto an asteroid with space-based mirrors is the best way to deflect space rocks from hitting Earth, according to researchers at the University of Glasgow. They considered nine different deflection methods including nuclear blasts and "gravity tractors". The winning concept is that a swarm of mirror-carrying spacecraft would be launched from Earth to hover near the asteroid and concentrate sunlight onto a point on its surface. This would vaporise a plume of surface material that would exert a thrust on the asteroid to deflect its trajectory. They calculated that 10 of these spacecraft, each bearing a 20-metre-wide inflatable mirror, could deflect a 150-metre diameter asteroid in about six months. Asteroids with this sort of diameter strike the Earth about once every 5000 years. [A][O][P]
Terraforming Mars Apart from Earth, Mars is the only planet that humans might be able to colonise. Like Earth, it has a rocky composition and marked seasons, and probably it once had an environment quite different from the cold, dry world we see today. The greenhouse effect could be used to terraform Mars into a more hospitable place to live. Mars has plenty of frozen carbon dioxide at its poles that could be used to produce a thick carbon dioxide atmosphere. Or one could build factories on Mars to produce halocarbon greenhouse gases from Martian rocks. Deflecting asteroids to collide with Mars would be another, more dramatic, way to warm it up. The key issue, however, for making a human-friendly environment may be whether there is nitrogen available on Mars, since this would be needed for plants to grow. [A][E][G][P][R][T][X]
Short listed ESA missions ESA’s Space Science Advisory Committee (SSAC) has short listed candidates for possible future scientific missions in the decade 2015 to 2025. They are: the Laplace mission to study Jupiter and Europa and other Jovian moons; the Tandem mission to Saturn, Titan and Enceladus; the Cross-scale mission to study near-Earth space and magnetosphere; the Marco Polo sample-return mission to a near-Earth asteroid; two possible missions to study dark matter and dark energy; the Plato mission to find new rocky extra-solar planets similar to Earth; a next-generation infrared observatory called Spica; and a next-generation X-ray space observatory called XEUS. [A][P] |
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| [U] Unmanned vehicles and robotics | |
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Mars rovers For the fifth time NASA is extending the mission of the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. Barring accidental loss, the rovers will now remain active through 2008 and possibly through 2009. [U][A]
DARPA Urban Challenge A robotic car nicknamed Boss, built by engineering students from Carnegie Mellon University backed by GM, has won the DARPA Urban Challenge. Boss and five other driverless vehicles manoeuvred themselves 100 km along mock city streets on a closed Southern California military base to a finish line within a mandated six-hour time limit. This was the first time that completely autonomous vehicles have dealt successfully with city-style driving. The US DOD is hoping to make a third of its vehicles robotic by 2015. This will help to reduce the vulnerability of troops to roadside bombs. [U][D][R][S]
Battlefield robots To date, robots deployed in ground wars have been used mainly for ordinance disposal, such as clearing improvised explosive devices. However, this summer the US Army introduced the first three Foster-Miller Talon/SWORDS armed combat robots into Iraq. These have proved so effective that 80 more have been approved for use, and the company continues to receive new orders. These platforms work as extensions of human fighters, as do current unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs). A human remains in the loop to decide when to kill. Under current ethical warfare legislation, the responsibilities are the same as for piloting an aircraft or calling in the coordinates for a traditional air strike. But it has been predicted that, perhaps within a decade, individual soldiers could control large numbers of armed battlefield robots. This raises major technical challenges for target discrimination, artificial intelligence and man-machine interface and control, and major ethical and PR challenges in giving lethal robots a higher degree of autonomy. [U][A][V] |
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| [P] Propulsion and energy | |
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Fuel-efficient cars Toyota has demonstrated a new hybrid concept model that is packaged in carbon fibre to reduce weight, fuel consumption and emissions. The four-seater "1/X" has a 500-cc engine and a potential fuel efficiency twice that of the Prius hybrid car. The 1/X weighs 420 kg, roughly one-third of the Prius. It carries a plug-in hybrid system, which uses both electricity and fossil fuels. [P][E][M]
Vehicle energy storage At equivalent voltage, a chemical battery can store at least a million times as much energy as a conventional capacitor of the same size. This is because a chemical battery stores charge throughout its bulk whereas the capacitor stores it only as a surface layer. Ultracapacitors can store 5 percent as much energy as a modern lithium-ion battery because their electrodes are made of porous carbon and have an internal surface area over 100,000 times larger than their external area. Using carbon nanotubes instead of porous carbon might enable an ultracapacitor to store 25 to 50 percent as much energy as a commercial battery of equivalent weight, according to researchers at MIT. This would be revolutionary for applications such as electric and hybrid vehicles and for regenerative electrical storage. Compared with batteries, ultracapacitors can deliver much higher currents, perform well in cold weather, and have much longer life spans. [P][M][N][T]
Sustainable energy The InterAcademy Council has released a report that details how countries can shift from greenhouse-gas emitting fuels to cleaner energy and can at the same time introduce modern forms of energy to the billions worldwide who currently rely on charcoal, firewood or even dung as their fuel. The report, commissioned by the governments of China and Brazil, sounds a special alarm over the surge in building coal-fired power plants in China and other developing countries. It says these countries should leapfrog the development path of industrialized nations by installing more efficient and cleaner infrastructure. It calls for a massive investment to double the current world energy R&D budget of roughly $9 billion and to quickly implement improved energy efficiency, carbon capture and storage technology, and sources of renewable energy. It recommends that to get the new technologies into the economic mainstream, a carbon price of around $35 per metric ton of carbon dioxide is required. The 18 members of InterAcademy Council include the national science academies of the US, UK, France, Germany, Brazil, China and India. [P][D][E]
Aviation biofuel Virgin Group is developing biofuels for aircraft in conjunction with Boeing and GE Aviation. Jets may have problems using ethanol, the most common biofuel, because it freezes at 15,000 feet. Butanol, which can also be made from biomass, may be a better alternative. It is also less corrosive than ethanol. Early in 2008, Virgin it will test a 747 flying on renewable fuel. [P][A][E][M]
Biofuel and food security The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has voiced concern that the increasing global reliance on grain as a source of fuel could have serious implications for the world's poor. The UN special rapporteur on the right to food has condemned the growing use of crops to produce biofuels as a replacement for petrol as a crime against humanity. [P][D][E]
Wave power A prototype wave energy converter has begun harnessing electricity from Atlantic waves off the west coast of Ireland. The device, called Wavebob, is a floating buoy that automatically adjusts to the size of the waves to maximise the amount of power it produces. It uses the lift and fall of waves to act on hydraulic pistons that in turn pump oil to drive generators. A control system adds or subtracts buoyancy to smooth out the variable load of the Atlantic, from mild swells to raging storms. The prototype is quarter scale. At full scale, each Wavebob should be capable of producing in excess of a megawatt of electricity, according to its developers. [P][E]
Eddy power Wind or water turbines require a steady fluid flow. Fish, on the other hand, can extract energy from vortices. Based on the way fish move, researchers at Caltech have now developed a mathematical model that should enable mechanical systems to extract energy from the vortex wakes that are plentiful in cities. Buildings constantly produce turbulent wakes, which make many rooftops unsuitable for normal wind turbines but perfect for harvesting eddies. [P][A]
Tidal power A report by the UK Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) has supported the case for building the Severn tidal barrage. Ten miles long, it would stretch from the coast of Wales south of Cardiff to the Somerset coast near Weston Super Mare, and would generate 17 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity per annum. The report says that tidal power from this and other UK locations could generate at least 10 percent of the UK's electricity needs. To comply with EU environmental laws, a large-scale "compensatory habitat" will need to be built to offset the loss of sites for migratory birds in and around the Severn estuary. A less environmentally damaging alternative to the barrage would be to build artificially created offshore pools called tidal lagoon. However this alternative is unproven. [P][E]
Reliable wind turbines The world's first commercial Brushless Doubly-Fed Generator (BDFG) has been developed to commercial exploitation by researchers at Cambridge University. The generator, which has won several innovation awards, can be used in a wide spectrum of wind turbines ranging from multi-megawatt systems for wind farms down to micro turbines used for domestic power generation. Because it is brushless and avoids the need for slip-rings, it provides much better reliability and low maintenance, particularly important for off-shore installations. [P][E]
Future electricity A note by the UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology discusses public opinion on securing future electricity supply whilst at the same time cutting UK carbon emissions by at least 60 percent by 2050. Many nuclear and coal fired power stations are due to close and it is estimated that the UK will need between 30 and 35 GW of new generating capacity (roughly 40 to 45 percent of current capacity) over the next 20 years. The report concludes that the public is concerned about security of supply and the environmental effects of relying on fossil fuel sources, and is split about nuclear power. The preference is for renewable energy and for reducing demand and improving energy efficiency in preference to raising energy production. However, without clear incentives or a strong lead by government, people’s willingness to make significant changes or sacrifices appears to be limited. [P][D][E][T][X]
Carbon emission targets Global warming of 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures is frequently cited as the limit beyond which positive feedback, such as release of methane from thawing permafrost, could tip the world into a dangerous downward spiral. Researchers at the University of Victoria have modelled the reduction of industrial emissions below 2006 levels by between 20 percent and 100 percent by 2050. They found that only when emissions were entirely eliminated did the temperature increase remain below 2 degrees C. They suggest that governments need to consider reducing emissions to 90 percent below current levels by 2050 and removing what is left in the atmosphere by capturing and storing carbon. This is much more severe than is currently proposed under Kyoto and by EU nations. [P][A][D][E][W][X] |
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| [M] Materials, structures and surfaces | |
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Super-strong plastic A new composite plastic that blends the strength of nanoparticles with the pliancy of a water-soluble polymer is as strong as steel but as thin as plastic wrap, according to researchers at the University of Michigan who have developed it. The plastic is made at room temperature from layers of clay nanosheets and a glue-like polymer solution. It mimics the structure of mother-of-pearl, and the researchers say that with further development it could provide lighter body armour, as well as lighter aircraft and vehicle parts. Importantly, the research has demonstrated how one can achieve almost ideal transfer of stress between nanosheets and a polymer matrix. [M][A][D][N][V]
Nanotube carbon fibre A new type of carbon fibre, developed at the University of Cambridge, could be woven into super-strong body armour for the military and law enforcement. The researchers say their material is already several times stronger, tougher and stiffer than fibres currently used to make protective armour. It is made up of millions of carbon nanotubes and is very strong, lightweight and good at absorbing energy from fragments travelling at very high velocity. The researchers predict the material could also find applications for "smart" clothing, bomb-proof containers, flexible solar panels, and eventually as a replacement for copper wire for transmitting electrical power and signals. [M][D][N]
Ferroelectric-antiferroelectric material Ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (ADP) is a ferroelectric that is commonly used in computer memory devices, fibre optics, lasers and other electro-optic applications. However, it can also be antiferroelectric. Researchers in US and Argentina have now shown computationally that the position of the ammonium ions in the compound, as well as the presence of stresses or defects in the crystal, determine whether it behaves in a ferroelectric or antiferroelectric manner. This may enable new materials to be designed that have both ferroelectric and antiferroelectric properties, which could lead to new computer memory technology and possibly play a role in the development of quantum computers. The researchers say that their new computational method could also be used to quickly perform tests to see how materials would react under a variety of conditions. [M][C][J]
Polydopamine adhesive Mussels can stick to virtually all inorganic and organic surfaces with amazing tenacity. Researchers at Northwestern University have shown how to mimic mussel adhesive both in the strength of the bonds and range of surfaces. Key to their method is the small molecule dopamine, commonly known as a neurotransmitter. Dopamine is a good mimic of the essential components of mussel adhesive proteins, and the researchers use it as a building block for polymer coatings. The method is simple and inexpensive, and potential applications include flexible electronics, biosensors, medical devices, marine anti-fouling coatings, and water processing and treatment. [M][E][A][W]
Plastic gas-separation membrane CSIRO has developed a plastic membrane that has hourglass-like pores to allow carbon dioxide and other small molecules to move through whilst blocking larger molecules such as methane. Separating carbon dioxide from methane is important in natural gas processing and gas recovery from landfill. [M][N][P] |
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| [E] Environment, transport and marine | |
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Global carbon budget Three factors - rapid economic growth, increasing carbon intensity of economic activity, and decreasing efficiency of carbon sinks on land and in the oceans - are together causing atmospheric carbon dioxide to rise more rapidly than expected, according to a new international report. The latter two factors are particularly worrying, and will make it even harder to stabilise atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Until recently, carbon intensity - the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per economic unit - was improving. But since 2000 it has been deteriorating at 0.3 percent a year as production has transferred to economies such as China with poorer energy efficiency. The annual airborne fraction (AF) - the ratio of the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide to that year’s total emissions - has increased from 0.4 to 0.45 over the past 50 years. Half of the decline in the efficiency of the oceanic carbon sink is due to changes in the westerly winds in the Southern Ocean caused by human activity. On land, a series of droughts has contributed to a weakening of the terrestrial carbon sinks in many regions. [E][P][X]
Declining carbon sinks Further evidence that the capacity of the world's oceans to absorb carbon dioxide is declining has come from a 10-year study by researchers at the University of East Anglia. They have gauged carbon dioxide uptake in the North Atlantic through more than 90,000 measurements from merchant ships equipped with automatic instruments. The result suggest that the uptake has halved between the mid-90s and the first five years of this century. Such a large change is very surprising and if it is confirmed by further measurements it will be alarming. [E][P][X]
Rising carbon dioxide An international study is confirming earlier evidence that the world's oceans and forests are losing their ability to absorb carbon dioxide. The study found that oceans and plant growth absorbed only around 54 percent of carbon dioxide produced in 2006. Coupled with an emissions growth rate of 3.3 percent, which is triple the growth rate of the 1990s, this means atmospheric carbon dioxide is now rising by nearly two parts per million a year. [E][P][X]
Climate change uncertainties Scientists from Oxford University have suggested that trying to predict precisely how the climate will respond to increased levels of carbon dioxide is pointless because the uncertainties are so great. If the world really does warm by 4 degrees C or more, the climate will be very different from today's. Trying to predict when the warming will stop requires so many assumptions that it is all but impossible. The researchers argue that trying to put upper bounds on the warming has become a holy grail that is diverting attention from the need to start cutting carbon emissions now. [E][C]
Confirming climate modelling In climate models, as increased carbon dioxide raises the temperature so this in turn increases humidity. Water vapour is itself a powerful greenhouse gas and amplifies the effect of carbon dioxide by a factor of about two. Researchers at the Hadley Centre and at the University of East Anglia have now confirmed experimentally that the pattern of humidity increase in various parts of the world is in line with that projected by computer models of man-made global warming. [E][C]
Climate and mass extinctions Researchers from the Universities of York and Leeds have examined the link between climate and species diversity over the past 520 million years, covering almost the entire fossil record. They found that global diversity was high during cool (icehouse) periods and low during warm (greenhouse) phases. It is not clear whether higher temperatures cause extinctions or whether both have a common cause such as massive volcanic eruptions. But if temperature is a driver of extinctions, then the degree of global warming predicted for the coming centuries could conceivably produce a mass extinction comparable to the Permian extinction that wiped out 95 percent of marine species and 70 percent of land species. [E][X]
Primates facing extinction Mankind’s closest living relatives – the world’s apes, monkeys, lemurs and other primates – are under unprecedented threat from destruction of tropical forests, illegal wildlife trade and commercial bushmeat hunting. According to a new report, 29 percent of primate species are now in danger of going extinct. [E][X]
Persisting La Niña The tropical Pacific Ocean remains in the grips of a cool La Niña, which has slowly strengthened for the past nine months. A La Niña changes global weather patterns and is associated with less moisture in the air, resulting in less rain along the coasts of North and South America. The persisting La Niña could make the already dangerously dry situation in the American Southwest much worse. [E]
Australia's drought In Australia, prolonged drought is starting to threatens the population, wildlife, and economy. An article in Science News reviews the growing problems which are caused in part by the rapid increase in Australia's population and land clearing as well as by drier conditions in the Western Pacific. Climate models predict that global warming will reduce Australia's rainfall as much as 10 percent by 2030 and up to as much as 30 percent by 2070. Every 10 percent decline in rainfall leads to a 30 to 40 percent decline in the amount of water that runs off land into streams and rivers. [E][C] |
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| [R] Remote sensing and sensor systems | |
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San Andreas Fault Observation at Depth (SAFOD) Drilling has extracted 135 feet of 4-inch diameter cores from 2 miles beneath the surface of the San Andreas Fault. This is the first time geologists have had direct access to rocks in a current earthquake faults. Until now they could only work with samples of ancient faults exposed at the Earth's surface after millions of years of erosion and uplift, together with computer simulations and laboratory experiments approximating what they think might be happening at the depths at which earthquakes occur. The next phase of the SAFOD project will install an array of seismic instruments in the 2.5-mile-long borehole that runs from the Pacific plate on the west side of the fault into the North American plate on the east. By placing sensors next to a zone that has been the source of many small temblors, the scientists will be able to observe the earthquake generation process with unprecedented acuity. They hope to keep the observatory operating for the next 10 to 20 years. [R][E][X]
Detecting fires by satellite If forest and bush fires could be spotted by satellite when they are very small, they could be tackled before they take hold. But flames from small fires can easily be confused with glints of sunlight. To avoid this, the detector must be sensitive to UV light at wavelengths shorter than 185 nm. These wavelengths are emitted by all flames but are absent from sunlight at ground level because they are absorbed by the ozone layer. Researchers at CERN and the Enrico Fermi Centre say they have produced a suitable UV detector that is more than a thousand times more sensitive than the best commercial detectors. They did this by modifying a detector used for high energy particles. [R][S]
Satellite pollution monitoring ESA is expanding its satellite data network to track air pollution on a global scale. Its Tropospheric Emission Monitoring Internet Service (TEMIS) combines output from a number of satellites to provide atmospheric and environmental data to help nations assess air pollution problems. ESA plans to expand TEMIS to monitor the transboundary and hemispheric movement of air pollution. [R][A][E]
Marine surveillance Data from ERS-2, ESA’s veteran spacecraft, is being used increasingly for maritime security to spot illegal marine trafficking. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery such as that provided by ERS-2 in near real time is used to detect vessels and extract their positions. This data is integrated with coastal surveillance systems such as coastal radar, the Automatic Identification System (AIS) and the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) for tracking fishing vessels. [R][A][D]
Balloon-borne telescope In a landmark test flight, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and a team of research partners have launched a solar telescope to an altitude of 120,000 feet, borne by a balloon larger than a Boeing 747 jumbo jet. The test clears the way for long-duration polar balloon flights beginning in 2009 that will capture unprecedented details of the Sun's surface. [R][A]
Magnetic GPS A variety of migrating birds, as well as bats and even hamsters, use a 'magnetic sense' to navigate on long journeys. Now, a new type of sensor developed by scientists at Virginia Tech could enable humans to do the same. The sensor uses the giant magnetoelectric effect in lead zirconium titanate. Three orthogonal sensors on a cube roughly 10 cm on a side measure the Earth's magnetic field and its inclination. By comparing the values with the data in the US Geological Survey (UGS), the position be determined. The UGS has tabulated the Earth's mean field and its inclinations at many points over much of the Earth's surface. Though the resulting accuracy is not as good as satellite GPS, it is useful particularly in areas with poor satellite signals. [R][S]
Medical imaging The European Science Foundation has published a report on medical imaging - one of the fastest growing areas in medicine, both in R&D and clinical use. The report makes recommendations for improving R&D and on exploiting medical imaging better in Europe. [R][S][T]
Computational photography Adobe has recently unveiled some novel photo editing abilities with a new technology known as computational photography. With a combination of a special lens and computer software, the technique can divide up a camera image in different views and reassemble them with a computer. The method uses a lens embedded with 19 smaller lenses and prisms, like an insect’s compound eye, to capture a scene from different angles at the same time. Knowing the 3D nature of every pixel enables people to view photos from different angles after they are taken, and to focus at different depths of field. [R][C][K][O][V]
Smart cellphone surveillance Software that turns groups of ordinary camera cellphones into a "smart" surveillance network has been developed by Swiss researchers. The software employs Bluetooth to automatically share information and let the phones collectively analyse events that they record. In this way, a group of phones can act as smart network capable of, for example, spotting intruders or identifying wildlife. The team says it will release the software as an open-source project, allowing anyone to use or modify its code and to experiment with networked camera phones running the software. [R][C][D][E][I][K][U]
Bird-mounted video A new technique developed by Oxford University zoologists makes it possible to witness the natural and undisturbed behaviour of wild birds by using a mini-video camera carried by one of the birds. In this way, they spied on the behaviour of New Caledonian crows, a species renowned for its sophisticated use of tools but very difficult to observe in the wild. For the study, 18 crows were fitted with ‘tailcams’. Each unit weighed about 14 grams – only slightly heavier than a conventional radio-tag. The units were attached to two tail feathers with strips of adhesive tape, and were designed so that they did not adversely affect the bird’s movements. They could be removed by the crows themselves or would detach after a few weeks through the birds’ natural moulting process. [R][E][S] |
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| [S] Sensor devices | |
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Fast atomic-level microscopy A scanning tunnelling microscope uses quantum tunnelling to detect changes in the distance between an atomically sharp needlelike probe and a conducting surface. By measuring changes in current as electrons tunnel between the sample and the probe, it is possible to map surface topology down to the atomic level. However, the process is painfully slow because even though an STM could theoretically collect data at gigahertz rates, it is limited to around one kilohertz by the capacitance of the readout circuitry. Now researchers at Cornell and Boston University have shown that they can increase the readout speed by a factor of 100 to 1000 by using radio frequency (RF) reflectometry to measure the resistance of the tunnelling junction and hence the distance between the probe and sample surface. This offers the potential for atomic resolution thermometry, precisely measuring temperature at any particular atom on a surface, and also for motion detection so sensitive it could measure movement of a distance 30,000 times smaller than the size of an atom. [S][N]
Separating molecules for testing Researchers at the University of Rochester have found a very simple way to separate the many different components in a sample of blood so that they can be analysed and tested. The method is very quick and can handle sample sizes as small as a microlitre. It works by inducing an electrical field around the droplet, which immediately elongates along an electrode, forming an electrified, liquid string. As the fluid is stretched, the electrical field separates the molecules laterally along the edges of the long droplet. Stretching the droplet along a specially prepared detector can lay down one set of molecules directly onto the detector, making their recognition highly efficient. [S][G][H]
Nanotube pressure sensors Blocks of carbon nanotubes could be ideal for making highly sensitive, rugged and compact pressure sensors, according to researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. They repeatedly squeezed a 3-millimetre nanotube block and discovered that no matter how many times or how hard it was squeezed, the block exhibited a constant, linear relationship between the force applied to it and its electrical resistance. [S][N]
Transistor single photon detector A transistor containing quantum dots that can count individual photons has been designed and demonstrated at NIST. The semiconductor device could be integrated easily into electronics and may be able to operate at higher temperatures than other single-photon detectors - a practical advantages for applications such as quantum key distribution (QKD). It is the first transistor-based detector to count numbers of photons rather than just registering any small number of photons. [S][C][I][O] |
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| [O] Optoelectronics, optics and lasers | |
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Quantum Cascade Laser Nanoantenna Researchers from Harvard and Agilent Laboratories have found a way to focus infrared light from a quantum cascade laser (QCL) to a spot 100 nm or less in size. This spot could, in principle, be scanned across a sample to generate an image, resolving the chemical composition of samples, such as the interior of a biological cell, with nanoscale resolution. QCLs use multiple alternating layers of high- and low-band-gap semiconductors to create a series of quantum wells whose energy levels are such that electrons “cascade” through the device, emitting a photon at each step. QCLs can be tuned to a wide range of wavelengths and are ideally suited to mid-iR wavelengths for biochemical applications. The researchers focused the light by adding an optical antenna consisting of two small gold rods end-to-end separated by a tiny gap. The laser light’s electric field caused the electrons in the nanorods to oscillate and accumulate at the gap ends. This created an intense spot of light in the gap. [O][B][G][J][N][S]
Designing nanoscale optical devices Because nanoscale devices are smaller than the wavelength of light, one cannot calculate how they will interact with light in the same way as for larger devices. Light propagates in nanostructures as evanescent waves. Their direction has an imaginary value, meaning that the motion of the waves and photons is unknowable at these small dimensions. Researchers at Georgia Tech have explored how evanescent waves propagate between two very close surfaces at different temperatures by means of thermal radiation. Since they could not follow the photons, they instead followed the direction of electromagnetic energy flow (the Poynting vector), which is a real quantity. This approach opens a way to design new nanodevices and technologies, including solar thermal energy technologies. [O][J][N][P][S][W]
Timing electrons with attosecond precision. Tiny electronic circuits a few atoms in size could, in principle, switch electric currents at petaHertz frequencies - nearly a million times faster than processors today. But little is understood about how electrons would actually move through such circuits at such speeds. Now, European researchers have shown they can measure electron movement in solids on timescales less than 100 attoseconds (as). To do this they generated XUV pulses lasting only 300 as and used these to photoionise atoms close to the surface of a tungsten target. The XUV light often liberated an out-lying (delocalized) electron from the atom as well as an inner-lying (localized) electron. The researchers were able to measure the time delay of the two electrons coming across the top few layers of the target. The measured interval was 110 as with an accuracy of 70 as. [O][J][S]
Cheap self-cleaning anti-reflection coating It may be possible to make solar cells more efficient and self-cleaning by mimicking coatings used by moths and cicadas. The surface of moths' eyes often have orderly arrays of nanoscale protrusions that act as an antireflection coating. Researchers at the University of Florida have developed a cheap method to produce such a coating on glass and plastic substrates by spin coating them with a liquid suspension of nanoparticles. They have also used the same method to apply a coating to silicon wafers that mimics the ability of cicada wings to rapidly shed water and dirt. [O][M][N][P][S]
Electromagnetic wormhole Mathematicians at the University of Rochester, who first created the mathematical theory behind the “invisibility cloak” announced by physicists in 2006, have now shown that the same technology could be used to generate an “electromagnetic wormhole” as a variant of cloaking. This opens the possibility of building a sort of invisible tunnel between two points in space. [O][D][H][R][S]
Infrared metamaterial Most negative index metamaterials (NIMs) are slowly and painstakingly made from intricate metal structures. This is unsuitable for practical manufacturing. A Princeton-led research team has now instead made a three-dimensional "metamaterial" by depositing alternating layers of two semiconductors - indium gallium arsenide and aluminium indium arsenide - onto a substrate using molecular beam epitaxy. Each layer of the metamaterial is about 80 nm thick, which is much smaller than the wavelength of the infrared light. The material has an electrical permittivity that is negative in the direction perpendicular to the layers and positive parallel to the layers. This gives it a negative index of refraction over a broad range of wavelengths for light travelling normal to the layers. The researchers believe it should be possible to build an infrared superlens with the material. [O][J][M][N][R][S]
Laser ablation Using femtosecond laser pulses to ablate atoms from a surface is increasingly important for etching precision structures to form micro- and nano-machines. Femtosecond laser pulses can make efficient, clean cuts, whereas longer pulses tend to melt some of the nearby material. It has been suggested that etching occurs by Coulomb explosion - the laser pulse excites electrons that fly away quickly leaving behind positively-charged ions that fly apart from repulsion rather than from heating. To test this, researchers at China's Nankai University have taken pictures of ablation on sub-nanosecond timescales. They used 50-femtosecond laser pulses to ablate samples of aluminium, silicon, and glass, whilst diverting part of each pulse into a second probe that could be variably time delayed relative to the main pulse. The results suggest that heating of the atoms is in fact central to the ablation process, even with a pulse as short as 50 femtoseconds. [O][J][M][N] |
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| [I] IT, communications, networking and secure systems | |
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Network stability Networks can randomly lose a lot of their links before parts become isolated. However, as links are removed, a situation is reached where parts of the network are still connected but where the path between them is so tortuous that the connectivity becomes virtually useless and the network may become unstable. A new theory developed by researchers at Los Alamos gives a much more realistic way to describe this deterioration. The new theory is useful not just for estimating the resilience of the Internet and of transport and logistics networks but also for deciding how best to disrupt the spread of an epidemic. [I][B][C][D][H][K][X]
Wi-Fi sharing A Wi-Fi sharing plan has been launched in the UK by BT, which has backed a global wireless sharing service set up by Spanish firm Fon. BT's scheme will boost the Fon community of users around the world and add to the existing 190,000 Fon hotspots. The BT Fon service lets people share a "small portion" of their home broadband connection by opening up a separate secure channel on their wireless router. [I][K] |
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| [K] Knowledge, information and technology management | |
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e-working As overuse of email saps productivity and increases work stress, Intel has become the latest in an increasingly long line of companies to launch a so-called 'no e-mail day' in which engineers are encouraged to talk to each other face to face or pick up the phone rather than rely on e-mail. Intel has also introduced "Quiet Time" - half a day a week to devote to uninterrupted work in offline mode. Companies are also examining how to harness the skills and familiarity their employees have with gaming and virtual environments as a way to tackle problems with distributed teams, collaboration and information overload. For example, a way to reduce worthless e-mailing is that anyone sending a message adds some of their limited supply of virtual coins to show how important they consider that e-mail to be. Some companies are considering using virtual currency as a reward system. [K][I][W]
Open social networks Microsoft has invested $240m in the social networking site Facebook in exchange for a 1.6 percent share of the company. That notionally puts a value of $15bn on a firm that has only been in existence since 2004. The value reflects many factors including a view that Facebook may become the new web as a result of its decision to open up its network to outside developers. Social network MySpace is also going to allow third-party developers to build applications for the site. MySpace has also joined forces with internet phone firm Skype to allow MySpace users to make calls to each other. [K][C][I]
Open social networks Google has launched a system, OpenSocial, that will allow developers to create applications for a variety of social networks using normal javascript and html with only minor adjustments needed for the code to work on Google's platform. Developers currently have to customise their designs for a particular site such as Facebook. [K][C][I][W]
Online marketing A McKinsey survey of marketing executives from around the world shows that companies are moving online across a wide spectrum of marketing activities, from building awareness to after-sales service. Companies see online tools as an important and effective component of their marketing strategies. However, they are held back from making as much use of digital tools as they would like because of a lack of relevant skills and of meaningful metrics to measure the impact. Digital tools range from familiar ones such as e-mail and informational Web sites to new possibilities such as blogs, online games, podcasts, social networks, web services, widgets, wikis and virtual worlds. [K][I][T]
Automated object identification Researchers at UCSD have shown that the Google Labs tool called Google Sets can be used to provide external contextual information to automated object identifiers. For example, if a conventional automated object identifier has labelled a person, a tennis racket, a tennis court and a lemon in a photo, the new post-processing context check will re-label the lemon as a tennis ball. [K][R][U][V][W]
Internet search A global study by analysts comScore revealed that more than 61 billion searches were performed by more than 750 million users in August 2007. Of these, 37 billion were via Google. Yahoo was the second most used engine, followed by Baidu, the Chinese language search engine. Google's dominance comes principally from its simple interface and the way it was able to provide much more accurate results than its rivals in the early days. This was due to its new way of ranking pages, a kind of real-life metric, which took into account how many others linked to and referred to sites. [K]
Cellphone object recognition Scale-Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) processing can match objects photographed by a video-equipped cellphone to objects stored in a central reference database. This can enable people using 3G cellphones to find information about something by recording a video clip of it and asking a central database to recognise the object and provide relevant information. In the case of a foreign food item, for example, the system could identify ingredients that might cause an allergic reaction. A prototype system for use with any 3G cellphone has been developed by researchers at Accenture Technology Labs in France. Other companies including Microsoft also have services that use cellphone object recognition to provide location-related information. [K][H][I][U][V][W]
Heavens online Colour images documenting the past 10 billion years of galactic evolution have been distributed online as part of the first public release of data from a massive project to map a distant region of the universe. Called the All-wavelength Extended Groth Strip International Survey (AEGIS), it has mapped the same small region of sky using all available wavelengths from X-rays to UV, visible, infrared, and radio waves. Four colour images from four different satellite telescopes, as well as data on the tens of thousands of galaxies observed, are available on both the AEGIS Web site and Google Sky. It includes a visible-light mosaic of 63 separate snapshots from the Hubble Space Telescope that provides images of approximately 50,000 faraway galaxies, including infant and adolescent galaxies just taking on their mature forms. [K][I][R][V]
Technology pull-through A Technology Adoption Hub has been launched to speed the introduction of cutting-edge technology in the UK National Health Service. The NHS has long been criticised for being slow to adopt new technologies. Part of the problem has been that it is too risky for individual local health trusts to be pioneers in adopting a new technology because it can be disruptive and there is a risk of expensive failure. [K][H][T]
Economic impact of research The UK represents 1 percent of the global population but produces 9 percent of the world’s scientific publications and 12 percent of the scientific citations. However, there is long standing concern over how much economic impact this scientific excellence has for the UK. This has led to much greater emphasis on producing both excellent research and greater economic impact. A new study has now evaluated the economic impact from 18 case studies across all 7 UK Research Councils and the quality of knowledge transfer and the satisfaction of users of the scientific knowledge. The report cites substantial economic impacts and identifies opportunities to improve understanding of user needs and the effectiveness of knowledge transfer. [K][T]
EU R&D scoreboard Corporate investments in R&D by EU-based companies rose by 7.4 percent in 2006, against an increase of 10 percent by non-EU based companies. By industrial sector, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology overtook the technology hardware and equipment sector to take the top spot. The chemicals sector also showed strong growth, as did aerospace and defence. [K][T] |
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| [C] Computing, supercomputing, modelling and simulation | |
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Warp processing A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) can execute some, but not all, programs much faster than a microprocessor – 10 times, 100 times, even 1,000 times faster depending on the task. Researchers at UC Riverside have developed a computational method that automatically assigns suitable parts of a computation to an FPGA at run time. When the program first runs on a microprocessor chip, such as a Pentium, the chip monitors the program to detect its most frequently-executed parts and tries to move these to the FPGA. Those parts that run faster on the FPGA are then assigned to it. By performing optimizations at runtime, this so-called warp processing eliminates tool flow restrictions as well as the extra designer effort associated with traditional compile-time optimizations. [C][J][U]
Computational proteomics Researchers from HHMI, University of Washington and Cambridge University have computationally predicted the accurate three-dimensional structure of a small, naturally occurring globular protein using only its amino acid sequence. This is the first time it has been possible to solve a globular protein structure without any additional experimental information. The huge computation required was done using spare time on more than 70,000 home computers around the world that were volunteered through Rosetta@home, a distributed computing project that is based on the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC) platform. A detailed understanding of a protein’s structure can offer scientists a wealth of information – revealing intricacies about the protein’s biological function and suggesting new ideas for drug design. [C][G][H]
Computational drug discovery A team of European and Asian researchers has launched a new attack against the H5N1 bird flu virus by using the Enabling Grids for E-sciencE (EGEE) to analyse the potential of more than 500,000 drug-like molecules. The EGEE grid consists of 41,000 CPUs and about 5 petabytes of data storage across 45 countries and is available to users 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Using the EGEE grid, the researchers have already screened 300,000 molecules. Of these, 123 potential inhibitors were identified, of which seven have now been shown to act as inhibitors in in-vitro laboratory tests. This is a success rate of 6 percent compared to typical values of around 0.1 percent using classical drug discovery methods. [C][G][H] |
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| [W] Whole life engineering, manufacture and testing | |
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Global web design Google and IBM are partnering on an effort to help students get to grips with net-scale computing projects. The two firms will build data centres holding 1,600 computers that students will be able to use to learn the basics of so-called "cloud computing". Six US universities are participating in the project that is aiming to train future programmers to write software than can support a tidal wave of global web growth and trillions of secure transactions every day. [W][C][I][K]
Developing real-time systems Whilst there is some useful theory for real-time computing, such as rate-monotonic scheduling and time-triggered architectures, today's tools for real-time programming are still pretty weak. It is hard to know how fast a system will run before it is built, and even when it is a working system, finding out why it runs at the speed it does is not trivial. Cyber-physical systems, involving distributed control and distributed computing, are specially challenging both for design and testing. If there are also power constraints, such as in battery-operated embedded systems, these add further challenges. A lot of help can come from making the computations run faster, either by implementing processes directly in hardware or through multiprocessing, which can provide a remarkably simple way to solve some performance problems. Further improvement can come from heterogeneity - using a variety of processors each specialised to a particular task. [W][A][C][I][J][P][R][U]
Engineering avionic systems An article in November Computer Magazine reviews the evolution and engineering of avionics systems for commercial aircraft, how these highly complex and safety critical systems are developed, and how they are likely to change in the future. [W][A][U][V][X] |
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| [X] Systems, complexity and risk | |
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Thermodynamics of evolution By modelling the stability of proteins required for an organism's survival, Harvard scientists have discovered a thermodynamic limit on a species' rate of evolution, namely six mutations per genome per generation. They found that for most organisms, including viruses and bacteria, a rate of genome mutation higher than this causes the accumulation of too many potentially lethal changes in genetic material. The species then runs the risk of extinction as the genome loses stability. The existence of a mutation limit for viruses helps explain how the immune system has time to develop antibodies against infectious agents. It also offers an explanation for observed differences in genome sizes between organisms with genome error correction, such as bacteria and animals, and those without, such as RNA viruses. Organisms with large complex genomes require error correction in order keep within the mutation limit. This also slows down their rate of evolution and their ability to adapt to new environments. [X][E][G][H]
Evolutionary dynamics Language has been considered too messy and difficult a system for mathematical study, but Harvard researchers have now found that the way the past tense of irregular verbs has evolved into the regular ending "-ed" obeys a simple mathematical formula. The researchers tracked the status of 177 irregular verbs in Old English through linguistic changes in Middle English and then modern English. They found that the rate of regularisation is inversely proportional to the square root of the frequency with which the verb is used. The most common irregular verbs, such as "be" and "think," have such long half-lives that they will effectively never become regular. [X][G]
Systems biology Biological functions only very rarely depend on just one or a few genes. More often they derive from the activity of molecular networks that require the action, coordinated in time and space, of a large number of gene products whose molecular function is often unknown. To understand how complex cellular or organismal behaviours are generated is one of the most challenging tasks in present-day biology. It is far too complex to be solved by classic biological approaches. It requires systems expertise from physics, mathematics, engineering, computing and IT, and the use of predictive mathematical models to integrate the huge amounts of research data and to guide goals for further experiments. The European Science Foundation has published a forward look on systems biology that includes 12 expert essays that discuss different aspects of the interdisciplinary integration and the implications of systems biology for medicine, food and other sectors. [X][B][C][G][H][K][M][N][T]
Cellular migration In many biological processes, such as immune response, inflammation and embryonic growth, cells migrate around in response to chemical signals from their environment. Receptors in the cell's membrane are activated by tiny amounts these chemical signals and the differential activation of 10,000 or more receptors distributed along the body of the cell enables it to track along a chemical gradient. When the gradient exceeds a threshold level, a cascade of polymerization occurs within a few minutes and produces head and tail structures that make it easier for the cell to travel along the chemical gradient (chemotaxis). Cells may also exploit thermal gradients (thermotaxis) and electrical gradients (galvanotaxis). According to researchers in Italy and Russia, the cell's directional sensing and response is a kind of self-organized phase transition. [X][B][G][H]
Coiling of ropes Experiments and numerical simulations have revealed new insights into why ropes can spontaneous form neat coils as they are lowered vertically. The findings show that coiling is a fine balancing act between elastic, gravitational and inertial forces acting on the rope. The results apply not only to coiling of conventional ropes and threads but also to other types of elastic ropes. These include electrical cables, plant vines, DNA and structural reinforcing rods in buildings. Elastic ropes can act as nonlinear dynamical systems, the behaviour of which can be very difficult to understand. [X][G][M][N] |
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| [V] Virtuality and human-machine interface | |
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Realistic 3D models The next stage in digital mapping is to create realistic 3D models of the real world to give users a more immersive way to explore a destination using a computer. Constructing 3D models of real structures normally involves using carefully positioned stereo cameras or laser ranging equipment to analyse them. However, it may be possible to instead use public domain images such as those uploaded to Flickr. German and US researchers say they have developed software that recreates real structures in 3D by analysing hundreds of different public images. [V][C][D][E][I][K][R]
Virtual feeling A US surgeon working on tele-healthcare has developed a vest that enables video game warriors to feel shots, stabs, slams, and hits dealt to their on-screen characters. The vest uses air pressure to deliver pneumatic thumps to the spots on players' torsos where they would have been struck were they actually on the battlefields. The medical version of the vest is more sophisticated, enabling doctors sitting at their computers to prod, poke and press patients' bodies from afar and get feedback on what they are virtually feeling. [V][C][H]
Robot suit MIT researchers have developed a vibrotactile feedback suit to help individuals learn new motor skills more quickly and accurately than by mimicking human teachers alone. Besides golf, dance and sports training, the suit may also be useful for individuals undergoing motor rehabilitation after neurological damage, as well as for posture improvement. [V][H][K][U]
Opening virtual borders Gartner research predicts that by 2011, 80 percent of the people using the internet will have alter egos in virtual worlds. But at the moment avatars are locked into specific worlds and this is thwarting the virtual life universe from reaching its potential as a place to socialize, advertise, do business and make money, according to Linden Lab, which created Second Life. Linden Labs and IBM, together with a group of more than 20 other companies, are therefore jointly developing interoperability standards and protocols based on open-source software that they hope will allow open borders between virtual worlds. IBM's vision of the future of "three-dimensional Internet" includes companies using virtual worlds for tasks such as recruiting, meetings, and employee training. [V][C][K]
Natural virtual humans Humans use their eyes strongly to interact. They maintain eye contact, but do not just stare at each other. Instead, the eyes constantly dart around in rapid unconscious jerks known as 'saccades' that pin-point interesting parts of the scene and enable the brain to build up a 'mental map'. Scientists in France have now developed software that enables virtual characters to look at scenes and people as humans do and to meet a person's gaze naturally, just like a human. The goal is to make virtual humans and perhaps humanoid robots easier to relate to. [V][U] |
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| [B] Brain research and human science | |
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Sense of fair play Humans have a sense of fair play in which they are not only sensitivity to unfair offers but are also willing to suffer a personal cost in order to punish someone who behaves unfairly. This behaviour, which is important to social co-operation, is contrary to economic models of pure self-interest. Using a variant of the ultimatum game, researchers at Max Planck have now tested whether chimpanzees have a similar self-costing sense of fair play. They found that, unlike humans, the chimpanzees acted purely out of self-interest. Other recent research suggests that primates do have a self-interested sense of fair play in that they recognise and respond when they are getting a less favourable deal than their peers. However, a self-costing sense of fair play may be a uniquely human attribute. Other recent research using the ultimatum game has found that humans vary markedly in their perception of what is fair and unfair, and that about 40 percent of this variation is genetic. [B][D][G][X]
Sleep deprivation and emotional control Using fMRI, researchers at UC Berkeley and Harvard have explored how sleep deprivation upsets emotional control. They have found that without sleep the amygdala, the region of the brain that alerts the body to protect itself in times of danger, becomes hyperactive in response to negative visual stimuli. As a result the prefrontal cortex, which commands logical reasoning, is unable to calm down the fight-or-flight reflex. The findings are relevant to the problems of sleep deprivation in soldiers in combat zones, medical residents and even new parents. [B][A][D][H]
Resiliency Researchers at the University of Texas have found in experiments on mice that the level of a protein called BDNF in the brain's reward circuitry indicates how well a mouse will cope with a traumatic event. The level of BDNF was almost twice as high in mice that plunged into despair than in those that were more resilient and able to quickly bounce back to normal behaviour. The researchers speculate that increase in BDNF levels may allow the brain to learn that a situation is bad and avoid it in the future. But under extreme stress, susceptible animals may be 'overlearning' this principle and generalizing it to other situations. The vulnerable mice showed symptoms similar to those of human depression, and the researchers found that a group depressed people also had BDNF levels that were as much as 40 percent higher than normal. The researchers think the findings might help lead to new therapies that build up resiliency in people. [B][H]
Optimism pathways Researchers at New York University have found using fMRI that the act of imagining a positive future event, such as winning an award or receiving a large sum of cash, activates two brain areas - the amygdala and the rostral anterior cingulated cortex (rACC). The finding lends weight to earlier studies that suggested depression is linked to malfunctioning of these two brain regions. [B][H]
Emotion and learning Researchers at Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory have uncovered new evidence in mice that may explain how emotionally charged situations can leave such a powerful mark on our memories. The found that surges of the stress hormone norepinephrine (also known as noradrenaline) that often accompany strong emotions spark a series of molecular events that ultimately strengthen the connections between neurons, causing many new so-called GluR1 receptors to be added at neurons’ receiving ends. It remains unclear whether this newly identified mechanism plays a direct role in conditions such as post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD). [B]
Development of hearing It has long been unclear how hearing develops, since the nerve cells that connect auditory organs to the brain need to experience sound or other nerve activity to find their way to the part of the brain responsible for processing sound. Now scientists at Johns Hopkins studying the properties of so-called support cells in the ears of young rats, have found that, far from being silent bystanders as previously thought, these support cells show robust electrical activity, similar to nerve cells. Further, this activity occurred spontaneously, without sound or any external stimulus. As well as possibly explaining how auditory nerve cells are able to make the right connections, the finding may also be relevant to tinnitus. [B]
Controlling appetite and obesity The appetite-regulating hormone called peptide YY (PYY) is released from the gut into the bloodstream after eating. It signals to the brain that food has been eaten. Using brain scans, scientists at UCL and King's College London have now shown that PYY not only targets primitive brain areas controlling basic hunger urges, but also the brain's pleasure and reward centres. Its biggest effect was in an area called the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) that is thought to make overall sense of the pleasure sensation. The researchers found that the greater the change in activity in that area, the less the volunteers ate. These results show that appetite control in humans is much more complex than was thought. [B][H]
Test for Alzheimer's A new blood test can identify those at risk of Alzheimer's disease up to six years before symptoms would become apparent, according to researchers at Stanford. The test identifies changes in a handful of proteins that cells use to convey messages to one another. The US researchers found it could indicate who had Alzheimer's, as well as who was likely to develop the condition, with 90 percent accuracy. [B][H][S] |
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| [H] Healthcare and medicine | |
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Better local anaesthetic Capsaicin is the ingredient that gives chilli peppers their bite. It has been used to make a pain-selective anaesthetic by combining it with QX-314, a derivative of a local anaesthetic called lidocaine. Capsaicin selectively binds to a protein TRPV1 that resides on the membranes of pain-sensing neurons, and it opens the membrane pores allowing the QX-314 to enter and block the neuron's response. Because only the pain-sensing neurons have TRPV1 on their membranes, the anaesthetic removes pain without causing numbness or affecting movement. [H][B]
Repairing damaged nerves Scientists at the University of Manchester have found how to coax stem cells derived from fat to turn into nerve cells that could be implanted to replace damaged peripheral nerves. They have so far done this in rats in the laboratory, but they believe it should also work in humans. This could make it much easier to restore nerve function in patients with traumatic injuries to nerves in their arms or legs. [H][B][G]
Artificial cornea Fraunhofer scientists have developed an artificial cornea that they hope shortly to test on humans patients. It is based on a commercially available polymer that absorbs no water and allows no cells to grow on it. The edge of the artificial cornea is coated with a special protein that the cells of the natural cornea can attach to so that the implant is held in place but its centre remains free of cells that would impede vision. [H][M]
High altitude adaptation Tibetans live at altitudes of around 14,000 feet. Because of the low barometric pressure, they have a low level of oxygen in their arteries. Yet they consume oxygen at a normal rate. Researchers have found that the key to this is that they have more than ten times more nitric oxide (NO) in their blood than people living at low altitudes. This higher NO causes increased blood flow that maintains the oxygen delivery. [H]
Benefits of garlic Previous research has shown that garlic compounds lower blood pressure and protect against cardiovascular disease. They prevent platelet aggregation in the blood that can trigger a heart attack or stroke. They also appear to help limit cancer growth and the progression of several other diseases. Now research at the University of Alabama suggests that the benefits are produce by release of hydrogen sulphide. Polysulphide compounds in the garlic are metabolized to hydrogen sulphide in the vascular system. This causes the smooth muscle cells to relax and may also limit oxidative damage in cells. [H]
Flu in winter Using experiments on guinea pigs - one of the very few animals that can catch human flu - scientists at Mount Sinai Medical School have shown that the reason flu epidemics spread in winter is that the flu virus can survive longer in cold, dry air. Also the mucus that clears the airways is more sluggish at lower temperatures, and so flu infections last longer and have more opportunity to spread. The experiments also showed that human flu can spread solely as an airborne infection from exhaled air, without requiring physical contact or coughing and sneezing. [H][D]
Tamiflu resistance Swedish researchers have discovered that oseltamivir (Tamiflu) - the main antiviral drug effective against H5N1 bird flu - passes virtually unchanged through sewage treatment. Consequently, in countries where Tamiflu is used at a high frequency to treat ordinary flu, there is a risk that its concentration in natural waters can reach levels where influenza viruses in nature will develop resistance to it. The researchers recommend that Tamiflu must be used with care and only when the medical situation necessitates it. [H][D]
Obesity snapshot People are getting fatter in all parts of the world, with the possible exception of south and east Asia, according to a global snapshot survey. It found that between half and two-thirds of men and women in 63 countries across five continents - not including the US - were overweight or obese in 2006. In Northern Europe men had an average body mass index (BMI) of 27 and women 26 - just slightly overweight. In southern Europe, the average BMI was 28. In Australia BMI was 28 for men and 27.5 for women while in Latin America the average BMI was just under 28. Waist circumference was also high - 56 percent of men and 71 percent of women carried too much weight around their middle. [H]
Stem cell therapy and cancer Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), found in bone marrow, can differentiate into a variety of cell types. This makes them prime candidates for stem cell therapies. They usually circulate through the blood system, waiting to be called to damaged tissue to help rebuild it. However, MSCs are also recruited into tumours, possibly using the same recruitment mechanisms as those operating during wound healing. Now, research at MIT on mice has shown that MSCs can enhance the spread of breast tumours throughout the body. Whether this will apply to tumours generally and whether in humans is not yet clear. [H][G] |
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| [G] Genomics, biotechnology and bioinformatics | |
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Stopping cell division When cells divide they must first duplicate and then distribute their genetic material so that the two ‘daughter’ cells receive all the genetic information in a correct form. The distribution into chromosomes must be done accurately and the cell has a surveillance mechanism that delays chromosome segregation until accuracy has been guaranteed. This mechanism depends on a protein called ‘Bub 1’. Research at the University of Manchester have shown that without Bub 1 cells cannot divide. Mouse embryos lacking the Bub 1 gene are unable to develop, older cell types fail to divide when the Bub 1 gene is switched off, and male mice lacking Bub 1 become infertile. The Bub 1 gene operates in the same way in cancer cells, and the hope is that turning it off could provide a way to kill tumours. Drugs, know as protein kinases, are already being developed that are able to block the actions of Bub 1-type enzymes. [G][H]
Pluripotency of stem cells The protein Oct4 plays a major role in embryonic stem cells, acting as a master regulator of the genes that keep the cells in an undifferentiated state. It has therefore been supposed that Oct4 is also critical in allowing adult stem cells to remain undifferentiated. More than 50 studies have reported finding Oct4 activity in adult stem cells. However a team of US, German and Russian researchers has now found that Oct4 is not required to maintain mouse adult stem cells in their undifferentiated state. This means that pluripotency, the ability of stem cells to change into any kind of cell, must be regulated differently in adult and embryonic stem cells. [G][H]
Embryo development An embryo begins life as a group of undifferentiated cells. Then through a process called gastrulation these cells arrange themselves into three layers that start to form different component parts. The first layer is the ‘ectoderm’ and this in turn generates two other layers, the ‘mesoderm’ and the ‘endoderm’. Embryologists at UCL have now identified at the cellular and molecular levels how this process occurs. In lower vertebrates, the mesoderm and the endoderm develop around the edge of the embryo. In higher vertebrates, on the other hand, the two different layers originate from an axis running through the centre of the embryo. [G]
Human parthenogenesis Some animals are capable of reproducing without fertilisation (parthenogenesis). Their eggs store an extra set of chromosomes in a pouch called a polar body that can substitute for male DNA. Although humans cannot reproduce in this way, a woman's eggs, through a relic of evolution, still retain the extra set of chromosomes in a polar body until fertilization. Researchers succeeded in creating parthenogenetic stem cells from unfertilized mouse eggs in 1994, from eggs of macaque monkeys in 2002, and from human eggs in 2007. Parthenogenetic stem cells could provide an alternative to embryonic stem cells, but how well they will work is not yet clear. [G][H][T]
Telomeric RNA Telomeres are repeated chains of DNA at the ends of the DNA in each chromosome. They prevent the DNA from fraying when a cell divides. In most cells, the telomeres get shorter with each division and this eventually prevents further cell division. This telomere shortening protects against cancer and also appears to be a major factor in ageing. Telomeres were previously thought to be just chromosomal end stops, like the caps on shoe laces. But Swiss and Italian scientists have now discovered that the telomeric DNA is actually transcribed into RNA and that this telomeric RNA is regulated by the same enzyme responsible for maintaining telomere length in embryonic cells and some adult stem cells. It is thought that some 90 percent of cancer cells also have such telomere maintenance activity enabling them to divide indefinitely. This new understanding of how telomeres work might therefore lead to a new type of therapy against cancer. [G][H]
Antibiotic genes DNA sequencing typically involves sheering the organism’s DNA into manageable fragments, and then inserting these fragments into a disarmed strain of E. coli, which is used to grow up vast amounts of the target DNA. However, it has been found that this process always produces inexplicable gaps in the genome. Researchers at the Joint Genome Institute have now discovered that this happens because some genes cannot be transferred to E. coli as they are lethal to it. The researchers say they have strong evidence that most and perhaps all microbes, not just E. coli, are susceptible to being killed by taking up certain lethal genes. If so, this could lead to a totally new class of broad-spectrum antibiotics. The researchers also say that the lethal genes provide better reference points for verifying evolutionary relationships between bacteria. [G][H]
Protein networks Researchers at UCSD have created a map of all known protein networks in human cells and shown that it can be used to assess whether a patient's breast cancer will spread. The map connects 11,203 proteins through 57,235 interactions, and is based on scanning decades of protein research. By overlaying the map with a gene-expression profile from a breast-cancer patient's biopsy, the researchers were able to highlight protein pairs whose activity changed. They then looked for clusters where the activity level of a group of connected proteins was different in patients whose cancer eventually metastasized than in patients whose cancer did not. They are now applying the approach to other diseases, with promising early results. [G][H] Phase II haplotype map The International HapMap Consortium has published its phase II map of human genetic variations around the world. This contains more than 3.1 million genetic variants compared to approximately 1 million in the phase I version in 2005. This gives greater power to detect genetic variants involved in common diseases, to explore the struc | ||