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Top Stories in Science
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October 2005 Issue |
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| [D] Defence and security |  |
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Spanish flu Spanish flu, which killed up to 50 million people in 1918-19, was probably a strain that originated in birds, according to US scientists who have found that the 1918 virus shares genetic mutations with the bird flu virus now circulating in Asia. By reconstructing the 1918 virus, researchers have elucidated what made the virus so lethal. In particular, the virus does not need a protein-splitting enzyme from its surroundings to replicate, and it grows very rapidly in lung cells, causing severe lung damage and a catastrophic immune response that can lead to rapid suffocation. This explains why Spanish flu proved surprisingly lethal to fit people. The researchers observe that if this lethal mechanism can be understood better, it may be possible to develop drugs to block it. The work also shows that the current H5N1 bird flu could turn pandemic without needing to combine with a human flu virus, and suggests what combination of mutations might allow this to happen and need to be watched for. [D][G][H]
Influenza diversity In the first large-scale effort of its kind, researchers have determined the full genetic sequence of more than 200 distinct strains of human influenza virus, mostly sampled in New York city. This has provided a detailed picture of how the flu virus evolved in New York over five flu seasons from 1999-2004 and has revealed how several distinct subpopulations can circulate simultaneously in the same locality with variants frequently swapping genetic material. During the 2003-04 season, this swapping produced a new dominant virus for which the vaccine was less well tailored and offered less protection than usual. [D][G][H]
Drug resistant bird flu Experts in Hong Kong have warned that the human H5N1 strain of avian flu that surfaced in northern Vietnam this year is proving resistant to Tamiflu, the commercial brand of oseltamivir, a powerful antiviral drug widely considered the best chance of protecting the population against bird flu. Countries such as the UK buying large stocks of oseltamivir to protect key workers if there is a pandemic. [D][H]
Bioagent diagnosis Physicians very rarely, if ever, encounter diseases such as smallpox, anthrax, botulism and plague, that are most likely to be used by bioterrorists. A US study has shown that online training can substantially improve the ability of physicians to correctly diagnose such diseases. Before training, a sample of 631 physicians was unable to correctly diagnose these diseases in more than 50 percent of cases. After online training they achieved 79 percent correct diagnosis. [D][H][K]
Security DNA The UK Police Forensic Science Laboratory has developed a synthetic irremovable DNA tag which lasts for years. It is hoped that by making notes more traceable with this Security DNA, officers will find it easier to follow the paper trail robbers often leave behind. [D][G][S]
Fingerprint identification A criminologist who has analysed all publicly known mistaken fingerprint matches since 1920, including eight since 1999, has concluded that as many as a thousand incorrect fingerprint "matches" could be made each year in the US alone, in spite of safeguards intended to prevent errors. The majority of the known mismatches were discovered only through extremely fortuitous circumstances, such as a post-conviction DNA test, the intervention of foreign police, and a laboratory accident that led to the re-evaluation of evidence. [D]
Big Brother Security networks using CCTV cameras increasingly operate via internet protocol (IP). Each camera can be controlled remotely, and images can be transferred directly to disk storage systems. The images can then be searched more easily and shared, when necessary, with third-party agencies over networks. The new generation of IP-based CCTV cameras are smaller and more covert, and they use high-definition colour cameras that can focus on minute details. Linking the control of the cameras to a computer enables specific objects to be tracked semi-automatically. Automated analysis reduces the need for human intervention, and systems can be optimised to specifically watch for likely criminal activities. The digital images can also be integrated with other data sources. All of this technology adds up to a big increase in the power and efficiency of integrated surveillance. It also poses issues for human rights. [D][I][K][R][T]
Survivability and mobility A conceptual armoured patrol vehicle has been developed by Georgia Tech and the US automotive industry. Its purpose is to illustrate various design and technology options for increased survivability and mobility for future military combat vehicles. In particular it demonstrates the use of advanced lightweight armour and structural design, and the use of on-board computers to integrate steering, suspension and brakes to give greater mobility and safety. [D][E][M][U]
Torpedo defence The potential to destroy incoming torpedoes by firing massive underwater shock waves at them is being explored by a project funded by DARPA. Ships would be equipped with 360 transducers each 1 metre square and forming an array large enough to focus the shock waves to precisely target incoming torpedoes. [D][E][R] |
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| [A] Aeronautics and space | |
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Supersonic airliner Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) has successfully tested a new design for a supersonic airliner. An 11m scale model was launched by rocket from the test site at Woomera. Japanese and French aerospace industry groups have signed an accord to conduct joint research on a next-generation supersonic transport aircraft. The three-year research plan includes developing lightweight composite materials. [A][M][P]
Rocket racing The Rocket Racing League plans to build 10 racing rockets, which would be financed, owned and customised by individual teams for a series of annual races. The space-age Formula One vehicles will be based on a rocketplane designed and demonstrated by California-based XCOR Aerospace. The first race is scheduled in New Mexico in autumn 2006. The vehicles, powered by liquid oxygen and kerosene engines, will demonstrate the power of rocket-driven aircraft, accelerating rapidly and performing high-G-force turns. [A][P]
Air travel security Tighter security is needed at Europe's airports and on aircraft despite improvements since 9/11, according to the European Commission. Proposals include setting EU standards for in-flight security and cargo handling. [A][D]
Airport safety According to a report by the New Scientist, the head of the US air accident investigation body is calling for significant technology improvements to prevent runway collisions and near-misses, which are occurring with "alarming frequency". He claims the current system, relying on an alert from the air traffic controller, often means pilots do not have enough time to react. Eurocontrol, on behalf of ICAO, will begin in early 2006 to draft an "Action Plan for the Prevention of Runway Incursions". [A][K][R][U][V][X]
Airport screening A new SARS or influenza epidemic would spread primarily by air travel. Although airport entry screening has been advocated, its benefit is currently unknown. Using the incubation periods for influenza and SARS, researchers have estimated the proportion of passengers with latent infection that would develop detectable symptoms during any flight to the UK. For SARS, they found a maximum of 21 percent would develop symptoms for the longest flights from East Asia. Influenza has a much shorter incubation period than SARS. However, they concluded that for both influenza and SARS, entry screening without a period of quarantine is unlikely to be effective in preventing the disease from being imported. [A][D][H][R][S]
NASA Moon mission NASA's has unveiled the plan for its crewed Moon mission, which it says will cost at least $104bn. Four astronauts will fly to the Moon in a new spacecraft in 2018, land and walk on the surface. While landers in the Apollo programme were confined to touching down at the Moon's equator, the new lunar vehicle will have the capability to land anywhere. The project will build heavily on space shuttle hardware. The crew will fly into Earth orbit in a reusable capsule, launched on top of a single, stretched version of the shuttle’s solid rocket booster. A second, larger craft will carry the crew from Earth orbit to the Moon and back. This will be launched without crew by a new heavy-lift booster powered by five space shuttle main engines and a pair of extended shuttle solid rocket boosters. [A][P]
Living in space A bike-like centrifuge that creates artificial gravity may help astronauts combat muscle atrophy in space. The National Space Biomedical Research Institute is researching whether resistance training under artificial gravity conditions produces the same kind of muscle responses that occur when a person performs weight training on Earth. [A][H]
Cassini mission Looking for evidence of oceans or seas on Titan was one of the main goals of the four-year Cassini mission. New radar images from the Cassini spacecraft show strong evidence that Titan does have seas of liquid methane, or that it had seas in the past. The SAR images show what appears to be a very distinct shoreline, with bays and meandering channels carved deeply in the surrounding terrain and feeding into a large dark smooth region that appears to have a wet surface. [A][R]
Mars explorer balloon It might be possible for a balloon to be used as a future Mars exploration vehicle able to drop small science packages over target sites. Global Aerospace Corporation has designed a Balloon Guidance System (BGS) that enables a balloon to be steered through the atmosphere. The BGS is an aerodynamic surface that hangs on a several kilometre-long tether below the balloon. The difference in winds at different altitudes create a relative wind at the altitude of the BGS wing. This in turn creates a lifting force that can be used to pull the balloon left or right relative to the prevailing winds. [A][M][U] |
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| [U] Unmanned vehicles and robotics | |
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Robo-scooper NASA has issued a robot lunar challenge. In 2006 or 2007, robots will compete to see which can move the most simulated lunar dust out of a sandbox and into a bin, and the winning team will receive $250,000. Entries must be no heavier than 25 kilograms. They must work autonomously and be able to excavate at least 150 kilograms of dirt. And they must operate on 30-watt power supplies, the power provided by a solar array on a lunar rover. [U][A][P]
DARPA Grand Challenge A team from Stanford University's School of Engineering has won the $2 million DARPA Grand Challenge. Its car, a Volkswagen Touareg nicknamed "Stanley", has become the first self-navigating vehicle to successfully complete the gruelling 211 km cross-country race for autonomous robot vehicles held in Nevada's Mojave desert. Four of the 23 competing robotic vehicles successfully completed the course, in what is being hailed as a technological milestone. The principal challenge they faced was teaching the robot-cars to spot obstructions and calculate a route round them fast enough to let the cars travel above the minimum competitive speed of 24 km/h. The US Congress has mandated that one third of the US military's ground vehicles must be able to operate autonomously by 2015. [U][D][E][R]
Bot traders Programs that buy and sell shares are becoming ever more sophisticated. They are proving so successful that, in the equity markets, they already appear to be often outperforming their human counterparts, and it now seems likely that their success will be repeated in foreign-exchange markets too. Whilst human judgement is still needed for strategic decisions and riskier strategies that can make or lose a lot of money, algorithmic trading has the advantage for more routine trading in the speed and the volume of trades that can be handled, and also in the number of factors that can be taken into account. [U][C][I][K][T]
MEMS microrobot US researchers have developed a MEMS microrobot. It measures 60 microns by 250 microns, and integrates power delivery, locomotion, communication, and a controllable steering system. It moves by bending its body like a caterpillar. The robot contains two independent microactuators, one for forward motion and one for turning. It is teleoperated and is powered by the grid of electrodes it walks on. The grid also provides the robot's instructions that allow it to move freely over the electrodes, unattached to them. [U][J] |
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| [P] Propulsion and energy | |
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Hydrogen-powered HALE The Global Observer high altitude long endurance (HALE) platform has completed its flight tests. It is the world's first liquid hydrogen powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and is designed to operate at 65,000 feet for over a week with a flexible payload-carrying capacity of up to 1,000 pounds. Major potential applications include persistent, global, near-space loitering capability for defence and homeland security missions, and also rapidly deployable telecommunications infrastructure and GPS augmentation. [P][A][D][I][R][U]
Kite-powered ships Fitting cargo ships with massive kites designed to tug vessels and reduce their diesel consumption could reduce fuel consumption by about one-third, according to the German firm SkySails, who are developing the technology. This could provide a major saving in pollution and cost, given that fuel accounts for about 60 percent of shipping costs. SkySails' kites fly between 100 and 300 metres above sea level, where winds are less turbulent and, on average, more than 50 percent stronger than the winds that conventional sails capture. An autopilot computer adjusts the height and angle of the kite. When the wind blows too strongly, one end of the rectangular kite is released so that the kite flaps like a flag. [P][E]
Aircraft emission The European Commission has recommended that airlines should be included in its carbon dioxide trading scheme. The scheme currently puts limits on the emissions of 12,000 big industrial carbon emitters across the EU, with the aim of curbing global warming. [P][A][E]
Biofuels New technologies and the rising price of petroleum fuels are making biofuels produced from waste agricultural plant matter increasingly competitive. Biodiesel is promising In Europe, where many vehicles have diesel engines. In the US, biofuels are needed that can be added to petrol. The quickest route to commercially competitive biofuels may lie in combining biochemical- and thermochemical-biofuel pathways. A combined plant could produce ethanol or other products by biochemical pathways, then thermochemically convert recalcitrant materials into electricity or additional fuels. [P][E][T]
Focusing ocean waves The extraction of ocean wave power might be enhanced by focusing the waves to a point. Researchers in Hong Kong have shown using computer simulation that a periodic array of cylinders should be able to refract waves in any depth of water. They also found that wave propagation was forbidden in some frequency ranges, which leads to water-wave band gaps that are analogous to those that exist for electrons in semiconductors, photons in photonic crystals, and phonons in phononic crystals. [P][E][M][O]
Energy efficiency An analysis of energy consumption, energy efficiency and developments in the food supply chain in 13 European countries over the past thirty years has found that the European food industry has failed to make significant improvements in energy efficiency. Energy savings can be realised without harming the industry's economic growth, but this will require greater efforts by the industry and policy-makers. [P][E][W]
Long-lived batteries As implantable electronic devices are made smaller they can be used in an increasing range of medical applications, not only for better cardiac pacemakers but also to stimulate nerves to treat incontinence, or to overcome muscular impairment, or to trigger the nervous system to make critical nerve connections in patients with, for example, Parkinson's or epilepsy. This progress relies crucially on making rechargeable lithium ion batteries with smaller size and longer lives. US researchers report that by using organosilicon compounds they have more than doubled the battery lifetime. The new battery technology can, for example, power a microstimulator not much larger than a pencil lead that can be injected near target nerves and have a battery life of more than 12 years. [P][A][B][H][V] |
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| [M] Materials, structures and surfaces | |
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Artificial solids Artificial solids, constructed by assembling a large number of nanocrystals into a closely packed and well-ordered lattice, might revolutionise the fabrication of electronic devices in the future. The nanocrystals are each composed of a few thousand atoms, making them an order of magnitude larger than real atoms, and their properties can be fine tuned at the quantum level to produce artificial solids with specially tailored properties and great versatility. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have demonstrated an artificial solid that can be transformed from an insulator to a semiconductor by controlling the coupling of artificial atoms within the crystal. They hope this will pave the way for designing artificial solids that can be switched through a variety of electronic phase transitions. [M][J][N]
Quasicrystals and friction Materials scientists at Duke University have developed a computer model of how a "quasicrystal" metallic alloy interacts with a gas at various temperatures and pressures. Their advance could contribute to wider applications of quasicrystals for extremely low-friction machine parts. Quasicrystals, like normal crystals, consist of atoms that combine to form structures that repeat in a pattern. However, unlike normal periodic crystals, in quasicrystals the pattern does not repeat at regular intervals. So, while the atomic patterns of two crystalline materials rubbing together can line up and grind against one another, causing friction, quasicrystalline materials do not, and thus produce little friction. [M][N]
High temperature superconductivity Researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory have found that, against all expectation, nanoscale surface roughness can significantly increase the amount of electric current carried by a high-temperature superconductor. [M]
Shape memory corkscrew A shape memory polymer may provide a way to mechanically remove a blood clot that is causing a stroke. The polymer in the form of a needle can be inserted into the artery, attached to an optical fibre, and guided to the clot. When it reaches the clot it is heated with infrared laser light sent along the fibre. The heating converts its shape into a corkscrew with which the clot can then be pulled out. This approach might not only provide a safer alternative to clot-busting drugs but also give a substantially longer time window for treatment. Clot busting drugs need to be given very quickly after a stroke to be really effective. [M][B][H][O]
Metallic superfluid At a pressure of around 4 million atmospheres, hydrogen may become a metallic superfluid, according to computer simulations in Norway. The new superfluid state is thought to contain Cooper pairs of both protons and electrons at low temperatures, which means that it would be radically different from other quantum fluids. It may be possible to observe this state within the next 5-10 years. Pressures of up to ten million atmospheres may be possible as a result of the recent breakthroughs in the synthesis of ultrahard artificial diamonds. [M][C][F] |
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| [E] Environment, transport and marine | |
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Pesticide resistance UK and Australian scientists have developed a technique to prevent insects developing resistance to pesticides. The pests often develop resistance by overproducing enzymes that degrade the effectiveness of the pesticides. The researchers have developed a product that blocks the enzymes and then delivers a dose of pesticide 4-5 hours later to kill the newly defenceless insects. [E]
Hardier, more productive crops US researchers have found that one of three proton pumps found within plant cells, previously believed to have an extremely limited function, actually plays a critical role in plant root and shoot system growth and development by controlling cell division, expansion and hormone transport. Over-expressing the single gene that encodes this particular proton pump significantly enhances the transportation of the primary plant growth hormone, auxin, and results in plants with stronger, more extensive root systems and as much as 60 percent more foliage. The results could be very important for developing plants that are more productive, more drought-resistant and better able to grow in soils low in nutrients. [E][G]
Environmental refugees The UN estimates that by 2010 there will be as many as 50 million environmental refugees in the world as a result of falling land fertility, coupled with drought and desertification, flooding and deforestation. They believe that already environmental degradation forces as many people away from their homes as political and social unrest. [E][D]
Particle pollution Epidemiologists have examined links between particle pollution and mortality within more than 260 Los Angeles neighbourhoods. They have found that pollution's chronic health effects are two to three times greater than earlier believed, causing significantly more early deaths, especially from ischemic heart disease and lung cancer. Researchers will conduct a similar study in New York City. [E][H][N][P]
Carbon uptake A new study shows that during the 2003 European heatwave, when temperature soared as much as 6 degrees above normal in some regions, European plants produced more carbon dioxide than they absorbed from the atmosphere. During an average year, European plants absorb around 125 million tonnes of carbon (MtC). But in 2003, according to the analysis, they released 500 MtC. By comparison, total global emissions from burning fossil fuels amounts to about 7,000 MtC. This shows that ecosystems which currently absorb CO2 from the atmosphere may in future produce it, adding to the greenhouse effect. [E] |
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| [R] Remote sensing and sensor systems | |
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New GPS satellite The first of a new fleet of Global Positioning System (GPS) spacecraft has been launched. It will provide a stronger signal to ground users and also three entirely new signals. Two will help the US military prevent jamming of GPS signals to ground vehicles, aircraft and ships, and will also improve the accuracy of GPS-guided smart weapons. The third new signal will be a second frequency for civilian users, reducing the navigation errors caused by the layer of charged particles in the Earth's upper atmosphere. [R][A][D]
Cryosat Europe's Cryosat spacecraft crashed into the sea on launch because of a rocket failure. This is regarded as a disastrous loss as the spacecraft's intended mission was to measure changes in floating sea ice, using a SAR Interferometric Radar Altimeter (SIRAL) to measure the height of the ice from the echoes of radar pulses beamed to the surface. Cryosat was intended to complement NASA's ICESat, launched in 2003, whose primary goal is measuring the continental ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland using a laser altimeter. [R][E]
Shrinking Arctic sea ice Satellite observations show that the area covered by sea ice in the Arctic has shrunk for a fourth consecutive year. The current rate of shrinkage since 1978, when satellite data became available, is around 8 percent per decade. At this rate there may be no ice at all during the summer by 2060. [R][E]
Monitoring water resources. Satellite monitoring of rivers and lakes can make a vital contribution to using available water more effectively, and has potential to transform the management of drought crises and water-related conflict in Africa and elsewhere around the world. Heights of inland water can now be measured directly from space using radar altimeters, currently carried on several satellites and originally designed to measure ocean height. [R][D][E][S][T]
Weighing water resources GPS data shows that as the Amazon river floods every year, a sizeable portion of South America sinks several inches because of the extra weight – and then rises again as the waters recede. This effect might be used to weigh the amount of water in the Amazon river, and also in glaciers, lakes and rivers elsewhere in the world. Being able to estimate and track changes in the Earth's entire fresh water cache could greatly improve the ability to predict drought, flooding and climate change and to manage water resources more sustainably. [R][E]
Foetal MRI Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques can provide real-time measurements of volume in a foetal heart, and may better enable physicians to plan care for infants with heart defects, according to a new study. [R][H] |
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| [S] Sensor devices | |
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Explosive detection Fast, highly reliable detection of residues that could indicate the presence of explosives and other hazardous materials inside luggage is now possible, according to researchers at Purdue University. Their technique uses a mass spectrometer that has been modified to analyze samples directly from the environment. It exploits desorption electrospray ionization (DESI), which involves directing a spray of reactive chemicals onto a surface to dislodge suspicious chemicals and then sucking the mixture into the spectrometer for analysis. This allows real time detection of substances at the picogram level. The developed equipment, according to the researchers, weighs less than 25 pounds, fits into a backpack, and has a negligible false alarm rate. [S][D][E][R]
Bioagent detection At short ultraviolet wavelengths, biological agents could be detected and identified universally from their UV spectra. Until now, however, photomultiplier tubes were the only detectors with sufficient sensitivity. These are expensive, bulky and fragile, and also need filtering to screen out solar radiation. US researchers have now developed suitable avalanche photodiode detectors, based on aluminium gallium nitride. As well as being cheap, highly sensitive, rugged and compact, they are also insensitive to solar radiation. Together with UV LEDs, they should provide an inexpensive detection system capable of identifying the unique spectral fingerprints of a biological agent attack. [S][D][H][I][J][R]
Combustion sensor A miniature optical temperature sensor that can be installed in a spark plug could help car makers develop a new generation of low emission, highly fuel efficient engines. The sensor measures in-cylinder gas temperatures with a response time of 130 microseconds and a temperature resolution and accuracy of around 20 degrees, depending on the in-cylinder pressure. [S][O][P]
MRSA detection UK scientists have developed an electronic nose that recognises the smell-prints of Staphylococcus aureus. Although the device cannot yet distinguish methicillin-resistant SA (MRSA) from the methicillin-susceptible strain (MSSA), its speed and convenience provides a good way of initially screening for MRSA. Standard culture tests to identify MRSA take two or three days, preventing a rapid management of outbreaks as infected patients remain untreated and at risk of infecting others. [S][H]
Nanowire sensors Researchers at Harvard have found that molecular markers indicating the presence of cancer in the body are readily detected in blood scanned by special arrays of silicon nanowires. The markers can be detected down to concentrations of only one hundred-billionth of the protein present in a drop of blood. In addition to this exceptional accuracy and sensitivity, the nanowire sensors are able to distinguish among molecules with near-perfect selectivity, promising to pinpoint the exact type of cancer present. Detection of markers associated with different stages of disease pathogenesis could further facilitate early detection of cancer. [S][G][H][N]
Nanopore sensors At the University of Illinois, researchers are developing a solid-state device for recording sequences of single DNA molecules as they pass through a nanometre-diameter pore in a silicon membrane. They have found that applying an electric field forces double-stranded DNA through pores with a diameter of less than 2.5 nm. This could lead to a high-throughput technology for DNA sequencing and for measuring forces between DNA and proteins in DNA-protein assemblies. Abnormalities in binding energies could indicate disease or suggest a target for treatment. [S][G][H][N]
Sensor capsules Wireless capsules that can take images inside the gut after they have been swallowed are currently swept along by the natural process of peristalsis. Italian researchers have now developed a way to stop a capsule at a particular location to obtain more detailed images and to perform measurements. The gripper is made of a biocompatible nickel-titanium shape memory alloy that can be made to change its shape. The work could lead to the development of a pill that can perform biopsies in a non-invasive way. [S][H][M] |
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| [O] Optoelectronics, optics and lasers | |
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Transistor laser Room temperature operation of a heterojunction bipolar transistor laser has been demonstrated by researchers at the University of Illinois. The prototype transistor laser operated at a speed of 3 GHz. The researchers expect to achieve much higher speeds, since heterojunction bipolar transistors have achieved 600 GHz. Room-temperature transistor lasers could facilitate faster signal processing, large capacity seamless communications, and higher performance electrical and optical integrated circuits. [O][I][J]
Light from silicon By exploiting quantum confinement using nanocrystalline silicon and by incorporating lanthanide rare-earth ions, silicon LEDs have been made as efficient as conventional LEDs fabricated from III-V semiconductors. Their output power, though limited by the achievable concentration of rare-earth ions, is sufficient for optical communication within a chip. However, for chip-to-chip and computer-to-computer communications, the light source needs to be directional. Intel's silicon Raman laser goes part way to providing this, but has to be pumped optically. What is most needed is an electrically-driven silicon laser. Using a resonant-cavity LED device, this goal is now within reach. The device is very similar to a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL),. [O][J][T]
Silicon photonics The promise of silicon photonics is that it will let manufacturers build optical components using the same semiconductor equipment and methods they use now for ordinary integrated circuits. In this way, they could dramatically reduce the cost of photonics. Integrated onto a silicon chip, an optical transceiver could send and receive data at 10 billion or even 100 billion bits per second. Silicon-based devices cannot yet manipulate and control light as well as existing commercial optical devices made from III-Vl semiconductors such as indium phosphide and gallium nitride. However, this is changing because of current developments, notably the silicon Raman laser, silicon modulators with speeds up to 10 Gb/s, silicon-germanium infrared detectors, and micromachining technology for fabricating optical components on a silicon wafer. The next phase of development, according to researchers at Intel, is to build a "hybrid" silicon photonic platform using a mix of silicon and non-silicon devices attached to a silicon substrate. [O][J][T]
Molecular light switch Switchable fluorescent proteins, which can be switched optically between a fluorescent and non-fluorescent state, have many potential applications, from cellular biology to data storage. Researchers at Max Planck, using x-ray crystallography and computer simulation, have uncovered and modelled the molecular mechanism behind this switching. [O][C][N]
Nanoscale optics Researchers at Rice University have demonstrated an important analogy between electronics and optics. They believe the relationship can be exploited to create nanoscale antennae that convert light into broadband electrical signals capable of carrying approximately 1 million times more data than existing interconnects. [O][J][N]
Nanoscale optical circuits Engineers at the University of Pennsylvania have proposed how, in theory, inductors, capacitors and resistors could be created on the nanoscale, and operate using infrared or visible light. According to their models, a nano-sized sphere made up of a nonmetallic material such as glass with permittivity greater than zero would act like a miniaturised capacitor. A nano-sized sphere made up of a metallic material such as gold or silver with a permittivity less than zero would act like a miniaturised inductor. Either material could also function like a miniaturised resistor, depending on how the optical energy is lost in it. [O][J][N] |
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| [I] IT, communications, networking and secure systems | |
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VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a serious threat to the revenues of fixed line telephone companies and might be an even bigger threat to mobile telephone revenues. Present GPRS and 3G data networks suffer from too much latency to support voice calls reliably. But when a new upgrade, HSDPA, is introduced across Europe in 2006 and 2007, VoIP calls will be feasible, and could even exceed GSM call quality,. [I][T]
Digital TV As television switches totally to digital, large regions of the spectrum are being freed for new uses. Part of the spectrum will be used for providing more broadcast channels. Part will be used for mobile communications, benefiting from the fact that signals at 100 MHz propagate farther and penetrate buildings better than signals in current cellular bands. Internet protocol TV (IPTV) delivered over broadband will provide access to an almost limitless selection of programmes and allow genuinely interactive television. [I][K][T]
Smart Wi-Fi The designers of Wi-Fi networks face four major challenges: ensuring reliability by making certain that service is not disrupted by poor-quality radio transmissions; maintaining performance by avoiding slow link speeds and overlong delays; designing access point (AP) networks that can completely blanket the coverage area; and providing security against unfriendly wireless eavesdroppers or unauthorised users. Problems of insecurity have been greatly improved by the secure Wi-Fi standards, IEEE802i and Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA). However, service degradation due to congestion is an increasing problem because of the rapid growth in Wi-Fi use. In new smart Wi-Fi networks, congestion is reduced by automatically distributing clients among APs more uniformly so that no one AP gets swamped. AP cell sizes are also automatically adjusted for changing radio conditions, and dynamic channel assignment senses the radio environment at intervals and reassigns channels to minimise interference. [I][T]
Control of the Internet The EU is pressing the US to compromise over the internet's future in order to prevent the net from fragmenting. The US now stands alone as the divisive battle over who runs the internet heads for a showdown at a key UN summit in November. The risk is that the internet will be fragmented by nations setting up their own internet. [I][D]
Computer security Software vulnerabilities that open computers up to malicious attacks are reaching record levels, while the methods hackers use to exploit them become more sophisticated, according to computer-security firm Symantec in its biannual Internet Security Threat Report. The report says that 1862 new vulnerabilities were announced in the first six months of 2005. This is a 31 percent increase from the second half of 2004. Denial-of-service attacks against a variety of websites have risen from an average of 119 per day to 927 per day over the 6 months. [I][D]
Quantum cryptography Quantum key distribution (QKD), in which data-carrying photons may be transmitted by a laser and detected in such a way that any interference will be noticed, is emerging as a commercial technology. Two companies, MagiQ Technologies in New York and ID Quantique in Geneva have released commercial QKD systems, and several others plan to enter the marketplace within two years. [I][D][O][T] |
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| [K] Knowledge, information and technology management | |
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Teleworking Nearly 2.4 million workers now depend on mobile phones and computers, using their homes as the base for their work. [K][I][W]
World internet Thanks particularly to social networks and local business entrepreneurship, people in less-developed areas are reaping great benefits from Internet access, without needing to become computer literate. Everywhere, public Internet facilities are springing up to fill niches. VoIP enables poor villagers to keep in touch with relatives all over the world, to get information, to handle bureaucracy, to search and apply for grants, and to seek customers. [K][D][E][H][I][T]
Laptop-based education The prototype of a ruggedised laptop computer costing under $100 is expected to be available in November. The non-profit One Laptop Per Child group plans to have up to 15 million machines in production within a year. It aims that children all over the world should be equipped with technology so that they can tap into the educational and communications benefits of the net. The Linux-based machines are expected to have a 500MHz processor, with flash memory instead of a hard drive which has more delicate moving parts. They also have a hand crank to supply extra electrical power when it is needed. In the US, some schools are now relying solely on laptops and digital material to teach pupils. [K][C][D][I][V]
e-Democracy The BBC's grassroots campaign website, Action Network, was declared the winner of the Top 10 vote at the 2005 World Forum on e-Democracy. This is the third year that the site, which has helped community campaigns since 2003, has been voted as the top politics and internet "world changer". It provides a neutral platform to help people get more involved in local civic and democratic activities. [K][D][E][H][I][X]
eAccessibility The European Commission has adopted a communication on eAccessibility, designed to encourage the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs) that are accessible to all, including people with disabilities and the elderly. The communication proposes the use of accessibility requirements in public procurement and accessibility certification. The first implies that public agencies in Europe would require all ICT products and services that they buy to be accessible. With public procurement accounting for 16 percent of total GDP in Europe, such a move would help to create a larger market for accessible ICTs. [K][I][T][V]
Reducing ambiguity Weather forecasts often contain vague wording that can create ambiguities. These can cause expensive errors to those, such as oil platform operators, whose operations are vulnerable to weather. Researchers at the University of Aberdeen have programmed a natural language generator to transform data on the forecast weather into an unambiguous written bulletin. The same approach may be useful in other situations where ambiguity needs to be avoided, such as in patient case notes in intensive care. [K][V]
Mash-up sites Open standards are making it easy to combine data from different websites to create so-called “mash-up” sites with entirely new capabilities. Typical of this is the addition of location related information to maps. [K][I][T]
Global science and innovation The heads of international scientific, engineering and medical organisations have called on the UN General Assembly to strengthen worldwide capacities in science, technology and innovation in order to meet the Millennium Development Goals. The joint statement lists a number of key actions: giving sufficient recognition to the essential role of science, technology and innovation; having an infrastructure in developing countries to apply science and technology knowledge; sustaining sources of well-trained knowledgeable people; revitalising universities in countries where they are weak; fostering local enterprises that can exploit science and technology knowledge to help the poor and promote the necessary local infrastructure; support scientific, technological and innovative capacities in developing countries; enhance the UN's institutional capability to address urgent global issues involving science and technology. [K][D][E][H][I][X]
Mobility of researchers A report from the Higher Education Policy Institute in the UK has concluded that, rather than suffering from a 'brain drain' of qualified researchers, the UK benefits from a substantial net immigration of academics. The report finds that the vast majority of movement into and out of the UK takes place among junior post-doctoral staff and should be regarded more as career development than as emigration. The movement of staff later in their careers is small, but here also the UK is a net gainer, particularly of top researchers. [K]
Scientific publication The increasing online availability of research data is changing research practices, and the growing trend of making primary data sources directly accessible is changing the business models of the scientific publishing industry. A new OECD report recommends that governments should exploit this to boost innovation and get a better return on their investment in publicly funded research by making research findings more widely available. The OECD believes that there will be a period of continuing experimentation with various models for open access publishing, with the emergence of various hybrids of open and subscription-based publication, and with learned journals losing their pre-eminence as the primary publication route. Wide exposure over the internet could provide a better form of peer review of both scientific quality and value. However, the first substantial study of the quickly evolving landscape of open-access publishing has found that about 40 percent of the surveyed journals providing full open access to their articles are not yet covering their costs and face an uncertain financial future. [K][I] |
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| [C] Computing, supercomputing, modelling and simulation | |
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European digital library The European Commission has unveiled its strategy to make Europe's written and audiovisual heritage available on the Internet. It sets out three key areas for action: digitisation, online accessibility and digital preservation. [C][I][K]
Universal archive Much digital information has become unreadable as computers, storage media and document formats have become obsolete. One way to address this problem, which is being explored by the National Library of the Netherlands, is to use the Universal Virtual Computer (UVC) that is being developed by IBM. The researchers are writing programs to run on this virtual computer that decode different document formats. Future libraries will have to write software that emulates the virtual computer on each new generation of computer systems. But once that is done, they will be able to view all their stored documents using the decoders written for the virtual computer, which only have to be written once. [C][K]
Quantum computer Max Planck researchers believe they have laid the foundations for a distributed quantum computer with the "quasipermanent" storing of an atom between two mirrors. They were able to cool single rubidium atoms in every direction of motion and keep them there on average for 17 seconds, using a sophisticated array of lasers in an optical resonator. This is by far the longest storage time ever reached in a strongly coupled resonator system. [C][O]
Biosimulation Biosimulation is a relatively new interdisciplinary technology that seeks to combine information technology, systems biology, and complex systems theory to breathe new vigour into the flagging pace of drug development. One can use the simulation model to test hypotheses and optimise drug function. One can estimate the likelihood that a given agent will function as a drug, even before the first molecule is produced. During the trial phase, the simulation model can be used as a vehicle to define an effective test protocol and to check that information obtained from tests is consistent. Biosimulation requires strong networking between many research disciplines and pharmaceutical companies, such as that being developed through the EU BioSim network. [C][G][H][K]
Simulating protein folding The biological action of proteins depends crucially on how they fold or misfold. While scientists know proteins containing 100 or fewer amino acids fold in a very cooperative (all-or-none) fashion, it is believed that larger proteins fold through the formation of partially folded intermediate structures before settling into their final state. Simulating large-scale protein folding is too complex for even the most powerful supercomputer. Scientists at Rice University have instead developed an approach that uses statistical mechanics and builds up an overall simulation of the folding based upon statistical approximations of molecular events. They have verified this for the folding of a protein MLAc containing around 360 amino acids by direct and quantitative comparison of the time-dependent simulation data with experimental measurements. [C][G][H]
Gaming science Video games and virtual reality (VR) are converging as games become more and more realistic. The market for games may diversify from purely entertainment into 'serious-games' for simulation, training, education and recruitment. Game production now needs to evolve from a handcrafted, labour-intensive effort to one with shorter, more predictable production timelines, but one that still manages to provide strong story, art, innovations and increased complexity. Game development needs better infrastructure, to reuse game components and to handle massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs), which require dynamically extensible and semantically interoperable software architectures. It needs better cognitive game design, particularly in modelling human emotion and organisational behaviour to create a highly immersive experience. Important new technologies include: advanced computer graphics and sound, haptics, mobile user interfaces, and 'affective computing' that uses sensors to measure a player's physical and emotional state as they play. [C][D][H][I][K][S][T][V] |
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| [W] Whole life engineering, manufacture and testing | |
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ICT and productivity The UK Office of National Statistics has published a collection of reports on the impact of ICT on UK productivity. These reports show that IT investment has a significant effect on productivity across manufacturing and services in the UK economy and that US multi-national enterprises in the UK are eight percent more productive than their domestic UK counterparts, and more productive than other multinationals, with more than 80 percent of this advantage in productivity explained by better use of IT. Positive productivity effects of IT are particularly strong in newer manufacturing firms. UK manufacturing companies are on average an extra 2.2 percent more productive (in terms of value added per worker) for each additional 10 percent of their employees that use computers; in newer firms, this rises to 4.4 percent. UK manufacturing companies appear to achieve an extra 2.9 percent in productivity for each 10 percent of their employees that use the internet; in newer firms, this rises to 3.4 percent. [W][I][K][T]
Product lifecycle management Product lifecycle management (PLM) software can manage the entire “life-cycle” of a product, from concept and design to production, marketing and even recycling. It is an enabler for innovation, providing the framework within which companies can handle ever increasing complexity and regulations and can take new ideas and implement them quickly in actual products, optimally reusing components from other products. For companies that rely on outsourcing or have multiple design and manufacturing centres around the world, PLM can allow people in different countries to communicate and collaborate within a single, secure environment. [W][K][C][I][T] |
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| [X] Systems, complexity and risk | |
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Immune system network Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have found that immune system cells are connected to each other by an extensive network of tiny hollow tubules that are used to shoot signals to distant cells. Each nanotubule measures between 35 and 200 nm across and a cell may have up to 75 of these extensions, each of varying lengths. Such nanotubules were first described in fruit flies in 1998 and subsequently identified in several types of animal and human cells. The Pittsburgh research now shows that they provide a third form of intercellular communication, distinct from gap junctions and synapses used by nerve cells. This communication network may be vital to the co-operative functioning of components of the immune system. [X][H][N]
Networks of taste The Internet enables people to develop a combination of very individual tastes and interests. Finding how these cluster in the population is useful for analysing market trends and products that might have wide appeal. Two statistical physicists in Belgium have analysed data from music-sharing websites, examining the music listened to by a total of 35916 people. They analysed the users and music using methods from "complex-network theory". This revealed collective trends and genres in the form of a network "map". [X][I][K]
Systems approach to healthcare Results from the US Guidelines Applied in Practice (GAP) Project indicate that a systems approach to heart attack care, implementing evidence based practice, may have reduced one-year death rates by one patient in each twenty treated. A systems approach and tools such as standardised admission and discharge documents and "contracts" between physicians and patients can boost adherence to recommended therapies, including aspirin and ACE inhibitors, as well as smoking cessation and dietary counselling. Whilst the study was only observational and not rigorous, the results do help to support the belief that a systems approach and greater use of evidence-based practice can improve the quality and cost effectiveness of healthcare, at least to a modest degree. [X][H][I][K] |
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| [V] Virtuality and human-machine interface | |
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Phone processors Arm has unveiled its latest generation of processors that will power future mobile phones. The processors built with the Cortex A8 design will have more than one billion transistors and will enable phones to play high-quality video or handle speaker-independent voice recognition. [V][I][J][K]
Mobile gaming Mobile phone handsets are becoming powerful enough to cope with 3D graphics that scroll past at a rate of at least 20 frames a second, and data transfer rates using 3G are good enough for multi-player gaming and real time racing. [V][I][K]
PlayStation Portable PSPs have proved very popular, and early sales in many countries have exceeded expectations and broken records. Roughly the size of a paperback book, the device provides graphics and game-play to rival a home games console. It can also be used to play music and watch films. Users can access the internet on the move or link several consoles together for multiplayer gaming. Inevitably, PSPs are also now becoming targets for malicious software. [V][I][K]
Cellphone scanner Software being developed in Japan will enable cameraphones to capture and digitise complete documents. With a 1-megapixel camera held at least 20 centimetres away, an A4 sized page takes about 3 to 5 seconds to scan. This produces between 21 and 35 images which the software merges together to extract the text and record any images. The technology presents major challenges for the publishing industry because of the ease with which copyright material might be copied. [V][I][K][S]
Simulator therapy A high-fidelity simulator that allows people to practice driving on a computer-generated course can help stroke patients learn to drive again, researchers have found. Patients who received simulator training were almost twice as likely to pass an official driving test at the end of a five-week training period. [V][B][C][K]
Haptic sportswear Haptic sports garments could help rowers, skaters, footballers and other competitors improve performance. The garments incorporate sensors to measure motion and they use tactile signals to prompt the wearer to optimise their technique or to use specific muscle groups. [V][H][K]
Exoskeletons Exoskeletons may now be on the verge of proving themselves in military and civilian applications. Most are designed to help physically weak or injured people gain more mobility or perform rehabilitation exercises. But exoskeletons may also enable soldiers to carry heavier loads and to march faster and longer, or help emergency and rescue workers to move heavy debris, cope with rugged terrain, and carry equipment and injured people. The technical challenges are formidable, and strength must not come at the expense of agility: while wearing an exoskeleton, soldiers would still have to be able to crawl under barbed wire, hide in trenches, and go over steep obstacles. [V][D][M][P][T][U] |
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| [B] Brain research and human science | |
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Bipedal efficiency Despite having the bones and muscles to perform a variety of gaits, human beings have developed an overwhelming preference for just two: walking and running. Now, computer analysis that allows simulation of all possible two-legged locomotions has shown human walking and running use the least amount of energy. [B][C]
Gender differences The popular media has portrayed men and women as being as psychologically different as two planets – Mars and Venus. But, according to a review of 46 meta-analyses conducted over the last 20 years, these differences are vastly overestimated, and the two sexes are more similar in personality, communication, cognitive ability and leadership than generally realised, Only motor behaviours, some aspects of sexuality and heightened physical aggression showed marked gender differences. The report concludes that many of the perceived gender differences are in fact stereotypes, but nevertheless powerfully affect decisions. [B]
Consciousness Using transcranial magnetic stimulation, US researchers have found that the fading of consciousness during deep dreamless sleep seems to be associated with the different regions of the cerebral cortex that mediate perception, thought and action, becoming disconnected functionally. The brain remains active, but breaks up into little islands so that when a part is stimulated the response is short-lived and does not propagate at all. [B][K][R][U]
Pathological liars A study at the University of Southern California (USC), using MRI, has found the first evidence of brain abnormalities in pathological liars. While more research is needed, the findings indicate that habitual lying is associated with having a substantially higher amount of white matter in the prefrontal cortex and less grey matter. White matter is composed of nerve fibres or “axons” that connect neurons to each other. The researchers conjecture that having more white matter may make people better at the complex process of lying, which involves manipulation, thinking ahead and multi-tasking. The findings could have application in lie detection and pre-employment screening. Previous research has shown that there is heightened activity in the prefrontal cortex when normal people lie. [B][D][R][S]
Psychosomatic illness Patients with panic disorder have nearly double the risk for coronary heart disease, and those also diagnosed with depression are at almost three times the risk, according to new research. [B][H]
Status and psychological health Downward mobility quadruples risk of depression in men, but not in women, according to a UK study, which looked at how men and women were affected by career progress at work. Women in the study were twice as likely to be downwardly mobile but generally avoided the depression and poor psychological wellbeing that researchers found in men in the same position. [B][H]
Gut-directed hypnotherapy Researchers at the University of Manchester have discovered a way to treat Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) using hypnotherapy. IBS is very common and it is estimated that up to 8 million people in the UK suffer from it. During the hypnotherapy, sufferers learn how to influence and gain control of their gut function, and then seem to be able to change the way the brain modulates their gut activity. The success rate from the gut-directed hypnotherapy has been around 70 percent, according to the researchers. [B][H]
Neural stem cell therapy Researchers have used adult human neural stem cells to successfully regenerate damaged spinal cord tissue and improve mobility in mice. The transplanted stem cells differentiated into new oligodendrocyte cells that restored myelin around damaged mouse axons, and also into new neurons that formed synaptic connections with mouse neurons. The findings point to the promise of using this type of cells for treating spinal cord injuries in humans. [B][G][H] |
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| [H] Healthcare and medicine | |
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Flu vaccination Determining the benefits of flu shots has been difficult, partly because flu often leads to death apparently via other causes, notably heart attack, and it is these that appear on death certificates. One recent US study failed to find any impact on death rates. However, a study in Stockholm County in Sweden, in which all people in the population over 65 were followed meticulously, has found that vaccination cut overall deaths among the elderly during the flu season by 15 to 20 per cent. [H]
Vaccine development According to a report by the American Academy of Microbiology, there are over 40 infectious diseases that pose significant human health problems, but only 12 of these have effective vaccines. The biggest problem today is HIV, but other infectious agents that are relatively rare today are poised to emerge as major problems by either natural or terrorism-related means. These include avian influenza, West Nile virus, and botulism toxin. The report reviews current infectious disease problems, the potential for new and better vaccines, vaccine safety, research issues, and barriers to most effective use of existing vaccines. Research to develop better understanding of how vaccines work to provide protection and how different types of immunity are induced is key to future progress. [H][D][G][T]
Vaccine for cervical cancer Phase III trials of a vaccine against human papillomavirus have shown that it prevented 100 percent of high-grade cervical pre-cancers and non-invasive cervical cancers associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18. This trial is part of the ongoing phase III program for the vaccine, GARDASIL, which involves over 25,000 people in 33 countries worldwide. [H]
Breast cancer vaccine A team at the University of Pennsylvania has shown that by using Listeria bacteria as a vehicle to deliver a tumour-associated antigen, they can cure mice with established breast tumours. Listeria is almost unique among bacteria in being able to survive inside an antigen presenting cell without being engulfed and killed by a phagocytic vacuole. The bacteria are able to replicate and grow, and this makes them much more effective in delivering tumour-associated antigen HER-2/Neu to immune cells. The resulting immune response in the mice completely stopped tumour growth, and no tumour regrowth was observed even out to 100 days. [H][G]
AIDS virulence A comparison of twelve HIV-1 samples from 1986-89 with 12 samples from 2002-03 has found that the viruses from the 2000s appear to be substantially weaker than those from the eighties. There is a natural trend for diseases to reach an 'equilibrium' between the agent and the host interests, in order to guarantee concomitant survival for a longer time. Other diseases, such as smallpox, TB and syphilis, have shown the same tendency to weaken over time. [H][D]
Plasma steriliser Room temperature plasmas are useful for killing bacteria, healing wounds and treating plaque, but sources that are more reliable and user-friendly are needed. US researchers have now developed a device that is hand-held and produces a plasma plume that is as much as 5 cm long. The plume remains at room temperature and can be touched safely by bare hands. [H]
Microbiocidal dressing According to NIH, nearly 2 million Americans each year contract infections while hospitalized. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria, such as methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant enterococci, cause about 70 percent of these infections. US and UK researchers have now developed a wound dressing that has a microbiocidal coating which kills both of the bacteria. It can be chemically bonded to gauze bandages, socks and even hospital bedding and gowns. [H][M]
Prostate cancer screening Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a panel of 22 biomarkers that together provide a more accurate screening for prostate cancer than the current prostate specific antigen, or PSA, test. The 22-biomarker test was reliable at identifying prostate cancer even in the intermediate PSA ranges where diagnosis is ambiguous. [H][S]
Screening for cardiovascular disease A long-term study involving more than 160,000 Austrian adults has found that the higher a person's blood level of gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), the greater the risk of fatal heart disease or stroke. People with high GGT have more than a 1.5-fold higher risk compared to people with normal low levels of GGT. For people under 60 years of age, the risk is more than two-fold higher. This result suggests that a simple blood test for GGT could be used to screen for people who have a high risk of cardiovascular disease. [H]
Risk of obesity A large, community-based study, probably the first study to assess the long-term risk of developing overweight and obesity in adults, has found that in the US most people inexorably become overweight. Four thousand participants aged 30 to 59 at the outset were followed for 30 years, from 1971 to 2001. The study found that over the 30 years, nine out of 10 men and seven out of 10 women were overweight or became overweight (BMI>25). More than one in three were obese or became obese (BMI>30). [H]
Losing weight The skeletal muscle of severely obese people is "programmed" to amass fat, according to US researchers. The gene encoding an enzyme that hinders muscle from burning fat. It manufactures three times more enzyme in the muscle of obese people than lean peoples. This causes the obese muscle tissue to both store more fat and burn less fat. The findings suggest that muscle bears a metabolic memory of obesity, which may help to explain why sustained weight loss can be difficult despite cutting calories. [H][G] |
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| [G] Genomics, biotechnology and bioinformatics | |
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DNA replication The fundamental model of DNA replication, in which each of the two strands of the DNA double helix codes for its complementary amino acid pairings, is not entirely correct, according to US researchers. They have found that when the DNA is damaged, a protein may instead serve as a template for DNA synthesis and correct the damage. This enables cells to counter some of the most destructive carcinogens, including those in tobacco smoke. [G][E][H]
Massively variable protein An international team of biochemists has discovered the mechanism by which a bacteriophage can produce 10 trillion varieties of a single protein. This is only the second type of massively variable protein ever discovered. The protein's function is to tether the bacteriophage to the bacteria they infect. To keep up with the unpredictable changes in the target protein on the bacteria, the phage must generate many different predator proteins. It does this by altering the amino acids at one or more of just 12 sites on the predator protein. If this process can be recreated in a test tube it could give researchers a new way to generate therapeutic enzymes, vaccines and other medically important proteins. [G]
Antibiotic resistance In the race to counter antibiotic resistance, it will help to be able to anticipate how bacteria will evolve new resistance rather than having to react afterwards. Researchers in Argentina and Mexico have shown that it is possible to reproduce in the lab the natural evolution of the bacterial enzymes that confer resistance and to identify the mutations that increased the enzyme efficiency. This can help drug developers stay one step ahead in countering the enzymes. [G][H]
Longevity of stem cells New studies in mice have shown that immature stem cells that proliferate to form brain tissues can function for at least a year — most of the life span of a mouse — and give rise to multiple types of neural cells, not just neurons. The discovery may bode well for the use of these neural stem cells to regenerate brain tissue lost to injury or disease. The study used a new genetic technique of marking stem cells and tracing their fate. [G][B][H]
Hair replacement Swiss researchers have discovered that certain cells inside the hair follicle are true multipotent stem cells, capable of developing into the many different cell types needed for hair growth and follicle replacement. [G][H]
Human parthenogenesis Researchers at Edinburgh University have succeeded in creating 'virgin embryos', or parthenotes, by stimulating a human egg to start dividing like an embryo without the addition of any genetic material from a male sperm cell. Parthenogenesis occurs quite naturally in plants and a number of animals, such as bees and ants and even in a few lizards. Humans, like other mammals, do not undergo this process because of a gene regulation process called imprinting that ensures genes from the mother and father must both contribute if development of the embryo is to reach full term. The parthenote embryos should help in understanding cloning, a process which disrupts imprinting, and in understanding the links between faulty imprinting and disease. It will also allow a detailed study of the cellular effects of certain serious genetic diseases. [G][H]
Ultradian rhythm gene Biologists at the University of Utah have found a gene that controls the ultradian rhythms in nematode worms. These are the rhythms with periodicities from seconds to hours that control such body functions as heart rate, breathing, swallowing and contraction of the intestines. Much less is known about ultradian rhythms than about the 24-hour circadian rhythms. It is not known whether the gene performs a similar function in mammals, but nemotodes and mammals have many of their basic genes in common. The gene is related to known "proto-oncogenes" in mammals. These are genes that are used by the body for various normal processes, but may cause cancer if they are mutated. [G]
Modelling cellular mechanism UCSD biochemists have shown that it is possible to computer model the intricate mechanisms through which biological cells respond to outside signals. Their model helps to explain a long-standing mystery: how the same proteins can play different roles in a wide range of cellular processes, including those leading to immune responses and cancer. It showed that, analogous to how a telephone transmits an infinite number of different signals along a single wire, it is the timing of the proteins’ activity that allows them to exert intricate control over the behaviour of a cell. They believe the model has important practical applications, including guiding the design of better treatments for cancer and other diseases that involve failures in cell communication. [G][C][H]
Quantum biochemistry Using powerful supercomputers, a team of physicists has found that the electron spin needs to be taken into account to properly understand how many biochemical reactions take place. In particular the operation of metal-based proteins that includes haemoglobin and chlorophyll, can be better understood with the technique. The binding of oxygen to haemoglobin, which is vital to the transport of oxygen in the blood stream, is a supposedly forbidden reaction. Understanding excited-state electronic structures at the quantum mechanical level is necessary to explain why it in fact works. [G][C][H] |
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| [N] Nanotechnology and molecular technology | |
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Chemoprotein logic Theoretical physicists at Cambridge University have shown that it should be possible to use clusters of proteins to perform complex logic operations. Individual protein molecules can perform all the elementary logic functions, including AND, OR, XOR and NOT XOR. When the proteins cluster together, the response is further enhanced. [N][G][S]
Medical nanotechnology Many studies have shown that therapeutic forms of RNA, such as siRNA or ribozymes, could be put together to kill cancer. The main obstacle has been finding the delivery method that can bring them to specific cells simultaneously. Research at Purdue has now shown that triangular nanoparticles, themselves assembled from three short pieces of RNA, appear to meet this need. The nanoparticles are the right size to gain entry into cells and also have the right structure to carry other therapeutic strands of RNA inside. With these nanoparticles, the researchers were able to deliver three different therapeutic agents into a cell simultaneously. [N][G]
Nanoscale interaction University of Arizona physicists have directly measured how close speeding atoms can come to a surface before the atoms' wavelengths change. This confirm the idea, proposed in the late 1920s, that the wave of a fast-moving atom shortens and lengthens depending on its distance from a surface. The measurement show that atoms closer than 25 nanometres to a surface experience a van der Waals attraction with a force of a million g or more. The result is important for making small nanodevices and for atom optics. Research on atom optics aims to exploit the wave behaviour of atoms in ways that will make more precise gyroscopes for navigation, gravity gradiometers for subterranean mapping and other field sensors. [N][S]
Nano-friction When surfaces touch in a humid environment, moisture forms water bridges between them. This process helps hold sand castles and wet concrete together, and is critical to the formation of clouds. However, it creates friction in nanoscale machinery. Researchers at Georgia Tech have demonstrated that the formation of these water bridges is thermally activated. It may be possible to reduce the adhesion by reducing temperatures and putting nanoscale surfaces into motion before the water bridges have time to form. The results are also relevant to the processing of powdered foods and for dip-pen nanolithography. [N][J][M]
Nanomechanical testing Mechanical testing of nanostructures whilst they are being observed in a scanning or transmission electron microscope is now possible. Researchers at Northwestern University have developed a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) device with a thermal actuator to apply a displacement to the specimen, and a load sensor based on capacitance. The researchers used the device in a SEM to test the mechanical properties of freestanding polysilicon films and palladium nanowires and in a TEM on multiwalled carbon nanotubes. [N][J][M][S]
Molecular motor Dutch researchers have created a molecular motor can be driven only by chemical energy. Half of the molecule rotates full circle with respect to the other half. The rotor turns through four structurally distinct stations, driven by a different chemical reaction each time. The reaction time for one complete rotation of the motor was roughly 128 hours. So the device is not practically useful, but provides proof of principle. [N]
Molecular walker Researchers at UC Riverside have designed a molecule that walks on a flat surface. The molecule - 9,10-dithioanthracene or “DTA” - has two linkers that act as "feet". Obtaining its energy from heat supplied to it, the molecule moves such that only one "foot" is lifted from the surface. Alternating the motions of its two “feet,” DTA is able to walk in a straight line without the assistance of nano-rails or nano-grooves for guidance. In tests, DTA took more than 10,000 steps without losing its balance once. The work shows that molecules can be designed to perform certain dynamic tasks on surfaces. It may provide a way to make a molecular computer, as proposed by IBM in the 1990s, in which every number is encoded by the position of molecules along a line similar to a molecular scale abacus. [N][C][J] |
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| [J] Microelectronics, MEMS and spintronics | |
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Biochip "animal" A US company has developed a miniature biochip device that could imitate the behaviour of human internal organs, including the liver, kidney and stomach, and might be able to replace animals in drug testing. The 'biochip' hosts separate but microfluidically interconnected compartments. The different compartments contain cultures of living cells drawn from, or representing, different organs or tissues of a living mammal. The channels permit compounds and "blood surrogate" fluid to recirculate as in a living system, and the physical geometry is designed to simulate certain physiological parameters, including drug residence time, circulatory transit time and fluid-to-tissue volume ratios, so as to mimic relevant aspects of the physiology of the living animal. [J][G][H][S]
Organic electronics Japanese physicists have made a thyristor from a single crystal of organic material. The material consists of alternate layers of a conductor and an insulator. At low temperatures, the conduction electrons in the crystals exhibit a high resistance as a result of "charge ordering". When a current is applied to the crystal, the charge order immediately "melts", causing the resistance to decrease rapidly as the current increases. The thyristor operation only occurs at low temperatures, but the researchers hope to find organic materials that will work at room temperature. [J][M][N] | |||