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Top Stories in Science
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September 2006 Issue |
| [D] Defence and security |  |
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Future of humanity A UN 'State of the Future' report claims that humanity has the resources to address current global challenges, but may not have the wisdom, goodwill and intelligence. The world is winning on GDP per capita, food availability, life expectancy, infant mortality, safe drinking water, health care, school enrolment, adult literacy, and access to the internet and knowledge. The world is losing on carbon dioxide emissions, water security, forestlands, unemployment, number of poor people, AIDS deaths, developing-country debt, and terrorist attacks. The report presents four possible future scenarios: business as usual, environmental backlash, high-tech economy, and political turmoil. [D][E][H][I][K][P][T][X]
Water security A bleak report on water resources by the International Water Management Institute says that water scarcity now affects one-third of the world's population - a situation that was not predicted to happen until 2025. On average, it takes a litre of water to produce a calorie of food. Several river basins, such as the Yellow River basin in north-east China - core to China's food production - are exhausted and cannot support any more people or activity. Long-term water shortages are now limiting food production in the US, particularly in the Great Plains. Increasing emphasis on biofuels will create more demands for water and compete against food production. The report calls for a range of radical actions and changes in policy. [D][E]
Water security A coalition of six international non-governmental organisations has created a new global anti-corruption watchdog body, the Water Integrity Network (WIN), to help tackle the problems of corruption over water and sanitation that it widespread in Africa and parts of Asia. [D][E]
Humanitarian relief Humanitarian workers face considerable risks in conflict zones such as Darfur, where 12 aid workers were killed in the period from May to August 2006. According to the latest estimates, about 200,000 people in Darfur have been killed and more than 2 million driven from their homes in the three years of fighting. [D]
Bird flu vaccine A vaccine against bird flu, developed by Sinovac in China, has shown good results in tests. The vaccine is made of whole, dead H5N1 flu virus, like the successful vaccine announced by GlaxoSmithKline in July. The results with the GSK and Sinovac vaccines mean that the total world capacity for manufacturing flu vaccine would be enough to produce around a billion doses in the first 6 months of a pandemic. However, even this would be too slow to stop a pandemic, and countries may also need to stockpile a wide-ranging pre-pandemic vaccine that can give useful protection against any form of H5N1 that might emerge. US researchers have synthesised a live but weakened flu virus, carrying surface proteins from H5N1, that may meet this need. In tests, the synthetic vaccine was simply squirted up the noses of test animals and induced wide-ranging immunity. The difference is that, whereas killed virus vaccines mainly induce antibodies, the live synthetic virus induces more lymphocyte-mediated immunity, which is weaker but much broader. [D][H]
Blocking anthrax Whilst antibiotics can slow the progression of an anthrax infection, they do not counter the advanced destructive effects of the anthrax toxin in the body. Consequently, even with antibiotic treatment, inhalation of anthrax has a fatality rate of 75 percent. Scientists in Canada and the US say they have now developed an anthrax inhibitor that blocks the toxin by binding to the receptors where anthrax toxin attaches in the body. The approach also protects against antibiotic resistant anthrax and may potentially protect against SARS, influenza and HIV. [D][H]
Fast anthrax test Current diagnostic tests for anthrax are expensive and too slow given that untreated anthrax infection can kill within 24 hours. Swiss scientists say they have now found a way to test for anthrax in minutes. The test exploits a molecule unique to anthrax, which is found on its surface. The key step has been to find a way to test very specifically for this molecule using antibodies. The similarity of anthrax's surface to those of other bacteria found in humans had been a major stumbling block in previous attempts to develop a fast anthrax test. [D][G][H][S]
Biohackers The cost of facilities needed for genomic engineering is falling to a level where amateurs can afford to set up a biotechnology laboratory in their home or garage. Websites, such as DNAhack.com and magazines such as Biotech Hobbyist serve as guides to basic biotech procedures. But, like computer hacking, biohacking carries major dangers to society as well as the opportunities to make new discoveries and create new biotech businesses. [D][E][G][H]
Disaster scenarios Marking the 5th anniversary of 9/11, the September issue of IEEE Spectrum describes eight illustrative scenarios of possible future terrorist attacks, rating each for ease of execution, scale of impact, and possible means of defence. The scenarios chosen are: atomic or dirty nuclear bomb detonated in a major port; attack on electricity and commuter infrastructure in a major city; toxic train wreck; destruction of an oil refinery; foot-and-mouth pandemic; simulated chem-bio attack disrupting retail and postal infrastructure; celebrity hostage taking; truck fertiliser bomb. [D][T][X]
Ballistic missile defence The US says it has carried out a successful test of its ballistic missile defence system. The Missile Defence Agency (MDA) said a dummy long-range missile launched from Alaska was hit by an interceptor sent up from California. [D][A] |
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| [A] Aeronautics and space | |
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Airliner anti-missile defence Fitting lasers to civil aircraft to protect them against missile attacks may not be practical, the US Department of Homeland Security has concluded after a two-year study. The report says that on top of the $1 million it would cost to fit each plane with lasers designed to blind a missile's heat sensors, operating costs would add $365 per flight. However, researchers hope that progress in technology, such as quantum cascade diode lasers, could eventually make missile defence more affordable. [A][D][O]
In-flight internet access Boeing has announced plans to discontinue its in-flight internet services because of insufficient interest by air passengers in using high bandwidth internet access while flying. Japan's two major airlines expressed regret about the decision, saying that the in-flight internet service was popular with many Asian customers. [A][I]
Aerodynamics of insect flight UK researchers have produced a mathematical model of the flight dynamics of flies, which they say, for the first time, takes into account the non-linearities of the fly’s complex wing kinematics. The fly achieves its flight and manoeuvrability through complex airflow created by its highly angled wings when they stop at the high and low points of a figure-of-eight path. At these points, each wing rotates rapidly, creating peaks of lift due to a special vortex system. The wings also continually pass back and forth through their own wake, capturing energy from previous strokes. Successfully modelling this complex aerodynamics will help in developing micro air vehicles based on insect flight. [A][C][U]
Shuttle replacement NASA has awarded a multi-billion-dollar contract to Lockheed Martin to develop the Orion vehicle, which will replace the space shuttle when it retires in 2010. NASA plans to begin using the Orion spacecraft to ferry astronauts to the ISS no later than 2014 and to transport astronauts to the Moon by 2020. The craft will be 5 metres in diameter and will have more than 2.5 times the volume of the Apollo capsule. It will be able to transport six people at a time to the ISS or four people to the Moon. It will be launched on top of a one-time-use, "single stick" rocket called Ares, which NASA is developing. [A][P]
Smart 1 As planned, the Smart 1 lunar probe ended its mission by crashing onto the Moon's surface in a controlled collision on 3 September. The 16 months mission has tested innovative and miniaturised space technologies, demonstrated the effectiveness of ion beam propulsion, and produced detailed maps of the Moon's chemical make-up, which will help refine theories about its birth. With an impact speed of about 7,200km/h, even at a glancing blow of just one degree to the surface, Smart 1 met a sufficiently violent end for telescopes to observe the event from Earth. The aim was to kick up a big plume of fresh lunar dust for scientists to study its composition spectroscopically using ground telescopes. [A][P]
Sino-Russian Mars Mission The Chinese Research Institute of Space Technology has announced that China and Russia are planning a joint mission to Mars that will bring back samples to Earth and land on one of the red planet's tiny moons. [A] |
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| [U] Unmanned vehicles and robotics | |
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Autonomous air refuelling DARPA and NASA have performed the world’s first hands-off autonomous air refuelling engagement. The demonstration was conducted with a NASA F/A-18 configured to operate as an unmanned test bed. The system used GPS-based relative navigation, coupled with an optical tracker, to provide the precise positioning required to put a refuelling probe into the centre of a 32-inch basket dangling in the air stream behind an airborne tanker. [U][A]
Battlefield robotic surgeon Life-saving operations on soldiers in combat zones could become possible thanks to the DARPA development of a portable robotic surgeon that allows doctors to perform surgery on the battlefield without endangering themselves. [U][D][H]
Biomimetic joints and actuators Spiders bend their legs not with muscles and bones but with a pressurised fluid system that extends and contracts their joints. Researchers have copied this micro-hydraulic system to build lightweight, bendable joints. They believe these may be advantageous for various microrobotic uses in space, including miniaturised robotic systems, grippers, or foldable/deployable systems. Another possible application could be for wearable, elastic textile that supports posture. [U][V]
Robot communication Computer simulated robots that teach one another new words through interaction with their surroundings have been demonstrated by researchers at Plymouth University. The robots' method of communication might help real-life robots cooperate when faced with a new challenge, and the research could also help linguists understand how human languages develop. [U][B][C][D][V] |
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| [P] Propulsion and energy | |
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Hydrogen powered flight A hydrogen-powered unmanned aircraft, believed to be the largest to fly on a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell using compressed hydrogen, has been successfully tested by researchers at Georgia Tech. Although it flew for no more than a minute, further refinements could potentially allow this type of aircraft to make a transatlantic voyage within five years, according to the researchers. [P][A][U]
Ceramic fuel cells Fuel cells and other components can be produced much more cheaply by manufacturing them in one piece using a new type of ceramic film called low temperature co-fired ceramic, according to scientists at one of the Fraunhofer institutes. [P][M]
Improved combustion Plasma assisted combustion (PAC) could enable gasoline, diesel, and turbine engines to be more fuel efficient and cleaner, according to researchers at Los Alamos, who say that the technology may soon be commercialised. PAC uses an electronic device that can be attached to an existing fuel injector and applies electrical voltage to the atomized fuel stream prior to combustion. This generates a plasma in the fuel and breaks down the long chains of hydrocarbons, allowing the fuel to be burned more completely. [P][E]
Environmentally friendly vehicles Japan has drawn up an action plan to spearhead efforts to develop the next generation of more environmentally friendly vehicles and batteries. A main objective is to help reduce Japan's reliance on oil. In Europe, the EU Commission has warned auto makers must do more to meet voluntary targets to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from new cars or face legislative action. [P][E]
Carbon sequestration The September issue of Physics World online contains a review article on progress, techniques and challenges for carbon sequestration. [P][E][T]
Oil and gas reserves A report by the Global Wind Energy Council claims that many forecasts have considerably overestimated global reserves of oil and gas. Based on an analysis of drilling logs from individual wells, the report estimates that a shortfall between demand and supply could become evident soon after 2010. It predicts there could be a 10 percent shortfall by 2020 and an 18 percent shortfall by 2030. [P][D]
Floating deep-sea wind farms Engineers at MIT have proposed a concept for siting giant wind turbines far off shore on floating platforms. Ocean assembly of the floating turbines would be prohibitively expensive because of their size: the wind tower is 90 metres tall and the rotors about 140 metres in diameter. The concept instead is to assemble them onshore. To keep each platform stable while it is towed out, cylinders inside it are ballasted with concrete and water. Once on site, the platform is hooked to previously installed tethers. Water is pumped out of the cylinders until the entire assembly lifts up in the water, pulling the tethers taut. The researchers hope to install a half-scale prototype south of Cape Cod to prove the concept. [P][E][M]
Options for nuclear power The September issue of Scientific American is devoted to the future of energy beyond carbon. One article examines the option of a threefold expansion of nuclear power. This could save one to two billion tons of carbon emissions annually. The high capital cost of new nuclear facilities would be an impediment, but the whole life cost of nuclear energy would actually be very competitive against carbon-based electricity, provided the latter included the cost of the carbon emissions - $100 per tonne of carbon at European traded prices. A bigger impediment would be nuclear waste. If nuclear power expanded globally to one terawatt, this would generate enough high-level waste and spent fuel to fill a repository the size of the Yucca Mountain facility every 3.5 years. An alternative would be to reprocess the fuel and reuse it, as France does now. This recycling would produce more energy and destroy most of the long-lived waste. However, the risks from nuclear proliferation and terrorism arguably make this option too dangerous. [P][D][E][T][X]
Artificial photosynthesis Chlorophylls, which chemically are magnesium-coordinated porphyrins with various possible side chains, are essential components of photosynthesis, enabling plants to get energy from light. A research team in Sydney, developing artificial photosynthesis, has created suitable synthetic porphyrins and has demonstrated that more than 100 of these can be assembled around a tree-like core called a dendrimer to mimic the wheel-shaped arrangement in natural photosynthetic systems. The researchers are still at an early stage of building practical solar devices, but say that the early results on energy conversion efficiency are encouraging. [P][N]
100 tesla magnet Testing of component magnets shows that scientists at the Los Alamos National High Magnetic Field Laboratory are well on the way to achieving nondestructive pulsed-magnetic fields of 100 tesla. The entire 100 tesla magnet will be a combination of seven coil sets weighing nearly 18,000 pounds and powered by jolts from a massive 1,200 megajoules motor generator, providing magnetic field pulses lasting hundreds of milliseconds for studying structurally complex systems at a quantum level. [P][M] |
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| [M] Materials, structures and surfaces | |
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Hydrogen storage material Computer simulations suggest that some polymer materials may be suitable for hydrogen storage. According to research at Seoul University, polyacetylene with titanium atoms attached to the polymer chain should be capable of holding 63 kilograms of hydrogen per cubic metre, with each titanium atom along the polymer chain can hold up to five hydrogen molecules. [M][C][P]
Nanopore supercapacitors Supercapacitors store charge by ion absorption over the surface of highly porous materials. Because of the large surface area and the small separation of around 1 nanometre between the charged ions and the surface, supercapacitors typically have a capacitance of tens of farads per gram of material. In contrast, with traditional dielectric capacitors, this is typically only microfarads. US and French scientists have made the unexpected discovery that the capacitance of supercapacitors can be increased further if the pore size of the material approaches the diameter of the ion. They believe the solvation shell round the ion became distorted as it squeezes into the pore, so that the distance between the ion centre and the surface decreases, thereby increasing the capacitance. This increase is significant for applications such as hybrid vehicles where minimising the size and weight of charge storage is important. [M][N][P]
Improved steels for vehicles New types of stainless steels could offer greater vehicle safety and lower cost, according to research at Ford and VTT in Finland. Heavy duty vehicles, such as ships, trains and buses, will benefit most from using the new steels, but they may also become common in top-of-the-range cars. [M][E]
Liquid crystal polymers Liquid crystal polymers (LCPs) in the form of ultra-thin, paper-like plastic can incorporate a variety of electronic circuits and can be moulded to any shape. According to researchers at Georgia Tech, RF circuits for communications and radar appear to be particularly promising applications for LCPs. The electrical properties of LCPs change only slightly over the frequency range from the low-end of cellular communications at 0.9 to 1.8 GHz up to the high-end short-range broadband telecom, sensor and radar bands at up to 110 GHz. LCPs also appear to perform well in extreme temperatures and intense radiation environments, and so may be suitable for making lightweight space antennas and circuitry moulded to available spacecraft areas. [M][A][I][R]
Nanowire paper Researchers at the University of Arkansas have created sheets of nanowire "paper" using long nanowires of titanium dioxide. The paper can be shaped into three-dimensional devices, folded, bent and cut, or used as a filter. Yet it is chemically inert, remains robust and can be heated up to 700 degrees Celsius. The researchers say that potential applications include armour, flame-retardant fabric, bacteria filters, and high temperature catalysts. [M][D][N]
Carbon fibre durability The combined flexibility and durability of carbon fibres suggest many uses in microelectromechanical (MEMS) devices, according to researchers at Cornell, who have shown that micron-scale carbon fibres can bend by more than 90 degrees and can be made to vibrate billions of times without observable fatigue. Potential applications include use as springs and as supports for vibrating objects, and in displays and energy harvesting devices. [M][J][N][P]
Auxetic materials Normally objects become thinner when stretched. But some materials, known as auxetic substances, get thicker when stretched and thinner when compressed. In the auxetic materials known to date, this unusual behaviour is a macroscopic property that stems from a special arrangement of the particles within the material, such as a particular weblike structure. Researchers in Israel have now predicted using quantum mechanical calculations that a class of compounds known as polyprismanes can also behave auxetically on a molecular level. Auxetic materials might be useful for body armour and some medical applications. [M][N]
Nanograin materials According to research at North Carolina State University, the tiny grains comprising many bulk materials can potentially contain nearly zero structural imperfections when the grains are smaller than a certain critical size, typically a few nanometres. Materials created with grains of the right size could be structurally flawless, and could possess exceptional strength and durability, and also outstanding optical, electrical and magnetic properties. [M][N]
Nanomechanics Unlike most bulk materials, a nanocrystal that is small enough can be perfect, free of defects, and capable of achieving strength near its ideal theoretical limit. US researchers have developed a method, using a transmission electron microscope, to observe the deformation of a nanocrystal and to measure the mechanical data at the same time. The results were surprising in showing that crystals can become full of dislocations and still endure shear stresses that are nearly equal to the calculated ideal strength of the material, yet without failing. According to the researchers, this challenges the traditional concept of how crystalline materials initially deform and the findings pose many new questions about the mechanical properties of other kinds of nanomaterials, including thin films, nanowires, and individual nanoparticles. [M][N][S]
Reversible surfactant A new reversible surfactant that allows oil and water to be mixed or separated on demand has been developed by Canadian scientists. The technology could help in extracting more oil from wells and oil sands, and could also be useful in the food and cosmetics industries, simplifying processes and products that rely on the mixing or separation of oily and watery components. The surfactant is switched by gas. Bubbling carbon dioxide through a solution switches the surfactant on, allowing oil and water to mix. Thus water with the surfactant and carbon dioxide could be pumped into oil-bearing strata to make the oil flow more freely. Bubbling air through the mixture, switches the surfactant off, allowing the oil and water to separate again. This also breaks the surfactant down so that it is not a pollution hazard. [M][P][W]
Switchable super-water-repellent surface Japanese researchers have synthesized a compound in the diarylethene family whose surface can be switched reversibly between wettable and super-water-repellent states. A microcrystalline film of the substance on a substrate is initially smooth. When the film is irradiated with UV light, the surface turns blue and becomes covered with a fine down of tiny fibres with a diameter of about 1 µm. This down has an effect similar to the micronodules on the lotus blossom, resulting in a super-water-repellent surface. If the surface is irradiated again, this time with visible light, the fibres and colour vanish, leaving a smooth, wettable surface. [M][N]
Gecko-inspired high-friction fibres Inspired by the remarkable hairs that allow geckos to hang single-toed from sheer walls and scamper along ceilings, a team of US researchers has created an array of synthetic micro-fibres that uses very high friction to support loads on smooth surfaces. High friction and low adhesion are desirable traits for products such as shoe soles, car tires and a variety of athletic equipment. Soft materials such as rubber are now used for these products, but the researchers note that a stiff polymer could possibly stand up to higher temperatures and wear better. [M][N] |
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| [E] Environment, transport and marine | |
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Climate history Analysis of air bubbles trapped in a 3.2km-long ice core from East Antarctica has confirmed that carbon dioxide levels are substantially higher now than at any time in the last 800,000 years. The core also reveals that the current rate of change of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is far beyond anything that has occurred naturally in the recent past. In the core, the fastest increase seen was of the order of 30 parts per million by volume over a period of roughly 1,000 years. This is about 50 times slower than the current rate of increase. [E][P]
Loss of Arctic sea ice The amount of Arctic sea ice is shrinking not only in the summer but in the winter as well, according to NASA researchers, who link the change directly to global warming. In 2005 and 2006, the extent of winter ice was about 6 percent smaller than the average amount over the past 26 years. The retreat is also significantly larger than the long-term decrease of 1.5 to 2 percent in winter ice cover observed per decade over the same time period. [E][P][R]
Permafrost melting Thawing Siberian bogs may be releasing five time more of the greenhouse gas methane than previously estimated, according to new measurements by Russian and US scientists. Using radiocarbon techniques, the researchers showed that some of the escaping methane molecules had been formed more than 40,000 years ago. [E]
Climate change policies California has passed tough new laws that make it the first US state to impose a cap on emission of carbon dioxide and other gases. California is the most populous of the US states and is the world's 12th largest emitter of greenhouse gases. John Holdren, president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, has warned that with the Greenland icecap melting faster than had been predicted, the world has already entered the era of dangerous climate change. In the UK there is political pressure for introducing legislation that would set targets for 3 percent annual cuts in greenhouse gases across the UK economy. The president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science has also called for more effort on how to adapt to a hotter drier world. [E][P]
Ozone recovery The holes in the ozone layer will take longer than previously expected to close, according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). However, the hole over the Antarctic does seem to have stopped widening, and a new study based on direct measurements by multiple satellite and ground-based, ozone-monitoring systems has found that concentrations of atmospheric ozone are showing signs of recovery in the most important regions of the stratosphere above the mid-latitudes in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. The improvement is partly due to the success of the Montreal Protocol in stopping emissions of ozone-depleting chemicals and is partly due to changes in atmospheric dynamics and transport that may be related to climate change. Over the Arctic, the ozone layer thinned by only 20 percent during January 2006, a smaller loss than during eight of the previous 11 winters. [E][R]
Reducing carbon emissions The World Bank has put together the world's first $bn carbon offset deal under the Kyoto Protocol. European and Asian companies and others will pay two Chinese chemical companies $1.02 billion to reduce and destroy emissions of HFC23, a highly potent greenhouse gas. The deal will reduce emissions by about 19 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually, according to the World Bank. In 2004, industrialized nations' emissions of greenhouse gases edged up to the highest level in more than a decade, according to national submissions to the UN Climate Secretariat, showing that tougher action is needed to meet the Kyoto reductions. [E][P]
Pollution in China Soaring energy use and lax and corrupt environmental controls are thwarting China's policies to clean foul water and reduce air pollution, according to the Chinese government. Acid rain from coal burning is now posing a major threat to soil and food safety. [E][P]
Phytoplankton uptake of carbon dioxide A new study has found that large segments of the Pacific Ocean lack sufficient iron to trigger healthy phytoplankton growth. The lack of iron causes the phytoplankton to produce additional green pigments. This greening misled previous surveys, which thought the greenness showing the plankton were healthy and growing fast. As a result these previous surveys overestimated by one to two billion tons the amount of carbon dioxide that the tropical Pacific Ocean photosynthesizes each year. The total ocean uptake of carbon dioxide is estimated to be 50 billion tons per year, and the reduction is therefore a significant percentage of this. [E][R] |
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| [R] Remote sensing and sensor systems | |
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Supernova observed Scientists have, for the first time, been able to observe the very onset of a supernova. The start of the supernova was detected as an x-ray burst by the Swift satellite. The burst lasted for almost 40 minutes, long enough for Swift to observe the bulk of the explosion with all three of its instruments: the burst alert telescope that detected the burst and relayed the location to ground observatories within 20 seconds, and the X-ray telescope and UV/optical telescope, which provide high-resolution imagery and spectra across a broad range of wavelengths. The supernova was also observed optically using the European Southern Observatory's 8.2-metre Very Large Telescope in Chile and the University of California's Lick Observatory Shane 3-metre telescope to obtain regularly-sampled optical spectroscopy of the shock wave. The observations confirm that supernovas are the source of both x-ray bursts and gamma ray bursts, with the latter probably coming from the most massive stars that collapse to form black holes. [R][A][F]
Gamma ray and x-ray bursts Massive stars as much as 40 times bigger than the Sun often produce brilliant gamma-ray bursts when they explode as a supernova, leaving behind black holes. Observations of a supernova discovered on 18 February 2006 suggests that when stars of about half this mass explode, they too can produce bursts, but the bursts are in the form of weaker flashes of high-energy X rays. The supernova observed in February 2006 produced an exceptionally long x-ray emission that lasted for several weeks. The researchers hypothesize this was because of the large amount of high-energy debris that was thrown out by the explosion. [R][A]
Detecting gravitons It should be possible to detect gravitons using a matter-interferometer in space, free of the Earth's gravity, according to new calculations. The experiment, which is being proposed for a future ESA mission, would involve sending beams of ultracold atoms down two identical arms of an interferometer. Fluctuations in space–time caused by the gravitons would randomly modulate the time it takes for the beams to travel down the arms and create a slight fuzziness in the fringe patterns created when the beams interfere. [R][A][F][S]
X-ray pulsar navigation Satellites in low-Earth orbit locate themselves in space by using signals from higher-orbiting GPS satellites, and a prolonged disruption of GPS signals could cause them to drift out of their proper orbit. To avoid this potential vulnerability, DARPA has investigated and is currently testing the concept of using x-ray pulsars for satellite navigation. X-ray pulsars are rapidly spinning stars that emit regular pulses of X-ray light as they spin. Each pulsar has a unique frequency and location in the sky. X-ray navigation also has the advantage that it can be used by interplanetary space probes. [R][A][D]
Signal analysis Two mathematicians at the University of Missouri-Columbia say that they have found a mathematical solution to the famous "cocktail party problem" - how to separate one sound, such as a voice, from a group of other recorded sounds. Their solution shows that it is possible to separate voices and still retain vocal characteristics. Researchers had previously found a solution for separating and reconstructing voices, but they were only able to reconstruct the words spoken, not the characteristics of the voice itself. [R][C]
Photoactivated localisation microscopy Researchers in the US have developed an optical imaging technique that can pinpoint proteins in cells with nanometre resolution. The method, dubbed photoactivated localisation microscopy (PALM), attaches fluorescent protein molecules to the proteins of interest, and then photoactivates and images just a few of the fluorescent molecules at a time. PALM can be used in conjunction with electron microscopy, and if a PALM image showing protein distribution is correlated with an electron microscope image showing the cell structure, it becomes possible to understand how molecules are individually distributed in a cell. [R][G][N][S]
Laser-enhanced NMR/MRI Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is one of the principal techniques used to obtain physical, chemical, electronic and structural information about a molecule. It can provide the exact three-dimensional structure of biological molecules, and reveal dynamic effects and reaction mechanisms. Researchers at Princeton have now invented a new form of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) that could significantly improve the resolution and sensitivity of the technique. The method involves shining a laser on a sample and measuring how it rotates the plane of polarization of the beam (so-called nuclear spin optical rotation). The new technique could lead to real-time two-dimensional NMR imaging of samples, with a resolution limited only by light diffraction. [R][G][H][M][N][O][S]
Laser-enhanced NMR/MRI Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley have successfully tested a laser-based MRI technique that could avoid the need for high magnetic fields and bulky and expensive superconducting magnets. This could make MRI technology compact and portable, and also relatively cheap and quiet. The technique uses a very much more sensitive method of detecting nuclear magnetic resonance, which is based on optical atomic magnetometry. The detection is almost as sensitive as using a SQUID, but operates at room temperature, suitable for cheap portable instruments. The researchers believe that, instead of the multimillion dollar costs of a conventional MRI system, an MRI system using the new technology might cost only a few thousand dollars. [R][C][H][M][N][O][S] |
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| [S] Sensor devices | |
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Dual optical-infrared security sensor Siemens has developed a motion detector that uses both infrared and optical imaging. This makes it possible to prevent animals from triggering the alarm, because their size does not correspond to that of human beings. The detector can be set to trigger an alarm if it senses people walking in a particular direction, and by marking certain areas on a live image of a monitored room, for example, the user can allow people to enter these zones without triggering the alarm. [S][D][R]
Ferroelectret sensors Large-area sensor skins and microphones might be possible using flexible transistors made from cheap ferroelectret packing foam, according to Austrian and US scientists. They believe this new form of soft electronics could be useful for producing flexible paper-thin keyboards and flexible microphones for mobile phones, active noise control devices, toys, hearing aids, and surround-sound systems. [S][A][E][I][J][M][V]
Flu diagnosis gene-chip Scientists in the US have developed a test based on a gene chip that may allow more labs to diagnose influenza infections. In early trials, the FluChip successfully distinguished among 72 influenza strains, including the H5N1 avian influenza strain, in less than 12 hours. Only a few laboratories in the world currently have the high-level biosafety facilities needed to perform specialized tests that reveal critical details about the virus's geographic origin and other features. The FluChip technology could be used in lower level biosafety facilities and could thereby expand influenza diagnostic capacity, allowing more labs to determine the geographic origin of a newly emergent virus and whether its source is human. With the gene chip, it is also possible to determine how closely related a new virus is to ones that circulated previously, and to detect genetic changes that may warn that a virus is becoming more virulent. [S][D][G][H][J]
Carbon nanotube sensors Carbon nanotube resonators that vibrate at GHz frequency at room temperature and atmospheric pressure have been developed at UC Berkeley. The device has attogram sensitivity and could be sensitive enough to detect and identify individual molecules. The next goal is to develop coatings for the carbon nanotubes that will selectively bind target molecules, such as explosives. The combination of high frequency and high sensitivity could also enable such devices to detect quantum effects. [S][N]
Apoptosis nanoprobe A quantum dot nanodevice that can detect and image apoptosis has been developed at the University of Twente. It works by attaching to a naturally occurring protein Annexin V that binds to a molecule called phosphatidylserine - a component of cell membranes that becomes exposed to the extracellular environment early in apoptosis. The probe will help in research on how drugs produce apoptosis, particularly to improve chemotherapy. [S][N][O]
Stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy A new type of microscopy invented by researchers at Harvard University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute delivers spatial resolution more than 10 times better than that of conventional optical microscopes, resolving objects as small as 20 nm. This puts scientists tantalizingly close to achieving the first crisp, ultra-resolution, real-time imaging of living biomolecules and cells. [S][G][M][N][O]
Optofluidic microscope Researchers at Caltech have invented an optofluidic microscope that uses no lens elements. The device combines chip technology with microfluidics. Its resolution and magnifying power are similar to a conventional top-quality optical microscope, but the optofluidic microscope chip is only the size of a coin, and the entire device including its imaging screen is expected to be the size of an iPod. The researchers hope the microscope will revolutionise the diagnosis of certain diseases such as malaria. A doctor would be able to draw a drop of blood from the patient and analyze it immediately. This process would be much simpler and faster than the current method, and the equipment would be far cheaper and more readily available to physicians in third-world countries. [S][H][J][O] |
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| [O] Optoelectronics, optics and lasers | |
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Magnetic photonic crystal. Photonic crystals are nanostructured materials in which periodic variations of some property produces a "photonic band gap". Photons with energies in the photonic band gap cannot travel through the crystal. This gap can be exploited to control and manipulate light in many ways. Until now, all photonic crystals operating with visible light have worked by modifying a material's electric permittivity. Now, using a metamaterial, physicists in Karlsruhe have made a new type of photonic crystal in which the periodicity is instead in the magnetic permeability. The ability to use both electrical permittivity and magnetic permeability will give more design freedom and could lead to new effects such as three-dimensional photonic bands. [O][M][N]
Plasmonic laser antenna Engineers and applied scientists from Harvard University have demonstrated a new photonic device with a wide range of potential commercial applications, including dramatically higher capacity for optical data storage. Termed a plasmonic laser antenna, the design consists of a metallic nanostructure, known as an optical antenna, integrated onto the facet of a commercial semiconductor laser. Like a rooftop antenna that grabs metre-wavelength radio waves and turns them into signals far smaller in physical extent, so the optical antenna converts visible light into an illuminating beam of much higher resolving power. The Harvard device produced spot sizes as small as 40 nm using 800-nm light. [O][J][N][S]
Optical data storage TDK has developed recordable blue laser technology with a capacity of 200GB on a one-sided disc. This capacity is sufficient to store about 18 hours of high definition video encoded at 24 Mbps. [O][I]
How light pushes atoms When a photon hits an atom the amount of momentum it delivers depends on the width of the photon beam. Counterintuitively, a photon in a narrow beam of light delivers less momentum to the atom than does a photon in a wide beam of light. This effect arises because the atom is not a point, but has a wavefunction, which in the case of an ultra cold atom can extend over a centimetre or more. Different parts of the atom's wave function interact with different parts of the laser beam. The effect needs to be taken into account in order to improve the accuracy of atomic clocks. [O][I][R]
Atom optics Ultra-cold atoms cooled to temperatures close to absolute zero can be manipulated much like light waves. There are many interesting and novel atom optics applications, such as quantum information processing, that could potentially be implemented using atom optics chips. These require the ability to precisely determine the numbers of atoms and their statistics, and, in some cases, the ability to prepare and detect single atoms. In a step towards this, scientists at MIT have developed a method for counting individual atoms using an optical cavity. The atoms are counted by detecting the photons that scatter off the atoms, either into the cavity or out of it. [O][I] |
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| [I] IT, communications, networking and secure systems | |
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NASA communications The ageing communications satellites that help NASA keep in touch with the International Space Station and the Hubble Space Telescope could very soon have trouble keeping up with growing communications demands, according to a report for NASA from the US National Academy of Sciences. The report recommends that NASA needs to start planning to replace the satellites or look into commercial satellite services to avoid a communications bottleneck. [I][A][R]
Forensics by mobile A system for digitally compressing fingerprints so that they can be transmitted over a mobile phone is being used successfully by police forces across the UK, according to researchers at Sheffield University. The 15-to-one compression allows the prints to be transmitted in under a minute directly from the scene of a crime, whilst retaining sufficient detail to make a match possible. The research team is also developing a system to electronically cross-match shoeprints left at crime scenes. [I][D][K][R]
Quantum cryptographic data network By integrating quantum noise protected data encryption with quantum key distribution, researchers in the US have developed a complete data communication system that they say has extraordinary resilience to eavesdropping. The method makes use of the inherent and irreducible quantum noise in laser light to enhance the security of the system. [I][O]
Negative databases Negative database techniques might provide a way to collect and combine information whilst protecting privacy and without needing encryption. [I][C][K] |
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| [K] Knowledge, information and technology management | |
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Wiki-style textbooks Although publishers cut the price of textbooks for sale in poorer nations, the books are still unaffordable. A new proposal is to provide students in developing countries with free textbooks written using "wiki" technology that lets anyone add to or edit an online document. In order to ensure these wiki-like texts are accessible and credible, only academics will be able to make and approve changes. But the aim is to keep the spontaneity of wikis. [K][I]
Web 2.0 Web 2.0 is the name given to the Internet-based services that enable people to collaborate and share information online in new ways. These services include social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies, and also related technical advances such as the semantic web and the mobile internet. The possible future of the web for business, for trading and online shopping, and for virtual economies including games and gambling, is discussed in a collection of articles published by 3i i-Sight. This includes an interview with Tim Berners-Lee on the technical future of the web (which contains links at the top of the page to other articles). [K][I][T][W][X]
Web search engines IEEE Computer magazine has published a two part review of progress in web search engines. Part 1 describes search engine infrastructure and algorithms for crawling the Web. Part 2 reviews the algorithms and data structures required to index 400 terabytes of Web page text and deliver high-quality results in response to hundreds of millions of queries each day. [K][I][C][T]
Networked research The Access Grid Toolkit uses audio, video, data and text to enable distributed researchers to work together as if they were at the same location. Developed at Argonne National Laboratory, the toolkit is free and is now in its third release. It has an ensemble of resources including multimedia large-format displays, presentation and interactive environments, and interfaces to Grid middleware and to visualization environments. These resources support group-to-group interactions across the Grid. According to Argonne, there have been more than 20,000 downloads so far across 56 countries, and the toolkit is being used in a wide range of applications: from college courses where the students and instructor are in different locations, to engaging worldwide interaction between scientists and experimental facilities working on fusion power, to providing doctors and specialists with the ability to examine patient scans simultaneously at multiple sites, enriching diagnostics and biomedical applications. [K][I][C][V][X]
Clustering, innovation and business networks Some theories of competitive advantage have suggested that clusters of companies can be more internationally competitive and innovative. A survey of EU companies employing more than 20 people has found that, on average, about a quarter of these companies work in a cluster-like environment. Clustering is particularly strong in the UK, where over 80 percent of the companies met the criteria of being cluster members. Involvement in business networks was strongest in Nordic countries, where a majority of cluster companies participate actively in at least two business networks. Measures of innovation reveal active cluster companies to be slightly more innovative than their counterparts outside the clusters, but the difference was not dramatic. [K][W]
Innovative IT strategy Information technology is both a service function and a source of competitive advantage. As the former, it needs to be managed aggressively to improve service levels and reduce cost, often by exploiting global scale and offshoring. But, according to McKinsey, companies are too often neglecting IT as a source of competitive advantage that can fundamentally change rules in their industry. Companies therefore need to manage IT for scale and speed, and for innovation, using differentiated IT strategy and governance, according to a McKinsey study that assessed the IT strategies of ten leading global companies. Strategies for innovation can be implemented in parallel with strategies for improving current capabilities but call for IT leaders who can work creatively with their business counterparts. [K][I][T][W]
Measuring intellectual capital The European Commission has published a report on measuring and reporting intellectual capital. It is aimed particularly at research organisations and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). At present, few firms systematically take stock of their intellectual capital and of the added value of their research. This under-recognition of intellectual capital can lead financial markets to favour traditional rather than research-intensive businesses. It can also distort the allocation of resources within companies. The report examines relevant categories of intellectual capital. It provides an overview of recent initiatives and comparative analyses based on a number of case studies. [K][W]
Gender gap in science and engineering A study by the European Commission has found that women account for more than 50 percent of the EU science and technology labour force, compared to just 44 percent of the total labour force. However, relatively few women work in research, and only 29 percent of science and engineering posts were held by women in 2004. Germany, France and UK were below the EU average with women holding only 21.8 percent, 21.6 percent and 20.1 percent of the total science and engineering jobs respectively. In the UK, a survey of over 7000 scientists found evidence of discrimination against women scientists in academia, particularly for professorial posts, but found that women enjoy greater equality in industry or research institutes independent of universities. [K] |
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| [C] Computing, supercomputing, modelling and simulation | |
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Distributed supercomputing Sony has teamed up with US biologists to make it possible for owners of Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3) to make the spare power of their machines available for research on how the shapes of proteins affect diseases such as Alzheimer's. The US biologists already run the distributed computing project called folding@home. They estimate that the ten thousand PS3 processors should be able to do a thousand trillion calculations per second. If this were achieved it would be nearly four times as fast as the world's most powerful supercomputer, BlueGene/L. [C][I][G][H]
Simulating nuclear weapon ageing A petaflop supercomputer, codenamed Roadrunner, is being built at Los Alamos to simulate how nuclear weapon materials age. This will enable the US to ensure its nuclear stockpile remains safe and reliable without requiring the resumption of underground nuclear testing. The supercomputer is a "hybrid" design, using both conventional supercomputer processors and the new "cell" chip designed for Sony's PlayStation 3. It could be four times more powerful than the current fastest machine in the world, BlueGene/L. [C][D][M][W]
Data stream processing As the volumes of data that stream in from computers, sensors, and other devices grow ever larger, they are overwhelming conventional data processing. A new infrastructure is needed to process these huge data streams in real-time. Much of this data is time-critical and requires processing in milliseconds. According to a review article in September IEEE Spectrum, a new class of system software, called stream processing engines (SPE), is needed to meet this demand. The article predicts that SPEs will become a major market over the next decade. SPEs require the right primitives for real-time analytics, as well as a single process architecture and, unlike conventional data processing, they have no requirement to actually store data persistently. [C][A][D][I][K][P][R][T][W] |
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| [W] Whole life engineering, manufacture and testing | |
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Business software Google is making a concerted move beyond search and advertising into the business software market. It has launched "Google Apps for Your Domain", a free set of web-based programs for small businesses, universities and nonprofit businesses. Google hosts the applications, thereby relieving companies of the need to maintain or install software on individual PCs. The Writely word processor and Google Spreadsheet are candidates for future inclusion. The move brings Google into open competition with Microsoft in business software. But, Google argues that Google Apps is not intended to replace Microsoft Office: users can run Microsoft programs alongside Google Apps. [W][K]
Ultrasonic testing Researchers at UCSD have developed a new technique for finding defects in steel railroad tracks. They say it can find dangerous internal cracks that are missed by current rail-scanning technology. They use laser beam pulses to gently “tap” on the rail, generating ultrasonic waves that travel along and within the interior of the rail. Downward facing microphones are positioned a few inches above the rail and 12 inches from the downward pointed laser beam. These detect any telltale reductions in the strength of the ultrasonic signals, pinpointing surface cuts, dangerous internal cracks, and other defects. [W][M][R] |
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| [X] Systems, complexity and risk | |
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Making infrastructure more resilient Modern societies depend critically on highly complex systems for power, communications, transportation, and public health. This infrastructure is so vast and complex that it is impossible to protect every part of it or to anticipate the ultimate effects of any particular disruption. But, using network science, one can analyse the hidden weaknesses and strengths of critical networks, and understand better how to protect them against terrorist attack and natural accidents. Depending on the type of network - random, small-world, or scale-free - this protection can include hardening critical hubs, randomising and decentralising the network, adding links to dampen perturbations, and using network warfare to counter threats, where this is legal. [X][C][D][E][I][P][R][T]
Modelling terrorist organisations Intelligence analysts now have to deal with vastly more data than in the past. Among the tools being developed to help tackle this problem are various agent-based computer simulations of terrorists and their networks. Elaborate video games can give analysts and military personnel a better understanding of how combatants from another culture will act and react. Social network models can help discover who is linked with whom, map relationship and resource networks, and identify important players from automatic analysis of information in communications and reports. Individual actor models can describe people and predict how they may behave by exploiting highly complex representations of physical and mental attributes, including emotion, culture and motivations. [X][B][C][D][K][T][V]
Feedback in biological systems Feedback loops are essential and abundant in biology, but few are well understood. One very important question is how primordial germ cells (PGCs) are controlled, some turning into germline stem cells that have regenerative power and others differentiating into eggs in ovaries. Using fruit flies, researchers at New York University have now unravelled the signals in a feedback loop that governs the development of ovaries. The research has revealed how the PGCs interact in a feedback loop with neighbouring somatic cells. The PGCs send a signal to the somatic cells to keep them alive and the somatic cells send a signal back to the germ cells that keeps their number in check. This feedback loop ensures there are the right number of PGCs in the ovary at the end of larval development. [X][G][H]
Tumours as a cooperating system Applying game theory to cancer cells shows how tumour growth may involve different subtypes of cells cooperating to support each other's growth. Tumour cells spread by diffusing growth factors into the neighbouring tissue. But often cells will lack the “full deck” of mutations necessary to produce all the growth factors, to overcome host defences and to become independently malignant. Cells can aid each other by complementing the missing growth signals. For example, a cell that promotes blood vessel growth to the tumour will also benefit other pre-cancerous cells. This model could also explain some of the differences seen within cells from the same tumour, and how tumours can acquire resistance to treatments. [X][G][H] |
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| [V] Virtuality and human-machine interface | |
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Online society After examining the form and function of massively multiplayer online video games, an interdisciplinary team of researchers concludes that, whilst heavy game play might not be healthy in the short term for people who need strong connections, some games promote sociability and new worldviews. Behind this is the important question of how online living is changing society and whether 'retribalisation' through online social networking is undermining civic and social engagement in the real world. [V][B][I][K][X]
True full colour display Existing displays are based on mixing red, green and blue primary colours, and cannot produce the full range of possible colours. It is not possible for example to accurately render the blue of the sky, or many shades of green. Swiss researchers have now developed a device that can produce all possible colours. It uses rubbery electrostrictive material, normally used to build artificial muscles for robots, in order to control an array of tiny diffraction gratings. Each pixel consists of pieces of polymer covered with ridges tipped with gold. When white light is shone at the polymer from one side it reflects out of the screen and is also split into different wavelengths by this "diffraction grating". A slit above each piece of polymer ensures that only the right wavelengths escape, giving the pixel its colour. Getting a full range of colours requires a source of "true" white light, such as is now available from white light LEDs. [V][M][O][U]
Light-emitting fabrics Philips Research says its Lumalive garments are now ready for commercialisation. Lumalive fabrics have flexible arrays of coloured light-emitting diodes (LEDs) fully integrated into the fabric, without compromising the softness or flexibility of the cloth. These light emitting textiles make it possible to create clothing and household fabrics that can carry dynamic messages, graphics or multicoloured surfaces, and that can change their appearance to enhance a mood or situation. [V][J][M][O]
Seeing phase information Using bacteriorhodopsin, scientists at the University of Toronto have discovered that the efficiency of the rhodopsin photochemical reaction that underlies vision can be increased or decreased by varying the timing of colours in the laser pulse used to begin the reaction. This suggests that the vision process may be sensitive to phase information in the light. [V][O]
Artificial synapses Opening a whole new interface between nanotechnology and neuroscience, scientists at Harvard University have used slender silicon nanowires to detect, stimulate, and inhibit nerve signals along the axons and dendrites of live mammalian neurons. Previous technologies for connecting electrically to neurons have been relatively crude: micropipette electrodes poked into cells are invasive and harmful, and microfabricated electrode arrays have been too bulky to detect activity at the level of individual axons and dendrites, the neuronal projections responsible for electrical signal propagation and inter-neuron communication. The nanowire transistors in contrast gently touch a neuronal projection to form a hybrid synapse, making them noninvasive. The researchers demonstrated connections of up to 50 devices along a single axon with a pitch as small as 150 nm between connections. [V][B][J][N] |
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| [B] Brain research and human science | |
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Sense of balance Research involving "remotely-controlled people" shows that the brain uses precise information about head movement and orientation to control walking direction and balance. The work could lead to new treatments for motion sickness and balance disorders. It also supports fossil evidence that the ability to sense movement accurately – rather than simply responding to gravity – was an important stage in enabling humans to walk on just two feet. [B][V]
Neuronal control According to research at UC Davis, individual neurons in the brain can regulate their activity incrementally with extraordinary delicacy of control through millions of different functional states in order to adjust to what is happening in the brain and the external environment. [B][G]
Origin of the mind New research suggests that apes possess skills until recently thought to be unique to humans. Research at Max Planck shows that apes have a surprising understanding of tools and appear capable of sophisticated planning in using tools. The researchers conclude from this that planning skills must trace back at least 14 million years to common ancestors of apes and humans. US researchers have found that apes obey cultural norms and pass these from generation to generation. Young apes also appear to play make-believe much as children do. [B][K]
Erasing long term memory US scientists say that they have discovered a molecular mechanism that maintains memories in the brain, and that by inhibiting the molecule they can erase long-term memories. Erasing the memory does not prevent the ability to re-learn the memory. This finding may have applications in treating chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder, and memory loss. [B][H]
Alzheimer's disease and diet Japan has a low incidence of Alzheimer’s disease, but Japanese people living in the US have an incidence approaching that of other Americans. This suggests that environmental factors like diet and lifestyle are important. In a large epidemiological study over 10 years, researchers have now found that people who have drunk three or more servings of fruit and vegetable juices per week have on average a 76 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease than those who have drunk juice less than once per week. A possible protective ingredient may be polyphenols. These are non-vitamin antioxidants particularly abundant in teas, juices and wines. Most polyphenols exist primarily in the skins and peels of fruits and vegetables. Recent studies using animal models have shown that polyphenols (like resveratrol in wine) extend maximum lifespan by 59 percent and delay age-dependent decay of cognitive performance. [B][H]
Alzheimer's disease It may be possible for drugs to a least partially restore the memory of Alzheimer's patients. In experiments on transgenic mice that had Alzheimer's disease, researchers have shown that increasing the activity of an enzyme called Uch-L1 restores the ability of the mice to form and retain new memories. The enzyme helps neurons rid themselves of excess or aberrant proteins and is required for normal brain function. [B][H]
Brain regeneration Researchers at the University of Florida have found that common human brain cells are adaptable and self-renewing, showing qualities normally associated with stem cells. They transplanted adult human brain cells into mice and found that the cells could successfully generate new neurons and incorporate themselves in a variety of brain regions. They also coaxed a single adult brain cell to divide into millions of new cells in culture, showing that in principle a single brain cell can be used to generate enough brain cells to replace every cell of the donor’s brain. The findings hold considerable promise for treating neurodegenerative disorders and also for testing drugs. [B][G][H] |
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| [H] Healthcare and medicine | |
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Pain relief The Greek scholar Hippocrates treated sprains, joint pains and inflammation by cooling the skin. Traditional Chinese remedies used mint oil to the same end. Now research at Edinburgh University has revealed that cooling and 'mint oil' compounds (and related more powerful chemicals) work by activating a receptor, called TRPM8, that is found in a small percentage of nerve cells in human skin. When this receptor is activated, it inhibits pain messages being sent to the brain from its locality. Treatments based on more powerful versions of mint oil could offer pain relief to patients with arthritis and nerve damage, without producing side effects. [H][B]
Pain relief Cox-2 inhibitors, such as Vioxx and Celebrex, provide pain relief for sufferers of arthritis and other inflammatory diseases, but they produce changes in blood chemistry that have been linked to heart attacks and resulted in Vioxx being withdrawn from use. Researchers at UC Davis, originally looking for biological pest controls, have discovered a new type of enzyme inhibitor, which does not involve Cox-2 and which appears in test on rodents to be as potent at a low-dose as Vioxx and Celebrex in providing pain relief. The hope is that this may lead to drugs that can provide strong pain relief for sufferers of arthritis and other inflammatory diseases, but without the serious side effects. [H][B]
UK obesity epidemic Based on present trends, more than 12 million adults in England (33 percent of men and 28 percent of women) and one million children will be obese by 2010, according to a UK government report. [H]
Hope for treating diabetes Type-2 diabetes is a potentially fatal condition, predominantly caused by obesity, where the body inhibits the action of insulin. This leads eventually to dangerously high levels of glucose in the blood. What happens is that obesity overloads the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), the specialised organelles inside cells that process fats and proteins. To reduce the overload, the ERs use chemical chaperones to divert amino acids elsewhere. But if this defence is not sufficient, the ERs then shut off protein production by initiating a process that inhibits insulin pathways. According to new research at Harvard on mice, this inhibition can be reversed by supplying the ERs with extra chemical chaperones, in the form of small molecular drugs called PBA and TUDCA. Mice with severe obesity and insulin resistance were given one of the two drugs for three weeks. In both sets of mice, blood glucose levels returned to normal within four to seven days. [H]
Activating apoptosis in cancer cells Most living cells contain a protein called procaspase-3. When activated, this changes into the executioner enzyme caspase-3 that initiates programmed cell death or apoptosis. However, in cancer cells the signalling pathway to procaspase-3 is broken. As a result, they escape apoptosis even if they contain high levels of procaspase-3. Now, an international team has created a small synthetic compound that can directly activate procaspase-3 and induce the cancer cells to self-destruct. Tests on tumours in mice and in vitro encourage hope that this may provide an effective treatment for patients whose tumours that have high levels of procaspase-3. The researchers believe they can develop a range of such procaspase activating compounds. [H][G]
How HIV erodes the immune system Two research teams have discovered how HIV disarms and progressively weakens the immune system. They found that as HIV accumulates in the blood, the CD8 immune cells begin to over-produce a receptor molecule called Programmed Death-1 (PD-1). PD1 is believed to be part of the body’s built-in protection against autoimmune diseases, and it appears that HIV hijacks this mechanism. As PD-1 built up on the surface of the CD8 cells, they became weaker and produced fewer virus-killing chemicals, such as cytokines. Using CD8 cells in culture, the researchers showed that blocking the PD-1 receptor molecules using antibodies restored the function of the CD8 cells. [H] |
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| [G] Genomics, biotechnology and bioinformatics | |
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Ageing stem cells The natural consequences of growing old include slower wound-healing and a brain that makes fewer new neurons because old tissues have less regenerative capacity. What has not been clear is why this happens. A trio of papers published in Nature now shows that old stem cells do not simply wear out, but actively shut themselves down, and that this is probably a defence against becoming cancerous from genetic defects that accumulate with age. The researchers found that as cells become older they show increasing expression of the gene p16INK4a, a gene that stops cancer cells from dividing. Mice genetically engineered to lack p16INK4a showed enhanced stem cell function into old age, but the mice did not live longer because they developed more cancers than did normal mice. [G][H]
Stem cell differentiation Previous studies have demonstrated that biochemical signalling strongly influences stem cell development. Now, researchers have found that in the absence of any chemical signalling, adult bone marrow stems cells will begin to differentiate into unique cell types based solely on the mechanical properties of the surrounding tissue. The researchers discovered this by putting isolated adult stem cells into a series of three different polymer gels, each of a different stiffness. The softest corresponded roughly to the consistency of neuronal tissue; the middle to muscle tissue; and the hardest was similar to bone. The findings explain why it does not always work to simply inject stem cells into injured tissue or scar tissue because this may not have the right stiffness for the tissue that the stem cells need to become. [G][H]
Ultrasound gene therapy Researchers have shown how ultrasound energy can briefly "open a door" in the protective outer membranes of living cells to allow entry of drugs and other therapeutic molecules. Understanding this mechanism could advance the use of ultrasound for delivering gene therapies, targeting chemotherapy and administering large-molecule drugs that cannot readily move through cell membranes. The holes are made by shock waves produced by collapsing bubbles. The resulting fluid movement opens the holes in the cell membranes. The cells respond by mobilizing intracellular vesicles to patch the holes within minutes. [G][H][R]
Cancer immunotherapy A team of researchers has genetically engineered normal immune cells to become specialised tumour fighters. This is the first time that gene manipulations have been shown to cause tumour regression in humans. In experimental trials on 17 patients with advanced melanoma and life expectancies of 3 to 6 months, two patients were declared clinically free of the disease a year and a half after the therapy began. The researchers have demonstrated ways to engineer similar immune cells in the laboratory that would attack more common tumours such as breast, lung and liver cancers. However, because the therapy is individual to each patient, it is very expensive and the process needs to be simplified and automated before it could be applied widely. Also, only certain cancer patients possess the type of T-cell that the therapy uses. [G][H]
Genetic HIV vaccine Clinical trials in Sweden of a vaccine against HIV have achieved surprisingly good results: over 90 per cent of the trial subjects developed an immune response to HIV, and the vaccines have been tolerated well. The trial subjects were vaccinated on three occasions with a genetic vaccine, which uses parts of the virus DNA to stimulate the rapid endogenous production of the proteins for which the injected DNA codes. The subjects were then given a fourth dose of a vaccine in which parts of the HIV virus DNA had been integrated into vaccinia virus. A phase 2 trial of the vaccine is planned in Tanzania. [G][H]
Genetic factor in hearing loss A particular gene, KCNQ4, is known to be linked to hereditary hearing loss early in life. A study by Belgian researchers involving 1200 people aged between 40 and 80 has shown that the KCNQ4 gene also appears to be involved in age related hearing loss in the elderly. They found that three single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the gene were seen in people with hearing loss but not in those with normal hearing. KCNQ4 is expressed in the hair cells of the cochlea where it helps recycle potassium, brought in to trigger a nerve signal to be sent to the brain, back into inner ear fluid. [G][H][V]
RNA-based drugs US scientists have developed an experimental RNA-based drug that kills prostate cancer cells without harming normal cells. The drug, developed at Duke University Medical Center, uses a type of genetic material, called targeting RNA, to enter cancer cells, and then another type, called silencing RNA, to stop the expression of a protein that keeps the cells alive. The result provides a 'proof of principle' that an entirely RNA-based drug can work with minimal side effects. [G][H]
DNA that differentiates humans A computer-based comparison of the genome of humans and chimpanzees has identified 49 regions that have changed substantially in humans since the ancestors of humans and chimpanzees diverged 5 million years ago. The researchers have called these regions "human accelerated regions" (HARs). Surprisingly, only two of these regions code for proteins. Instead, the majority tend to be located near genes that are involved in regulating gene function. Twelve of the regions are adjacent to genes involved in the development of the brain. One region in particular, designated HAR1, has undergone extremely rapid evolution and appears to be directly involved during a critical stage in the development of the cerebral cortex in the embryo. HAR1 may help to explain the dramatic expansion of this part of the brain during human evolution. [G][B]
Effect of genes A study in Sardinia to measure the genes and traits of a single population of closely related people has found absolutely no statistical link between hard-driving Type A personality and heart disease, contrary to previous studies. Sardinia was chosen as an ideal laboratory for genetic studies because of its isolation and relative stability. The study, which has run for 10 years so far, recruited 6,148 people aged 14 to 102 in four clustered villages, which represented 62 percent of the population of the Lanusei Valley. Among the other findings, height appears to be 80 percent genetic, cholesterol about 40 percent, and behaviour traits 10 to 20 percent. Usually genes have relatively more influence when a person is younger, but some traits, especially high or low blood pressure, are more strongly influenced by genes as a person ages, presumably because they have a cumulative effect. The next step in the study is to find the specific molecular differences that account for the variations. [G][H][X] |
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| [N] Nanotechnology and molecular technology | |
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Nanomedicine Researchers in the US have used nanoparticles to deliver a drug to artery-blocking plaques that can form in the bloodstream. The technique should enable the use of lower quantities of the plaque-busting drug fumagillin, which can have unpleasant side effects. [N][H]
Bacterial shock-absorbers Bacteria have hair-like protrusions, known as fimbriae, with a sticky protein on the tip that lets them cling to surfaces. Researchers have found how the fimbriae are constructed and operate, and that the fimbrial uncoiling and recoiling events balance each other at an intermediate force level that corresponds to the force at which the sticky protein tip forms the most stable bond with the surface. This clever device created by nature might be adapted biomimetically for technological uses, according to the researchers. The research also improves understanding of how to fight bacteria that persist in turbulent environments, like the human urinary tract and intestines. [N][H]
Molecular tags Molecules capable of basic logic operations have been developed at Queen's University Belfast and could be used as tiny ID tags. Called molecular computational identification, the technique could produce tens of millions of unique tags. These might be used in medical research, allowing researchers to tag and identify individual cells that would fluoresce in the presence of a specific chemical. The tags might also be useful to nanotechnologists who need to keep track of thousands or millions of tiny nanostructures. [N][G][H]
Atomic and molecular switches A single cobalt atom has been made to hop back and forth between two positions in response to an electric current. Researchers at NIST used a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) to build the nanostructure and to manoeuvre the cobalt atom. They hope that the technique could ultimately be used to make atomic switches for nanoscopic devices. The movement of a single atom could, for example, turn an electric current on and off. Researchers at Ohio University have also used electron injection by a STM to switch a chlorophyll-a molecule between four different shapes. [N][P][S]
Molecular self-alignment Some of the most striking phenomena in nature, like the colours on a butterfly wing, come about by the regular arrangement of atoms and molecules. Researchers at UC Riverside have tested a multitude of molecules for pattern formation at the nanoscale. Generally these molecules have tended to become lumps, forming uninteresting islands of molecules lying side by side. However, they have found that anthraquinone molecules on a copper surface form chains that weave themselves into a sheet of hexagons, forming a network similar to chicken wire. The precise shape of the network is governed by a delicate balance between forces of attraction and repulsion operating on the molecules. The discovery has potential applications in paints, lubricants, medical implants, and processes where surface-patterning at the scale of molecules is desired. [N][M]
Coaxial nanocables Researchers in Israel have made coaxial metal nanocables by using self-assembled peptide nanotubes as a template. The team coated the peptide nanotubes with gold, and filled their cores with silver. As well as illustrating the potential of bionanostructures, the metal-insulator-metal structures could be advantageous for electromagnetic shielding. [N][I][M]
Nanoparticle toxicity Toxicity tests on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), carried out by the Institute of Toxicology and Genetics at Karlsruhe, have given conflicting results. The researchers found that SWCNTs interfere with some of the tests in a way that spuriously makes the nanotubes appear more toxic. The tests, which were carried out using human lung cells, show that better testing standards are needed to guard against spurious results. New screening methods for measuring nanotube and nanoparticle toxicity, developed at Brookhaven National Laboratory, suggest that the duration of exposure may be particularly important in determining the degree of damage to cells. [N][H] | ||