So much in one day...

I first want to start with science and tech. Today PhysOrg has an article, "To Fight Drug Addiction, Researchers Target the Brain with Nanoparticles." (source: http://www.physorg.com/news157053913.html) The short of it is, "Stable biocompatible gold nanorods that deliver short RNA molecules in the brain to "silence" or turn off DARPP-32, a gene that plays a critical role in many kinds of drug addiction, have been developed by University at Buffalo researchers." If it is possile to "silence" a drug addiction gene, couldn't one "amplify" or "turn on" a drug addiction gene? A tyrannical government copuld pump this into the water, or into the food supply and thus turn everyone into drug addicted slaves... Sounds like Sci-Fi, right?

Next, technologyreview.com wrote, "The World's Biggest Laser Powers Up." (source: http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/22347/) "The National Ignition Facility (NIF), a laser system designed to produce nuclear fusion reactions that release more energy than used to produce them, is now up and running. By 2010 or 2011 the NIF's 192 lasers will be able to deliver 1.8 megajoules of energy in a few billionths of a second to one 2-millimeter sphere filled with hydrogen isotopes. The energy will ignite a fusion reaction and generate at least 10 times the energy delivered by the lasers." It was originally funded to study nuclear weapons. Is it truely benign then? diod they create a better nuke? I hope they will use it as a clean and efficient power source, and not use the research to make a better bomb...

I love new technological advances, standing upon the shoulders of giants, striving ever forward to extropy. So I will not stand by when certain groups stand in the way of that. Take for example the headline, "Top Constitutional Scholar: Secret Bush Memos Reveal Plan For "Massive Military Takeover Of US" (source: http://www.infowars.net/articles/march2009/250309Ratner.htm) This enrages me! The man who swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, plotted its takeover!?! AND HE IS NOT ALONE! Remember, Bush is a puppet, and a willing one, he has handlers, men who push the agendas he implements. Members of Congress and the Senate are partners to this. Beware!

Ok, lets try this again...

Hello again.

I guess New Years resolutions have the best of intentions, but are rarely adhered to. I need to sit down, at least once per day, and do this. Its cathartic. Its hard. But it's good for me. Blogging is really the only opportunity for me to express my true opinion. I can't speak out at work, my friends are close, but not as interested in my specific interests as I am, my family... well, I love them but they really don't get me either... GAH the disconnectedness! I just don't feel connected... Oh well...

OK, so what brought me here was I watched a gut wrenching film by Alex Jones, The Obama Deception, and it rocked my world. I was already aware of The Global Elite made up of The Trilateral Commission, The Council on Foreign Relations, and the Bilderburg Group for a few years now. I have seen them accelerate their plans on global domination by creating a New World Order, but after watching this film, I have come to realize how close we are to a dictatorship, how close we are to loosing everything this country was founded on.

When I watched the film I had to ask myself, "Has Obama repealed the Patriot Act?" Answer: no. In fact he voted to extend it. According to the Washington Post he voted yes to Vote 29: H R 3199: Which reauthorized a slightly modified version of the 2001 USA Patriot Act. I also wondered about his stance on the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. I am a firm believer that we need firearms to defend ourselvs from a corrupt government, because without them Tyranny will have free reign. Obama wants to remove that right from us, and he will persuade us to do so. Please do not let him. We need to stand up for what is good, and right.

Now don't start thinking me an Obama Hater/Bush Lover... I rank Bush right up there Bonzo the Chimp. Both are doing their part for The Global Elite. Bush was reviled so that Obama could step in and "save us", but is he really making change? Look at his cabinet appointments and you tell me... New guard or old guard? According to Wikipedia, "Thirty-one of the appointments to the transition team had previously worked in the Clinton administration, including Podesta, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, and Biden's Chief of Staff Ron Klain." In fact, Right-Wingers and Neocons Love Obama's Cabinet Appointments. That scares the crap outta me!

More tomorrow! I swear!

A long hiatus... too long

Its been 282 days since my last post. Why has it taken so long? I am not quite sure. I have been extremely busy since I lost my great job working for Children's Medical Services in Miami. First I needed to procure new work. That took 3 months... and finally I have found a home. AgencyNet Interactive, an award winning web 2.0 flash and more development company. They are great! I have been hired as their Network Adminisrator. I hope that I can do as good a job as the previous holder of the position. He did an amazing job with not much time or support. Kudos Chris Fullman!

Anyway, I have been working for AgencyNet for the last 5 months (1 temporary) and I have learned a lot. I have learned that I hate Bugzilla, I love ubuntu, losing my love for Windows, and starting to dislike Cisco (I need to get over that). This job is certainly not the CakeWalk that was CMS. Hard work, and long hours. But that's OK.

Also, I finished my Bachelor's of Science Degree in Information Systems Security from ITT last week! HUZZAH! after off and on for 11 years I have my BS. Finally! Now what to do? Take the next 3 months off? Get certifications? Start my masters in IT?I think that I won't think on it until after the new year.

I have also seen my Daughters 4th birthday this October. She is so precious! Not only do I love her, but I like her too, she is fun to be around! She is smart, knows her letters so well that I swear that she can read! At 4! I hope she can write as well as her mother can.

Well I should get back to work. I guess my New Years resoultion shall be to update this blog. hmmmm....

Wednesday 3/12/08

Hi there, another set of news posts. And classes are starting up again. I just don't know how often I wll update, but I will keep trying.

• Famed geneticist creating life form that turns CO2 to fuel - [Craig Venter says he is creating a lifeform that feeds on carbon dioxide to produce "fourth generation" fuels, and may have it working in 18 months. The organism would use CO2 as a feedstock and give off fuel such as methane gas as waste. Venter is also working on organisms that make vaccines for the flu and other illnesses. See Also Venter Takes Step Toward Synthetic Cells] - This gives me hope that people are out there that want to make the world a better place. Thank goodness.
• Plan to teach baby robot to talk - [University of Plymouth roboticists and language development experts plan to work with a humanoid baby robot called iCub to research how parents teach children to speak. Their findings could lead to the development of humanoid robots that learn, think and talk.]
• Quantum corkscrews from twisting electron waves - [Researchers from the RIKEN Frontier Research System have shown that vortices similar to those of "twisted light" can be produced in beams of electrons. Optical vortices can be made by passing a laser beam through a fork-shaped computer-generated hologram. Electron-beam vortices could be produced in a similar fashion, using a thin crystal plate with a dislocation. Such vortices could power nanomotors and nano-engines, or could be used in telecommunications by storing information in the optical vorticity, or the intensity of twisting. The vorticity is robust against perturbations, so this potential future technology could reduce the loss of information during optical communications.]
• St. Jude researchers find key step in programmed cell death - [St. Jude Children's Research Hospital researchers have discovered three molecules that together protect certain cells from undergoing apoptosis--programmed cell death--describing one mechanism for how cells may delay apoptosis. Molecular malfunctions that trigger apoptosis may cause some diseases, including Parkinson's disease.]
• Flexible robotic fin does away with drag - [Researchers have built a robotic fin that uses flexibility to produce constant thrust and eliminate drag while moving, mimicking the energy-efficient movement of a fish's pectoral fins. Fish-like fins could make autonomous underwater vehicles more agile: the bluegill sunfish can hover, rotate, move forwards and come to a stop using pectoral fins alone.]
• Robots enter Japan's daily life - [Japan is perhaps the closest country to a future where humans and intelligent robots routinely live side by side and interact socially: with more than a fifth of the population 65 or older, the country is banking on robots to replenish the work force and care for the elderly. Robots in Japan are serving as receptionists, vacuuming office corridors, and spoon-feeding the elderly. Over 370,000 robots worked at factories across Japan in 2005, about 40 percent of the global total and 32 robots for every 1,000 Japanese manufacturing employees.]
• The Digital Utility - [In a new book, The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google, Nicholas Carr argues that we're moving from the era of the personal computer to an age of utility computing--by which he means the expansion of grid computing, the distribution of computing and storage over the Internet, until it accounts for the bulk of what the human race does digitally.]
• Got Sleep? CDC says 1 out of 10 Americans are sleep deprived! - [A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) research study states that 10 percent of adults -- 50 to 70 million adult Americans -- are not getting sufficient rest or sleep every night. Chronic sleep loss and sleep disorders also raise the risk for additional health problems. The National Sleep Foundation reports that adults need seven to nine hours of sleep every night to be adequately rested.] - Ugg, no wonder I am feeling crappy all the time, I get around 5-6 hours a night...
• From TED to BIL - [In a talk at the BIL unconference following TED, entitled "Not the TED Commandments, or How to Be a Successful Heretic," gerontologist Aubrey de Gray offered ten commandments -- rules for successful revolutions in thinking.]
• The World’s Smallest Crime Lab - [George Mason University researchers have built a microwave smaller than an ant that can heat pinhead-size drops of liquid to precise temperatures--critical for the kind of lab-on-a-chip devices investigators could someday use in the field. One big potential payoff: a portable DNA-analysis kit that could use crime-scene evidence, such as a drop of blood, to produce the genetic fingerprint of the culprit.] - And it will just keep getting smaller, and smaller, and smaller....
• Physicists Discover Gold Can Be Magnetic on the Nanoscale - [Georgia Institute of Technology physicists have announced discoveries about gold's nanoscale properties: electric fields can change the shape of gold nanoclusters from pyramidal to flat, gold can be made magnetic, and oxygenated gold nanowires switch from being conductors to insulators when longer than 6 gold atoms in length. This marks the first time on the nanoscale that such a metal-to-insulation transition has been found. The results could result in new methods for controlling the behavior of nanostructures through the application of external electric fields.]
• 'Long-life' genes found in 100-year-old humans - [Albert Einstein College of Medicine researchers found two mutations that make people live longer. Both mutations affect the receptor for insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1). By making the receptor slightly faulty, the mutations may disrupt IGF1 binding and decelerate the process of maturation and aging.]
• Out of the Blue - [Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne computational neuroscientists hope to model a complete rat brain within two years on their IBM Blue Brain supercomputer and download it into a robotic rat to develop like a real rat--one with a "mind of its own." They also want to simulate what that brain experiences, and generate a movie of its reality rooted in the details of its brain. Beyond that, they want to simulate the trillion synapses in the human brain--about 500 petabytes of data--within 10 years.] - This is important! And a very good article.
• Prof posits metananocircuits as electronics' next frontier - [University of Pennsylvania professor Nader Engheta hopes to create electronic components and circuits in an entirely new regime--one where "current" is no longer defined as the movement of electrons and holes, but instead as an electromagnetic wave, leading to a new kind of optical information processing and perhaps a new form of nanoscale computational unit that would outperform conventional silicon electronics. His building blocks are metananocircuitry--composite nanomaterials that exhibit properties that are dictated by their nanoscale structures rather than their chemistry--and dielectric nanoparticles. For example, nanoparticles with positive permittivity could realize optical capacitors, those with negative permittivity, could realize optical inductors and resistors. Combining such components could lead to complex optical nanocircuits.]
• Konarka Announces First-Ever Demonstration of Inkjet Printed Solar Cells - [Konarka Technologies has announced the company conducted the first-ever demonstration of manufacturing organic solar cells by efficient inkjet printing.]
• Levitating joystick improves computer feedback - [Carnegie Mellon University researchers have developed a computer controller levitated by magnets that provides a more natural feel for physically experiencing virtual objects. The maglev interface gets rid of the mechanical linkages that are a major constraint on most haptic devices and operates in six degrees of freedom.] - Imagine encasing oneself into a magnetically sensitive suit and surrounding yourself with these magnets, one could simulate the entire bodies' range of movements and experience a true haptic interface.
• Greener Green Energy: Today's solar cells give more than they take - [Solar power produces, per unit of energy, only about one-tenth as much carbon dioxide and other harmful emissions (during manufacturing) as does conventional power generation, a new study by Brookhaven National Laboratory scientists shows. These improvements in efficiency mean that today's solar panels can "pay back" in only 1 to 3 years the energy needed to make them, the study concludes. Improvements in manufacturing efficiency could reduce emissions from solar power by another 50 percent within 5 to 7 years, the researchers say.]

Just posts this time...Sigh

• The Truth About Autism: Scientists Reconsider What They Think They Know - [Some autistics are leading a nascent civil rights movement, fueled by neuropsychological researchers who are taking a fresh look at the nature of autism. The condition, the researchers say, shouldn't be thought of as a disease to be eradicated. The autistic brain may not be defective, but simply different -- an example of the variety of human development. They've found that previous measures of autistic intelligence were severely flawed, that autistic brains are highly efficient in some tasks -- even superior in some intelligence tests.] - This is a very important article and I am glad to see that others are beginning to understand that aspies and auties like myself aren't diseased, were different. A huge distinction! I like how I think! I don't want to be cured!
• The Encyclopedia of Life, No Bookshelf Required - [Scientists are building a Web site called the Encyclopedia of Life, dedicated to documenting all species on Earth. Spearheaded by Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson with $50 million initial funding, the first 30,000 pages will be introduced on Thursday this week. Within a decade, they predict, they will have the other 1.77 million.] - Neat idea! I like online references.
• Future Blogger - [MemeBox has announced the public beta release of Future Blogger, a blogging community dedicated to exploring the future. Visitors can post their thoughts, predictions and scenarios. Community ratings then determine page ranking for posts. The site's Future Scanner also aggregates and organizes information about the future by year and category.]
• The Future of Universal Water - [Futurist Peter von Stackelberg of research and consulting firm Social Technologies has released a report on the future of on providing clean water to the world. Less than 2% of the planet's water store is fresh, and much of that is threatened by pollution, he says. "By 2025, about 3.4 billion people will live in regions that are defined by the UN as water-scarce." He suggests ideas for technological advances in three major areas that will be critical for the hydrological future: desalination of seawater or brackish groundwater, purification of water containing chemical or biological contaminants, and conservation to cut demand.]
• Researchers demonstrate smallest possible carbon nanotube - [Researchers in Japan have synthesized the smallest (0.4 nm diameter) single-walled carbon nanotube by using thermal decomposition of ferrocene molecules inside larger commercial-grade nanotubes.] - What I find amazing is they have actually imaged the darn thing. We are so close to actually "seeing" the atoms themselves, if we haven't already!

• Breakthroughs in nanotechnology on edge of 'knowledge frontier' - [University of Missouri scientist Kattesh Katti has discovered how to make gold nanoparticles using gold salts, soybeans and water, an alternative to production methods using toxic chemicals. The new process could allow medical researchers to expand the use of gold nanoparticles for drug delivery and other purposes.]

After much hard work, I have a night to post...

Hi there. I just finished a ton of reports this last weekend, so I am able to post this evening. Sorry about last post. I just didn't have the time to comment on them properly. I will try better in this one. I am really falling behind on posting...Sigh!

• Artificial Playmates for Autistic Children - One of the first articles I found this evening combines autism and virtual people. Heh, it's like an article tailored with my specific interests in mind. I can't wait for my own virtual people to interact with. So much more predictable that the random, so called 'real' people are. I can see why autists would open up more readilly to them.
• Scientist postulates 4 aspects of 'humaniqueness' differentiating human and animal cognition - Iamba! This is an interesting article regarding our project to write about uplifting animals. It's not a heavy read and very informative.
• Michigan laser beam believed to set record for intensity - "The world's most intense laser beam uses 300 terawatts of power concentrated in a 30 femtosecond pulse to a 1.3-micron area, or 20 billion trillion watts per square centimeter. " That is a lot of watts.
• Scientists Develop Tool to Probe Role of Oxidative Stress in Aging, Disease - "University of Michigan researchers have a new technique to observe how oxidative stress affects proteins, allowing them to quantify the oxidation state of thousands of different proteins in a single experiment." Michigan is on fire! Go UM!
• Brain blanket boosts mind control - "With a sheet of electrodes placed over the brain, people can quickly learn to move a cursor around a computer screen using their thoughts." A step in the direction of direct brain-computer interface. I cannot wait to get rid of the keyboard and mouse...How quaint, indeed.
• The Chinese Government's Plans for Nanotechnology - "BOSTON, MA - China aims to leapfrog the United States in technological development with substantial investment in nanotechnology, but whether those efforts will actually pay off is still unclear. That was the message from University of California at Santa Barbara researchers presenting their findings on the state of Chinese nanotechnology here at the AAAS annual meeting. " China, India and Russia are going to be MAJOR economic players in the next 25 years, just based on thier populations alone. They also plan for the long term rather than our 4 year election cycle ADD the US suffers. That will allow them to build a strong and robust space system and possibly blow us out of the water science wise. We better watch out.
• Scientists move towards stem cell therapy trials to mend shattered bones - "Scientists are developing a revolutionary way to mend damaged bones and cartilage using a patient's own stem cells."
• Solar cell speeds hydrogen production - I hope this leads to ubiquitous hydrogen production for use in cars and home generators. This will decentralize energy production which will reduce the impact of distaster and our dependance on foriegn oil.
• Researchers discover new way to reverse poor circulation and heal wounds - "Researchers have solved a longstanding mystery about how flexing muscles “tell” nearby blood vessels that they need more blood to perform, according to a study published Feb. 15 in the journal Circulation Research. The study mechanism suggests new ways to treat conditions that involve poor circulation like peripheral artery disease, which comes with aging, affects 10 million Americans and leads to amputation in the worst cases. Furthermore, the same signals that influence circulation in some tissues drive cell growth elsewhere. That could lead to an ointment that would speed healing when spread across chronic wounds."
• The 10 Emerging Technologies of 2008 - Technology Review presents its annual list of the 10 most exciting technologies.
• Smart rubber promises self-mending products - Self-healing rubber that binds back together after being snapped or punctured could pave the way for self-healing shoes, fan belts, washing-up gloves and more.
• Replacing bulk with nanotechnology, researchers find new way to keep fiber-optic signal sharp - Cornell researchers have demonstrated that a single photonic microchip--using four-wave mixing to amplify an optical signal by "pumping" with another beam of light--can replace the bulky bundles of fiber or electronic amplifiers now needed to clean up and sharpen fiber optic signals distorted by distance.
• Genetic pathway critical to disease, aging found - University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists have discovered a gene expression pathway and specific enzymes that exert a sweeping influence over the process of oxidative stress, the process that contributes to many diseases and conditions ranging from Alzheimer's, heart disease and stroke to cancer and the process of aging. The finding is important because it represents a master pressure point for a host of medical conditions. One key enzyme in the new pathway--Star-PAP-- is a master switch that controls key aspects of oxidative stress in cells.
• Largest yet survey of human genetic diversity - Two researcher teams performed the most thorough genetic analysis yet on samples from the Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP), confirming that populations lost genetic variation as they migrated farther from Africa and discovering that copy number variants (rearrangements within longer stretches of DNA) differ between human populations similarly to SNPs. Previous studies had either looked at fewer "markers"--sites of genetic variation--or fewer population groups. The HGDP covers more than 50 geographic groups from all over the globe.
• Scientists Measure What It Takes to Push a Single Atom - IBM scientists have measured the force needed to nudge one atom: one-130-millionth of an ounce of force pushes a cobalt atom across a smooth, flat piece of platinum, and one-1,600-millionth of an ounce of force pushes it across copper. To measure the force, an atomic force microscope tip was attached to a small tuning fork. Changes in the frequency of the tuning fork's vibrations as it pushed the cobalt atom let the scientists calculate the force applied.
• Google to Store Patients' Health Records - Google Inc. will begin storing the medical records of a few thousand people who volunteered to an electronic transfer of their personal health records, so they can be retrieved through Google's new service (not yet available to the public). I hope that this will become the standard for an EHR system (or something like this). We are desperately in need of such a system. It would increase the availability of health history which would decrease costs, reduce error, and increase the quality of care for the patients.
• PC beats doctor in scan tests - A computer does better than a doctor at diagnosing Alzheimer's from brain scans: trained computers had a 96% diagnosis success rate analyzing a clinical MRI scan, compared to an 85% success rate for doctors using standard scans, blood tests and interviews.
• No Directions Required--Software Smartens Mobile Robots - DARPA initiative to develop self-navigating robots introduces a world of potential for the development of autonomous vehicles, but will the government take advantage of its research or let it wither on the vine?
• 'Exaflop' Supercomputer Planning Begins - Researchers at Sandia and Oak Ridge National Laboratories have launched the Institute for Advanced Architectures to do basic research on issues such as power consumption and reliability for an exaflop (10^18 floating point operations per second) system that could have a million hundred-core processors. The U.S. Department of Energy and the National Security Agency expect to need exaflop computing by 2018 for large-scale prediction, materials science analysis, fusion research, and national security problems.
• Electron Stroboscope - Lund University scientists have recorded snapshots of electron motion, using 300-attoseconds-long light pulses to create images of the quantum state of electrons. An attosecond is one quintillionth (10^-18) of a second long.
• Going by the book - A group of Chinese scientists has discovered the main biochemical pathways in drug addiction—and without having to do a single experiment. This should lead us to curing addiction within 20 years.
• Solar Power to Rule in 20 Years, Futurists Say - Speaking on behalf of a panel of experts convened by the National Association of Engineers to address the 14 "grand challenges of the 21st century," Ray Kurzweil said solar power will scale up to produce all the energy needs of Earth's people in 20 years. Members of the panel are "confident that we are not that far away from a tipping point where energy from solar will be [economically] competitive with fossil fuels," Kurzweil said, adding that it could happen within five years.
• Kurzweil: 'Exponential' change ahead for games, people - Look for the price-to-performance ratio of computers to improve a billionfold in the next 25 years, Ray Kurzweil said in a keynote speech, "The Next 20 Years of Gaming," at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco on Thursday, CNET reported. Kurzweil said game programmers should be developing ahead of the curve, considering the constantly changing face of game technology. "We may even have the ability to accurately represent the human brain or produce convincing human language -- dialog -- on the fly," Kurzweil said. "The implications and potential for the advancement of games from such technological leaps are exciting to ponder," Wired reported. Kurzweil's forecasts have "obvious and exciting implications for gaming," according to Game Helper. By 2010, we'll have electronics so tiny they are "embedded in the environment, our clothing, our eyeglasses"; images and video will be "written directly to our retinas" and "we will all enjoy a "ubiquitous high bandwidth connection to the Internet at all times." By 2029, "We will have developed a human-level non-biological intelligence; "$1,000 worth of computation = 1000 times the human brain"; and while biological intelligence is in essence "fixed," non-biological intelligence will continue increasing exponentially, and will combine "the subtlety and pattern recognition strength of human intelligence with the speed, memory, and knowledge sharing of machine intelligence."
• Stock exchange for 'grid' computing? - You might soon be selling your spare computer power over the internet, or perhaps buying in extra resources to solve a tricky problem. In either case, network administration used to be a stumbling block – until European researchers developed a successful free-market approach to grid computing.
• Physicists Demonstrate Qubit-Qutrit Entanglement - For the first time, physicists have entangled a qubit with a “qutrit” – the 3D version of the 2D qubit. Qubit-qutrit entanglement could lead to advantages in quantum computing, such as increased security and more efficient quantum gates, as well as enable novel tests of quantum mechanics.
• Seeds of Future Agriculture Enter Doomsday Deep Freeze - The first batch of 100 million of the most important agricultural seeds were placed into the "doomsday repository" Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway. The vault is a backup of last resort, stocked with copies of different crops from national seed storage facilities. In cold isolation the seeds can keep for hundreds and thousands of years--sorghum alone can last for 20,000 years--effectively allowing agriculture to be restarted in the event of a global calamity, such as nuclear war or catastrophic climate change. See Also Doomsday vault to avert world famine.
• Penn researchers engineer first system of human nerve-cell tissue - University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers engineered living human nerve cells into three-dimensional neural networks with the potential to survive transplantation. Four neurons that survived months in culture. In previous work with rat neurons, the researchers demonstrated a new way to engineer nerve structures, or constructs, in culture. The new study uses the same method with human neurons, which survived at least three months in culture while maintaining the ability to signal. See Also Engineering nerve jumper cables for spinal cord repair.

Finals are coming, and I am not posting...

"We need schools which embrace the diversity within our community, not a diversity of schools dividing pupils and staff on religious grounds."-Mary Bousted

Hi! How are you today? I am fine... Oh right, enough small talk, just get to the news!

• Bacteria and nanofilters -- the future of clean water technology - Bacteria often get bad press, with those found in water often linked to illness and disease. But researchers at The University of Nottingham are using these tiny organisms alongside the very latest membrane filtration techniques to improve and refine water cleaning technology.
• Wiring Up DNA - Caltech and Columbia University researchers have measured DNA's ability to conduct electricity by wiring it up between two carbon nanotubes, creating a new way to detect mutations.
  Introducing just a single letter change can drastically alter DNA's resistance, a phenomenon that they plan to exploit with a device that can rapidly screen DNA for disease-linked mutations.
• Plucking Cells out of the Bloodstream - University of Rochester scientist Michael King and team have developed an implantable device that captures very pure samples of stem cells circulating in the blood.
  The device, a plastic microtube coated with proteins called selectins, could lead to better bone-marrow transplants and stem-cell therapies, and may also be a way to capture and reprogram cancer cells roaming the bloodstream.
  CellTraffix, which is commercializing the technology, is developing a kit that will enable researchers to capture large numbers of stem and cancer cells in the lab, and hopes to begin clinical testing of the anticancer coatings by early 2010.
• Welcome to Cyberwar Country, USA - The US Air Force has launched the Cyber Command, dedicated to the proposition that the next war will be fought in the electromagnetic spectrum, and that computers are military weapons.
• Breaking disk encryption with RAM dumps - A security hack with video.
• Fabric may make the first real power suit - Nanofibres made that produce power when rubbed together.
• Functional Immune System Can Be Derived From Embryonic Stem Cells, Preliminary Study Finds - A new study demonstrates for the first time that embryonic stem cells can be used to create functional immune system blood cells, a finding which is an important step in the utilization of embryonic stem cells as an alternative source of cells for bone marrow transplantation. This hopeful news for patients with severe blood and immune disorders, who need these transplants for treatment, was prepublished online in Blood.
• Map reveals US disaster hotspots - University of South Carolina, Columbia scientists have created a map that shows where people would be hit hardest were a natural disaster to strike.
• Carbon Capture Strategy Could Lead To Emission-free Cars - Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a strategy to capture, store and eventually recycle carbon from vehicles to prevent the pollutant from finding its way from a car tailpipe into the atmosphere. Georgia Tech researchers envision a zero emission car, and a transportation system completely free of fossil fuels.
• New Technique Makes Tissues Transparent - California Institute of Technology, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, and MIT researchers have developed a technique that counteracts the scattering of light and removes the distortion it creates in images.
  The "turbidity suppression by optical phase conjugation" (TSOPC) techniques used a holographic crystal to record the scattered light pattern emerging from a 0.46-mm-thick piece of chicken breast. They then holographically played the pattern back through the tissue section to recover the original light beam.
• Bandwidth on Demand - An academic internet provides clues about ways to improve the commercial Internet.
• Metabolic Syndrome Linked to Cold Tolerance - University of Chicago researchers have discovered that many of the genetic variations that have enabled human populations to tolerate colder climates may also affect their susceptibility to metabolic syndrome, a cluster of related abnormalities such as obesity, elevated cholesterol levels, heart disease, and diabetes.
  The researchers report that some genes associated with cold tolerance have a protective effect against the disease, while others increase disease risk. Genes that varied by climate included the lepin receptor, several involved in heat production, cholesterol metabolism, energy use, and blood glucose regulation.
• Scientists Show Stem Cells Don't Cause Cancer - Japanese researchers have shown that stem cells made from reprogrammed adult skin cells can be implanted using a retrovirus without fear of causing cancer.
  Last year, researchers showed that adult human and mouse skin cells could be reprogrammed into stem cells similar to embryonic stem cells, but a major concern with those stem cells was the possibility that the retrovirus used to implant the cells might cause cancer.
• Shear Ingenuity: Tweaking The Conductivity Of Nanotube Composites - National Institute of Standards and Technology scientists have learned to tune the conductive properties of an polymer-nanotube composites (electrically conducting plastics) simply by changing changing processing conditions--how fast the polymer flows--without changing the carbon nanotube concentration.
• "Junk" RNA May Have Played Role in Vertebrate Evolution - New study says tiny snippets of RNA co-evolved with vertebrates, likely accounting for the new organisms' complexity
• Pulsing web gives ailing hearts a boost - UK researchers are developing a pulsing fibrous web to wrap around diseased hearts, designed to be less invasive than existing heart-assist techniques, which involve surgically connecting a pump directly into the heart.
  Their device is made from polyethylene and has three constricting belts woven through its fabric, powered by small electric motors.
• Smaller Version of the Solar System Is Discovered - Astronomers had found a miniature version of our own solar system 5,000 light-years across the galaxy -- the first planetary system that really looks like our own, with outer giant planets and room for smaller inner planets.
  The new discovery was made by a technique called microlensing: the gravity of the nearer star can bend and magnify the light from the more distant one, causing it to get much brighter for a few days. If the alignment is perfect, any big planets attending the nearer star will get into the act, adding their own little boosts to the more distant starlight.
• 21st Century's Grand Engineering Challenges Unveiled - The U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE) today announced 14 grand challenges for engineering in the 21st century that, if met, "would improve how we live by improving sustainability, health, and joy of living, and reducing vulnerability."
  A diverse committee of experts from around the world chaired by former secretary of defense William Perry (committee chair) and including genomics pioneer J. Craig Venter, Google co-founder Larry Page, and Ray Kurzweil, developed the list of challenges. The effort received worldwide input from prominent engineers and scientists and the general public and its conclusions were reviewed by more than 50 subject-matter experts.
  NAE is offering the public an opportunity to vote on which challenge they think is most important and to provide comments at the project Web site, www.engineeringchallenges.org, which features a five-minute video overview of the project and committee-member interview excerpts. A podcast of the news conference announcing the challenges will also be available on the site starting next week.
  "Meeting these challenges would be 'game changing,'" said NAE president Charles M. Vest. "Success with any one of them could dramatically improve life for everyone."
  The Challenges:
  
  Make solar energy affordable
  Provide energy from fusion
  Develop carbon sequestration methods
  Manage the nitrogen cycle
  Provide access to clean water
  Restore and improve urban infrastructure
  Advance health informatics
  Engineer better medicines
  Reverse-engineer the brain
  Prevent nuclear terror
  Secure cyberspace
  Enhance virtual reality
  Advance personalized learning
  Engineer the tools for scientific discovery

Well, that's it for today. Lots to read. Enjoy and have fun!