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!
1 comment:
Thanks, Clint!
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