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.]
