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SCIENCE
Jellyfish
Jackpot Found on Fossil Beach - Palaeontologists have
hit a jellyfish jackpot in a Wisconsin quarry, giving scientists
an unusual glimpse of ancient sea life. The gelatinous organisms
seldom appear in the fossil record because they have no
bones, meaning their carcasses decay easily. They also frequently
fall prey to scavenging birds. But a fortuitous set of circumstances
conspired to preserve the circular impressions of thousands
of jellyfish on an ancient beach.
Europe
Reverses Position to Support Genetic Engineering - A
manifesto in favor of biotechnology in the European Union
issued Wednesday by its executive branch, the European Commission,
calls for stronger backing for a sector seen as critical
to future competitiveness. The communication proposes adopting
"the highest standards of governance" to win over
a sceptical public.
Pollutants
May Produce More Boys - Men who are exposed to environmental
pollutants are more likely to father boys than girls, according
to research. Scientists in the US looked at data from three
studies in which levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
were measured in the bodies of men who ate fish taken from
Lake Michigan. More than 57% of 208 children born to the
men, were boys, a paper in the Journal of Occupational and
Environmental Medicine reveals.
Making
Brain Cells - In an important step that could lead to
an effective treatment against
Parkinson's disease, researchers have coaxed monkeys' embryonic
stem cells to form brain cells.
‘Functional’
Kidneys Grown from Stem Cells - US scientists claim
to have grown functional kidneys using stem cells taken
from cloned cow embryos. Robert Lanza of biotech company
Advanced Cell Technology told New Scientist that his team,
working in collaboration with a group at Harvard University,
coaxed the stem cells into becoming kidney cells, and then
"grew" them on a kidney-shaped scaffold. The two-inch-long
mini-kidneys were then transplanted back into genetically
identical cows, where they started making urine, Lanza says.
If confirmed, the work raises the prospect of using stem
cells taken from human patients with kidney failure to create
new organs for transplant.
Discovery
of 'Methuselah Gene' Unlocks Secret of Long Life - Scientists
have pinpointed the Methuselah gene - a stretch of DNA that
confers healthy old age on men and women - raising the prospect
that researchers may one day be able to create drugs that
extend human life. 'There is no reason why we cannot do
this,' said Kari Stefansson, chief executive of DeCode Genetics,
an Icelandic biotechnology company. 'We know the location
of this gene. Soon we will study its exact DNA sequence
and work out how it works in the body. You can then think
of making drugs that could replicate its action.'
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TECHNOLOGY
Smart
House Technology Monitors Every Move - Rummaging through
his kitchen shelves for a box of tea, if Jim Humphries feels
on display, it doesn't show. But his house is watching him
closely. Seven redeye sensors track his every move, blinking
on and off as he walks past. There are sensors in his refrigerator
and kitchen cabinets. Another soon will be installed at
leg-level in the living room to monitor how Humphries is
walking.
High-Tech
'Smart Bandage' Might Detect Germs - Scientists are
working on a "smart bandage" that would detect
specific bacteria in a wound. It eventually may help people
self-diagnose illnesses, freeing doctors to focus on more
seriously ill patients. Scientists at the University of
Rochester have yet to incorporate a sensor chip onto a gauze
dressing but once completed, the bandage is expected to
sense the germ and change color to alert a patient to the
possibility of infection.
Robotic
Mars Construction Crew Rolls Up Its Sleeve - NASA researchers
have successfully demonstrated the first use of multiple
rovers that work tightly in sync to perform tasks such as
coordinated grasping, lifting and moving of an extended
payload, while navigating through obstacles on natural terrain.
The crew visually detects and tracks its goal, identifies
nearby objects in its path and works collectively to avoid
obstacles. Throughout this process, the robots constantly
update each other about payload forces and motions as felt
at their respective grippers. If the beam is slipping, the
rovers collectively sense the problem and compensate.
Radio
Steams Ahead as TV Falters - While the audiences for
television are in gentle decline despite the proliferation
of television channels, it seems that its poorer relation
is emerging out of the shadows. As more radio stations appear
- there are now 260 around the country - the audience seems
to expand. This year the BBC launches five digital radio
stations: a speech-based service offering drama, discussion
and children's programmes; a black music station; a "gold"
music network; an Asian station; and Five Live Sports Extra,
a part-time overspill from the main network. It is the biggest
expansion in the history of BBC radio, doubling the number
of networks.
MIT
Researchers Control Biological Materials with Radio Waves
- It's not exactly "ET, phone home," but researchers
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology report in the
January 10 issue of Nature that they can "speak"
to DNA biomolecules with radio waves. The goal is to instruct
biological materials how to act for a variety of purposes.
Biological machines may one day be used to perform computation,
assemble computer components or become part of computer
hardware or circuitry. Radio-controlled biology may lead
to single-atom or single-molecule machines or the ability
to hook tiny antennae into living systems to turn genes
on and off.
The
Future of CPUs in Brief - In the world of computers,
silicon is king. The semiconducting element forms regular,
near-perfect crystals into which chipmakers can carve the
hundreds of millions of features that make the microchips
that power the processors. Technological improvements let
chipmakers cut the size of those features in half every
18 months—a feat known as Moore's law, after Intel cofounder
Gordon Moore. If computers are to keep up with Moore's law,
they will have to move beyond silicon. After a couple of
decades of theorizing, computer scientists, bioengineers
and chemists in the mid-1990s began lab experiments seeking
alternative materials for future CPUs and memory chips.
Today, their research falls into three broad categories:
quantum, molecular and biological computing.
Nuclei
Put a New Spin on Quantum Computing - An electrical
method has been used to transfer ‘spin’ between electrons
and nuclei in a semiconductor for the first time. Jurgen
Smet of the Max-Planck Institute for Solid State Research
in Germany and co-workers devised the technique, which is
a step towards the storage of information in the quantum
states of particles.
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BUSINESS
Searching
for the Next Enron - In the final analysis, it's probably
a good thing that most investors know better than to take
seriously everything they read on stock Web-based message
boards. If they did, they'd be ready to accept that half
the companies traded on U.S. exchanges are on the verge
of some shocking accounting scandal certain to devastate
stock prices.
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SOCIETY
Teens
Lead Instant Messaging Revolution – Fingers flying across
their computer keyboards, these teenagers and a dozen others
spent a recent evening gleefully swapping jokes, gossip,
insults and profanities. They call it "IMing,"
short for instant messaging, an Internet application that
has become a nightly fix for millions of teenagers worldwide.
Never heard of it? As wildly popular as IMing has become
among adolescents, most adults haven't caught on. But that's
changing as instant messaging makes its way into the nation's
workplaces, linking employees, friends and acquaintances.
Biometrics
- Security Blessing or Privacy Invasion? - Just a few
short years ago, checking the public against a biometric
database of criminals may have seemed out of a George Orwell
novel, but increased security concerns are prompting acceptance
of such security systems, analysts told Medill News Service.
According to the Medill report, an October 2001 Harris poll
found 86 percent of respondents favor using facial recognition
technology to scan for terrorists, in the wake of the September
11 attacks. While facial recognition and fingerprinting
have become pervasive, privacy advocates warn that moral
and ethical issues need to be resolved.
Email
to Test "Six Degrees of Separation" - An unexpected
e-mail from a US university over the coming months may not
be spam - it could be from scientists investigating a fascinating
social phenomenon. According to urban folklore, everyone
in the world knows everyone else via just a few intermediaries
- an effect summed up by the phrase "six degrees of
separation".
Michigan
Creates Online Cybercourt - Michigan Gov. John Engler,
R, signed into law a bill that creates an online state court.
Engler on Tuesday also said that 25 corporations and state
groups have joined in an effort to bring broadband Internet
access to the entire state. The Cybercourt will have jurisdiction
over business and commercial complaints in which the dispute
is more than $25,000, and is expected to go live in October.
While a judge would preside over the online court system,
which requires electronic document filing and teleconferencing
for arguments, there is no jury. Cases can be transferred
to Michigan's circuit court system, and decisions can be
contested at the appeals court level.
Bill’s
Biggest Bet Yet - The richest people on earth have created
a fund of more than $24 billion to save the poorest from
disease. How much of a difference can Bill and Melinda Gates
make?
Europe
Urged to End U.S. Reliance - A major defence conference
has been told that Europe must make its own contribution
to global peace and be less reliant on the United States.
That warning was made at the 38th annual meeting in Munich,
Germany, of 250 delegates from 43 countries.
Where
Berlin Goes to Forget: Welcome to the Robo Pub - The
bartenders in the club on the corner of Münzstrasse are
all just under seven feet tall. One serves wine and spirits;
another, beer. The third will provide you with a range of
snacks in packets. The bartenders in the club on the corner
of Münzstrasse are machines. Everything, in fact, in the
Automaten bar is - as its name suggests - automated. I don't
know for sure, but it could be the world's first robot hostelry.
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THE FUTURE
New
Technologies in the Dream Society – The biggest question
facing the 21st century can be stated in a few words: What
does it mean to be "human?" The answer to that
question will affect our most basic values and moral codes.
And it may lead to an intensification of religious and moral
conflict across the planet.
A
Sneak Preview of the Future – (a PDF document) How will
the future look, and what will it bring? These are just
two of the questions to which mankind has always been seeking
an answer. Gazette is very proud to introduce two of the
world’s leading futurists, Johan Peter Paludan from Denmark
and Richard Worzel from Canada, who offer their view of
what the future will look like in 5, 10 and 15 years.
Futurologist
Makes His Top 25 Predictions - A world where the highest
earning celebrity is synthetic and insect-like robots are
being used in warfare are among the latest predictions by
Ian Pearson, futurologist at BTexact Technologies.
Scanning
the Future - In June 2001, the Center for Business Innovation
(CBI) released the newest version of its Future Scan, a
look at emerging drivers of corporate change. The list has
evolved since last fall's first effort, and the current
format groups seven drivers into three larger clusters:
infrastructure, sense-making and reporting, and connectivity.
These seven drivers represent refinements and adaptations
of the original list for a historical overview of the list's
evolution.
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