Innovation Watch Newsletter 1.05
March 23, 2002

SCIENCE

Gifted Few Make Order Out of Chaos - Some people have a special gift for predicting the twists and turns of chaotic systems like the weather and perhaps even financial markets, according to Australian psychologist Richard Heath. Random sequences are by their nature unpredictable, whereas chaotic sequences follow specific rules. Despite this, chaotic sequences are very hard to predict in practice because of the "butterfly effect" - even an unmeasurably small change in initial conditions can have a dramatic impact on their future state. Nonetheless, Heath found that a quarter of the people he tested could predict the temperature for at least the next two days if the sequence was chaotic, rather than random, even though there is no obvious pattern to the figures.

Study Links DNA of Modern Humans, Neanderthals - A new analysis of DNA evidence offers a surprising twist on the popular "Out of Africa" theory of human origins: Modern humans interbred with other populations around the world for hundreds of thousands of years. Among the study's implications: the genes of people today carry vestiges of genes of Neanderthals and other extinct branches of the human family. According to the original Out of Africa theory, ancestors to today's human population migrated from Africa 100,000 years ago, and they replaced less modern populations in Europe and Asia. The new study by population biologist Alan R. Templeton of Washington University in St. Louis suggests instead that there were at least two distinct migrations. The first wave occurred between 420,000 and 840,000 years ago, he said, and the second between 80,000 and 150,000 years ago.

A Simple Grid of Molecular Nanowires Would 'Reinvent the Integrated Circuit' - Another milestone on the road to molecular electronics was recently reached by researchers at Hewlett-Packard and the University of California, Los Angeles. The researchers, who have received several patents for their work, are proposing the use of a simple grid of wires - each wire just a few atoms wide - connected by electronic switches a single molecule thick. "This is a technology that will really allow us to reinvent the integrated circuit at a molecular level," said Phil Kuekes, one of the inventors. "Molecular electronics is focusing not just on the interesting properties of molecules, but really attacking all of the problems of designing and building integrated circuits." At the heart of the research is the ability to form very thin, long nanowires made of rare-earth metals such as erbium or dysprosium silicide deposited by CVD on a silicon substrate. This ability came as a surprise to the researchers, who initially were trying to form rectangular islands.

Astronomers Directly Observing Extra-Solar Planets - Astronomers in the UK say that we could actually see a planet around a nearby star within the next six months. The astronomers plan to focus their search on white dwarfs -- dimly glowing stars at the end of their lives. More than 80 planets outside our solar system have already been discovered, but all of them were detected indirectly by observing the subtle effect their gravity has on the motion of their parent star. Since planets are so much fainter than stars, seeing them directly is difficult.

Darwin's Time Machine: Scientists Begin Predicting Evolution's Next Step - Untangling the branches of evolution's past is a daunting enough task for researchers, but some scientists are now turning their eyes toward the future in a bid to predict evolution's course. Barry G. Hall, professor of biology at the University of Rochester, has shown how a model of evolution developed in the lab accurately reproduces natural evolution. The research, published in the March issue of Genetics, demonstrates how the model is so accurate that it can be used to predict how a strain of bacteria will become resistant to antibiotics-giving researchers a possible tool to create drugs to which bacteria cannot adapt.

Oral Treatment for Smallpox Unveiled - A drug that can be given orally to fight smallpox has been developed by US researchers. The drug is 100 times more effective at slowing replication of the virus than the existing candidate treatment, which must be injected. It is also effective against other common viruses.

Imitation of Life - Machines that imitate life, or automata, became popular as expensive playthings during the 18th century. From glorified clocks they quickly evolved into a procession of mechanical dancers, birds and musical figurines of increasing complexity. Operating at the intersection of science, commerce and entertainment, they enabled ideas to flow freely between these fields and spawned technologies and manufacturing techniques that later helped to fuel the industrial revolution. The men who made them, as Gaby Wood relates in "Living Dolls", were driven by the desire to play God.

Sniffing Chip is in the Wind - University of Warwick engineering professor Julian Gardner told NewsFactor the team is looking to create a chip that functions like the nasal passages and olfactory sensors found in nature. 'The signal processing is based on the way the human olfactory system works.' British engineers are working on a project to produce the world's smallest electronic nose: a sensor-on-a-chip that can sniff out anything from disease in humans and food to the presence of land mines and air pollution. Researchers at UK universities in Leicester, Warwick and Edinburgh say the three-year project is aimed at creating a single, square centimeter-sized silicon chip that can sense odors and chemicals as well as process those signals -- much like the olfactory systems of humans. University of Leicester professor and research coordinator Tim Pearce told NewsFactor that the "nose-on-a-chip" could be used to smell out land mines, monitor air quality and emissions, aid in medical diagnosis, and check foods and beverages.

NanoWalker: There is a Robot in Your Pocket - With dog-like or anthropomorphic robots, we've get used to robots of "normal" or "human" size. But amongst the numerous directions robotics research is exploring, small-sized robots are maybe the most promising. Small robots are light, easy to transport, and can go virtually anywhere. And if they become "very" small, they can even do much more. Like working on atoms - yes, atoms - for instance. The NanoWalker project has been initiated at MIT at the end of the 90s, at the BioInstrumentation Laboratory. The goal: create "micromachines" that could communicate, move autonomously, and perform task at a very small scale, like moving cells or combining atoms.

Brain Power - In a small lab at Brown University in Providence, RI, a rhesus macaque sits in a chair facing a computer screen, gripping the handle of a device that looks a lot like a sailboat's tiller. For the moment, the monkey uses this device as if it were a computer joystick to control a simple video game: a colored dot appears on the screen, and the animal moves the cursor to meet it. Once the animal gets good at the task, though, the researchers in the adjoining room will flip a switch and it will be signals straight from the monkey's brain, not the joystick's movements, that drive the cursor.

Scientist Becomes World's First Cyborg - Science fiction has just become reality. A cybernetics professor has become the world's first cyborg - part human, part machine - after a ground breaking operation to wire his nervous system up to a computer. Professor Kevin Warwick believes it opens up the possibility of a sci-fi world of cyborgs, where the human brain can one day be upgraded with implants for extra memory, intelligence or X-ray vision. The two-hour operation was carried out by a team led by consultant neuro-surgeon Peter Teddy under local anaesthetic at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford. Professor Warwick hopes that readings can now be taken from an implant in his arm of electrical impulses coursing through his nerves.

Miniature Device Harnesses Energy Lost in Vibration - If the prospect of replacing worn-out Walkman batteries sounds annoying and time consuming, try doing it for a hundred devices, each no bigger than a fingernail. The frustration of this situation confronted researchers at the Berkeley Wireless Research Center when they set out to create remote sensor networks capable of monitoring everything from room temperature to the structural integrity of airplane hulls. "When deploying dense networks of nodes it is virtually impossible to change the batteries in nodes," said Berkeley Wireless Research Center project leader Rahul Shah, "We need to have devices that are self-powered, and are able to run for at least a few years without requiring any kind of maintenance."

Neural Network 'In-Jokes' Could Pass Secrets - Artificial brains could use "in-jokes" to deliver secret messages, according to computer scientists. The technique relies on neural networks, computer systems designed to mimic the brain. Just as the brain's nerve cells are wired together in a complex mesh, neural nets consist of a web of electrical switches, or a computer simulation of these connections.

BUSINESS

Legal Action 'Will Put Andersen to Death' Warrant - Arthur Andersen warned that its future was in "grave jeopardy" as the US justice department prepared to bring criminal charges against it for destroying Enron documents. In addition, it emerged that the shredding of Enron materials also took place in the company's London office. The disposal of documents being sought by prosecutors was originally thought to be confined to the Houston office that managed the relationship with the energy business.

Needed: 21st Century Accounting Rules - As innovation and intellectual capital supplant factories and equipment, corporate reporting needs to be broader, deeper, and faster.

Fears Over Rice Genome Access - Prominent gene researchers fear that access to the complete DNA sequence of rice, the world's most important food crop, will be restricted when it is published in a scientific journal. The rice sequence was completed by Syngenta and the Swiss company is expected publish their work in April in Science. The journal will publish a rice genome special issue on 5 April but will not confirm if Syngenta's sequence will be part of it. But 20 of the world's leading scientists, including two Nobel Prize winners, have signed a letter of complaint, fearing "a very serious threat to genomics research".

Hanging Hong Kong's Future On… Biotech? - So with Hong Kong gradually losing its edge in traditional areas, people in the former British colony are looking for ideas about where the city should focus next. One solution that some have come up with is to make Hong Kong a hub for the biotech and life-sciences industries. In particular, to focus on things like traditional Chinese medicine. After all, biotech and life sciences seem to be up-and-coming industries, and Hong Kong enjoys a unique position to take advantage of greater interest in the herbal and other cures that Chinese have been using for centuries. Local industry advocates believe Hong Kong companies can help with research into how to expand the uses of traditional Chinese medicine.

Napster All Over Again? - The file-swapping of recorded music on the Internet has already sent the music industry into a spin. Now it is Hollywood's turn to take fright. At its peak in February 2001, 2.8 billion music files were downloaded each month through Napster alone. The sharing of files containing pirated movies may still be in its infancy, but 300,000-500,000 feature films are already being downloaded daily, according to Viant, a consultancy.

Bank Shot - For most of its 50-odd years of existence, the World Bank has been almost obsessively thin-skinned: so much so that its public relations department once tracked down a reporter's ex-wife in Africa in an effort to discredit his article on the stretch-limousine lifestyle of bank executives. On another occasion, it attempted to halt production of a Monopoly-like board game called World Bank. So imagine the teeth-gnashing as bank officials gathered this week in Monterrey, Mexico, with 50-odd heads of state and more than 300 finance ministers and other moneymen. Just as bank President James D. Wolfensohn and his team are lobbying for billions more to help them lift poor countries from global poverty, a new book proclaims the bank's half-century of such money-planting efforts a spectacular failure.

UN Urgently Seeking Funds to Fight Nuclear Terrorism - The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) approved Tuesday an action plan boosting anti-terrorist security for nuclear power plants worldwide, but called urgently for money to fund the initiative. Several countries have already pledged contributions to the plan, launched after the September 11 terror attacks, but not nearly as much as the UN atomic watchdog needs, said IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei.

Leaders Warn Terrorism Linked to Poverty - Leaders of poor nations warned their rich counterparts that if they want a world free of terrorism, they will need to pay for it. Drawing a direct link between poverty and violence, leaders at a UN summit said increased aid to the world's neediest is more urgent than ever in the post-Sept. 11 world. The leaders at the UN International Conference on Financing for Development, who have been discussing ways to narrow the gap between the haves and the have-nots, warned that the world's security depends on bringing relief to the desperately poor.

Nuclear Weapons Use No Longer Unthinkable - In rhetoric and reality, countries around the world seem to be creeping toward a new military philosophy that says it is acceptable to use nuclear weapons on the battlefield or to settle regional disputes. Everywhere, there are signs that "the unthinkable" is being redefined to accommodate new anxieties and advancing technology. U.S. President George W. Bush and the British government have warned terrorists with weapons of mass destruction that "all options" are open for a military response.

The Battle for Energy Dominance - The American campaign against terrorism may be grabbing the headlines, but another battle is being waged with perhaps equally significant long-term implications: the contest for energy dominance between the world's two largest oil exporters, Saudi Arabia and Russia. This battle will have fundamental consequences for the world's economy, U.S. energy security, Russia's global role, the future relevance of Saudi Arabia, and the clout of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Ireland's New Green Tax is in the Bag - The last free plastic bag has been handed out in Ireland. From this morning shoppers will have to pay 15 cents (9p) at supermarket checkouts and stores for each one used. The plastic shopping bag levy - known in the republic as the "plastax" - has been introduced to combat the problem of discarded bags, which litter the countryside, clog drains and add to the mountains of waste engulfing the country's landfill sites. Ireland's environment minister, Noel Dempsey, has led the campaign, condemning "our insatiable use of free plastic bags". He is convinced the levy will encourage shoppers to recycle bags. The average Irish shopper uses 342 plastic bags a year, according to a recent study.

Air Pollution Linked to Lung Cancer - In a study that offers some of the strongest evidence to date of the health dangers of air pollution, researchers have found that long-term exposure significantly raises the risk of dying from lung cancer and is about as dangerous as living with a smoker. The findings give new urgency to efforts to clean up aging coal-fired power plants and enforce regulations to limit emissions of soot, known scientifically as fine particulate matter, some said.

El Nino Awakens - Four years ago, torrential rains battered the Southern US, mudslides struck in Peru -- and the inhabitants of Canada's west coast saved up to 30% on their winter heating bills. The cause? El Nino, a huge temperature shift in the Pacific Ocean which spawns climate changes globally. Today, using satellite Earth observation data, scientists are detecting the early warning signs of a new El Nino event and predicting that it will develop over the next 3 to 6 months, bringing climate changes to countries thousands of miles from the western Pacific, birthplace of the event itself.

America's Waterways Contaminated by Medications, Personal Care Products - A government analysis shows the nation's waterways are awash in traces of chemicals used in beauty aids, medications, cleaners, and foods. Among the substances: caffeine, contraceptives, painkillers, insect repellent, perfumes, and nicotine. Scientists say the problem is that these substances largely escape regulation and defy municipal wastewater treatment. And the long-term effects of exposure are unclear, they say.

EU Fishing Fleets Devastate Third World - Over-fishing by foreign fleets, including those from Europe, are causing alarming reductions in fish stocks off west Africa and South America, putting local fishermen out of business and removing valuable food resources, according to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). The world's poorest countries are selling off their fishing rights in a series of agreements that are ruining their natural resources.

Technotopia - We are increasingly barraged with disturbing high-tech headlines: Medical team announces plan to clone humans; Nano-robots learn to replicate themselves; US firms seek patents on human genetic code; Research mice 'humanized' with fetal organ transplants; MIT scientists attempt to download human brain into computers; Up to 5 million children on new generation of psychotropic medication. We are inundated with stories about biotechnology, nanotechnology, advanced computerization, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, cutting-edge pharmaceuticals, and myriad other "new" technologies. Predictably, the media stories have corporations and researchers heralding these new technologies as the dawn of a coming utopia of health and wealth, and yes, perhaps even immortality itself. The critics, however, warn of dire risks to the environment and the rending of our social fabric.