Innovation Watch Newsletter 1.12
June 29, 2002

SCIENCE

Gene-Altered Mosquito May Aid Malaria Fight - [Washington Post] Scientists in Cleveland for the first time have created genetically engineered mosquitoes that have a reduced capacity to transmit malaria.

More Species Chosen for Genome Project - [Washington Post] The nominees were a varied lot. A monkey. A cow. A hairy, single-celled organism called Oxytricha trifallax. Each was backed by a group of scientists with a singular goal: convince a panel of experts that their creature was worthy of having its entire genetic code spelled out.

Newfound Planetary System Has 'Hometown' Look - [NASA] After 15 years of observation and a lot of patience, the world's premier planet-hunting team has finally found a planetary system that reminds them of our own home solar system.

Watching Biology in Action - [Physics Web] Advances in positron emission tomography are providing detailed images of biological processes in small animals that promise breakthroughs in molecular medicine.

Bandage Could Repair Damaged Tissues - [Science Daily] John Kao's invention is sort of like a molecular version of Jell-O salad -- it's made from gelatin, turns into a solid and has stuff suspended in it. But, instead of containing marshmallows and chunks of fruit, it has molecules and cells that repair damaged tissue.

Climate Pattern Linked to Sun's Magnetic Cycles - [Spaceflight Now] Thanks to new calculations by a Dartmouth geochemist, scientists are now looking at the Earth's climate history in a new light. Mukul Sharma, Assistant Professor of Earth Sciences at Dartmouth, examined existing sets of geophysical data and noticed something remarkable: the Sun's magnetic activity is varying in 100,000-year cycles, a much longer time span than previously thought, and this solar activity, in turn, may likely cause the 100,000-year climate cycles on Earth.

Scientists Report 'Teleported' Data - [Las Vegas Sun] Australian scientists said Monday they had successfully "teleported" a laser beam encoded with data, breaking it up and reconstructing an exact replica a yard away.

Why Software is So Bad - [MIT Technology Review] For years we've tolerated buggy, bloated, badly organized computer programs. But soon, we'll innovate, litigate and regulate them into reliability.

No Limits - [Red Herring] Red Herring's selection of the 50 private and 50 public companies most likely to change the world.

Alliance Pledges Unified Wireless - [Network World Fusion] About 200 leading device makers, service providers and content companies have joined hands to form the Open Mobile Alliance, which will try to create interoperability standards for public wireless networks and try to eliminate a cloud of confusion and uncertainty that has hung over the industry.

Robotic Fly Project Takes Off - [Discovery] A joint military and university research project to develop a wee winged robot modeled after a housefly got a major lift recently as scientists invented the tiny mechanical wings necessary to give the device flight.

Scientists Give Language Lessons to Robots - [Mercury News] Now computer scientists are giving language lessons to robots, enabling them to speak and to respond appropriately to what they hear.

Bugs on Mars - [Science News] Unearthly aircraft may explore the Red Planet-and beyond.

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BUSINESS

WorldCon? - [The Economist] One of the brightest stars of the technology boom appears to have been committing a book-keeping fraud on a massive scale. The scandal at WorldCom is the latest in a series casting doubt on the integrity of big corporations and the professionalism of accounting firms. WorldCom itself is unlikely to survive the fallout.

Funds Hit Again as America's Corporate Sickness Continues - [Guardian Unlimited] As yet another tale of greed and malpractice emerges from the US, the final part of our series looks at how such scandals affect the retirement prospects of millions of British workers.

More Scandals Inevitable - [Detroit News] The list just keeps growing of big companies spiraling in scandals involving shady bookkeeping and alleged misdeeds involving lavishly paid top executives: Enron, Tyco, Global Crossing, ImClone, Adelphia. And now WorldCom.

Global Outsourcing Strategies to India - [IT Director] One of the latest business fashions has been to outsource troublesome IT to Indian companies full of Far Eastern promise. This little sung activity has now become a $6b business with potentially huge consequences for the IT industry.

Changes Needed to Catch Up in the IT and Software Market - [St. Petersburg Times] With its wealth of computer programmers and solid reputation for scientific study, Russia has the potential to emulate some of India's success as a center for offshore software development. To achieve this, however, a lot will have to change.

The Metamorphosis of Information - [Optimize] Information, not physical goods, will soon form the core of every industry's new supply chains.

Strategy in Crisis - [McKinsey Quarterly] The past is no longer a guide to the future. To meet the challenges of discontinuity and to perform like markets, a corporation must learn to change as rapidly as they do.

Open Internet Society is Threatened, Say Its Developers - [Star Tribune] The Internet's potential for promoting expression and empowering citizens is under threat from corporate and government policies that clash with the medium's long-standing culture of openness, some leading Internet thinkers warn.

Poverty Claims 15m Children - [AllAfrica] Halfway to the target date of 2015, a "half-term" report published by ActionAid warns that the world is seriously behind schedule with the "poverty goals" set by world leaders.

All the News that's Fit to Blog - [Fast Company] Say good-bye to the old-school pundits on the op-ed page of the "New York Times." It's time to blog.

Feds Deny Asking ISPs to Watch E-mails - [Fox News] It may sound like a plot device for a futuristic movie, but the federal government may not be far from forcing Internet service providers to keep copies of all e-mail exchanges in the interest of homeland security.

Borders Program Protested - [Detroit Free Press] Activists Ralph Nader and Noam Chomsky are among those protesting a program at Borders called category management, in which publisher-supported research helps determine the superstore chain's in-store presentation.

Tough Calls in Child-Soldier Encounters - [Christian Science Monitor] On Jan. 4, while surveying bomb damage from the back of a pickup truck near Khost, Afghanistan, Sgt. Nathan Ross Chapman was suddenly struck down by small-arms fire - the first American serviceman to die in combat during Operation Enduring Freedom. Yet the bullets that felled the seasoned Green Beret came allegedly not from a hardened fighter, but from a 14-year-old boy, according to unconfirmed reports from local Afghan leaders.

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ENVIRONMENT

Catalog for Life on Earth - [Christian Science Monitor] With 30 percent of species likely to disappear by 2050, mapping the family tree finds new urgency.

The Aviation Polluter Should Pay Tax for Greenhouse Gas Emissions - [The Times] Calls for an international tax on air fuel to penalise the aviation industry for causing greenhouse gases has been backed by Margaret Beckett. The Environment Secretary is keen to see clean air targets imposed on the industry to cut the number of poisonous gas emissions. The move comes at a time of boom for air travel when passengers are benefiting from cheap air fares.

Beijing, Tianjin to Build Mammoth Eco-Rings - [People's Daily] A huge eco-shield composed of five rings of trees and grassland is to be built to protect Beijing and Tianjin from the annual sandstorms in the coming 10 years. Upon its completion, Beijing, Tianjin and China's northern provinces at large, are expected to find a reinforced shelter against the wiping annual sand gales.

It's Official, Global Warming Does Exist, Says Bush - [Guardian Unlimited] In an extraordinarily secretive manoeuvre, the Bush administration has subtly altered its position on global warming, officially admitting that there is a crisis while still declining to offer policies to combat it.

Classic Conditions for El Nino in Tropical Pacific - [New Scientist] The classic conditions for El Niño, which brings weird weather across the Pacific Ocean and beyond, have formed over the tropical Pacific in recent weeks, according to United Nations meteorologists.

Warming Climate Spawns Disease Epidemics - [Environment News Service] The changing, warming climate around the globe is triggering unprecedented numbers of disease outbreaks in both land and ocean based wildlife populations in habitats ranging from coral reefs to rainforests. Ecologists and epidemiologists express concern over this rising trend in a new report in the June 21 issue of the journal "Science."

China's Grain-for-environment Program on Full Swing - [People's Daily] The State Council, China's cabinet, issued a document Thursday to detail a national program on converting part of farmland into forest and grassland, marking the overall implementation of the program after a three-year trial. The Chinese government has promised to give millions of farmers grain and cash if they give up growing crops on low-yield farmland and turn them into forests and grassland for the sake of the environment protection.

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THE FUTURE

The GWU Forecast of Emerging Technologies (Acrobat document) - [George Washington University] A continuous assessment of the technology revolution.

Emerging Technologies: What's Ahead for 2001-2030 (Acrobat document) - [George Washington University] Scholars assemble a comprehensive forecast of coming technologies.