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SCIENCE
Personalised
Medicine Way of Future - [news.com.au] About half the
medicines prescribed in the world don't work because everyone's
genetic make-up is slightly different, an international
biotechnology conference in Brisbane was told.
Cells
from Babies Help Heal their Mothers - [New Scientist]
Pregnancy certainly has its downside, but it may have an
unexpected upside as well: cells from the baby may help
heal wounds in the mother, even long after it has been born.
Test
Could Spot Alzheimer's Early - [BBC] A new nanotechnology-based
technique could lead to a test for diagnosing the early
signs of Alzheimer's disease.
More
Findings About Methane on Mars - [Universe Today] Researchers
from the University of Michigan have recently published
their findings about methane in the Martian atmosphere.
The methane was discovered using the planetary Fourier spectrometer,
which is one of seven instruments on board the ESA's Mars
Express spacecraft. Earth-based methane is created almost
entirely by life, so the researchers hope that the same
process is happening on Mars.
Disrupted
Sleep Causes Worker 'Burnout' - [New Scientist] Worker
‘burnout’ is triggered by a drastic re-setting
of sleep patterns, rather than high levels of stress per
se, according to a study of patients in Sweden. A new treatment
based partly on these findings is among the first to show
clear success, researchers say.
Crucial
Evolutionary Link Points to Origins of Modern Cells
- [Science Daily] A team of researchers led by Rockefeller
University's Michael P. Rout, Ph.D., have discovered a possible
crucial evolutionary link between the simple cells that
make up bacteria and the more complex cells that comprise
animal and plant cells, including those of humans.
Rogue
Finger Gene Got Bats Airborne - [New Scientist] A change
to a single gene allowed bats to grow wings and take to
the air, a development that may explain why bats appeared
so suddenly in the fossil record some 50 million years ago.
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TECHNOLOGY
Remote
Technology Spares U.S. Soldiers - [CNN] By the light
of flashlights and a crescent moon, the three-member crew
catapults a 300-pound pilotless airplane into the sky. Minutes
later, other U.S. soldiers behind a computer screen inside
a shed monitor video images from the plane, known as a Shadow,
as it loiters over a traffic circle frequently attacked
by insurgent bombs.
Underwater
Robot Makes History Crossing Gulf Stream - [Science
Daily] A small ocean glider named Spray is the first autonomous
underwater vehicle, or AUV, to cross the Gulf Stream underwater,
proving the viability of self-propelled gliders for long-distance
scientific missions and opening new possibilities for studies
of the oceans.
Radio
Tags Give Guidance - [TRNmag] The system, dubbed Navigational
Assistance for the Visually Impaired (NAVI), can provide
location information for the visually impaired and for other
kinds of navigational assistance applications like self-guided
tours.
European
Scientists Envisage Robotic Village on Moon - [Guardian]
European scientists are about to reach for the moon. After
a 13-month journey, driven by a new kind of technology,
an experimental spacecraft the size of a washing machine
will begin to orbit around the moon on Monday night.
Ideas
Stolen Right From Nature - [Wired] While biomimetics,
as the field is now known, has a long history, until recently
Velcro has been the only major commercial success. Now,
as technological capability catches up with intellectual
inspiration, biomimetics is starting to fulfill its potential.
Eyeglasses
on the Cheap - [IEEE Spectrum] A chance encounter with
Kenya's education minister, who reported that a lack of
eyeglasses was one of the country's biggest problems, motivated
a young inventor to develop a system that can provide a
vision-impaired person with low-cost lenses in a matter
of minutes.
Mixing
Biology And Electronics To Create Robotic Vision - [Science
Daily] Sure they can crush humans at chess. But they can't
beat us at soccer -- half the time they can't even recognize
the soccer ball -- or defeat us in single combat and walk
away from the encounter.
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BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
Nano-Based
Products Starting to Have Consumer Impact - [USA Today]
For a science that's about manipulating substances at the
molecular level, nanotechnology is starting to bring big
profits to many consumer product makers.
Creating
Smart Self-Service - [Optimize] People are very frustrated
with the quality of customer service everywhere. Everyone
has stories about hours on hold or Web sites where it's
impossible to even figure out where to start. The customer-service
gap is creating a general disdain, and service foul-ups
are the stuff of jokes in late-night talk-show monologues.
How
Complexity and Clutter Can Take Over and Ruin Your Business
- [Wharton] When it comes to freedom of choice, could less
be more? Today's globally networked economies offer consumers
more power than ever before -- enabling them to compare
dozens of options and prices at the click of a mouse. But
as companies respond to such opportunities by dramatically
expanding their menus of products and services, they are
being dragged down a slippery slope of business complexity
that could eliminate the gains.
Outsource,
But Train Those Who Remain - [Chief Executive] The burgeoning
trend of outsourcing is often described in terms of how
much companies save in labor costs. Less talked about, but
equally vital, is how offshoring affects employees who remain
at home.
Managing
by Inclusion - [Darwin] Leverage the talents and skills
of your people. In other words, manage by including everyone.
When you manage in this way, you are involving people in
the process and inviting them to collaborate. Communications
can facilitate inclusion and help to build stronger working
relationships.
A-Head
of the Game - [Incentive] When managed Web hosting provider
C I Host paid a man to tattoo its logo on the back of his
head and act as a "human billboard" for the Bedford,
Texas-based company, it was widely considered a promotional
stunt.
Steve
Jobs: He Thinks Different - [Business Week] More than
anyone else, he brought digital technology to the masses.
As a visionary, he saw that computers could be much more
than drab productivity tools. Instead, they could help unleash
human creativity and sheer enjoyment. A marketing genius,
he conceived of elegant products that captured consumers'
imaginations. And as a relentless perfectionist, he came
up with creations that actually delivered on their promise
-- raising the bar for rivals.
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SOCIETY
Foreign-Student
Enrollment Declines - [CNET] New foreign-student enrollment
in U.S. graduate student programs dropped this fall, according
to two recent reports.
Privacy
Lost With the Touch of a Keystroke? - [Christian Science
Monitor] Personal info is easily accessed online -- and
privacy laws have yet to catch up.
Maasai
Change Lifestyle to Fit Modern Africa - [USA Today]
New research suggests the Maasai finally are reinventing
themselves as an urban tribe of entrepreneurs and ferocious
security guards, as they find alternative, more modern ways
of proving their prowess.
Americans
Discover Charms of Living Near Mass Transit - [USA Today]
Shifting housing demographics are stoking interest around
the USA in development near transit, according to a study
for the Federal Transit Administration released last month.
City living draws singles, aging baby boomers, minorities
and young couples more than suburban families with kids.
And those groups are growing faster than suburbanites.
Mobile
Phones Take Over in India - [BBC] Indian mobile phone
users have outnumbered fixed-line customers for the first
time, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
Evolution
Flap Flares Up in Wisconsin - [MSNBC] Grantsburg’s
school board has revised its science curriculum to allow
the teaching of creationism, prompting an outcry from more
than 300 educators who urged that the decision be reversed.
World
Population to Reach 9 Billion by 2300 - [Red Nova] Three
hundred years from now, the world's population will have
stabilized at about 9 billion and we will look forward to
living until age 95. In Japan, that bastion of longevity,
people will be hanging around until they're 106.
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GLOBAL POLITICS
Developing
Nations Must Ensure Energy Services for the Poor - [Hindu
Business Line] Many developing nations will fail to achieve
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) if they do not take
steps to ensure the availability of energy services to the
poor, UN experts on sustainable development have warned.
Russia
Retreats into Repression - [Le Monde Diplomatique] The
hostage stand-off in Beslan, North Ossetia, was called Russia’s
9/11 and the comparison is valid in an important way: Russia
can now see the world in terms of pre-Beslan and post-Beslan,
just as the United States divides time into pre-and post-9/11,
2001.
Islamic
Terrorism in Europe - [The Economist] “The jihad
has come to the Netherlands.” That was the verdict
of Jozias van Aartsen, a leading Dutch Christian Democrat,
after the violence following the murder in Amsterdam of
Theo van Gogh, a film-maker, by a Muslim radical.
The
Incredible Shrinking Country - [The Economist] The projections
vary, but most experts believe that Japan's population,
now 127.6m and barely growing, will peak some time between
next year and 2007, and then begin a long, steady slide
that will last several decades at least. Japan's Institute
of Population and Social Security Research (IPSS) forecasts
that the population will fall to somewhere between 92m and
108m by mid-century.
Fifteenth
Anniversary of the Berlin Wall's Fall - [World Press
Review] As Germany marked the 15th anniversary of the fall
of the Berlin Wall, the country's politicians took stock
of the state of the nation -- and concluded that East-West
discrepancies are still cleaving the country.
Reality
Check - [TIME Europe] By re-electing the President,
even by such a slim margin, America has provided what many
Europeans will take as definitive proof that the U.S. really
is an incomprehensible place -- and that the chasms and
fights of the past several years are likely to continue.
Globalization:
Europe's Wary Embrace - [Yale Global] Most Europeans
believe the European Union can protect them from the downsides
of globalization -- and they're right.
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ENVIRONMENT
Australia
in Grip of Water Crisis - [BBC] There is a warning that
some of Australia's major cities could run out of drinking
water.
Male
Fish Becoming Female? - [MSNBC] Researchers in Colorado
have made a startling discovery. Fish, apparently male,
are developing female sexual organs. Scientists believe
it's the result of too much estrogen in the water and they're
finding estrogen in rivers across the country.
Antarctic
Species Short of Food, Warming Cited - [MSNBC] Warmer
temperatures and disappearing sea ice in the Southern Ocean
appear to be causing food shortages that could threaten
Antarctic whales, seals and penguins, scientists said in
a study.
Energy:
Meeting Soaring Demand - [BBC] The BBC's Alex Kirby
looks at the challenge of providing the world with energy
without damaging the environment, as part of Planet Under
Pressure, a BBC series on environmental issues.
What's
Causing Bird and Amphibian Decline? - [National Geographic]
Species in the air and on the ground are in deep trouble,
according to two recent studies tallying declines in bird
and amphibian populations.
Canada
Considers Californian Emissions Model - [Platinum Today]
The Canadian automotive industry is being pressured to introduce
stringent cuts on emissions in order to meet the obligations
of the Kyoto protocol.
Pollution-Choked
Beijing Races to Clean Up Act - [Planet Ark] Improving
air quality is key to the city's huge drive to be ready
to host the 2008 summer Olympics. China, already the world's
fastest growing car and energy market, has earmarked $7
billion of its total $37 billion Olympic budget to clean
up the capital.
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THE FUTURE
Kahn's
Reality Check - [Globe and Mail] Most decision-makers
suffer from the 'tyranny of received wisdom' -- their opinions
are shaped by generally-accepted beliefs that are either
many years out of date or just plain wrong. It boils down
to a simple rule of thumb: if everyone says something is
true, go and take a second look.
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