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SCIENCE
Vaccine
Makes War on Sperm-Making Protein - [New Zealand Herald]
A contraceptive vaccine for men that temporarily blocks
male fertility has come a step closer with a study showing
it is possible to inoculate monkeys against their own sperm.
Brain
Inflammation Link to Autism - [BBC] Scientists have
produced compelling evidence that autism may in some cases
be linked to inflammation of the brain.
Mars
Gullies Likely Formed by Underground Aquifers - [space.com]
A study team is analyzing images of gullies captured by
the Mars Global Surveyor’s (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera,
adding in laser altimeter and spectrometer data taken by
the same spacecraft. They believe the gullies are the products
of shallow and deep aquifers in Mars' subsurface.
Constructing
Tree Of Life From DNA Sequences: Lab Reveals Surprising
Finding - [Science Daily] A study published in Nature
shows that the most widely used method for constructing
the tree of life from DNA sequences is prone to error. However,
a simpler method, largely abandoned in recent years, turns
out to be far more accurate.
Anniversary
Launch for 'Nanosats' - [BBC] Fifty mini-satellites
are to be sent into space to celebrate the launch of the
first such object, Sputnik 1. The "nanosats",
each weighing 1kg, will blast into orbit on board an Ariane
rocket in 2007.
Digital
Temblors: Computer Model Successfully Forecasts Earthquake
Sites - [Space.com] A Southern California earthquake
forecast based on computer models has successfully pinpointed
the location of nearly every major temblor to hit the region
over the last four years.
Ultimate
Neural Network -- A Man-Made Brain - [ISA] A living
"brain" that can fly a simulated plane is giving
scientists a novel way to observe how brain cells function
as a network. The "brain"
-- a collection of 25,000 living neurons, or nerve cells,
taken from a rat's brain and cultured inside a glass dish
-- gives scientists at the University of Florida a real-time
window into the brain at the cellular level.
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TECHNOLOGY
How
Nanotechnology Can Change the World - [ZDNet Australia]
Although it's often viewed sceptically by investors, analysts
and the general public, nanotechnology -- the art of making
products from designer molecules or components that measure
100 nanometres or less -- is rapidly taking off.
Gates
Charts Computing Future at MIT - [eWeek] Microsoft Corp.
Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates lectured
computer science students about using computing technology
to combat scourges of the present and create new opportunities
in the future, while painting a vision of a more interconnected,
integrated technology world.
A
New Type of Solar Cell - [Physics Web] Scientists in
Japan have made the first device that can convert solar
energy into electricity and then store the resulting electric
charge. The "photocapacitor" designed by Tsutomu
Miyasaka and Takurou Murakami at Toin University in Yokohama
could be used to power mobile phones and other hand-held
devices.
Robot
Tongue Gives Sweet Tastes a Licking - [ABC Online] Researchers
have created an electronic tongue that could some day help
keep people safe from spoiled or contaminated food, water
and drugs.
Robots
to Rid Us of Cockroaches - [The Australian] It behaves
like a cockroach. It smells like a cockroach. It is accepted
by other cockroaches. But it is not a cockroach. It is a
robot and scientists say its invention is a breakthrough
in mankind's struggle to control the animal kingdom.
File-Sharing
Leaps from Internet to Cellphones - [New Scientist]
Music, videos and games could soon be swapped between cellphones
using a mobile file-sharing network developed by phone maker
Nokia.
$100
PC: Is it possible? - [New Scientist] Analysts expect
1 billion PC users worldwide by 2010, up from the current
estimate of roughly 660 million users. The bulk of those
new users will be in developing nations. Devising a low-cost
PC isn't an exercise in altruism. At stake is an opportunity
to gain a foothold in what could be the biggest technology
market opportunity this century.
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BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
Invasion
of the Video Game Ads - [PC World] Although some games
already contain real ads, many still have signs promoting
imaginary companies or services. But that may not last much
longer -- two online ad networks, the type of company that
dreamed up banner ads for Web sites, promise to pump games
full of ads for cable TV shows, soft drinks, technology
products -- you name it.
Germans
May Pay for Tea Breaks - [Telegraph] In increasingly
desperate moves to reduce labour costs, German economists
are considering how employers can avoid paying workers in
cigarette and tea breaks.
Speedy
Plane Check-In by Mobile Phone Set for 2005 - [New Zealand
Herald] Passengers wanting to skip airport queues will be
able to check in for flights using their mobile phone beginning
next year, two European firms set to offer the service have
announced.
Radio
Tags Vouch for Drugs' Legitimacy - [SciTech Today] Pfizer
has decided to make Viagra one of the first medicines to
be tracked electronically from production plant to pharmacy.
Radio transmitters should lead the way in fighting drug
counterfeiting, says the FDA in a report issued earlier
this year.
Do
the Right Thing -- or Else - [Inc.] Beginning this month,
all businesses -- public and private, large and small --
will be expected to, as the guidelines put it, "promote
an organizational culture that encourages ethical conduct
and a commitment to compliance with the law."
The
Wolf at the Door - [Economist] Policymakers' usual reply
when asked about exchange rates is to say that they are
set by the market. But if the dollar was truly being set
by the market it would now be much weaker.
China's
Power Brands - [Business Week] How do you get rich in
China these days? Build a brand. That's what 35-year-old
Huang Guangyu has done. The Guangdong native started out
at 18, renting a market stall in Beijing and hawking cheap
plastic appliances. Today, his GOME Electrical Appliances
is China's top consumer-electronics chain, with well over
100 stores, $2 billion in sales, and the kind of high-plateau
brand recognition that Circuit City and Best Buy enjoy in
the U.S.
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SOCIETY
How
Lines of the Culture War have been Redrawn - [Christian
Science Monitor] Since the '60s, "the society and the
culture have moved to the left, almost consistently, over
the years, and as a result, Americans who have traditional
views on social values have become increasingly alienated
and even angry," says Larry Sabato, a political scientist
at the University of Virginia. "That has now fully
manifested itself in our politics."
Teenagers'
Mental Health is on the Decline - [IC Wales] Mental
health of teenagers has sharply declined in the last 30
years, according to a study of 15-year-olds across Britain.
Time Trends in Adolescent Mental Health, published in the
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, discovered the
chances that 15-year-olds will have behavioural problems
such as lying, stealing and being disobedient, have more
than doubled.
Amateur
Revolution - [Fast Company] Rap inflects global popular
culture from music to fashion. Linux poses a real threat
to Microsoft. The Sims is among the most popular computer
games ever. These far-flung developments
have all been driven by Pro-Ams -- committed, networked
amateurs working to professional standards. Pro-Am workers,
their networks and movements, will help reshape society
in the next two decades.
Big
Brother's Passport to Pry - [Business Week] The U.S.
is moving closer to requiring citizens to have an identity
card that could be scanned from a distance. By the end of
2005, U.S. passports will come with embedded radio-tag chips
-- and Congress is considering mandating similar technology
in driver's licenses.
Microsoft
to Spread Software through U.N. - [ZDNet India] Microsoft
signed an agreement with UNESCO to promote the use of information
technology in education in developing nations and boost
the number of languages in which its applications are offered.
Video
Phones Act as Dating Tools - [BBC] Technologies, from
e-mail, to net chatrooms, instant messaging and mobiles,
have proved to be a big pull with those looking for love.
Virus
Warning: Cyborgs at Risk - [c|net] Kevin Warwick, professor
of cybernetics at Reading University in England, is looking
forward to becoming a cyborg again. But the academic, who
has wired his nervous system up to a computer and put an
RFID chip in his arm, is also warning that the day will
come when computer viruses can infect humans as well as
PCs.
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GLOBAL POLITICS
Kurds'
Separatist Ambitions Pose Challenge to Iraq Unity -
[Boston Globe] Brigadier Rahim Mohammed Shakur's allegiance
to the Iraqi Army is about as solid as the faxed sheet of
paper he received, announcing that his Kurdish peshmerga
fighters were now regular Iraqi soldiers, under Baghdad's
command.
Iraq
is Not Bush's Vietnam. But It is Becoming Blair's -
[The Guardian] There is a long-standing British belief that
we are more robust about war, and its human cost, than are
Americans. Yet compare and contrast current national attitudes
to what is happening in Iraq. A reverse image is apparent.
The British people are very unhappy. Many Americans think
everything is going fine.
'Fault
Lines' of Radical Islam Growing
- [ABC News] "The fault lines are growing," said
Fawaz Gerges, a professor of Middle Eastern and International
Affairs at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y. "It's
not just between the Muslims and non-Muslims. It's also
within Islam itself."
'Triangle
of Death' South of Baghdad - [MSNBC] The region has
become a death zone for many Shiite Muslims, Westerners
and members of the Iraqi security services, many of whom
have become the victims of Sunni Muslim insurgents and gunmen
--some who receive bounties of several thousand dollars.
India
May Overtake the US in Global FDI Reveals A.T. Kearney Survey
- [domain-b.com] India has emerged from sixth to third most
attractive FDI location globally (displacing Mexico), closing
the gap with the US, which remained the second most attractive
FDI location after China.
China:
Tomorrow’s Leader in Electronics? - [Research and
Markets] The growth of electronics equipment production
in China has been widely described as the most fundamental
shift in the world electronics industry. Moreover, China
is the main beneficiary of the 2001-2002 crisis as its share
of the world electronics production grew from 10% in 2000
to 18% in 2003 at an amazing rate of 15.4% per year over
the period.
Aussies
to Bear Missile Shield - [Wired] President George W.
Bush's re-election and the victory of a key ally, Australian
Prime Minister John Howard, assure the continued deployment
of the United States' so-called missile shield at Australia's
Pine Gap defense facility, much to the ire of the Chinese
government.
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ENVIRONMENT
Soft
Energy Pathfinder: Who Needs Oil Anyway? - [planetsave.com]
Amory Lovins drives a hybrid that gets 64 miles per gallon
and lives in a solar-powered house that is so energy-efficient
he's able to grow bananas in an indoor jungle high in the
Colorado Rockies. Yet the 54-year-old renewable energy evangelist,
who emerged as one of the most influential energy thinkers
three decades ago during the last oil crisis, is no anti-establishment
foe of the free market.
A
Witness to Global Warming: Disturbing View from Over the
Alaska Range - [San Francisco Chronicle] The bush pilots
who do mountain flying in Alaska know exactly what is going
on. They report that many of the landing sites they formerly
used on glaciers in the 1970s are now completely unusable
because the ice is gone.
Global
Warming Could Lead to Trans-Arctic Shipping - [Axcess
News] An international group of scientists predicts the
Arctic Ocean could be largely ice-free by 2050, making trans-Arctic
shipping a common practice.
Half
of European Bird Species in Danger - [New Scientist]
Almost half of Europe’s 524 native species of bird
face an uncertain future, according to a new report, with
even the common starling becoming less common. The
survey was carried out by BirdLife International, an alliance
of conservation groups, using bird population data from
52 European countries.
World's
Longest Canal Could Solve Perth's Water Problems - [Guardian]
Western Australia is considering building the world's longest
canal to transport water from the state's tropical north
to the state capital, Perth. The 2,300-mile canal would
prevent the city of 1.3 million people from drying out as
a result of decreasing rainfall across south-western Australia
in coming years.
Water
Filters Rely on Nanotech - [Wired] A slow, methodical
transformation of the $400-billion-a-year water-management
industry is currently in progress, and nanotechnology appears
to be leading the way.
U.S.
Rejects Mexico's Effort to Limit Biotech Corn - [Seattle
Times] Mexico is trying to limit the importation of genetically
modified corn from the United States after a NAFTA watchdog
group recommended better regulation of the crop, something
U.S. officials have said is unnecessary.
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THE FUTURE
Three
Minutes With Ray Kurzweil - [PC World] Visionary tells
how biotechnology and nanotechnology will extend human life
spans into near immortality.
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