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Living longer...
Science News reports that antioxidants
have now been proven to increase life span in mice. Researchers
at the University of Washington genetically engineered three
strains of mice to produce additional catalase antioxidant.
In each strain, catalase was directed to a different location
in the cell: to the peroxisomes -- the normal cell location;
to the cell nucleus; or to the mitochondria. Mice with extra
antioxidant in their mitochondria lived about 5 months longer
than their counterparts, which had a normal 3-year life
span. The long-lived mice not only had an extended life
span -- they stayed healthy longer.
Changing the code...
Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute
have created a new system that replicates artificial DNA
containing three base pairs. While the system is more error
prone than replication of the double-stranded DNA that occurs
in nature, it is the first time artificial DNA has been
replicated with any fidelity. According to Innovations
Report, the Institute is still working on improvements.
Flying close to the Sun...
Venus is a harsh place for interplanetary
explorers, destroying every probe and lander sent from the
Earth. However, New Scientist says a solar-powered
aircraft could provide the answer. Since Venus's atmosphere
is dense, the plane could fly effortlessly, and indefinitely,
using solar panels to power its flight. Staying in the upper
atmosphere, where the temperature is a relatively balmy
100 C, it would house the electronics required to control
a rover. The ground vehicle would be engineered to withstand
more extreme temperatures, reaching 450 C on the planet's
surface, 50 kilometers below.
Boomer bust...
Jeremy Siegal -- professor of finance at
the Wharton School -- says that when boomers retire and
sell their assets, the result may be a market meltdown.
Only a massive influx of capital from India, China and other
countries will save the situation, he believes. The Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette quotes from his new book, The Future
for Investors. "By the middle of this century,"
Siegal says, "I believe the Chinese, Indians and other
investors from these young countries will gain majority
ownership in most of the large global corporations."
A new kind of city...
The San Francisco Chronicle says
the world has created a new kind of metropolis -- ephemeral
cities -- and San Francisco is one of them. Writer Joel
Kotkin describes these places as, "No longer populated
mainly by middle class families and a diverse set of industries,"
but instead "...dominated by a wealthy elite, part-time
sojourners, hordes of tourists and those that serve them."
Business, he says, has largely moved to suburbia. Families,
too, are leaving. San Francisco has the lowest percentage
of children in the United States.
China's borders...
Business opportunities may overcome the
political differences between Taiwan and China, Business
Week says. Taiwanese companies have invested $100 billion
in the mainland in the past two decades, and China buys
three-quarters of the island's exports. Pro-business interests
dominated in the last Taiwanese election, and Taiwanese
executives are becoming more openly critical of the Democratic
Progressive Party that favors independence. "For the
true picture of what's happening in this controversy,"
the magazine says, "forget the rhetoric from both sides
and just follow the money."
The BBC reports that China and India have
signed an historic agreement to resolve the dispute over
their 3,550 kilometer Himalayan border. Both have relinquished
claims to land they previously argued was occupied by the
other. They have jointly set a target for $30 billion in
additional annual trade by 2010, and may look to establish
closer ties in science and technology. The article quotes
Chinese premier Wen Jiabao, "If India and China cooperate
in the IT industry, we will be able to lead the world...
and it will signify the coming of the Asian century of the
IT industry."
Scratch and sniff...
Allergies have increased almost five percent
per decade in the last 25 years, according to British researchers.
They based their findings on tissue samples collected since
the 1970s. While there has been much anecdotal evidence
that allergic reactions are increasing, no-one yet knows
why.
Future evolution...
In a futuristic feature article, MSNBC speculates
on the genetic fate of humankind. Diversity could be reduced
as our gene pool continues to converge, some scientists
say, so we increasingly become an "animal monoculture."
Alternatively, epidemics and environmental catastrophes
could create new species. Genetic engineering and enhancement
could produce a "new kind of human." And Homo
sapiens could merge in the future with intelligent machines.
We might even travel to other planets, the writer says,
growing "new branches on our evolutionary family tree."
David Forrest
we welcome your comments and feedback at mail@innovationwatch.com
SCIENCE
Monitoring
Program Finds Serious, Unreported Adverse Drug Reactions
- [Science Daily] A monitoring program developed by a Northwestern
University researcher has successfully identified a large
number of previously unknown, serious and often-fatal drug
reactions associated with 15 commonly used drugs, including
Plavix®, thalidomide and drug-coated cardiac stents.
Long
Live the Mammals: Antioxidant Redirection Extends Mouse
Life Span - [Science News] Cranking up the amount of
antioxidants naturally produced in the body and directing
those molecules to where they're needed can dramatically
slow the aging process, according to a new study in mice.
The finding adds credence to the controversial idea that
antioxidants can extend life in people and other mammals.
Universe
Reveals Its Dark Side - [Physics World] Evidence for
dark matter is growing, and so are our chances of directly
detecting it.
Jefferson
Scientists Create Plant Factories Churning Out Antibodies
Against Tumor Cells - [Science Daily] Scientists at
Jefferson Medical College are using tobacco plants to produce
monoclonal antibodies -- tiny guided protein missiles --
that can target and hunt down cancer cells. The plants promise
to provide a cheaper, faster method of producing anticancer
antibodies, raising hopes that the technology can one day
be used in humans.
Noisy
Pictures Tell a Story of 'Entangled' Atoms, Physicists Find
- [Science Daily] Patterns of noise -- normally considered
flaws -- in images of an ultracold cloud of potassium provide
the first-ever visual evidence of correlated ultracold atoms,
a potentially useful tool for many applications, according
to physicists at JILA, a joint institute of the National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University
of Colorado at Boulder.
Testing
Blood to Track History - [Wired] The Genographic Project
will collect 100,000 blood samples from indigenous populations
and analyze their DNA. Through this project, researchers
hope to answer questions about where the aborigines of Australia
came from, or whether it's true that Alexander the Great
fathered the blue-eyed blondes who have been in Afghanistan
for more than 2,000 years.
DNA
With Three Base Pairs - A Step Towards Expanding the
Genetic Code - [Innovations Report] Scientists at The Scripps
Research Institute in La Jolla, California reported progress
toward the creation of a system for replicating a modified
form of DNA containing an unnatural base pair.
TECHNOLOGY
To
Conquer Venus, Try a Plane with a Brain - [New Scientist]
Space scientists in the US believe a solar-powered aircraft
could explore the atmosphere of the second rock from the
sun, and carry a flying "brain" to control a toughened
rover on the ground.
Put
a Chip in It! - [Inc.] Someday, anthropologists will
cluck over the fact that even into the early 21st century
Americans had to wave at waiters and bartenders if they
wanted a refill on their beer. That's because a research
laboratory run by Mitsubishi has developed the world's first
"smart" beer mug. It's equipped with a dishwasher-safe
microchip in the bottom that senses when the glass is down
to dregs and sends a distress signal.
Word's
Open-Source Competition - [Wired] The latest version
of the free OpenOffice suite promises to be a strong competitor
to Microsoft Office. It's still in beta, but it's already
a good alternative -- and you can't argue with the price.
Wal-Mart
Tests Robots for Blind Shoppers - [CIO Insight] Wal-Mart
started quietly testing a university-created robot designed
to help visually impaired consumers navigate store aisles
and find their desired products. The robot -- named RG,
for Robotic Guide -- is the creation of Vladimir Kulyukin,
an assistant professor of computer science at Utah State
University and the director of the university's Computer
Science Assistive Technology Laboratory.
Deciphering
DNA, Top Speed - [Technology Review] The sequencing
of the human genome is one of biotech’s greatest technical
achievements to date. But some biomedical researchers argue
that they won’t truly understand how genes contribute
to health and disease— and so won’t be able to
turn genomic knowledge into new cures and treatments—until
they can compare, letter by letter, the DNA sequences of
thousands of sick and healthy people.
Using
Lasers to Play Old-Fashioned Records - [ABC News] With
an estimated 30 billion platters of vinyl still in the hands
of audiophiles, collectors and die-hard music fans today,
old-fashioned records haven't exactly faded away. And now
a small Japanese company called ELP believes it can bring
old school albums a new spin at life -- thanks in part,
to CD technology.
NASA
Receives Proposal for Next Spaceship - [MSNBC] The future
of human space transportation, not only into Earth orbit,
but also back to the moon and on to Mars, kick-started this
week as NASA received contractor proposals for the Crew
Exploration Vehicle.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
The
Supply Chain of the 21st Century - [Supply & Demand
Chain] There is great value in harnessing the power of supply
chain ecosystems to drive growth and efficiency in a business.
Applying ecosystem principles helps businesses create and
master this "chain of chains" that envelops the
multi-enterprise scope of the company's suppliers and customers
to function as one synchronized unit.
As
Boomers Retire, a Debate: Will Stock Prices Get Crushed?
- [Post-Gazette] Jeremy Siegel, the Wharton School finance
professor, is warning that a flood of boomer retirees with
trillions of dollars of assets to sell over the next 20
to 40 years threatens to crush stock and bond prices. He
says it will take a massive investment in US stocks by people
in India, China and other developing countries to prevent
a market meltdown.
Start-Up
Composes a 'Music Genome' - [Boston Globe] Savage Beast
Technologies Inc., a five-year-old software start-up, is
busy building a ''music genome" to identify the world's
recorded music according to vocal, lyrical, melodic, harmonic,
and instrumental attributes. The results are fed into a
massive database to spit out recommendations for music-loving
shoppers at Best Buy, Borders, AOL, and other retailers
that license Savage Beast technology.
Today's
Grads Do Work Hard, On Their Own Terms - [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]
Young people today can and do work very hard. It's just
that it's more on their own terms. They want great jobs
in great companies. They want jobs where they can make an
impact, where their skills and knowledge will be put to
the test in organizations that are driven by leading-edge
thinking.
Ads
That Know What You Want - [Wired] Targeted marketing
is nothing new in the online world, as anyone who's ever
received personalized book recommendations from Amazon.com
can attest. However, by recording peoples' movements over
networks of web properties rather than just individual sites,
some marketers are betting that they will be able to improve
response rates to online ad campaigns dramatically.
Check
into the 'Hotel of Tomorrow' - [USA Today] Scenarios
for the hotel room of 2025 that emerged at brainstorming
sessions of five dozen high-level lodging designers, suppliers
and others from inside and outside the industry.
'Homeshoring'
Means That Call Center Might Be in Someone's Bedroom
- [Seattle Post-Intelligencer] The move to home-based agents,
working from bedrooms and kitchen tables across the country,
started as a trickle in the late 1990s. But it is picking
up speed as a low-cost alternative to traditional call centers.
SOCIETY
Language:
Empires of the Word by Nicholas Ostler - [Sunday Times]
The scope of Ostler’s book is almost preposterously
ambitious: the “language history of the world”
is, after all, pretty much synonymous with the human habitation
of the world, and, although Ostler approaches his grand
theme from the point of view of an expert in languages and
linguistics, he doesn’t stint his duties as a historian
of military, social, religious and even agricultural history.
India's
Poverty: Help the Poor Help Themselves - [International
Herald Tribune] While India's growth makes it an economic
and political player to watch in the next decades, the country
remains desperately poor. Almost a quarter of India's 1.1
billion people live on less than $1 a day; 700 million more
live on less than $2 a day. Can India ever overcome its
huge poverty problem? It depends on what strategy the country
takes.
The
Ephemeral City - [San Francisco Chronicle] San Francisco
today represents the ultimate expression of a new kind of
urban area -- the ephemeral city. This urban form, dominated
by the nomadic rich, the restless young and those living
off them, has emerged across the advanced industrial world,
but perhaps nowhere more clearly and arguably nowhere more
successfully than in the city by the bay.
Flat
World Fatigue: Globalization Breeds Interminable Work Day
- [Seattle Times] Even the most unapologetic globalization
proponents nevertheless acknowledge that offshoring has
resulted in longer, stranger hours for white-collar workers
in the United States. Some business experts worry that the
trend could result in massive burnout if offshoring isn't
properly managed.
State
Bill to Limit RFID - [Wired] While civil libertarians
battle the federal government's decision to embed RFID chips
in new U.S. passports, a California bill is moving swiftly
through the state legislature that would make it illegal
for state agencies and other bodies to use the technology
in state identification documents.
Goal:
Educate World's Kids With $100 PCs - [Christian Science
Monitor] A cheap laptop in the hands of every child in the
developing world. It's the kind of dream reminiscent of
the dotcom fervor of the 1990s - and a personal goal of
Nicholas Negroponte since the 1980s. But only recently has
the funding been secured to move forward on his goal: a
portable computer that can survive excessive dust and 130-degree
days, recharge itself in villages with no power, and hook
up to the Internet when the nearest server is hundreds of
miles away. The cost? No more than $100.
State
to Ban Bosses Snooping on Emails - [The Australian]
Employers will face criminal charges if they illegally spy
on workers' emails under legislation introduced in NSW parliament.
NSW is the first state to move on "tech snooping",
with Victoria and South Australia understood to be considering
similar legislation.
GLOBAL POLITICS
China
Bristles at Textile Trade Backlash - [Washington Post]
Chinese officials argue that their country is the scapegoat
for the inevitable demise of American manufacturing: If
American closets were not full of Chinese-made clothes,
they would instead be occupied by goods from some other
developing country.
What
If the British Vote No? - [Foreign Affairs] If ratified,
the new EU constitution will change the way the union works.
It cannot take effect unless approved by all 25 members,
but in only one country -- the United Kingdom -- do polls
show that a majority oppose the document. Still, a rejection
there would throw Europe into a constitutional crisis. And
it could ultimately harm transatlantic relations as well.
China
and India Sign Border Deal - [BBC] India and China have
signed an agreement in Delhi aimed at resolving a long-running
dispute over their Himalayan border.
Safeguarding
Russian Freedoms - [The Globalist] Russia’s President
Vladimir Putin has been strongly criticized for a rollback
of economic and political rights in his country. Where does
Mr. Putin see Russia heading in the future -- both economically
and politically? We present his key points in this Globalist
Document based on his Annual Address to the Federal Assembly.
China
Walks Nationalist Tightrope - [BBC] Beijing has moved
to stem anti-Japan rallies after having been happy to let
them rage through several Chinese cities last month. It
has shut down nationalist websites, detained dissidents
and sent out text messages warning against illegal demonstrations.
A
Tough Road in Curbing Spread of Nuclear Arms - [Christian
Science Monitor] As representatives of 189 nations gather
in New York to try to stop the spread of nuclear weapons,
the world's nuclear haves and have nots are ratcheting up
threats accompanying a month-long review of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
China's
New Taiwan Tack - [Business Week] What if the long struggle
to preserve Taiwan's tenuous independence from China were
scuttled not by a military confrontation but by a thundering
herd of Taiwanese businessmen tripping over each other to
pump more billions into mainland plants for making chips
and liquid-crystal displays? It's not a far-fetched worry.
Taiwanese companies have invested some $100 billion in the
mainland over the past two decades, and these days China
buys three-quarters of Taiwan's exports.
ENVIRONMENT
Allergies
On Rise, 25-year Study Shows - [CBC] For decades, people
have suspected seasonal allergies are becoming more common.
Now some tissue samples confirm the 25-year trend to more
sneezes and itchy eyes.
Fishing
Gear Awarded for Saving Marine Life - [MSNBC] Three
designs for fishing gear that doesn't trap sea turtles,
birds and other so-called "bycatch" took the top
prizes in a competition held by the World Wildlife Fund
and several partners.
Ethanol
Grows as Gas Alternative - [Wired] Workers are clearing
Iowa fields, hoping that if they build it, cars will come.
The "it" is a processing plant that turns corn
into ethanol, a fuel that is increasingly replacing gasoline
today and may help to power the fuel-cell vehicles of tomorrow.
Peak
Oil Slowly Seeping into National Conciousness - [EV
World] Until recently, peak-oil analysts got about as much
respect from the energy establishment as do perpetual-motion
enthusiasts. But now, with oil prices headed for uncharted
territory and even Saudi Arabia seemingly unable to boost
production to higher levels, the peak oil idea -- which
says that world oil production will go into irreversible
decline sometime in the the next decade or two -- is quickly
morphing into conventional wisdom.
Ocean
Tells the Story: Earth is Heating Up - [BBC] New temperature
readings from the deep ocean trace a clear warming trend
that seems impossible to turn around any time soon, scientists
reported, promising a steadily warming world and raising
the odds of a catastrophic sudden change marked by rising
seas and melting icecaps.
NASA's
Exploration Focus Blamed for Earth Science Cuts - [Space
News] NASA merged its Earth science and space science programs
into a single organization, the Science Mission Directorate,
in 2004 and no longer maintains separate budgets for the
two activities. But according to a House Science Committee
analysis of NASA's budget request, of the $5.47 billion
included for the Science Mission Directorate, only $1.36
billion would be spent on Earth science activities, a drop
of 8 percent below the 2005 level and 12 percent less than
the 2004 level.
Environmentalists
Crank Up Heat On Utilities - [ENN] Turning up the heat
on publicly traded power companies that are contributing
to global warming, the National Environmental Trust recently
compiled a list of the industry's top 50 greenhouse gas
producers.
THE FUTURE
Human
Evolution at the Crossroads - [MSNBC] Scientists are
fond of running the evolutionary clock backward, using DNA
analysis and the fossil record to figure out when our ancestors
stood erect and split off from the rest of the primate evolutionary
tree. But the clock is running forward as well. So where
are humans headed?
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