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Molecules in motion...
In a collaborative experiment, scientists
in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom have
recorded changes in real time as a dinitrogen dioxide molecule
broke into fragments. The reaction lasted only a millionth
of a millionth of a second. "You can almost see how
the electronic structure of the molecule evolves in time
the way the molecule would see it, and you can observe it
directly," researcher Hanna Reisler said on AZoNano.com.
The biological clock...
Experiments by scientists at Yale University
have shed new light on the genetics of aging. Studying the
C. elegans worm, they found that mutations reducing
function in the lin-4 gene significantly reduced lifetimes,
while over-expressing this gene led to extended lifetimes.
Mutations in the lin-14 gene had the reverse effect. Reducing
function in this gene resulted in a 31 percent longer lifespan
for the worms. There are similar genes in humans.
How cancer spreads...
Scientists in the United States have found
that cancer spreads by sending out an advance guard to prepare
new sites. Tumors mobilize normal bone marrow cells to colonize
new regions of the body and create conditions that are favorable
for cancer cells. "These nests provide attachment factors
for the tumor cells to implant...," Professor David
Lyden of Cornell University said in an MSNBC article. "It
causes them not only to bind but to proliferate. Once that
all takes place we have a fully formed metastatic site or
secondary tumor."
Space miles...
Virgin Galactic will redeem frequent flyer
miles earned on Virgin Atlantic flights for travel in space.
Members will need two million miles to take a space flight.
The company expects the service to start in 2008. Paying
passengers will be charged $200,000.
My internet...
Hitwise analyst LeeAnn Prescott says 2005
was a breakout year for consumer generated content. Citizen's
media is hot, she says, and it is fundamentally changing
the way we use the Internet MySpace ranked fourth in visitor
traffic, increasing "market share of visits" by
846 last year. Wikipedia is now the most popular reference
site on the web. Visits to Flickr grew by 1,317 percent
in 2005. Blogging has gone mainstream. Video promises to
be the next big thing, with Google and others launching
video search services, iTunes selling TV programming, and
home videos finding an enthusiastic audience. "Young
Internet users," she says, "appear to enjoy consuming
content created by their peers, and feel less of a need
to get information and entertainment from established, authoritative
sources."
Sending jobs overseas...
The Philadelphia Inquirer says offshoring
is "moving up the food chain." American companies
are now sending professional jobs to Asia it says -- jobs
in architecture, accounting, law, publishing, finance and
insurance. Three million jobs are expected to be transferred
from the United States to other countries in the next ten
years. Former secretary of labor Robert Reich says in the
article: "Any professional service that can be boiled
down to predictable steps, even if they are complicated
steps, is now exportable to South East Asia."
Opting out...
The Kansas City Star reports that
the participation rate of women in the U.S. workforce is
declining. It fell from 76.8 percent in 1999 to 75.1 percent
in the first quarter of 2005, for women in the 25-54 age
bracket. The decline appears to be greatest among college-educated
women; particularly those who are married with children
under age six, or who have husbands earning high incomes.
Columnist Donna Vestal says health may also play a role.
She says the number of women who opted out of the workforce
because they were ill or disabled increased from 12.6 to
21.9 percent during the 1990s, according to a Bureau of
Labor Statistics report.
Joining forces...
The International Herald Tribune
says China is looking to India for help in developing its
own software-services industry. China is expected to the
world's leading supplier of these services within ten years.
Indian companies are now looking to increase their presence
in China to support their European and US clients, and gain
access to the Chinese domestic market. Infosys will spend
$65 million in the next five years to create development
centers in Shanghai and Hangzhou. Satyam plans to hire 5,000
workers in China within three years. The National Association
of Software and Service Companies, based in New Delhi, says
that Indian companies will increase their investment in
China tenfold in the next three years.
Collateral damage...
Canadian scientists say five deep water
fish species may soon be extinct. Some populations fell
by 98% between 1978 and 1994 -- equivalent to a single generation.
Bottom-trawling may be to blame, the BBC says, but a recent
attempt to adopt a moratorium on the practice at the UN
General Assembly was rejected.
MSNBC reports that US commercial fisheries
kill a pound a fish in "collateral damage" for
every four pounds that are intentionally harvested. Unwanted
fish die before being thrown overboard.
David Forrest
we welcome your comments and feedback at mail@innovationwatch.com
SCIENCE
Molecular
Reaction Watched in Real Time for the First Time - [azonano.com]
A team from six research institutions in Canada, the United
States and the United Kingdom has become the first to watch
a molecule from the inside as it falls apart.
MicroRNA
Gene that Regulates Lifespan Discovered - [MedicineNews.net]
Researchers at Yale University have reported in the journal
Science, that genes that control the timing of organ formation
during development also control timing of aging and death,
and provide evidence of a biological timing mechanism for
aging.
MIT
Researcher Finds Neuron Growth In Adult Brain - [Science
Daily] Despite the prevailing belief that adult brain cells
don't grow, a researcher at MIT's Picower Institute for
Learning and Memory reports in Public Library of Science
(PLoS) Biology that structural remodeling of neurons does
in fact occur in mature brains.
Scientists
Develop Mechanism to "Switch On" Genes - [ZeeNews]
Scientists have worked out a mechanism to "switch on"
genes introduced in a plant or an animal that has the potential
for treatment of diseases like diabetes and parkinson as
also for genetic crop modification.
How
Immune Systems are Made Overzealous - [International
Herald Tribune] Researchers at the University of Massachusetts
Medical School have found that our exposure to viruses early
in life can dramatically influence how we respond to disease
later on - sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes it's
not.
Scientists
Discover How Cancer Spreads - [MSNBC] Scientists have
discovered how cancer spreads from a primary site to other
places in the body in a finding that could open doors for
new ways of treating and preventing advanced disease.
Language
in Junk DNA - [ABC] an usual collaboration between molecular
biologists, cryptoanalysists (people who break secret codes),
linguists (people who study languages) and physicists, has
found strange hints of a hidden language in so-called "junk
DNA."
TECHNOLOGY
The
Promise of the 3-D CT Scan - [US News] according to
radiologists surveyed in Chicago at the annual meeting of
the Radiological Society of North America, multislice scanning
is closing in on the point where it could replace procedures
long employed for evaluating the heart, colon, lungs, and
other parts of the body for disease.
Spintronics
Generating Excitement in Tech World - [EE Times] Spintronics
-- the new technology wherein both the charge and spin of
an electron is used to carry information -- is generating
much excitement in the technology world for its potential
in a wide range of applications.
Chicken
Implants Would Warn of Avian Flu Fever - [Live Science]
Digital Angel, which manufactures microchips for implantation
in animals, has proposed using biothermal RFID chips in
chickens as an early warning system for the avian flu.
NEC
Develops Razor-Thin Battery - [Computerworld] Engineers
at Japan's NEC Corp. have developed a flexible battery that
is less than a millimeter thick and can be charged in half
a minute, the company said.
Cyborg
Suits Strut the Catwalk - [Wired] It's been 10 years
since Alex "Sandy" Pentland's graduate students
began strolling around the MIT campus looking like cyborgs,
straining under the weight of bulky "wearable"
computers and heavy-duty eyeglasses with built-in displays.
Now Pentland is taking a lighter approach to the problem
of melding man and machine, collaborating with haute couture
designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier on cyborg-inspired
fashions built from so-called smart fabrics.
It's
Life, But Not as We Know It - [The Age] Ten years ago
it took an hour to fly from Melbourne to Sydney. Now it's
an hour and a half. "That's not because the planes
got slower, it's because of air-traffic control," says
Professor Peter Lindsay, director of the Australian Research
Council's Centre for Complex Systems. He
believes that if aircraft can be made to flock, similar
to birds, it would drastically improve air-traffic management.
Wireless:
Creating Internet of 'Things' - [International Herald
Tribune] Miniaturization, the ubiquity of consumer electronics
and the global Internet are speeding up the creation of
a worldwide "network of things," where cars, phones,
turnstiles - even books and clothing - know about us: who
we are, where we are, what we are doing.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
Frequent
Flyer Miles Good for Space Travel - [Space.com] Frequent
flyer miles will for the first time be good beyond this
planet, based on a new offering from Virgin Atlantic airways
and its space-related sister company Virgin Galactic.
Podcasting
Drifts Towards Radio's Mainstream - [Sidney Morning
Herald] IF YOU still think podcasting is a quirky or hip
pastime for geeks and trendsetters, have a chat to a few
radio networks.
Generation
Y: They've Arrived at Work with a New Attitude - [USA
Today] They're young, smart, brash. They may wear flip-flops
to the office or listen to iPods at their desk. They want
to work, but they don't want work to be their life.
The
Year in Consumer Generated Content - [iMedia Connection]
Hitwise's senior research analyst takes a look at the trends
that made 2005 a breakout year for citizen's media.
Ecosystems:
Virtual is Now Reality - [The Age] VIRTUAL ecosystems
are reshaping business and society. These ecosystems, built
around social networks, are everywhere, from reality TV
to blogs, from live webcam feeds to wikis -- collaborative
websites that are not just for encyclopedias like Wikipedia.
Detroit
Gets a Glimpse of What's Coming from China - [domain-b.com]
Detroit got its first taste of the Chinese automobile industry
Tuesday, as Geely Automobile Company announced plans to
sell a small under-$10,000 sedan, the CK, in the United
States by 2008.
Offshoring
Affects More Complex U.S. Jobs - [Philadelphia Inquirer]
The practice of transferring American jobs to lower-cost
countries, called offshoring, is moving up the food chain.
It's no longer just software programming and help desks
that are being sent to India and elsewhere in Asia.
SOCIETY
Victims
of Globalization's Seamy Side - [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Women and girls are bought and sold through the same doors
opened for legitimate trade.
New
Urban Lifestyle Lures India's Rural Poor - [International
Herald Tribune] At least 28 percent of India's population
lives in cities and many more of its citizens move in and
out of them for temporary work. In some southern states,
nearly half the population is in cities.
Anxieties
Define Generation Y - [Boston Globe] The college student
of 2005 is part of what has come to be called the Y Generation.
Born between 1977 and 1994, they are the children of parents
who make up the tail end of the baby boomer generation;
as a result, they are also called the ''Echo" generation.
There are an estimated 60 million ''Echoes," making
them a considerable force within the country as they head
into adulthood.
UM
Study to Gauge Benefits of Social Networks Amid Disaster
- [Clarion-Ledger] Did churchgoers make out better after
Hurricane Katrina than those who sleep in on Sunday? What
about folks with lots of friends and family vs. those with
no real ties to the communities they lived in? A group of
social scientists at the University of Mississippi is trying
to find out.
Immune
from Offshoring - [MercuryNews] Globalization and the
rise of a tech economy worldwide often lead to images of
Silicon Valley engineers and software developers being outsourced
or offshored. But the analog engineer, long in high demand,
is enjoying even more of a heyday as the world goes digital.
They're largely immune from offshoring.
More
Women Opt Out of Work, But Why? - [Kansas City Star]
Women have been coming and going from the workplace for
decades. But in the last five years, the labor force participation
rate of 25- to 54-year-old women has gone through its biggest
sustained decline in more than 50 years.
China
Mandates Jail in Gender Cases - [Science Daily] China
is trying to stop abortion of female fetuses by mandating
jail for anyone who helps prospective parents learn their
baby's sex before birth.
GLOBAL POLITICS
Russian
Energy and Asia - [UPI] Russia may account for less
than 1 percent of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation region
trade, but it is the country that will fuel the economic
growth of many of its Pacific Rim neighbors.
Tier
III Cities: The Next Location for IT Offshoring - [Deccan
Herald] Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Indore, Kolkata and Nagpur,
the Tier III cities in India are best positioned to emerge
as major centres for offshoring activities by IT companies
over the next five years, according to a recent Jones Lang
LaSalle report.
Americans
Less Enchanted as Sole Superpower - [MSNBC] Americans’
appetite for world leadership has waned significantly since
before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, with more than two-fifths
saying the United States should mind its own business, according
to a major new survey.
Reluctantly,
India Fosters a Rival - [International Herald Tribune]
China is courting Indian expertise and investment to help
build its own software-services industry and reduce the
influence of giants like International Business Machines
and Hewlett-Packard in its domestic market. Indian companies
are swallowing their reluctance to train rivals because
they can't afford to miss out on a market that may be the
world's largest within 10 years.
For
China, Brain Drain Key to Brain Gain - [Express India]
Unlike India which has been wringing its hands over the
‘‘brain drain’’, the Chinese have systematically
encouraged their best to acquire valuable expertise abroad
-- and then wooed them back to set up businesses or work
in top government posts. Often, at the expense of western
universities.
The
Brain-Drain Cycle - [The Economist] Some central European
countries, especially Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, are
worried that too many of their best people are leaving for
higher pay and a better life.
Satellite
Launch Puts EU on Own Course - [International Herald
Tribune] The European Union launched the first test satellite
aimed at reducing Europe's reliance on American navigation
technology, as part of a multi-billion euro program that
analysts say marks an important waypoint in the evolution
of a multi-polar world.
ENVIRONMENT
Scientists
Decry Fishing’s Collateral Damage - [MSNBC] Commercial
fisheries in the United States kill a pound of fish for
every four pounds intentionally caught, jeopardizing efforts
to restore some struggling stocks, scientists said.
'Critical
Danger' Warning on Fish - [BBC] Deep sea fish species
in the northern Atlantic are on the brink of extinction,
new research suggests.
In
Asia, A Hot Market For Carbon - [Business Week] On the
outskirts of Bangkok, generators fueled by methane from
swine manure make electricity. In China's Inner Mongolia,
wind farms are sprouting up along the breezy steppes. In
India's Andhra Pradesh state, villagers power their tractors
with a cleaner-burning diesel substitute pressed from seeds
of the mighty honge tree.
China
Investing $3B to Clean Up River - [chron.com] China
will invest more than $3 billion over the next five years
to clean up the Songhua River, a key source of drinking
water for tens of millions of people that was polluted in
November by a toxic spill that flowed into Russia.
Nano
World: Nano-Sponges for Toxic Metals - [UPI] Microscopic
particles honeycombed with holes only nanometers wide soon
could help purify industrial runoff, coal plant smoke, crude
oil and drinking water of toxic metals, experts told UPI's
Nano World.
Pollution
has Heavy Impact on Grain Output - [China Daily] China's
farm produce growing areas are suffering from water, soil
and atmospheric pollution which is reducing the nation's
grain output by approximately 40 billion kilograms every
year, Chinese agriculture experts estimate.
Devastating
Drought Hits Amazon Basin - [Times of India] The Amazon
River basin, the world's largest rain forest, is grappling
with a devastating drought that in some areas is the worst
since record keeping began a century ago.
THE FUTURE
State
of the World 2006: China and India Hold World in Balance
(Worldwatch Institute) - The dramatic rise of China and
India presents one of the gravest threats -- and greatest
opportunities -- facing the world today, says the Worldwatch
Institute in its State of the World 2006 report. The choices
these countries make in the next few years will lead the
world either towards a future beset by growing ecological
and political instability -- or down a development path
based on efficient technologies and better stewardship of
resources.
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