Issue no. 39, 2008
Published: Dec 05, 2008 |
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 Europe to pay royalties for cancer gene |
| First superconducting transistor promises PC revolution |
| New domain to be web's phone book |
| World 'must tackle space threat' |
| IBM offers a 'Microsoft-free' desktop |
| Invention: Supersonic hurricane neutraliser |
| Renewable energy source inspired by fish |
| Researchers work on developing sign language for cell phones |
| New fabric can wipe away toxic chemicals |
| Greener glass with help of bacteria |
| A design for cheaper wind power |
| Sharing the browser |
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| Europe to pay royalties for cancer gene |
It has been one of the toughest, and most impenetrable, biological
patent cases in the history of the European Patent Office. But the
University of Utah in Salt Lake City has finally won its battle to keep
some European patents on BRCA1 - a gene associated with breast and
ovarian cancer.
The ruling means that the patent owners now have the right to collect
royalties on tests carried out on tens of thousands of women across
Europe every year. The tests identify those who have a high risk of
developing breast cancer because they have a mutated BRCA1.
Clinical geneticists do not agree with monopolies on diagnostic testing
of genes for such diseases because they believe they block the
competition that could lead to the development of better, cheaper
products.
The patent owners have chosen to pay the fees needed to maintain the
patent only in large European countries. It will not apply in Belgium,
for instance, but it is applicable in neighbouring France and the
Netherlands, where testing could now start to cost a lot more. |
| Nature
Dec 02, 2008 |
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| First superconducting transistor promises PC revolution |
The world's first superconducting transistor, a long-standing goal for
applied physicists, could lead to dramatically faster microchips.
Last year researchers at the University of Geneva in Switzerland grew a
single crystal containing two metal oxides, strontium titanate and
lanthanum aluminate, as separate segments. At the interface of these
materials, the team found a layer of free electrons called an electron
gas. At 0.3 kelvin - just above absolute zero - these electrons flow
without resistance and so create a superconductor.
Now the same group says it can switch this superconductivity on and off
by applying a voltage to the interface. The result is a superconducting
version of the field effect transistor (FET) - a mainstay of digital
electronics. The team can switch the superconductivity on and off by
applying a voltage
The speed at which a conventional FET can switch is limited by the
resistance of its semiconductor channel, which creates heat. Higher
speeds create more heat until eventually the device burns out. That is
why a superconducting FET could run much faster. The researchers say
that computers using such transistors would be much faster than the
gigahertz speeds currently available. |
| New Scientist
Dec 03, 2008 |
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| New domain to be web's phone book |
The latest sponsored top-level domain (TLD) to be given ICANN approval
officially launched this week. The .tel domain differs from other TLDs
in that it links directly to content and information stored on the
Domain Name Server rather than storing IP addresses for web servers.
Registry firm Telnic hopes that the new domain will compete with
directory enquiry services by building up an internet directory of
business and individual user contact information. It will allow domain
name holders to publish contact details, links and keywords to the
internet under their own domain in real time, in a format that can be
viewed on any device and only by those given permission to do so.
Access to the domain is being granted in three phases. The first began
on 3 December and is the 'sunrise' phase for trademark owners to get
domains related to their brands. The second phase begins on 3 February
2009 and is a 'landrush' phase open to anyone though domains will be on
sale at a premium. The final general availability phase starts on 24
March 2009 when the domain will be open to all comers. |
| BBC News / VNUnet UK
Dec 03, 2008 |
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| World 'must tackle space threat' |
The international community must work together to tackle the threat of
asteroids colliding with Earth, a leading UN scientist says. Professor
Richard Crowther's comments come as a group of space experts called for
a co-ordinated science-led response to the asteroid threat. The
Association of Space Explorers (ASE) says missions to intercept
asteroids will need global approval.
In the ASE report, the group of scientists and former astronauts point
to the historical record to highlight the dangers of asteroids; an
impact 65 million years ago may have wiped out the dinosaurs, and the
Tunguska impact in 1908 produced a 2,000 sq km fire in Siberia, big
enough to engulf a city the size of New York.
They say the next major threatening event could occur in less than 20
years. Asteroid Apophis is due to pass close to the Earth and analyses
suggest a one in 45,000 chance of a collision. An impact by Apophis
would generate the equivalent of a 500 megatonne blast, at least 100
times more powerful than the Siberian event.
The researchers propose several ways of avoiding a collision, the most
extreme methods being to crash a spacecraft into the asteroid to knock
it off course, or to set off a nuclear explosion. They say the earlier
the threat is dealt with, the less drastic the course of action need be.
The UN will meet in February to discuss the issue. |
| BBC News
Dec 02, 2008 |
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| IBM offers a 'Microsoft-free' desktop |
IBM wants corporate customers to cut the cord with Microsoft. The
company is launching a Linux-based collection of virtual desktop
applications that run on a server without the need for desktop hardware
- or Microsoft software. The Linux-based software package runs on a
back-office server and is accessible to customers on thin clients.
The Virtual Linux Desktop ranges in price from USD 59 to USD 289 per
user, depending on level of software and service desired. IBM estimates
the software package could save corporate customers up to USD 800 per
user when compared with the cost of maintaining Microsoft's Vista
operating system, Office suite, and collaboration tools.
IBM is counting on the prevalent economic pressures to help make its
'Microsoft-free' suite more appealing. |
| CNET News / Wall Street Journal
Dec 03, 2008 |
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| Invention: Supersonic hurricane neutraliser |
Each year, hurricanes or typhoons may cause billions of dollars' worth
of damage and a large number of fatalities. It would be hugely
significant if we could find an effective way of reducing the
destructive power of these storms, which convert heat energy from warm
oceans into damaging kinetic energy in the atmosphere.
Now researchers at the University of Akron in Ohio say that the complex
air flows and other atmospheric 'machinery' that produce this prodigious
power are surprisingly delicate. In a patent application, they say that
they can put a spanner in the atmospheric works by flying supersonic jet
aircraft in concentric circles around a hurricane's eye, the calm area
around which the storm rotates. The idea is that the sonic-boom
shockwave would dramatically raise air pressure in the eye, disrupting
the upward flow of warm air that drives the hurricane.
But how many planes would you need? Sonic booms spread out as they
travel away from an aircraft, so even a small number of relatively small
aircraft could do the job, the researchers say. Two F-4 jet fighters
flying at approximately Mach 1.5 would be sufficient to suppress,
mitigate and/or destroy a typical sized hurricane/typhoon, they claim in
their application. |
| New Scientist
Dec 01, 2008 |
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| Renewable energy source inspired by fish |
An engineer in the US has built a machine that can harness energy from
the slow-moving currents found in oceans and rivers around the world. By
exploiting the vortices that fish use to propel themselves forward, the
device could provide a new kind of reliable, affordable and
environmentally friendly energy source.
Turbines and water mills can generate electricity from flowing water,
but can only do so in currents with speeds of around 8-10 km/h if they
are to operate efficiently. Unfortunately, most of the currents found in
nature move at less than 3 km/h. The new device is called VIVACE, which
stands for vortex induced vibrations for aquatic clean energy, and its
inventor claims it can operate in such slow-moving flows.
The prototype exists as an aluminium cylinder suspended by a pair of
springs inside a tank, which contains water that flows across the
cylinder at around 2 km/h. The device does not convert the energy of the
flow directly into electricity but instead exploits the vortices that
form on opposite sides of any rounded object placed in a flow. As such,
it works like a moving fish. VIVACE remains in a fixed position in the
water but is pushed and pulled by the vortices on either side, and these
vibrations are then converted into electrical energy. |
| PhysicsWorld
Nov 28, 2008 |
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| Researchers work on developing sign language for cell phones |
Texting over your cell phone works fine to instruct, remind or arrange a
meet time. If you want company or context, however, you use it the
old-fashioned way and speak. It's no different for the deaf and
hard-of-hearing who sign. Texting works, but they want conversation,
company and context.
That has spurred University of Washington researchers to work on
developing software with processing power great enough to support
real-time, two-way video on cell phones that allow signing
communication. Supported mainly by grants from the National Science
Foundation, the team plans to conduct further field studies on the
device, called MobileASL (American Sign Language), next year.
The main obstacle is low data-transmission rates on US cellular networks
and limited processing power on mobile devices. That has prevented
real-time video transmission with enough frames per second that it could
be used to transmit sign language. People are already able to use sign
language effectively in Japan and Sweden because of higher bandwidth
networks. As a way around the limits, researchers have employed
video-compression technology that devotes more 'bits' on what is
important in sign language - the face and hands - while allocating fewer
bits on the rest of the image. |
| Physorg / Seattle Times
Dec 03, 2008 |
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| New fabric can wipe away toxic chemicals |
A new dry wipe can clean up chemical agents such as mustard gas, giving
soldiers a more convenient way to deal with toxic materials on the
battlefield, according to researchers at Texas Tech University in
Lubbock.
The wipe was developed in response to a call by the US military for
better ways to decontaminate military personnel and equipment.
In tests using mustard gas and other toxic chemicals, the wipe
outperformed 30 different materials, including some currently used in
military decontamination kits.
The dry wipe has an activated carbon core sandwiched between an
absorbent layer on the top and bottom. It is meant to replace loose
particle cleaners currently used by the military. |
| Reuters / Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
Dec 03, 2008 |
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| Greener glass with help of bacteria |
Researchers at the University of Duisberg-Essen in Germany have
discovered a bacterial enzyme that creates a key raw material for making
acrylic glass and acrylic paints. This enzyme could provide a new
pathway to producing acrylics without using fossil fuels or generating
much toxic waste.
While bacteria have been used to create various plastics before, this is
the first time scientists have discovered a biosynthetic pathway to
making acrylic glass - the clear, durable plastic often used as a
shatter-resistant alternative to glass. Acrylic glass is made by
polymerising methyl methacrylate, or MMA, in baths of methyacrylic acid,
a highly corrosive chemical solvent. The MMA is derived from
petrochemicals. As a result, large amounts of fossil fuels are used, and
toxic byproducts are left over.
The newly discovered enzyme produces 2-HIBA, which is turned into
acrylic glass after a series of simple organic-chemistry reactions.
Sugar, alcohols, or fatty acids feed the bacteria, which then use the
enzyme to make the plastic precursor. Another benefit is that the enzyme
may help avoid the use of chemical solvents. |
| Technology Review
Dec 04, 2008 |
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| A design for cheaper wind power |
US company FloDesign Wind Turbine has developed a wind turbine that
could generate electricity at half the cost of conventional turbines.
The company recently raised USD 6m in its first round of venture
financing and has announced partnerships with wind-farm developers.
The company's design, which draws on technology developed for jet
engines, circumvents a fundamental limit to conventional wind turbines.
Typically, as wind approaches a turbine, almost half of the air is
forced around the blades rather than through them, and the energy in
that deflected wind is lost. At best, traditional wind turbines capture
only 59.3% of the energy in wind, a value called the Betz limit.
FloDesign surrounds its wind-turbine blades with a shroud that directs
air through the blades and speeds it up, which increases power
production. The new design generates as much power as a conventional
wind turbine with blades twice as big in diameter. The smaller blade
size and other factors allow the new turbines to be packed closer
together than conventional turbines, increasing the amount of power that
can be generated per acre of land. |
| Technology Review
Dec 01, 2008 |
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| Sharing the browser |
Online collaboration often consists of little more than forwarding links
or snippets from a webpage to a colleague with a few comments dropped
in. IBM is hoping to change this by letting people share the browser
itself. This is the idea behind Blue Spruce, an experimental browser
project that IBM hopes may change the way many people use the web.
Blue Spruce is not, in fact, a completely new browser but a clever way
of linking together existing browsers. After logging in to the Blue
Spruce server, several users can interact with webpages and applications
while the Blue Spruce software makes that server think that it is
dealing with a single browser. Anything that a user does on the shared
page is sent to the Blue Spruce server, which sends the change down to
other participants.
IBM hopes that Blue Spruce can prove useful for many business workers.
For example, financial analysts might start the morning by navigating to
a shared Blue Spruce webpage, where they analyze news stories and
changes in the stock market together. If the users do not want to share
an entire webpage, the project also has a 'huddle mode that lets them
create shared work spaces that contain only limited information. |
| Technology Review
Nov 26, 2008 |
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