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Photograph by cudmore, Flickr.com

Issue no. 26, 2009 Published: Jul 24, 2009
UN agency gives science journals to LDC researchers
East Africa gets high-speed web
Could u txt me ur blood sample?
New statistical tool identifies predictable economic variables
New transistors to reduce need for 'wall warts'
Samsung to invest in green future
Researchers build auto-destruct code for personal data
Microwave weapon will rain pain from the sky
Wireless power system shown off

UN agency gives science journals to LDC researchers
A United Nations agency will give researchers in least developed countries subscriptions to scientific journals worth USD 400,000 a year, to help spur more worldwide inventions. The World Intellectual Property Organization said the 50 LDC countries would get some 64 technical publications free online, while 58 more developing nations would get them for USD 1,000 a year. The program is supported by 12 publishers including John Wiley & Sons, Oxford University Press and Springer Science+Business Media. Other UN agencies including the World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organisation and UN Environment Program are also supporting the project.
Reuters Jul 23, 2009	back to top

East Africa gets high-speed web
The first undersea cable to bring high-speed internet access to East Africa has gone live. The fibre-optic cable, operated by African-owned firm Seacom, connects South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique to Europe and Asia. The firm says the cable will help to boost the prospects of the region's industry and commerce. The cable - which is 17,000km long - took two years to lay and cost more than USD650m. The cable was due to be launched in June but was delayed by pirate activity off the coast of Somalia.
BBC News Jul 23, 2009	back to top

Could u txt me ur blood sample?
In the developed world, we take camera phones for granted as ways to record our lives – but in poorer countries they could be used to save lives, say bioengineers at the University of California. The team has designed a portable microscope that straps to a camera phone and can be used to diagnose potentially fatal diseases in blood and sputum samples. A recent UN report estimated cellphones are now used by 60 per cent of the world's population, and cellphone networks are extensive even in the developing world. Such networks offer a cheap and fast way to wirelessly transmit medical data from the field to healthcare centres. Furthermore, cameras integrated into many cellphones can capture relatively good quality images of tissue samples simply by holding them against the eyepiece of a light microscope. The team developed an integrated cellphone microscopy system. They used off-the-shelf parts to design a cheap and portable microscope attachment that straps to a Nokia N73 cameraphone. The microscope can pick out objects just 1.2 micrometres across. The researchers also added a battery-powered LED lamp and a series of filters to allow the device to function as a fluorescent microscope as well. The researchers could even take advantage of the cameraphone's computing power to begin post-processing of the images.
New Scientist / Public Library of Science One Jul 22, 2009	back to top

New statistical tool identifies predictable economic variables
A new method from North Carolina State University and the University of Toronto can help researchers determine which economic variables they should focus on by identifying whether a variable can be predicted. Currently, economists and statisticians use tools called 'unit root tests' to determine whether an economic variable – such as unemployment – can be predicted. The problem is that unit root tests often say variables are unpredictable when they actually can be predicted, according to the researchers who developed the new method. They think their method will show that many variables believed to be unpredictable are actually predictable, including currency exchange rates and gross domestic product. The researchers developed the method using new models to better differentiate between predictable and unpredictable economic variables. The new research entitled 'No Country for Old Unit Root Tests: Bridge Estimators Differentiate between Nonstationary versus Stationary Models and Select Optimal Lag,' will bee presented at the European Economic Association and Econometric Society European Meeting being held in Barcelona, Spain, from Aug. 23-27.
Science Daily Jul 23, 2009	back to top

New transistors to reduce need for 'wall warts'
The power gadgets waste when converting alternating current to direct current could be cut by a third by switching to converters that use gallium nitride transistors instead of silicon ones. These transistors will also make adaptors small enough to fit inside a laptop - doing away with the need to carry a separate adaptor, says a team at Fujitsu Laboratories in Kawasaki, Japan. The circuitry that creates a stable direct current from an AC source relies on transistors that can switch quickly from a state that conducts current to one that blocks it. Conventional silicon transistors can lose a significant amount of power through current leakage during this process because the material's properties break down at high voltages. But gallium nitride (GaN) has a much higher breakdown voltage - and that minimises these leaks. GaN transistors also operate at a higher frequency, which would allow manufacturers to shrink the size of an adaptor's transformer coils. This should allow adaptors to be reduced to one-tenth of today's size by 2011.
New Scientist Jul 14, 2009	back to top

Samsung to invest in green future
Samsung says it wants to develop energy-efficient products The giant South Korean company Samsung Electronics has said it will invest more than USD4bn to cut emissions from its plants. The company also said it wants to develop more energy-efficient products. It said it hoped that by the year 2013, the greenhouse gas emissions from its manufacturing facilities will be reduced by 50%. Samsung says it wants to develop its range of more energy-efficient products, such as new refrigerators and air conditioners. The company's green initiative follows the South Korean government's plan to pursue an environmentally friendly agenda. South Korea is the world's tenth biggest producer of greenhouse gases and has vowed to spend USD84bn over the next five years on improving energy efficiency and reducing pollution. Analysts believe that combined efforts between the public and private sectors would help boost economic growth as well as reducing greenhouse gases.
BBC News Jul 20, 2009	back to top

Researchers build auto-destruct code for personal data
Researchers at the University of Washington have developed software that will automatically delete files like emails within a pre-set time limit. The Vanish software allows the user of any web-based service to encrypt a message, but instead of the user keeping the key, it is put into a global peer-to-peer (P2P) network for a specified time before disappearing, making it impossible to decrypt the message. The system uses the Vuze BitTorrent Distributed Hash Table as its P2P network, and currently sets default time limits on messages at eight hours, although longer periods should be possible. The team is now developing a Firefox application that integrates Vanish for general use.
VNUnet UK Jul 22, 2009	back to top

Microwave weapon will rain pain from the sky
The Pentagon's enthusiasm for non-lethal crowd-control weapons appears to have stepped up a gear with its decision to develop a microwave pain-infliction system that can be fired from an aircraft. The device is an extension of its Active Denial System, which uses microwaves to heat the surface of the skin, creating a painful sensation without burning that strongly motivates the target to flee. The ADS was unveiled in 2001, but it has not been deployed owing to legal issues and safety fears. Nevertheless, the Pentagon's Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate (JNLWD) has now called for it to be upgraded. The transmitting antenna on the current system is 2 metres across, produces a single beam of similar width and is steered mechanically, making it cumbersome. At the heart of the new weapon will be a compact airborne antenna, which will be steered electronically and be capable of generating multiple beams, each of which can be aimed while on the move. The new antenna will be steered electronically and is capable of generating multiple heat beams . The ADS has been dogged by controversy after research showed that the microwave beams can cause serious burns at levels not far above those required to repel people. The airborne version will not make it any less contentious.
New Scientist Jul 23, 2009	back to top

Wireless power system shown off
A system that can deliver power to devices without the need for wires has been shown off at the hi-tech TED Global conference in Oxford. The technique exploits simple physics and can be used to charge a range of electronic devices. According to US firm Witricity the system could replace expensive power cables and disposable batteries. The system is based on research performed by MIT scientists. It exploits 'resonance', whereby energy transfer is markedly more efficient when a certain frequency is applied. When two objects have the same resonant frequency, they exchange energy strongly without having an effect on other, surrounding objects. For example, it is resonance that can cause a wine glass to explode when a singer hits exactly the right tone. But instead of using acoustic resonance, Witricity's approach exploits the resonance of low frequency electromagnetic waves. The system uses two coils - one plugged into the mains and the other embedded or attached to the gadget. Each coil is carefully engineered with the same resonant frequency. When the main coil is connected to an electricity supply, the magnetic field it produces is resonant with that of with the second coil, allowing 'tails' of energy to flow between them. As each 'cycle' of energy arrives at the second coil, a voltage begins to build up that can be used to charge the gadget.
BBC News Jul 23, 2009	back to top