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Issue no. 8, 2006 Published: Feb 24, 2006
Europe to get its own MIT
An IT centre for the Gaza Strip
Dutch found to be most computer literate in world
IBM squeezes more into microchips
Universe to be snapped in infrared
Enzyme computer could live inside you
Robot surgeons match heartbeats
Japanese firm switches on laser TV
Researchers promise see-through walls
DNA 'could predict your surname'
Quantum computer works best switched off

Europe to get its own MIT
The European Union has mooted the creation of a new landmark technology institute. The proposal for a 'flagship for excellence' for tech innovation and research has been put before the European parliament. The new European Institute of Technology (EIT) will be based across several sites and bring together academics and business interests. The institute will be run by a central governing board, which will oversee a collection of 'knowledge communities'. The EC is hoping that the EIT will encourage companies to finance research into new technologies in return for a cut of the revenues they generate. The EIT will be bankrolled by the EC but individual member states will also contribute funding. According to the EC, the EIT could be up and running from 2009.
Silcion.com Feb 22, 2006	back to top

An IT centre for the Gaza Strip
Intel, the world's largest semiconductor company, is planning to build the first information technology education centre in the volatile Gaza Strip. The Intel Information Technology Center of Excellence is intended to provide IT training to Palestinians and stimulate development of high-tech industry in an area where half the labour force is unemployed. The centre is being developed in conjunction with American Near East Refugee Aid and the Islamic University of Gaza. The centre is the company's first large project in the Palestinian territories, an area where US corporate involvement is rare. Construction is expected to begin in two months, with completion a year later. The cost to build and equip the centre will be around USD 1m.
Wired News / AP Feb 21, 2006	back to top

Dutch found to be most computer literate in world
Residents of the Netherlands, armed with a tax break for computer purchases and some of Europe's lowest broadband fees, lead the world in the use of personal computers and the internet, according to a study by the Pew Charitable Trusts. In a survey of 17,766 people's habits in 17 countries, 82 per cent of Dutch residents said they used a computer at least occasionally at home or at work, and 72 per cent used the internet. In Canada, the numbers were 79 per cent and 71 per cent, respectively, while they were 76 per cent and 70 per cent in the US. Experts attributed the Netherlands' heavy computer and internet use to a Dutch tax break that effectively reduced the cost of buying personal computers by 40 per cent. Under the programme, which ran from 1997 through August 2004, Dutch workers could buy home PCs with pretax euros if the devices were also used for business.
International Herald Tribune Feb 21, 2006	back to top

IBM squeezes more into microchips
Researchers at IBM have discovered a way of getting more out of the current method used to make computer chips. The technique could lead to smaller and higher capacity chips, and delay a switch to costlier and unproven chip-making methods. The semiconductor industry has been looking for ways of etching more circuits on silicon wafers to meet the demand for faster and ever more powerful chips. IBM said the new production technique could extend 'Moore's Law', which predicts that the number of transistors on a chip, and therefore its processing power, will double every 18 months. The methods used by the IBM scientists uses a method called deep-ultraviolet optical lithography. This is essentially the method used to etch circuits on chips. The IBM team said they were able to 'print' circuits that are 29.9 nanometres wide. This is about one-third of the width of the smallest computer circuits in mass production today.
BBC News Feb 21, 2006	back to top

Universe to be snapped in infrared
This week an infrared space telescope that will make a three-dimensional map of the Universe was launched. Dubbed ASTRO-F, the satellite has been nicknamed Akari, meaning 'light'. Akari was developed by Japan's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (JAXA), the European Space Agency (ESA), and researchers in the UK and the Netherlands. Stars and galaxies are born within clouds of dust that obscure them from optical telescopes. But infrared light shines through the dust, showing astronomers what is happening inside the clouds. The Spitzer Space Telescope already probes the infrared Universe. But Spitzer focuses on tiny points in the sky, allowing it to spot distant stars or record nearby objects in great detail. Akari will do a much shallower survey, but it will cover the whole sky. When Akari spots an interesting location, the Spitzer telescope can be used to look at it in detail. As well as star births, Akari should capture a host of other objects and events that emit infrared light, such as failed stars called brown dwarfs and the dim glow of dead stars. The telescope will also look for planetary systems within 1,000 light years of Earth.
Nature Feb 22, 2006	back to top

Enzyme computer could live inside you
A molecular computer that uses enzymes to perform calculations has been built by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. The researchers believe enzyme-powered computers could eventually be implanted into the human body and used to, for example, tailor the release of drugs to a specific person's metabolism. The team built their computer using two enzymes - glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) - to trigger two interconnected chemical reactions. Two chemical components - hydrogen peroxide and glucose - were used to represent input values (A and B). The presence of each chemical corresponded to a binary 1, while the absence represented a binary 0. The chemical result of the enzyme-powered reaction was determined optically. The enzyme computer was used to perform two fundamental logic computations known as AND (where A and B must both equal one) and XOR (where A and B must have different values). The addition of two further enzymes connected the two logical operations, making it possible to add together binary digits using the logic functions.
New Scientist / Angewandte Chemie International Edition Feb 23, 2006	back to top

Robot surgeons match heartbeats
Scientists have devised a way to help robot surgeons work in time to a beating heart, promising a speedier recovery for the patient. Usually, bypass surgery involves stopping the heart beating and, during the operation, sending blood round the body using an artificial pump. However, Imperial College London scientists have devised software that synchronises the movement of robotic surgical tools with the heart's beat. The software, used with a robot called da Vinci, uses a two-camera endoscope that feeds images of the heart. It allows surgeons to operate with the chest closed. The software models the heart and creates a 3D image which appears to the surgeon to be stationary. At the same time, the software tracks the beating of the heart and instructs the robot's instruments to move backwards and forwards in time with heart's movement.
BBC News Feb 23, 2006	back to top

Japanese firm switches on laser TV
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has developed a rear projection TV that uses lasers as a light source. Mitsubishi said that the new prototype can surpass the picture quality of plasma display panel TVs. Rear projection TVs currently on the market use a traditional mercury vapour lamp as a light source. While relatively popular in the US, they have seen their market share fall dramatically during the past year, as plasma and LCD TVs fall in price. Development of a practical laser projection system has not been possible until recently, as it requires affordable and reliable blue lasers.
VNUnet UK Feb 20, 2006	back to top

Researchers promise see-through walls
Scientists from Imperial College London and the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland have developed a substance that could be used to build see-through walls. The material which can be made transparent under the right conditions, has potential uses in buildings to allow contractors to check cabling without burrowing into wall space, or to help rescuers searching through rubble for survivors after an earthquake. The substance is based on a breakthrough which contradicts one of Einstein's theories. Einstein calculated that the atoms within materials must be excited with energy to make them emit rather than absorb light. But quantum physicists have created specially patterned crystals only a few billionths of a metre in length that behave like 'artificial atoms'. When light shines into the crystals, it becomes entangled with them at a molecular level rather than being absorbed, causing the material to become transparent. The team also discovered that light passing through this new material slows down and could be completely stopped and stored, which could have important implications for secure information networks.
VNUnet UK Feb 22, 2006	back to top

DNA 'could predict your surname'
Forensic scientists could use DNA retrieved from a crime scene to predict the surname of the suspect, according to a new British study. The method exploits genetic likenesses between men who share the same surname, and may help prioritise inquiries. The technique developed at the University of Leicester, UK, is based on work comparing the Y chromosomes of men with the same surname. The Y chromosome is a package of genetic material found normally only in males. It is passed down from father to son, just like a surname. Mining the information would require building a database of at least 40,000 surnames and the Y chromosome profiles associated with them. The police could consult the Y chromosome and surname database to help prioritise their search in cases where a crime scene sample had failed to turn up matches in the national DNA database.
BBC News Feb 21, 2006	back to top

Quantum computer works best switched off
Even for the crazy world of quantum mechanics, this one is twisted. A quantum computer program has produced an answer without actually running. The idea behind the feat, first proposed in 1998, is to put a quantum computer into a 'superposition', a state in which it is both running and not running. The theory suggested the computer would sometimes get an answer out of the computer even though the program did not run. Researchers from the University of Illinois have improved on the design and built a non-running quantum computer that really works. They send a photon into a system of optical devices, which included a set of components that run a simple database search by changing the properties of the photon. The new design includes a quantum trick called the Zeno effect. Repeated measurements stop the photon from entering the actual program, but allow its quantum nature to flirt with the program's components - so it can become gradually altered even though it never actually passes through. This scheme could have an advantage over straightforward quantum computing. 'A non-running computer produces fewer errors,' says team member Onur Hosten. That sentiment should have technophobes nodding enthusiastically.
New Scientist / Nature Feb 22, 2006	back to top