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Issue no. 10, 2006 Published: Mar 10, 2006
EU backs EUR 2.7bn 'invisible computing' research
Network to support African biotech research, policy
Carbon burial plan for North Sea
Japanese researcher finds synthetic route to Tamiflu
Fastest view of molecular motion
Magnetic breakthrough promises Ram boost
Cheap hydrogen fuel
'Mental typewriter' controlled by thought alone
Create your favourite website, automatically

EU backs EUR 2.7bn 'invisible computing' research
The European Union wants member states to back an industry-led EUR 2.7bn research programme into the invisible embedded computer systems that control everyday household appliances, consumer gadgets and cars. Embedded systems, which are hidden from the user and cannot usually be manipulated or reprogrammed, are found in virtually all electronic equipment used today from wireless telephones and DVD players to those in cars and aeroplanes. The Advanced Research & Technology for Embedded Intelligence and Systems (Artemis) programme consists of 20 tech and automotive companies, including Daimler Chrysler, Nokia, STMicroelectronics and Thales, which claim increased investment in embedded systems is vital to European industrial competitiveness in the future. Artemis has set a target of raising a combined public-private research investment of EUR 2.7bn between now and 2010 with funding from industry, the EU and member states.
Silicon.com Mar 07, 2006	back to top

Network to support African biotech research, policy
The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation will launch an online network this month to boost biotechnology research and policy development in Africa. The Agricultural Biotechnology Network for Africa (ABNET) will encourage researchers, policymakers, farmers and the media to share information and discuss how biotechnology can improve agriculture. The network will gather relevant information and host electronic discussions on its website. A key aim is to promote dialogue on policy issues such as biosafety and the conservation of genetic resources. ABNET will be launched in Nairobi, Kenya on 21 March. It will organise regional meetings, training courses and workshops to promote agricultural biotechnology, and improve farmers’ access to new technologies. The African Biotechnology Stakeholders Forum, an association with members in seven African nations, will manage the network.
SciDev Mar 08, 2006	back to top

Carbon burial plan for North Sea
Two European oil companies have announced plans to bury carbon dioxide under the bed of the North Sea. Norwegian Statoil and Anglo-Dutch Shell plan to take CO2 from a power station in Norway and pipe it to an oil field, where it will be used to force oil to the surface. The $1.2bn-1.5bn scheme will require major investment from governments. The process of carbon sequestration is viewed by some as a partial solution to climate change, but can also help companies exploit oil reserves further. Statoil already extracts CO2 from a natural gas well and stores it under the sea bed, while schemes using compressed CO2 to enhance oil recovery are already running in North America. The North Sea venture would be the world's largest enhanced oil recovery project. Environmental observers are divided on the merits of CO2 storage. Enthusiasts say it will reduce the greenhouse impact. The counter-arguments are that it distracts from investment in renewable energy technologies, that it can only capture a fraction of global emissions, and that storage under the sea floor may not be secure.
BBC News Mar 08, 2006	back to top

Japanese researcher finds synthetic route to Tamiflu
A University of Tokyo researcher says he has made a synthetic version of Tamiflu, thought to be the most effective drug against avian influenza. The Swiss company Roche, which makes Tamiflu using a plant extract, has been unable to meet the huge demand from governments that are stockpiling the drug as avian influenza spreads. The new method could solve the shortage. It uses a readily accessible chemical -1,4-cyclohexadiene - instead of the plant extract. The product is exactly the same as Tamiflu, and Tokyo University is beginning to negotiate with Roche over a possible collaboration.
Nature Mar 08, 2006	back to top

Fastest view of molecular motion
Scientists have made the fastest ever observations of motion in a molecule. They 'watched' parts of a molecule moving on an attosecond timescale - one attosecond equals one billion-billionth of a second. The study gives a new in-depth understanding of chemical processes and could be used in future technologies such as quantum computing. The researchers devised a new technique to 'see' the motion of protons, one of the building blocks of an atom, in molecules of hydrogen and methane. The technique involves firing a very short but intense laser pulse at a molecule, which rips an electron away, leaving the molecule in an excited ionised state. The electron is then drawn back to the molecule, and when it collides a very short burst of x-rays is released. The process is ultra-fast and the team was able to observe the effect the laser had on motion in the molecules with an accuracy of 100 attoseconds - the fastest ever recorded. Being able to see detailed molecular motion will help scientists understand how molecules behave in chemical processes, thus providing possibilities for controlling molecules.
BBC News / Science Mar 04, 2006	back to top

Magnetic breakthrough promises Ram boost
Researchers have demonstrated a magnetic phenomenon that promises to pave the way for 'instant on' PCs, and to boost the storage capacity of hard drives. The team of scientists from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona worked in collaboration with researchers from the Argonne National Laboratory in the US and the Spintec Laboratory in France. They say they have produced microscopic magnetic states, known as 'displaced vortex states', that will allow an increase in the size of Magnetic Ram, which is not deleted when the computer is switched off. Current fast but volatile SRam and DRam cannot store operating system and program information when they are powered down, while non-volatile Flash memories are too slow for this purpose. MRam, which is still being developed, is fast and non-volatile, but until now has been limited by a relatively low storage capacity. However, the magnetic phenomenon could be useful in the quest for the ideal type of memory, i.e. MRam with large storage capacity.
VNUnet UK Mar 06, 2006	back to top

Cheap hydrogen fuel
Among the many daunting challenges to replacing fossil fuels with hydrogen is how to make hydrogen cheaply in ways that do not pollute the environment. Splitting water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity from energy sources such as wind turbines is one possibility - but it is still far too expensive to be widely practical. Now researchers at General Electric (GE) in the US say they have come up with a less expensive, easy-to-manufacture apparatus that can directly produce hydrogen via electrolysis for about $3 per kilogram down from today's $8 per kilogram. That could make it economically practical for future fuel-cell vehicles that run on hydrogen. GE has demonstrated the technology in a prototype, and is now building a larger production module - one that can produce 1 kilogram of hydrogen per hour - for testing in its labs later this year. GE's new electrolyser could be ready for production in a few years.
Technology Review Mar 09, 2006	back to top

'Mental typewriter' controlled by thought alone
A computer controlled by the power of thought alone has been demonstrated at the CeBit electronics fair in Hanover, Germany. The device could provide a way for paralysed patients to operate computers, or for amputees to operate electronically controlled artificial limbs. But it also has non-medical applications, such as in the computer games and entertainment industries. The Berlin Brain-Computer Interface (BBCI) – dubbed the 'mental typewriter' – was created by researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute in Berlin and Charité, the medical school of Berlin Humboldt University in Germany. The machine makes it possible to type messages onto a computer screen by mentally controlling the movement of a cursor. A user must wear a cap containing electrodes that measure the brain's electroencephalogram (EEG) signal, and imagine moving their left or right arm in order to manoeuvre the cursor around. Users can operate the device just 20 minutes after going through 150 cursor moves in their minds. This is because the device rapidly learns to recognise activity in the area of a person's motor cortex, the area of the brain associated with movement.
New Scientist Mar 09, 2006	back to top

Create your favourite website, automatically
A new tool offers to create websites on any subject, allowing web surfers to sit back, relax and watch a virtual space automatically fill up with relevant news stories, blog posts, maps and photos. The website asks its users to come up with any subject they are interested in, such as a TV show, sports team or news topic, and to submit links to their five favourite news articles, blogs or photos on that subject. Working only from this data, the site then automatically creates a webpage on that topic, known as a Boxxet. The site's algorithm starts by reading through the web pages submitted by the user. It calculates the frequency of unique words and which words these unique words are likely to be adjacent to. It also notes the number of images and which news organisation or blogger created those pages. It uses this data to filter its index of web pages and RSS feeds, depositing anything highly relevant in the Boxxet. The Boxxet is constantly updated as new stories appear, and the type of information is also modified by ratings provided by new visitors to the site.
New Scientist Mar 08, 2006	back to top