Issue no. 34, 2006
Published: Oct 06, 2006 |
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 UK warns of huge cost of not tackling climate change |
| Quantum information teleported from light to matter |
| European public research performs better than thought |
| Huge 'launch ring' to fling satellites into orbit |
| Lucrative store locations pinpointed by new model |
| Next-gen digicam relies on just one pixel sensor |
| Coders, start your (search) engines |
| Cambridge researchers create folding laptops |
| Happy snaps from a virus-infested chip |
| Buying IT 'more stressful' than moving house |
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| UK warns of huge cost of not tackling climate change |
The UK is about to publish a report warning that climate change will
cost the world trillions of dollars - far more than the costs of
reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The report was prepared by Nicholas
Stern, a former World Bank economist. He presented his findings to a
private meeting of environment and finance ministers from 20
industrialised and emerging economies in Mexico this week.
Margaret Beckett, Britain's foreign minister, told delegates in Mexico
that Stern's report would show 'that it is sound economic sense to
respond to climate change and economic nonsense not to'. 'Our task as
governments is to build the biggest public-private partnership ever
conceived,' said Beckett. 'We must give investors the certainty they are
seeking that investment in low carbon today will yield growing returns.'
She said it was a myth that 'effective action on climate kills growth',
and added that if the correct choices were made now, the agenda for
tackling climate change would show itself to be an opportunity not a
sacrifice. |
| SciDev
Oct 04, 2006 |
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| Quantum information teleported from light to matter |
Physicists in Denmark have teleported information from light to matter,
bringing quantum communication and computing closer to reality.
Until now, scientists have teleported similar objects, such as light or
single atoms, over short distances from one spot to another in a split
second. But researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of
Copenhagen have made a breakthrough by using both light and matter. The
experiment involved, for the first time, a macroscopic atomic object
containing thousands of billions of atoms. They also teleported the
information a distance of 50cm and believe it can be extended further.
Teleportation between two single atoms had been done two years ago but
this was done at a distance of a fraction of a millimetre. The new
method allows teleportation to be taken over longer distances because it
involves light as the carrier of entanglement. The achievement marks an
advancement in the field of quantum information and computers, which
could transmit and process information in a unprecedented way. |
| CNET / Reuters / Nature
Oct 04, 2006 |
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| European public research performs better than thought |
The US is widely believed to outperform Europe on the commercialisation
of the results of public research. Examples of success include formal
measures of technology transfer such as the number of patents, start-ups
and licensing revenue earned by universities. In contrast, the
perception is that European academics are less entrepreneurial than
their US counterparts, resulting in less formal technology transfer from
European universities to firms.
Until recently, a lack of comparable data prevented an assessment of the
actual situation in Europe. But according to a recent study by
researchers at UNU-MERIT in the Netherlands, Europe does better than
assumed, at least as far as formal technology transfer goes.
The UNU-MERIT survey shows that Europe performs better than the US on
two of the three indicators for the actual commercial use of public
research (licenses executed and start-ups) and comes a close second on a
third indicator (licence revenue as a share of research expenditure). In
2004, per million dollars in research expenditures, European public
research institutes executed 20% more licenses, established 40% more
start-up firms, and earned only 10% less license revenue than US
universities. |
| UNU-MERIT
Oct 01, 2006 |
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| Huge 'launch ring' to fling satellites into orbit |
An enormous ring of superconducting magnets similar to a particle
accelerator could fling satellites into space, or perhaps weapons around
the world, suggest the findings of a new study funded by the US air
force. The air force has now given the go-ahead for more in-depth
research of the idea.
The launch ring would be very similar to a particle accelerator, with
superconducting magnets placed around a 2-kilometre-wide ring. The
satellite, encased in an aerodynamic, cone-shaped shell to protect it
from the intense heat of launch, would be attached to a sled designed to
respond to the forces from the superconducting magnets. When the sled
had been accelerated to its top speed of 10 kilometres per second, the
cone will be separated from the sled.
Then, the cone would skid into a side tunnel directing it to a ramp
angled at 30° to the horizon, where the cone would launch towards space
at about 8 kilometres per second, or more than 23 times the speed of
sound. A rocket at the back end of the cone would be used to adjust its
trajectory and place it in a proper orbit. |
| New Scientist
Oct 03, 2006 |
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| Lucrative store locations pinpointed by new model |
The old mantra about the three most important factors for a shop's
success - location, location and location - has been borne out by a new
mathematical model.
Physicist Pablo Jensen from the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Lyon,
France, analysed location records for more than 8,500 retail outlets in
the city. He found that the shops formed clusters, with shops such as
butchers and delicatessens in one group, for example, and laundromats
and bookstores in another. Stores of the same group seemed to attract
each other, while stores from different groups repelled each other.
Jensen then adapted a theory of magnetism to calculate a number, Q, for
shops, based on the proximity of attractive and repellent businesses in
the area. Q denotes the suitability of a site for a particular type of
shop: the higher the number, the better the site.
To test its predictive powers, Jensen calculated Q for all the bakeries
in Lyon in 2003 and 2005. During that period 19 bakeries shut down, and
Jensen found their average Q was significantly lower than the average
for all bakeries. The Lyon Chamber of Commerce is using the model to
help entrepreneurs identify promising new premises. |
| New Scientist / Physical Review E
Oct 07, 2006 |
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| Next-gen digicam relies on just one pixel sensor |
Engineers at Rice University have developed a high resolution digital
camera that, instead of using thousands of pixel sensors, relies on just
one. Using advanced mathematics and a silicon chip covered with hundreds
of thousands of mirrors the size of a single bacterium, the scientists
claim to have come up with a design that is more efficient than
traditional devices.
Unlike a 1-megapixel camera that captures one million points of light
for every frame, the new camera creates an image by capturing just one
point of light, or pixel, several thousands of times in rapid
succession. The new mathematics comes into play in assembling the
high-resolution image, equal in quality to the 1-megapixel image, from
the thousands of single-pixel snapshots.
The oddest aspect of Rice's camera may be that it works best when the
light from the scene under view is scattered randomly and turned into
noise that looks like a television tuned to a dead channel. The
scientists built a working prototype using a digital micro-mirror device
and a single photodiode, which turns light into electrical signals. |
| VNUnet UK
Oct 03, 2006 |
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| Coders, start your (search) engines |
Google this week introduced a search engine for software developers.
Called Google Code Search (http://www.google.com/codesearch), the new
product allows programmers to easily find publicly available code to
borrow or study. The index includes billions of lines of source code,
some culled from online files that are normally difficult to search.
Google's Code Search is intended to help speed up the job of software
programmers, who typically search existing code before writing their
own. The product was released in a test phase in Google Labs area.
Queries may appear Greek to the non-technical: Users can enter what are
known as 'regular expressions'. Results are listed much like the main
Google search engine, only that in this case, the relevant code is
highlighted and the code's language is indicated. |
| SFgate
Oct 04, 2006 |
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| Cambridge researchers create folding laptops |
Scientists at Cambridge University have developed a range of 'morphing'
structures that could be used to create roll-up laptop computers and
display screens. The materials can take multiple configurations without
the need for complex parts or sophisticated manufacturing.
By using an ordinary sheet of metal, the researchers can produce
structures with no moving parts but which can be configured between at
least two distinct, self-locking and stable forms. For example, an
A5-sized flat screen can be snapped into the shape of a tube for compact
carriage in a briefcase or pocket.
Devices based on this material do not require hinges, latches or locks,
and without these extra parts, production times and costs are reduced
compared to traditional folding structures. In addition to laptops the
materials could also be incorporated into reusable packaging roll-up
keyboards and even self-erecting tents. |
| VNUnet UK
Oct 02, 2006 |
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| Happy snaps from a virus-infested chip |
Giving your digital camera a virus may not sound very smart, but a
memory chip that incorporates millions of viruses may just be the
fastest thing around. By coating 30-nanometre-long chunks of tobacco
mosaic virus with platinum nanoparticles, it is possible to create a
transistor with very fast switching speed. Millions of these transistors
could eventually be used in a memory chip to replace flash memory in mp3
players and digital cameras, for example.
A camera fitted with a virus chip would take a few microseconds to
display an image, compared with the milliseconds taken by existing
devices, say researchers at the University of California. The team built
a transistor by embedding the coated virus strips in a polymer matrix,
sandwiched between two electrodes. Apply a voltage to the transistor,
and the platinum nanoparticles each donate an electron to proteins on
the surface of the virus, moving the device to an ON state.
When the voltage dips below a certain threshold, the electrons jump back
to the nanoparticle, switching the transistor to an OFF state. This
process takes just 100 microseconds because the charge only has to
travel 10nm between each nanoparticle and the surface of the virus. |
| New scientist / Nature Nanotechnology
Oct 04, 2006 |
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| Buying IT 'more stressful' than moving house |
Bosses of small businesses find buying new technology more stressful
than buying a house or getting married. A quarter of the 300 small
business managing directors surveyed by AT Communications Group said
they would rather go through the anxieties of organising a wedding than
invest in new technology. Getting a new mother-in-law might seem
stressful enough but 28 per cent of SME managers would also prefer to
buy a house than bring in new IT.
AT Communications Group said much of the stress is the result of the IT
industry using too much jargon which confuses smaller business owners.
The survey claimed almost 75% of respondents find dealing with multiple
suppliers frustrating and indicated a simplified supply chain would make
things less nerve-racking. Two-thirds of respondents believe looking
after customers is more important than investing in new technology.
According to the survey, 26 per cent of respondents would find starting
a new business less stressful than starting new IT initiatives, despite
new commercial ventures being prone to failure in the initial 12 months. |
| Silicon.com
Oct 03, 2006 |
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