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Issue no. 41, 2006
Published: Nov 24, 2006 |
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 European cities launch IT, telecoms research network | | Australian research group wins Wi-Fi patent suit | | Toxin-free cotton could feed the poor | | Recycled rubber tyres could clean water | | Researchers strike 'black gold' with metal-blackening laser | | Plastic paper to 'cut' emissions | | Hydrogen storage goes metal-free | | NASA plan to land man on asteroid | | A robot invention with a leg to stand on | | Mouse-less mouse pad |
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| European cities launch IT, telecoms research network |
About 20 European cities launched Monday a network for information
sharing, research, and testing in the fields of mobile and information
technology. The 'Living Labs Europe' project enables companies, research
institutes, and investors to share information on technical and
commercial testing of new technologies and mobile services.
Living Labs Europe comprises the Spanish cities of Barcelona, Mataro and
Sant Cugat, and the region of Catalonia, Budapest, Istanbul, London,
Salzburg, Sophia-Antipolis in France, Stuttgart, Tallinn, Torino,
Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo, the Swedish-Danish region of Oeresund, and
the four Swedish cities of Lund, Malmoe, Vaestervik, and Stockholm.
The EU, which lags behind the US and Japan in terms of funding for
research and development, aims to become the world's most competitive
and dynamic knowledge-based economy by 2010. In October it approved the
creation of the European Institution of Engineering and Technology
(IET), which could become operational by 2009. And it has also launched
a project on European technology platforms, aimed at hammering out
development and investment strategies in key fields for growth and
employment. |
| Middle East Times / AFP
Nov 20, 2006 |
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| Australian research group wins Wi-Fi patent suit |
A ruling issued by a US district court could result in Wi-Fi royalties
being paid to an Australian technology research group. A judge from the
Eastern Texas district of the US Federal Court ruled that Japanese firm
Buffalo Technology manufactured wireless devices that violated patents
held by Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
Organisation (CSIRO).
If the ruling survives appeal, it could set precedent for CSIRO to claim
royalties on all devices that use the 802.11a/g standard, a Wi-Fi
interface that is used by most notebook and desktop wireless Lan devices
today. However, the victory may prove meaningless if CSIRO loses in two
other ongoing battles.
In May 2005, Intel, Dell, HP, Microsoft, Apple and Netgear filed suits
to have the CSIRO patent invalidated by a California district court.
CSIRO countered the suits claiming that, as a foreign organisation, it
was immune to litigation, but the claim was rejected two months later.
US patent 5487069 was granted in January 1996. It covers the concept of
a wireless Lan, including hubs and peer-to-peer networks. |
| VNUnet UK
Nov 22, 2006 |
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| Toxin-free cotton could feed the poor |
Researchers have genetically engineered cotton plants that produce
toxin-free seeds, potentially unlocking enough nutritional content to
feed half a billion people worldwide each year.
Cotton is grown in more than 80 countries and is a primary source of
fibre for textiles, providing an important cash crop to millions of
farmers in Asia and Africa. For every kilogram of fibre that is
produced, the plant also yields 1.65 kilograms of seed packed with
high-quality protein. So the plants have the ability to meet the protein
requirements of millions with no reduction to the output of fibres.
However, cotton seed contains the toxic molecule gossypol, which lends
crops protection from insects and pathogens. Now, using RNA interference
(RNAi) technology, researchers have managed to disrupt a key enzyme and
cut the gossypol content in cottonseeds by 98 per cent, while leaving
the chemical defences of the rest of the plant intact. The team shows
that the absence of the toxin is heritable and that plants lacking
gossypol could be suitable for large-scale agricultural use. |
| Nature / Proceedings of the National Academies of Science
Nov 20, 2006 |
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| Recycled rubber tyres could clean water |
Rubber tyres, the kind that lie at the bottom of rivers and at the back
of junkyards the world over, could be ideal water filters says an
environmental engineer at Penn State university in the US.
Traditionally, water filtration systems are made of particles of sand or
anthracite stacked in a column. The particles are arranged so that the
larger ones – which leave larger gaps between them – are at the top of
the column and the smaller particles and therefore smaller holes are at
the bottom. As a result, contaminants get filtered out from top to
bottom in order of decreasing size. However, these systems clog up very
quickly. Water is pushed through them backwards to clean them out, but
this ruins the column’s careful stacking as the large particles
naturally settle to the bottom. Every subsequent filtration only uses
the top of the column which therefore clogs up even faster.
The researchers believe that crumbs of rubber, 1 to 2 millimetres
across, are an ideal solution because the crumbs are compressible. As a
result, regardless of how the filter is stacked the crumbs at the bottom
of the column are always smallest because they are squashed by the
weight of the column. Moreover, the filter works four times faster than
conventional filters. |
| New Scientist
Nov 22, 2006 |
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| Researchers strike 'black gold' with metal-blackening laser |
Scientists at Rochester University in New York have created a way to
change the surface properties of most metals to render them pitch-black,
which could lead to more efficient fuel cells and solar panels.
The process uses an ultra-brief, ultra-intense beam of light called a
femtosecond laser pulse. The laser burst lasts only a few quadrillionths
of a second. That intense blast forces the surface of the metal to form
nanostructures — pits, globules and strands that dramatically increase
the area of the surface and improve the metal's ability to capture
radiation.
The research team has tested the absorption capabilities for the black
metal and confirmed that it can absorb virtually all the light that
falls on it, making it pitch- black. The huge increase in light
absorption means nearly any metal becomes extremely useful whenever
radiation gathering is needed. It could also be useful in improving
'stealth' technology, in which an object or vehicle is rendered
invisible to radar by absorbing radiation waves sent to detect it. |
| CBC
Nov 22, 2006 |
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| Plastic paper to 'cut' emissions |
Toshiba has developed a printer that uses plastic 'paper' that can be
re-used hundreds of times. The firm said the printer could help
companies reduce carbon emissions as it helped to cut the amount of
paper they consume. Toshiba said the machine was designed for businesses
and could find a home in many niche applications where permanent copies
of documents were not needed.
The paper used by the B-SX8R printer is made of a plastic known as
polyethylene terephthalate or PET - the same kind as is used for bottles
of fizzy drinks. Over this is a layer of heat-sensitive chemical
pigments that, under different conditions, turns white or black.
By altering the temperature and cooling times applied to this pigment it
becomes possible to write and erase black and white text or graphics.
The printer can produce up to 12 pages per minute and has a print
resolution of 300 dots per inch. Under normal working conditions a sheet
of the plastic paper can be used 500 times, according to Toshiba. |
| BBC News
Nov 23, 2006 |
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| Hydrogen storage goes metal-free |
Researchers have developed a new solid material that can store and
release hydrogen near room temperature without involving a transition
metal. The discovery could lead to the development of low-cost and
lightweight materials for the onboard storage of hydrogen fuel in cars.
Current materials that can easily absorb and discharge hydrogen near
room temperature contain transition metals and the storage process must
be catalysed by expensive precious metals such as platinum. This makes
them too heavy and too expensive for commercial use.
But researchers at the University of Windsor, Canada, have developed the
first non-metallic material that can absorb and store hydrogen at room
temperature, releasing the gas when heated above 100ºC. The material
contains pairs of boron and phosphorous atoms, which are separated by a
ring of carbon atoms. This structure has a net neutral charge but the
boron and phosphorous atoms carry a positive and negative charge
respectively. The researchers believe that this property allows the two
atoms to work together to split the gaseous hydrogen molecules into two
hydrogen atoms, which are then covalently bound within the material. |
| Pysicsweb / Science
Nov 22, 2006 |
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| NASA plan to land man on asteroid |
NASA is drawing up plans to land an astronaut on an asteroid hurtling
through space at more than 30,000 mph. The US space agency wants to know
whether humans could master techniques needed to deflect an asteroid on
a collision course with Earth.
The proposals are at an early stage, and a spacecraft needed just to
send an astronaut that far into space exists only on the drawing board.
But the plan is serious - a smallish asteroid, called Apophis, has
already been identified as a possible threat to Earth in 2036.
A 1bn tonne asteroid just 1km across striking the Earth at a 45 degree
angle could generate the equivalent of a 50,000 megatonne thermonuclear
explosion. Attempting to break it up with an atomic warhead might only
generate thousands of smaller objects on a similar course, which could
have time to reform. |
| Ananova / The Guardian
Nov 17, 2006 |
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| A robot invention with a leg to stand on |
A US scientist has created a robot that can find a way to keep working
on its own after suffering damage, an invention that could prove useful
for robotic space missions in distant planets, according to a study.
Joshua Bongard, a University of Vermont engineer, pulled off one of a
homemade robot's four legs for his experiment. The robot was programmed
to assess the damage by moving in playful-looking sequences allowing it
to find the problem. Once the damage was identified, the robot created a
new way to move without the missing limb, allowing it to continue its
mission.
'There is a need for planetary robotic rovers to be able to fix things
on their own,' Bongard said. 'The research is essential for NASA who
plan to continue using robots for planetary missions. Robots on other
planets must be able to continue their mission without human
intervention in the event they are damaged and cannot communicate their
problem back to Earth,' he said. Bongard conducted the research for the
NASA and the US Department of Energy. |
| Middle East Times / AFP / Science
Nov 17, 2006 |
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| Mouse-less mouse pad |
A new kind of mouse pad, developed by UK defence company Qinetiq, needs
no mouse at all. Instead, it monitors the movement of a human hand waved
just above its surface.
The pad has a T-shaped array of infrared emitters and sensors, placed
together in closely spaced pairs. Each emitter produces uniquely coded
pulses so only its paired sensor can 'see' the light as it is reflected
by a hand moving above. Simple hand motions – left, right, forwards and
backwards – are detected by monitoring which sensor pairs are excited.
But complex hand gestures, such as moving the hand rapidly in a circle,
could be stored on a computer and associated with personalised commands.
The pad should also be inexpensive, Qinetiq says, because infrared
diodes are already manufactured by the million for remote control units. |
| New Scientist
Nov 20, 2006 |
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