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Issue no. 15, 2007 Published: Apr 27, 2007
Satellite duo takes first 3D images of the Sun
European Commission approves space policy
Researchers use nanotech to cure paralysis
Simple filter may inspire smaller fuel cells
Scientists work out how long DVDs will last
Tiny scale can weigh living bacteria and cells
Nanotech can help the world go green
Buildings could save energy by spying on inhabitants

Satellite duo takes first 3D images of the Sun
A satellite duo called STEREO has produced the first ever three-dimensional images of the Sun, NASA announced on Monday. Scientists hope the images of the Sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, will help improve their computer models of solar activity. Better predictions could help engineers protect the sensitive electronics on satellites from the ravages of solar storms. The two STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) spacecraft, which launched into space in October 2006, are able to make the 3D images by taking simultaneous pictures as one flies front of Earth and the other flies behind it in the planet's orbit around the Sun. Before the STEREO mission, images of the Sun were taken from only one vantage point - an imaginary line drawn from Earth to the Sun. That is not the only way in which STEREO is an improvement over its predecessors, which can study solar eruptions stretching just a short distance from the Sun - only 15% of the distance from the Sun to Earth. STEREO can observe these eruptions as they travel all the way from the Sun to the Earth.
New Scientist / NASA Apr 23, 2007	back to top

European Commission approves space policy
The European Commission has adopted a 'European Space Policy', designed to widen Europe's space activities. The document, which calls the European Space Agency a strategic asset that must be used more effectively, said the continent must secure the economic and societal benefits of space for its citizens. The policy was approved Thursday during a commission meeting in Brussels and provides a comprehensive political framework for the development and exploitation of space technologies and systems. The space policy will be offered for endorsement by European ministers May 22 in Brussels during Europe's Fourth Space Council Meeting.
PhysOrg / UPI Apr 26, 2007	back to top

Researchers use nanotech to cure paralysis
Researchers of the Institute of Bionanotechnology in Medicine at Northwestern University are hopeful that nanotechnology can be used to mobilise the body's own healing abilities to repair or regenerate damaged cells. The researchers are combining nanotechnology and biology. They have demonstrated how paralysed lab mice with spinal cord injuries can regain the ability to walk using their hind limbs six weeks after a simple injection of a purpose-designed nano-material. The work hinges on self-assembly, a fundamental area of nanotechnology that will ultimately enable medical researchers to tailor patient treatments in previously unimaginable ways, the researchers believe. The team designed molecules with the capacity to self-assemble into nano-fibres once injected into the body with a syringe. When the nano-fibres form they can be immobilised in an area of tissue where it is necessary to activate some biological process, for example saving damaged cells or regenerating differentiated cells from stem cells. The work could also has implications for diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's in which key brain cells stop working properly.
VNUnet UK Apr 24, 2007	back to top

Simple filter may inspire smaller fuel cells
Fuel cells designed for use in laptops and cellphones could be a step closer with simple devices that extract waste gas and vapour. The device, developed by Chinese researchers, extracts by-products that normally impair the efficiency of 'direct methanol' fuel cells (DMFCs), without requiring extra power. In one half of a DMFC, fuel is oxidised by a catalyst, forming carbon dioxide, protons and electrons. However, waste CO2, along with water and methanol vapour, normally collect inside the cell, diluting the fuel concentration and reducing the power output. Pumps can remove these by-products, but require space and power, reducing overall efficiency. Researchers at National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, have now developed a waste removal system that works without power, which could mean smaller DMFCs with more space for fuel. The new device acts like a filter, collecting gas and vapour in a few simple steps. Trials on working cells are underway, and tests suggest the system could draw off gas and vapour at 10 times the rate needed for a micro fuel cell.
New Scientist / Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering Apr 23, 2007	back to top

Scientists work out how long DVDs will last
Experts are a step closer to working out how long data stored on conventional media will last with the publication of a theory predicting how polymer glasses used in applications including DVDs decay over time. Researchers at the University of Illinois explained that motions at the molecular level can have macroscopic consequences. The theory predicts not only how polymer molecules move, but the material's properties at a wide variety of times and temperatures. Polymer glasses have melting points so close to room temperature that many retain some liquid-like properties at room temperature, including motion at the molecular level. As the material gradually reconfigures and approaches equilibrium at room temperature, the movements become slower and slower. Under sufficiently cold conditions, this 'relaxation' time can become astronomically large, even longer than the age of the universe for some materials. Over time, the molecules crowd closer together, increasing the density and changing the mechanical properties of the material.
VNUnet UK / Physical Review Letters Apr 24, 2007	back to top

Tiny scale can weigh living bacteria and cells
With a tiny, high-tech scale, researchers can now weigh living bacteria and immune cells for the first time. In traditional methods, molecule are placed on top of a tiny silicon slab inside a vacuum. The slab vibrates at its natural frequency until the molecule is placed on top, when the frequency changes slightly. The mass of the molecule can be calculated by measuring the change. But living cells cannot survive in a vacuum and must be measured in a fluid, which would interfere with the measurement if it surrounded the slab. A group of MIT scientists solved this problem by pumping the fluid containing the sample of cells through a microchannel inside the slab. The scale can now measure living cells and nanoparticles down to a femtogram, or about the weight of an E. coli bacterium. The technique could help researchers develop inexpensive, portable diagnostic devices that could help health workers in developing countries.
MSNBC / Nature Apr 25, 2007	back to top

Nanotech can help the world go green
Nanotechnology holds the key to reducing pollution and ultimately building a 'clean' economy, according to a new report from the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies. The study highlighted a 'strong marriage' between nanotechnology and the principles and practices of environmentally friendly engineering. The report highlights potentially beneficial links between nanotechnology and green chemistry and engineering, which aim to minimise environmental impact through resource-conserving and waste-eliminating improvements in processes and products. For example, one researcher uses DNA molecules in a process that holds promise for building nanoscale patterns on silicon chips and other surfaces. The experimental method saves materials and requires less water and solvent than the traditional lithography techniques used in today's electronics industry. Other researchers are investigating nanoscale approaches to replace lead and other toxic materials in electronics manufacturing. Nanotechnology has opened promising new routes for making inexpensive solar cells as well as improving the performance and lowering the cost of fuel cells, according to the report.
VNUnet UK Apr 26, 2007	back to top

Buildings could save energy by spying on inhabitants
A smart building with a network of motion detectors can improve the energy efficiency and safety of the building while remaining deaf and blind to the activities of individuals. Such systems could use their knowledge of where groups congregate to turn down the air conditioning when there are only a few people in one part of the building, for example. In an emergency, electronic signs could direct people to the nearest available escape route when one becomes congested. Rather than using cameras, which would invade people's privacy, Christopher Wren at the Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratory (MERL) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is using 'dumb' infrared motion sensors. He fitted 215 wireless sensors to the ceilings of the MERL building and collected information from them over the course of a year. He also installed video cameras so he could match up the signals from the motion sensors with what movements were actually taking place, such as walking in a straight line, loitering, or people walking together or splitting apart. He used his findings to program software to learn how signal patterns corresponded to different movements. When the software was then fed new motion data, it was able to accurately identify the movements 91 per cent of the time.
New Scientist Apr 28, 2007	back to top