| |
|
|
Issue no. 20, 2007
Published: Jun 15, 2007 |
|
 Patent sought on 'synthetic life' | | Kodak boosts digital camera sensitivity | | Liquid lens can magnify at the flick of a switch | | NMR gets seriously small | | Researchers develop up nanowire memory architecture | | Economists put a price tag on death | | Bones could allow data swaps via handshake | | Aluminium lamps could steal spotlight | | Innovative Neanderthals bid for human status | | Make-up printer |
|
| Patent sought on 'synthetic life' |
Scientists working to build a life form from scratch have applied to
patent the broad method they plan to use to create their 'synthetic
organism'. The J Craig Venter Institute's US patent application claims
exclusive ownership of a set of essential genes and a synthetic
'free-living organism that can grow and replicate' made using those
genes. It has also filed an international application at the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) which names more than 100
countries where the institute may seek monopoly patents.
Dr Craig Venter has been working for years to create a man-made
organism. His team intends to construct an organism with a 'minimal
genome' that can then be inserted into the shell of a bacterium.
Artificial life forms could produce solutions to global problems such as
green sources of fuel and climate change, according to Venter. The
effort could result in 'designer microbes' that produce biofuels such as
ethanol, and hydrogen. They could also be engineered to remove carbon
dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, he says.
The publication of the patent application has angered some
environmentalists. The Canada-based ETC group, which monitors
developments in biotechnology, called on patent offices to reject
applications on synthetic life forms. |
| BBC News
Jun 08, 2007 |
 back to top
|
|
| Kodak boosts digital camera sensitivity |
Eastman Kodak has developed a relatively straightforward change to
digital camera image sensors, which increases light sensitivity of
existing sensors by a factor of two to four. That means a camera's
shutter speed could be cut in half or a quarter, helping diminish camera
shake or motion blur problems. Alternatively, it could let photographers
shoot in low light with less image noise.
Kodak's new method better reflects how human eyes actually work,
separately registering colour and brightness information - and devoting
more pixels to brightness, where the human eye is sensitive to detail.
The new Kodak technique can be applied to any existing image sensor. The
technology does not require any new fundamental changes to the heart of
the image sensor, where a grid of electronic detectors converts incoming
light first into electric signals and then digital information. Instead,
it adds some neutral 'panchromatic' pixels to the usual array of red,
green and blue pixels in the grid, then uses a different software
algorithm to reconstruct the full-colour images from the sensor output. |
| ZDNet
Jun 13, 2007 |
back to top
|
|
| Liquid lens can magnify at the flick of a switch |
The first liquid camera lens with no moving parts, and that can switch
between two levels of magnification, has been designed by researchers at
the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering in
Germany. Liquid lenses bend light using the curved boundary between
watery and oily liquids. When the two liquids are held in the right
container, the boundary between them can be made to curve in a way that
focuses light simply by applying a voltage.
Liquid-based lenses could be integrated more easily into cellphones and
other portable gadgets. But changing a zoom lens's magnification also
affects its focus, and causes problems such as pincushion distortion and
chromatic aberration. Conventional zooms often require 20 or more lenses
to preserve image quality across the whole range of magnification.
The researchers have come up with a design that switches from a normal
view to 2.5-times magnification. The design consists of four liquid
lenses and three fixed plastic lenses. When the four liquid lenses are
at their most curved, the optics offer a magnification of 2.5 times.
When all four lenses are at their flattest there is no magnification.
The complete length of the system from outer lens to image sensor is
29mm, but the researchers think it is possible to reduce that. |
| New Scientist
Jun 11, 2007 |
back to top
|
|
| NMR gets seriously small |
Researchers in France have made a breakthrough in nuclear magnetic
resonance (NMR) spectroscopy that allows the technique to be used
effectively on nanolitre-sized solid samples for the first time.
The new method involves the use of two coils - one stationary and one
rotating at up to 70 kHz - and allows the highly-sensitive magic angle
spinning (MAS) NMR technique to be applied to tiny samples. The
researchers say the approach could eventually be used to study chemical
processes in a single biological cell.
The researchers have dubbed their technique magic-angle coil spinning
(or MACS) and the technique is essentially a simple modification to
conventional MAS, so existing hardware can be used. As a result, the
technique could be used in automated high-throughput NMR studies for
looking at many samples in a short period of time.
The technique could also be used to study tiny biological samples such
as cell cultures and forensic evidence and the researchers believe that
the technique could someday be used to observe the chemical processes
inside single biological cells. |
| PhysicsWeb / Nature
Jun 12, 2007 |
back to top
|
|
| Researchers develop up nanowire memory architecture |
An international team of scientists has unveiled a revolutionary memory
architecture that combines silicon nanowires with a more traditional
type of data storage. This hybrid structure may be more reliable than
other recently built nanowire-based memory devices and more easily
integrated into commercial applications.
The architecture was developed by researchers from the National
Institute of Standards and Technology (Nist), George Mason University
and Kwangwoon University in Korea. The technique involves the
integration of nanowires with a high-end type of non-volatile memory
similar to Flash, a layered structure known as semiconductor-oxide-
nitride-oxide-semiconductor technology. The nanowires are positioned
using 'hands-off self-alignment', which could allow the production cost
of large-scale viable devices to be lower than Flash memory cards, which
require more complicated fabrication methods.
Researchers grew the nanowires on a layered oxide-nitride-oxide
substrate. Applying a positive voltage across the wires causes electrons
in the wires to tunnel down into the substrate thereby charging it. A
negative voltage causes the electrons to tunnel back up into the wires.
This process is the key to the device's memory function. When fully
charged, each nanowire device stores a single bit of information, either
a '0' or a '1' depending on the position of the electrons. |
| VNUnet UK
Jun 11, 2007 |
back to top
|
|
| Economists put a price tag on death |
If money could buy happiness, how much would it take to bring it back
after the death of a partner, child or spouse? Most of us would be
loathe to assign such a value but British economists have attached such
dollar values to deaths by comparing the way that lost loved ones lower
scores on happiness surveys with the way that greater incomes boost
scores. More than just a gruesome exercise, they say they hope it will
provide courts with a way to more fairly award damages.
Andrew Oswald of the University of Warwickand Nattavudh Powdthavee of
the University of London reviewed data collected from 10,000 Britons
tracked by the British Household Panel Survey, begun in 1991, which
records major life events and includes questions designed to gauge
overall mental health. They identified the amount of money, on average,
that raised a person's mental health score by the same amount that a
loved one's death lowered it.
They calculated that it would take USD 220,000 annually to raise
someone's happiness to pre-death levels after a spouse dies, USD 118,000
for a child, USD 28,000 for a parent, USD 16,000 for a friend and only
USD 2,000 for a sibling. Taking into account that some people might be
harder hit than others could as much as double those amounts, Oswald and
Powdthavee wrote in their paper. |
| Scientific American
Jun 05, 2007 |
back to top
|
|
| Bones could allow data swaps via handshake |
Researchers at Rice University want to use the human skeleton to
transmit commands reliably and securely to wearable gadgets and medical
implants. Their research could also lead to new ways for people with
disabilities to control devices such as computers and PDAs.
Wireless radio signals are already used to control gadgets and implants,
but these can suffer interference from Wi-Fi and other sources, making
them unreliable. The team decided to investigate using sound instead.
They applied a small vibrator to various parts of the body. When they
then measured the acoustic signals received elsewhere on the body, they
found that a 'frequency shift keyed'(FSK) signal gave the best
distinction between 0s and 1s. In FSK signalling a 0 is represented by
one frequency and a 1 by a different one.
They then measured how well bone conducted these signals when they were
generated in places on the body where devices are normally worn: the
wrist for watches, the lower back for cellphones worn on a belt, and
behind the ear for headsets. They found the skeleton conducted even
low-power vibrations from one location to another with surprisingly few
errors. The researchers suggest a vibrator in a wrist receiver /
transmitter that could tell an implant placed near a bone to release a
drug dose. Similarly, tooth clacks or finger clicks could be interpreted
by a receiver to activate functions in a phone. |
| New Scientist
Jun 13, 2007 |
back to top
|
|
| Aluminium lamps could steal spotlight |
Cheap, skinny aluminium foil lamps may soon illuminate our lives. The new
light source, made by researchers at the University of Illinois, is
lighter, brighter, and more efficient than incandescent light.
The new light source is built of aluminium foil bathed in acid so that
its surface is full of tiny holes. The acid also converts the foil into
sapphire, a type of aluminium oxide, which creates a robust structure
that allows volts to travel across the thin layer of aluminium without
breaking it down. The tens of thousands of cavities are filled with gas
and wired together, and the whole device is sealed between two pieces of
glass. All assembled, the device is less than 1mm thick. The light can
be flexible and hung on curved surfaces.
The flexible lamps not only have potential to light up homes and
businesses, they may help treat diseases too. Doctors have shown
interest in using the light source as a treatment for psoriasis, a skin
disease suffered by 5 per cent of the world's population. Although there
is no cure for the condition, ultraviolet light of certain wavelengths
can drive it into remission. Currently, treatments are costly, and can
require a few visits to the doctor every week. |
| MSNBC / Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics
Jun 14, 2007 |
back to top
|
|
| Innovative Neanderthals bid for human status |
Neanderthals as innovators? That the concept seems amusing goes to show
how our sister species has become the butt of our jokes. Yet in the
Middle Palaeolithic, some 300,000 years ago, innovation is what the
Neanderthals were up to.
This period is usually regarded as undramatic in cultural and
evolutionary terms, with little in the way of technological or cognitive
development. Terry Hopkinson of the University of Leicester, UK, has now
challenged this view, showing that Neanderthals were far from
behaviourally static. They incorporated different forms of tool
construction into a single technique, and learned to cope with the
ecological challenges posed by habitats in eastern Europe.
Archaeological finds show that the Neanderthals fused two forms of
toolmaking, the façonnage and the débitage techniques. In the former a
stone core is shaped by chipping off flakes of flint, the latter
involves producing sharp-edged flakes from a core. In the Lower
Palaeolithic the two techniques were practised separately, but Hopkinson
argues that during the Middle Palaeolithic they were fused into a single
method, the Levallois reduction technique. At the same time as this was
occurring Neanderthals spread into central and eastern Europe, regions
where they and their forebears had hitherto been unable to settle,
because the environment was too harsh for them to cope. |
| New Scientist / Antiquity
Jun 13, 2007 |
back to top
|
|
| Make-up printer |
Applying make-up can be a chore, reportedly, and the methods of
application have changed little since Cleopatra seduced Anthony with
lemon-scented oil. But now the Japanese consumer electronics giant
Matsushita is dragging cosmetics into the 21st century
The company thinks the techniques used for inkjet printing on paper
could be used to apply make up to the skin, so it has designed a
battery-powered, hand-held device that houses a cartridge of liquid
make-up.
The device ionises the liquid allowing an electric field to accelerate
it through a nozzle to form a jet. The result is a make-up spray that
can be turned on and off at the flick of a switch. But if that doesn't
do the trick, the device has a drip mode which can dribble liquid onto
the skin instead. |
| New Scientist
Jun 11, 2007 |
back to top
|
|
|
