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Issue no. 27, 2007
Published: Aug 24, 2007

EU biofuel policy is a 'mistake'
Europe installs public health threat monitor
Scientists use VR to simulate out-of-body experiences
New technique to harvest power from the ocean
Japan to pursue new internet technology
Quantum-number generator
Biodegradable laptop arrives in Japan
EU biofuel policy is a 'mistake'
The EU target of ensuring 10% of petrol and diesel comes from renewable sources by 2020 is not an effective way to curb carbon emissions, researchers say. The UK-based scientists suggested that reforestation and habitat protection was a better option.

The study compared the amount of carbon absorbed by a forested area with the total of 'avoid emissions' by using biofuels instead of fossil fuels. The researchers examined arable land that could either be used for growing crops to produce biofuels, or replanted with trees. They then compared the net avoided carbon emissions with the amount of CO2 that would have been absorbed if forests were re-established on the land. The researchers also examined the impact of clearing forests in order to convert land to grow crops used to make biofuels.

They said forests could absorb up to nine times more CO2 than the production of biofuels could achieve on the same area of land. The growth of biofuels was also leading to more deforestation as nations turn to countries outside of the EU to meet the growing demand for biofuels.
BBC News / Science    Aug 17, 2007 back to top

Europe installs public health threat monitor
The European Commission has launched an automated medical intelligence system to trawl the net looking for early warning signs of public health threats, such as epidemics, large-scale industrial accidents and bio-terrorism.

MediSys scans over 1,000 news sites and 120 public health databases in 32 languages to provide health authorities with real-time knowledge. It has already showed its effectiveness in the foot and mouth outbreak in the UK. Previous systems have monitored only historical data, such as death rates, emergency admissions, trends in prescriptions and other public health statistical anomalies.

By providing real-time information, MediSys enables public authorities to react more quickly to potential health threats. Based on the level of articles retrieved and the detected keywords, an automatic alert is sent by email and SMS to decision-makers who are on permanent standby. For example, in the recent foot and mouth outbreak, MediSys detected a sudden jump in news reports and automatically sent alerts to public health officials across Europe. Citizens can also have free access to the scanning tool, which includes email alerts.
VNUnet UK    Aug 20, 2007 back to top

Scientists use VR to simulate out-of-body experiences
The experience of seeing yourself outside your own body, often associated with neurological conditions or traumatic experiences such as car accidents, has been recreated in a laboratory setting with healthy participants in two separate experiments at University College London and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

During the London study the participants sat on a chair and wore a pair of head-mounted displays connected to two cameras placed side by side behind their backs. When wearing the goggles, participants saw themselves from the perspective of someone sitting behind them. The experimenter then used two plastic rods to touch both the person's actual chest and the chest of the 'illusory body'. After questioning, participants strongly identified with their virtual body and felt they were behind themselves.

During the Swiss study participants stood in front of a camera while wearing visual display goggles, and were both physically and visually stimulated by having a highlighter pen rubbed against their backs and their virtual backs. When the researchers moved the participants, turned off the video display and then asked them to return to their former spots, they also overshot their former positions, standing closer to where their virtual bodies were. The researchers believe the findings could result in better applications of a more real virtual reality.
CBC News / Science    Aug 23, 2007 back to top

New technique to harvest power from the ocean
Researchers from SRI in California recently completed the first ocean tests of a system that uses a so-called artificial muscle to generate power from the motion of a buoy riding up and down on the waves. The researchers say that wave farms based on the technology could eventually rival wind turbines in power output.

Technology for harnessing the ocean's energy already exists, but it has not been widely adopted, largely because it has trouble withstanding the pounding of the waves. The new system could prove both cheaper and more reliable, the researchers say. It is not much more than a sheet of rubber attached to a weight and is therefore better able to absorb the shock of waves. Moreover, the materials used are cheap, which could help it compete in price with other sources of electricity.

The researchers built their generator by sandwiching a rubbery material between two electrodes. The rubber sheet and electrodes are then rolled up to form a hollow tube. When the tube is pulled by an outside force, the rubber layer is stretched thin, narrowing the gap between the electrodes. Initially, a small battery applies a voltage across the electrodes; when the rubber springs back into its original shape, it forces the electrodes apart, increasing the voltage between them. This excess energy can be siphoned off to generate a current. Part of that current feeds back into the system, so the battery is used only for the first cycle.
ABC News    Aug 23, 2007 back to top

Japan to pursue new internet technology
Japan says it will start researching and developing technology for a new generation of network to replace the internet and aims to get the technology into commercial use by 2020.

An organization will be established this autumn with cooperation from businesses, academia and the government to promote the technology.

The new technology is envisaged as being faster and more reliable than the current internet while being less susceptible to viruses and breakdowns.

The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry is hoping Japan will take the lead in developing post-Internet technology and setting global standards.
Japan Times    Aug 19, 2007 back to top

Quantum-number generator
If you want to send a perfectly secure message you may want to generate a completely random cipher to encrypt your data. But generating truly random numbers using computer algorithms is difficult, and hidden patterns in sequences of supposedly random numbers can be used to by a determined eavesdropper to decipher the message.

In recent years physicists have turned to the quantum world. Just send a single photon through a beam splitter with two paths and there is no way to know which path the photon will end up taking. This method can be used to generate binary 1s and 0s and at least one company makes a commercial random number generator that works this way.

But the problem, says Paul Kwiat, a quantum physicist at the University of Illinois, is that each photon produces only one random bit. So the rate at which you can generate random numbers is severely limited. He and his colleagues say a better, and simpler, way is to generate photons using some random process and record the time each takes to arrive at a detector. This time figure can then be converted into digits to create a random number. In this way, a single photon can generate as many random digits as there are significant figures in the time measurement.
New Scientist    Aug 20, 2007 back to top

Biodegradable laptop arrives in Japan
Fujitsu has taken the use of biodegradable plastic beyond picnic ware and household items, and designed a laptop with a biodegradable chassis.

The Fujitsu LifeBook sports a chassis made from a plastic made from cornstarch, rather than petroleum. When it is disposed of, the chassis will decompose in a matter of months, as opposed to decades for standard plastic. Cornstarch-based plastic results in 15% less carbon emissions, experts say. Fujitsu has also used the plastic on mobile phones and point-of-sale terminals.

The LifeBook is currently available only in Japan but it is likely that similar products will start to appear in Europe and the US. The cost of bio-plastic is expected to decline as manufacturing companies such as Cereplast and agricultural company Archer Daniels Midland expand their production.
Silicon.com    Aug 21, 2007 back to top
 
         
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