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Issue no. 35, 2007 Published: Nov 02, 2007
EU 'blue card' to attract Southern researchers
Gadget recycling boosts dioxins in mothers' milk
Tiny spider 'digitally dissected'
IBM to recycle chips for solar panels
'Suicide nodes' defend networks from within
Wind-up lights for African homes
Bullets bounce off nanotubes
Researchers develop wind-powered USB charger

EU 'blue card' to attract Southern researchers
Last week the EU unveiled a plan to admit an additional 20 million skilled African, Asian and Latin American workers to the EU over the next two decades through a 'blue card' scheme. The EU blue card scheme, similar to the US green card, needs the approval of all 27 EU member states, after which each country will have two years to implement it. The proposal calls for granting highly skilled workers - with a university degree and three years relevant work experience - a two-year, renewable blue card to work in a job that could not be filled by an EU citizen, with permanent residency given automatically after five consecutive years. People with a background in medical, engineering and information technology fields are likely to be considered favourably. EU blue card holders will be treated like EU nationals with regards to tax benefits, social assistance, payment of pensions, access to public housing and study grants. Their family members would also be permitted to join them.
SciDev.net Oct 29, 2007	back to top

Gadget recycling boosts dioxins in mothers' milk
People who live near electronics recycling sites in China have higher levels of harmful chemical compounds in their bodies, according to a study by scientists at Hong Kong Baptist University. Toxic chemicals including dioxins and furans were found to be elevated in women's breast milk, meaning they could pose a special risk to breast-fed infants. Around 70% of the world's e-waste is exported to China where labour is cheap and regulations are poorly enforced. In China recycling is often done by rudimentary methods, which include burning wire piles to recover metals, melting circuit boards over coal grills and extracting metals in acid baths. Most workers also lack any kind of safety equipment to protect them from the fumes. Burning wires releases dioxins and furans, which can cause cancer and disrupt endocrine and reproductive systems. The researchers studied 20 women in their mid-20s at a major e-waste recycling site in Zhejiang Province and in a city in the same province that does not carry out such recycling. Residents of the control town had levels of dioxins that similar to those of people in Sweden. At the e-waste site, however, dioxin levels were among the highest recorded anywhere in the world - women's breast milk had more than twice the concentration of dioxins found in the control site and their placentas had nearly three times the concentration of the chemical.
New Scientist / Environmental Science and Technology Oct 22, 2007	back to top

Tiny spider 'digitally dissected'
A 53-million-year-old spider has been revealed in exquisite detail by scientists from Manchester University, UK and Ghent University, Belgium. The ancient creepy-crawly had been trapped in amber and preserved in a lowland area around Paris, France. The scientists reconstructed the 1mm creature's original appearance using an X-ray-based medical imaging technique. The pictures 'digitally dissect' the tiny spider to expose amazing details such as the preservation of internal organs. This is the first time that the medical imaging technique, known as Very High Resolution X-Ray Computed Tomography, has been used to investigate a fossil in amber - and it has the potential to revolutionise the way fossils are studied, according to the scientists. The spider is a male and a species new to science. It has been formally classified as Cenotextricella simoni. The scientists say that it would have inhabited a wooded area and lived in a warm climate.
BBC News / Zootaxa Oct 29, 2007	back to top

IBM to recycle chips for solar panels
IBM says it has developed a process to recycle discarded computer-chip wafers into solar panels. Recycling the three million silicon wafers discarded each year could power 6,000 homes and help generate 13.5 megawatts of power, according to IBM. That is still just a small amount of the overall solar market. Sharp, the world's largest solar panel maker, makes about 710 megawatts' worth of solar cells a year. But any new silicon could provide relief to the solar industry. Solar power currently generates much less than 1% of global electricity, but in recent years, solar panel sales have grown by 30% to 40% a year. Typically, recyclers use chemicals to strip the circuitry from chips. That process leaves less silicon behind for reuse than the IBM technology does. IBM's wafers are thicker and more usable than the chemical reclaims, and the process is more efficient, cheaper and easier, according to IBM.
International Herald Tribune Oct 30, 2007	back to top

'Suicide nodes' defend networks from within
A selfless act of destruction - exemplified by the way honeybees die to defend their hive - has inspired a novel way of securing computer networks against malicious hackers. The approach, developed by engineers at the University of Cambridge, UK, works by giving all the devices on a network - or 'nodes' - the ability to destroy themselves, taking any nearby malevolent device with them. The technique they have developed, called 'suicide revocation', lets a single node decide quickly whether another node's behaviour is malevolent and shut it down. But there is a drastic cost: the single node must deactivate itself too. It simply broadcasts an encrypted message declaring itself and the malevolent node dead. The aim is to address an emerging risk as networks increasingly become distributed rather than centralised. Computers on a normal network operate under the control of a central server, but distributed networks have no centralised control. Instead, organisation of the network is distributed between individual devices, which can make the network both more efficient and more robust. However, some devices may be compromised and made to transmit misleading data. Devices must be able to detect and respond to this misbehaviour.
New Scientist Nov 01, 2007	back to top

Wind-up lights for African homes
The technology behind the wind-up radio could soon be helping to light up some of the poorest homes in Africa. The Freeplay Foundation is developing prototypes of a charging station for house lights it hopes will improve the quality of life for many Africans. The Foundation said the lights would replace the expensive, polluting and unhealthy alternatives many Africans currently use to light their homes. Field testing of the prototypes will start in Kenya in the next few months. Freeplay technology has already been used to create wind-up torches and small lights but the LifeLight Project aims to make bigger, brighter bulbs for homes. Instead of just giving the lights out and then leaving, the Foundation aims to recruit women who will sell the lights and be trained to repair and maintain them for customers. The World Bank estimates that more than 500 million people in sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to electricity supplies that could be used to light their homes.
BBC News Nov 01, 2007	back to top

Bullets bounce off nanotubes
Robocops could soon leave the realm of science fiction thanks to a new bullet-proof material proposed by engineers at the University of Sydney in Australia. According to computer simulations done by the team, bullets would be no match for vests made of the material, and would simply bounce off owing to the high elasticity of the nanotubes. The engineers obtained their results by modelling the behaviour of single-walled carbon nanotubes fixed at both ends that were impacted with tiny 'bullets' made of diamond. The bullets had speeds of between 1000 and 3500 m/s and were fired perpendicular to the nanotube axis. The researchers found that the nanotubes were resistant to bullet speeds of over 2000 m/s, even after multiple impacts. The centre of a nanotube appeared to be the most resilient. The researchers have calculated that body armour just 600 microns thick could bounce off a bullet with a muzzle energy of 320 Joules - which is typical of a light firearm. Such vests would be better than existing anti-ballistic clothing, which is usually made of multiple layers of Kevlar, Twaron and Dyneema fibres. Although they stop bullets from penetrating, they do this by dissipating force over an area larger than the bullet, which can still cause injuries known as blunt force trauma. These range from severe bruising to critical organ damage. The high level of elastic storage energy of carbon nanotubes means that such trauma could be avoided.
PhysicsWorld / Nanotechnology Oct 31, 2007	back to top

Researchers develop wind-powered USB charger
Researchers have created a small fan-based charger that can help boost the battery life of consumer technology goods. The Hymini USB charger is the brainchild of Arthur Huang, an architect and engineer trained at Cornell and Harvard universities. The device operates in winds above 9mph and up to 40mph, storing energy on its Li-ion battery and outputting 5v to USB-powered devices. A 20-minute breeze will power an iPod for 30 minutes, a PDA for 40 minutes and a cellphone for four minutes, or allow a digital camera to snap 20 images. The device also comes with add-on solar panels, four of which can be attached to power the internal battery. When there is no sun or wind, the Hymini USB charger can be plugged into the wall and charged from the mains. The device is expected to be out later this year.
VNUnet UK Oct 19, 2007	back to top