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Issue no. 4, 2008 Published: Jan 25, 2008
Scientists create synthetic genome
EU unveils climate change strategy
Europe makes a wave with marine energy
Wikipedia to survey its members to figure out why they post
Cheap desalination
Bubble-busting sounds could keep chips cool
Face recognition technique aids security - and lookalike searches
Invention: 3D tissue printer

Scientists create synthetic genome
Scientists have synthesised the entire genome of a living organism - a bacterium - an accomplishment they say could lead to the development of artificial life. The entire genome of the bacterium Mycoplasma genitalium is only 485 working genes, the smallest of any living organism that can replicate by itself. But researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Md., said the process could eventually be applied to create synthetic organisms capable of producing biofuels or cleaning up toxic waste spills. The scientists used the E. coli bacteria to store copies of artificial chromosomes and then assembled the larger pieces together in yeast. The next step will be to see if the newly synthesised genome can be placed inside another cell to activate further production of the bacterium. The researchers said the process could be used to reprogram potentially harmful bacterium like M. genitalium - which can cause sexually transmitted infection in men and women - into microorganisms capable of performing more useful tasks.
CBC News / Science Jan 24, 2008	back to top

EU unveils climate change strategy
The European Commission presented its plan for tackling climate change this week, with plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2020 to 20 per cent below 1990 levels. The new proposals, which EU member states and lawmakers must approve or amend before they can be enforced, call for an updated emission-trading system, national targets for industries outside that system and legally enforceable targets on the amount of energy countries acquire from renewable sources. The commission's proposed main weapon for cutting greenhouse gases comes in the form of an emission-trading program. Richer countries would have to do the most to rein in emissions, while some poorer countries would be allowed to increase emissions as their economies expand. No country would have to cut emissions by more than one-fifth below 1990 levels. By 2020, pollution permits could cost businesses EUR 50bn a year, the commission estimates. But officials said that cost will be offset by a reduction in the amount the EU pays for oil and gas imports. The plan also envisions getting one-fifth of the EU's energy needs from renewable power by 2020. Many countries would have to rapidly increase the amount of wind, solar or hydro power to hit the new binding targets.
CBC News Jan 23, 2008	back to top

Europe makes a wave with marine energy
Europe is leading the way in the development of renewable energy sources that harness the natural motion of waves and other marine phenomena. Wave energy sources are abundant, consistent and predictable, and have the highest energy density among all renewable energy sources, according to research by Frost & Sullivan. The most effective wave energy producing areas are between 40 and 60 degrees of latitude where the available resource can produce 30kW/m to 70kW/m, with peaks of 100kW/m. The potential global wave energy contribution to the electricity market could be around 2,000TWh/year, equating to about 10 per cent of world electricity consumption. The study divides wave energy devices into three main categories: shore-line, near-shore and offshore. About 1,000 patents for wave energy converters are currently in the market and broadly fall under these categories. But with so many technologies there is no clear consensus on which will prevail. There are two main research centres in Europe focusing on the development and commercialisation of ocean energy technologies. The European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, Scotland provides developers with sites to test prototypes. The Wave Energy Centre in Portugal provides strategic and technical support to companies, R&D institutions and public organisations.
VNUnet UK Jan 18, 2008	back to top

Wikipedia to survey its members to figure out why they post
In the next several months the authors of Wikipedia will be the subject of a worldwide survey to find out about people's posting habits on the immensely popular online encyclopaedia. The Wikimedia foundation, which operates Wikipedia is employing Netherlands-based UNU-MERIT to conduct the research that aims to figure out not only who Wikipedians are, but how much they are contributing to the site. The survey is also designed to find out why people are coming to Wikipedia, and to identify the types of users who go from casual browsers to site contributors. User identity goes farther than just browsing habits, though. The survey's creators are trying to unearth the real identities of Wikipedia authors, something that Wikipedia alternative Citizendium has already solved by requiring its users to use their real names as part of the editing process. In the past, user anonymity has been one of the key points of contention regarding responsibly and the efficacy of rule enforcement in Wikipedia's user community. A portion of the survey results are to be released at this year's Wikimania, which takes place in late July, with a more conclusive report later this year.
CNET News Jan 24, 2008	back to top

Cheap desalination
About 25% of the world's population are affected by water shortages. Desalination plants can help, but they tend to be expensive to build and run. Even then, relatively small quantities of water often have to be transported to remote areas, which can create logistical problems. One technique that shows promise for small-scale desalination is called humidification-dehumidification (HDH), in which a stream of hot air is humidified to saturation point by bubbling it through salt water. This air stream is then cooled causing pure water to condense out. One of the biggest problems with this technique is the small amount of water that saturated air can hold. This means that large amounts of air must be heated and circulated, making the process expensive. Instead, researchers at the University of Newcastle in Australia suggest using hydrogen or helium to carry the evaporated water. Gases like hydrogen and helium can accommodate larger quantities of water vapour while exhibiting much better heat and mass transfer rates than air. That should make HDH more cost-effective for small communities, according to the researchers.
New Scientist Jan 21, 2008	back to top

Bubble-busting sounds could keep chips cool
Sound waves can boost the efficiency of liquid cooling techniques by nearly 150%, a feat that may help keep hardworking computer chips and other components from overheating in future. US researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have shown how a relatively inefficient method - liquid cooling - can be improved dramatically with the use of sound waves. One of the best ways to remove heat quickly in high-power applications is to allow a liquid coolant to boil, so that the resulting vapour whisks away excess energy. However, this process creates tiny bubbles of vapour that can form a film over a hot surface and serve as an insulator, spoiling the cooling process. But the researchers placed an acoustic driver sitting opposite from the heated surface, with cooling fluid in-between. They found that projecting just a small amount of sound energy, at frequencies near 1 kilohertz, across the fluid was enough to do dislodge the gathering bubbles. This increased the amount of heat that could be dissipated by as much as 147%.
New Scientist Jan 24, 2008	back to top

Face recognition technique aids security - and lookalike searches
Scientists have developed a 'face averaging' technique which dramatically improves the success rate of computer face-recognition systems and may be used to streamline airport security, solve crimes captured on CCTV - and find celebrity lookalikes. Using the new technique boosted the performance of a face recognition software package from 54% accuracy to 100%, say University of Glasgow researchers. By making an average of 10 images of the same person the new software is able to eliminate variation from, for example, different lighting or camera angles. The researchers tested the averaging approach using FaceVACS, a system that is being tested at Sydney airport. The website MyHeritage.com uses the software in a celebrity lookalike service. Surfers submit images of themselves to the site, which matches them to the nearest celebrity picture on its database of more than 31,000 photographs. The researchers submitted images of 459 celebrities they knew were on the database. The system matched them to the correct celebrity 54% of the time. When the pair created average celebrity faces from 10 images and resubmitted them to the website, the software was correct 100% of the time.
The Guardian / Science Jan 25, 2008	back to top

Invention: 3D tissue printer
3D printers have been around for a few years now. They work by printing a structure in layers, one on top of the other, to form complex 3D shapes. Now James Yoo at the Institute of Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, US, says he can do the same thing with living cells. Yoo uses a standard inkjet printing mechanism to create layers of viable cells, which can then be built into 3D structures. He says the structures may comprise several different types of cells, just as conventional image printers use several different colours of ink. The system could also print dyes to make the structure easily visible and growth factors to encourage healthy development. Yoo says his printer can make almost anything from skin and bone to pancreatic or nerve tissue.
New Scientist Jan 21, 2008	back to top