UNU-MERIT: I&T Weekly

	Search \| Sitemap \| Intranet \| PhD Intranet

Subscribe to I&T Weekly A free e-zine about Innovation & Technology developments

text html Please type the above code:
	RSS feed

Previous Issues I&T Weekly

>> back to archive

Previous issues of I&T Weekly:

2013: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]

2012: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37]

2011: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43] [44]

2010: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42]

2009: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42]

2008: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41]

2007: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40]

2006: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43] [44]

2005: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40]

2004: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43]

2003: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43] [44] [45] [46] [47]

2002: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43] [44] [45] [46] [47]

2001: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]

Issue no. 35, 2010 Published: Nov 05, 2010
Electric brain stimulation can improve math skills
Electronic implant allows the blind to see
First whole human liver built in lab
Hologram messaging coming of age
Europe simulates total cyber war
Nuclear waste storage problem must be addressed: EU
Space telescope spots 'invisible' galaxies
China plans space station by 2020

Electric brain stimulation can improve math skills
Stimulating the brain with a very low electric current can enhance a person's maths ability. Researchers at Oxford University, UK, studied 15 volunteers and demonstrated for the first time that electrical stimulation of the brain improved their performance in a series of maths assessments, and continued to do so half a year later. Last month scientists found that using electrodes to stimulate areas deep within the brain might be able to help patients with severe obsessive compulsive disorder who do not respond to other treatment. For this study, 15 student volunteers aged 20 and 21 were taught symbols that represented different numerical values, and then timed to see how quickly and accurately they could complete a series of maths puzzles based on those symbols. The teaching took place over six days and each day the volunteers were given either a placebo or a one milliamp electrical stimulus from right to left, or vice versa, across the parietal lobe - a brain area important for processing maths. The stimulus was administered for about 20 minutes each day. The results showed volunteers who were given the electrical stimulation from right to left parietal lobes performed best. This group was re-tested six months after the training and the scientists found they maintained a high performance level.
Reuters / Current Biology Nov 04, 2010	back to top

Electronic implant allows the blind to see
Groups in Germany and the US have been testing electronic implants aimed at restoring vision to people with retinal dystrophy. The condition causes degeneration of the photoreceptors - light-sensitive cells in the retina - leading to blindness. It affects 15 million people worldwide. Researchers at the University of Tuebingen in Germany have developed a microchip carrying 1500 photosensitive diodes that slides into the retina where the photoreceptors would normally be. The diodes respond to light, and when connected to an outside power source through a wire into the eye, can stimulate the nearby nerves that normally pass signals to the brain, mimicking healthy photoreceptors. The team reports that their first three volunteers could all locate bright objects. One could recognise normal objects and read large words. As a safety precaution, the implants in this first pilot study were removed after several weeks. Based on the results of this study, the researchers designed a new system, which can be implanted permanently.
Proceedings of the Royal Society B / New Scientist Nov 03, 2010	back to top

First whole human liver built in lab
Miniature human livers, about the size of small plums, have been made in the lab for the first time by researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina, US. The breakthrough is a step towards making livers big enough for transplants in humans. The researchers built the livers by taking ferret livers and stripping them of all their native cells, leaving just the collagen 'scaffold' of the organ, which they then filled with human liver cells. The ultimate goal is to create personalised livers for transplant from larger pig scaffolds by selecting healthy liver cells from a patient and multiplying them to build a new organ.
New Scientist Nov 01, 2010	back to top

Hologram messaging coming of age
It has long been a staple of science fiction films - the idea that you could send a moving 3D representation of someone to any location, even on another continent. Now, a University of Arizona team says it has devised a system that can make a holographic display appear in another place and update it in near real-time. At the heart of the system is a new plastic screen material that will record 3D holographic images time and time again, every two seconds. In the set up 16 cameras recorded 2D images of objects and people from multiple angles, and then sent that information to another location using a computer connection. At the remote site, a laser was used to 'print' the visual information on to the new photosensitive polymer. The 3D image composed of the 16 perspectives decays naturally, but the laser can write the next 'frame' before it completely disappears. No glasses are needed to see the images, merely some form of illumination. And unlike 'standard 3D' TV or films that produce a simple parallax effect in which each eye is offered one slightly different perspective on the same object, the scope of the holographic images is built from the many views of numerous cameras. Theoretically, say the researchers, it should be possible to project a full 360-degree hologram, one where an individual standing on one side of the screen sees the front of a printed object while someone standing on the other side of the screen sees its rear.
BBC News / Nature Nov 04, 2010	back to top

Europe simulates total cyber war
Essential web services have come under simulated attack as European nations test their cyber defences. The first-ever cross-European simulation of an all out cyber attack was planned to test how well nations cope as the attacks slow connections. The simulation steadily reduced access to critical services to gauge how nations react. The exercise also tested how nations work together to avoid a complete shut-down of international links. Neelie Kroes, European commissioner for the digital agenda, said the exercise was designed to test preparedness and was an 'important first step towards working together to combat potential online threats to essential infrastructure'. The exercise is intended to help expose short-comings in existing procedures for combating attacks. As the attacks escalated, cyber security centres had to find ever more ways to route traffic through to key services and sites. The exercise also tested if communication channels, set up to help spread the word about attacks, were robust in the face of a developing threat and if the information shared over them was relevant. Overseeing the exercise was the European Network Security Agency which has been given new powers to help member states handle cyber security incidents. In all, 22 member states plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland took part. A report into how the simulation went and how different nations coped is due to be published on 10 November.
BBC News Nov 04, 2010	back to top

Nuclear waste storage problem must be addressed: EU
Europe needs to identify sites for long-term storage of nuclear waste, with deep burial underground the best option, the European Commission says. A draft EU directive presented on Wednesday calls for national plans to be drawn up in the next few years, as the EU still has no final storage sites for nuclear waste. Exports of nuclear waste beyond the EU for long-term disposal will be banned. Existing storage sites can be used for 100 years at most, the Commission says. Every year the EU produces some 7,000 cu m of high-level radioactive waste. It is the part of reprocessed spent nuclear fuel that cannot be re-used. The Commission says there is a broad scientific consensus that the highly toxic waste is best disposed of deep underground. High-level waste from nuclear power plants can take up to a million years to decay. Fourteen of the EU's 27 member states have nuclear power plants. France, with 58, has by far the largest number. The total number in use in the EU is 143. Finland plans to have a long-term waste repository operational in 2020, Sweden in 2023 and France in 2025.
BBC News Nov 03, 2010	back to top

Space telescope spots 'invisible' galaxies
Five distant galaxies so choked with dust that they are completely invisible at optical wavelengths have been spotted at submillimetre wavelengths by the European Space Agency's Herschel telescope. Because the dust is generated by young stars, such galaxies could open a new window on the universe's most active star-formation period. Observations of the galaxies' spectra suggest they are very distant, appearing as they were when the universe was just 2 to 4 billion years old, less than a third its present age. Young stars in the galaxies shed dust that blocked visible light from escaping into space. But they did heat up the dust, causing it to radiate at infrared wavelengths. This radiation was stretched to longer wavelengths as space itself expanded, and by the time it reached Earth - and Herschel - it was in the far-infrared and submillimetre range. Researchers of the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK, found the dusty galaxies by studying bright submillimetre sources in early image taken by the space telescope. Ground-based observatories then snapped pictures of the sky around Herschel's finds. In each image, a galaxy lying much closer to Earth appeared in the same region of the sky. That suggested that the gravity of the nearby galaxies had bent and magnified the light from the more distant, dusty galaxies. Because the lensed objects are magnified in size, they can be used to study how stars formed during this active period in the universe's history, according to the researchers. The way their light has been bent can also be used to study the dark matter content of the galaxies responsible for the lensing.
New Scientist / Science Nov 04, 2010	back to top

China plans space station by 2020
Undaunted by NASA's cool response to its interest in the International Space Station, China is going it alone. It has announced plans to build its very own crewed space laboratory by 2020. The news comes hot on the heels of a visit to China by NASA administrator Charlie Bolden that failed to produce any plans for cooperation with the US in space. Some US lawmakers, including congressmen Frank Wolf and John Culberson, oppose forging closer space ties with China. Such critics question the intent of its space programme, which appears to be run by the military, and note the dual-use nature of much space technology. China, meanwhile, has been expanding its space capabilities, and, on 27 October, officially launched a project to develop a space station by 2020. The station will have research applications, including studying living conditions for astronauts, reports the Xinhua news agency.
New Scientist Nov 03, 2010	back to top