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$Electron diffraction pattern for a crystalline specimen, matter.org$

Issue no. 19, 2011 Published: May 27, 2011
Electrons are almost perfectly round, scientists discover
Robots invent their own spoken language
Engineered antibodies cross blood-brain barrier
Mind-reading scan identifies simple thoughts
Geothermal without the earthquakes
Using microbes to generate electricity
US considers open-source software for cybersecurity
Physicists find a new angle on blood spatter

Electrons are almost perfectly round, scientists discover
Researchers at Imperial College London have made the most accurate measurement yet of the shape of an electron, finding that it is almost a perfect sphere. Experts found that the subatomic particles differ from being perfectly round by less than 0.000000000000000000000000001cm. This means that if an electron was magnified to the size of the solar system, it would still appear spherical to within the width of a human hair. Physicists from the university's Centre for Cold Matter studied electrons inside molecules called ytterbium fluoride. Using a laser, they made measurements of the motion of these electrons, looking for any distinctive wobbles which would suggest that the shape of the molecule was distorted - as would occur if the electrons were not perfectly round. The team observed no such imperfections during experiments spanning more than a decade. The results are important in the study of antimatter, an elusive substance that behaves in the same way as ordinary matter, except that it has an opposite electrical charge. For example, the antimatter version of the negatively charged electron is the positively charged anti-electron, known as a positron. Understanding the shape of the electron could help researchers understand how positrons behave and how antimatter and matter differ.
Daily Telegraph / Nature May 26, 2011	back to top

Robots invent their own spoken language
Researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia are teaching a pair of robots to communicate linguistically like humans by inventing new spoken words, a lexicon that the roboticists can teach to other robots to generate an entirely new language. The 'lingodroids' consist of a mobile platform equipped with a camera, laser range finder and sonar for mapping and obstacle avoidance. The robots also carry a microphone and speakers for audible communication between them. To understand the concept behind the project, consider a simplified case of how language might have developed. Imagine that all of a sudden you wake up with your memory completely wiped, not knowing any language. And then you meet another person who's in the exact same situation as you. What do you do? What might very well end up happening is that you invent some random word to describe where you are right now, and then point at the ground and tell the word to the other person, establishing a connection between this new word and a place. And this is exactly what the Lingodroids do. If one of the robots finds itself in an unfamiliar area, it will make up a word to describe it, choosing a random combination from a set of syllables. It then communicates that word to other robots that it meets, thereby defining the name of a place. From this fundamental base, the robots can play games with each other to reinforce the language. For example, one robot might tell the other robot 'kuzo', and then both robots will race to where they think 'kuzo' is. When they meet at or close to the same place, that reinforces the connection between a word and a location. And from 'kuzo', one robot can ask the other about the place they just came from, resulting in words for more abstract concepts like direction and distance. After playing several hundred games to develop their language, the robots agreed on directions within 10 degrees and distances within 0.375 metres. The robots also created spatial maps that agree remarkably well.
MSNBC / Discovery Channel May 23, 2011	back to top

Engineered antibodies cross blood-brain barrier
By defying the classical rules of antibody engineering, researchers have constructed an antibody that is readily shuttled into the brain. The results suggest that the approach could be used to generate antibody-based therapies for brain diseases. Antibodies - proteins used by the immune system to neutralize damaging foreign substances - are prized both in nature and in the laboratory because they are highly specific. But researchers are increasingly striving to make antibodies that bind to more than one target. But few of those antibodies will be able to penetrate the shield of tightly packed cells known as the blood-brain barrier, which protects the brain from blood-borne intruders such as bacteria, but also keeps out most large drug molecules. But now researchers from US biotechnology firm Genentech report the design of an antibody that surmounts this obstacle. The antibody targets two proteins. The first, called beta-secretase 1, is a popular target for drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease, because it has an important role in the production of amyloid peptides in the brain. According to the 'amyloid hypothesis', amyloid aggregates are responsible for the hallmark brain damage and memory loss of the condition. The second protein targeted by the antibody is the transferring receptor, which activates a molecular channel that normally imports iron into the brain. By clinging to this receptor, the antibody is transported into the brain, where it can act against beta-secretase 1. The double-duty antibody performed well in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease: a day after receiving a single injection of the antibody, concentrations of amyloid-beta in the brain plummeted by 47%.
Science Translational Medicine May 25, 2011	back to top

Mind-reading scan identifies simple thoughts
A new brain imaging system that can identify a subject's simple thoughts may lead to clearer diagnoses for Alzheimer's disease or schizophrenia - as well as possibly paving the way for reading people's minds. Researchers at Stanford University in California used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify patterns of brain activity associated with different mental states. They asked 14 volunteers to do one of four tasks: sing songs silently to themselves; recall the events of the day; count backwards in threes; or simply relax. Participants were given a 10-minute period during which they had to do this. For the rest of that time they were free to think about whatever they liked. The participants' brains were scanned for the entire 10 minutes, and the patterns of connectivity associated with each task were teased out by computer algorithms that compared scans from several volunteers doing the same task. Once the algorithms had established the brain activity necessary for each task, the researchers asked 10 new volunteers to think in turn about each of the four tasks. Without knowing beforehand what each volunteer was thinking, the system successfully identified 85% of the tasks they were engaged in. It also correctly concluded that subjects were not engaged in any of the four original activities when it analysed scans of people thinking about moving around their homes. The findings suggest that patterns for thousands of mental states might serve as a reference bank against which people's thoughts could be compared, potentially revealing what someone is thinking or how they are feeling. The researchers hope that it could one day be used in Alzheimer's and schizophrenia to help identify faults in the connections needed to perform everyday tasks. The system might also be useful for gauging emotional reactions to film clips and adverts.
New Scientist May 26, 2011	back to top

Geothermal without the earthquakes
A startup in Connecticut says it has a way to improve the reach of enhanced geothermal energy, without the financial or geological risks associated with such projects. Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) represents a promising source of clean power generation in geographies that lack the ideal combination of underground heat, water, and rock permeability needed for conventional geothermal. But with EGS, developers have to engineer the conditions they require, and this involves fracturing solid rock by pumping fluids into wells at high pressure, an approach that has raised concerns about the potential to trigger earthquakes and contaminate aquifers. GTherm, founded in 2008, says it has come up with an approach that does not require any fracturing or water cooling. It uses a kind of solid-state heat exchanger or 'heat nest' at the bottom of wells. The nest draws heat away from the surrounding rock more efficiently, with the help of a highly conductive grout that encases the heat exchanger. To generate power, fluid travels the length of the well in a closed loop and carries the heat from the nest back to the surface, where a secondary fluid within a separate closed loop is turned into gas to drive an electricity-generating turbine. To further enhance heat recovery and increase power output, thin bore holes about 30 metres long and lined with heat-conducting material can be drilled off the main vertical well.
Technology Review May 17, 2011	back to top

Using microbes to generate electricity
Using bacteria to generate energy is a significant step closer following a breakthrough discovery by scientists at the University of East Anglia. The research demonstrates for the first time the exact molecular structure of the proteins which enable bacterial cells to transfer electrical charge. The discovery means scientists can now start developing ways to 'tether' bacteria directly to electrodes - creating efficient microbial fuel cells or 'bio-batteries'. The advance could also hasten the development of microbe-based agents that can clean up oil or uranium pollution, and fuel cells powered by human or animal waste. In earlier research published by PNAS in 2009, the team demonstrated the mechanism by which bacteria survive in oxygen-free environments by constructing electrical wires that extend through the cell wall and make contact with a mineral - a process called iron respiration or 'breathing rocks'. In this latest research, the scientists used a technique called x-ray crystallography to reveal the molecular structure of the proteins attached to the surface of a Shewanella oneidensis cell through which electrons are transferred.
PhysOrg / PNAS May 23, 2011	back to top

US considers open-source software for cybersecurity
The US Department of Homeland Security sees open source software as a possible tool for defending government networks from both online thieves and professional cyberspies. A new five-year, USD 10m program aims to survey existing open-source software to find those that could fill 'open security' needs. Called the Homeland Open Security Technology program, or HOST, it also may plant seed investments where needed to inspire innovative solutions that can fill gaps in cybersecurity defences. Open-source software often gives users the right to change its code to suit their purposes, as well as to share or give away copies. That does not make for bad security. On the contrary, having such transparent innards means that a big open-source community of savvy programmers can root out any weaknesses. The open-source perk also means that the US government is not at the mercy of companies that hold the license for proprietary software. If bugs crop up or an exploiter penetrates the cybersecurity defences, programmers can dive right into open-source software to fix it. The Homeland Security effort has already begun comparing existing open-source products with the needs of government users, so that it can decide where to invest seed capital to encourage innovative solutions to meet those needs. But any open-source solutions for cybersecurity must ultimately stand on their own commercial success or they will die.
Yahoo / LiveScience.com May 26, 2011	back to top

Physicists find a new angle on blood spatter
If you are a fan of forensic-investigation TV dramas, you could be forgiven for thinking that all the minute details of a violent crime can be deduced simply by looking at the pattern of blood spatter. The reality, however, is that investigators are often unable to work out important details like whether the victim was standing or sitting when attacked - a distinction that can be crucial to a claim of self-defence. Now, though, physicists at Washington State University have devised a new technique for analysing blood spatter that - under certain conditions - gives the height at which the blood emanated from a victim. That information could, in principle, be used to conclude that a person was sitting, standing or lying on the floor when stabbed or shot. Forensics investigators study the elliptical shapes of blood stains, which reveal the angles at which blood droplets impacted the floor or other surfaces. By tracing back from several different stains, it is possible to conclude where on the floor a person was standing when they were shot. However, finding the height from which the blood emerged is more difficult because the velocity of the blood is not known and it may have been launched in one of many vertical trajectories. The researchers have been able to work around this problem by considering the Newtonian equations of motion of the droplets under gravity and simplifying the problem by assuming that the blood spurts out of the body over a narrow range of polar angles - the angle between the horizontal and the initial trajectory of the blood. They calculated that the tangent of the impact angle, should vary linearly with 2/r, where r is the horizontal component of the distance that that the blood has travelled. When the tangent versus 2/r is plotted, the slope of the graph is equal to the height at which the victim was shot.
PhysicsWorld / American Journal of Physics May 24, 2011	back to top