January 2008
In diatom, scientists find genes that may level... →
Denizens of oceans, lakes and even wet soil, diatoms are unicellular algae that encase themselves in intricately patterned, glass-like shells. Curiously, these tiny phytoplankton could be harboring the next big breakthrough in computer chips. Diatoms build their hard cell walls by laying down submicron-sized lines of silica, a compound related to the key material of the semiconductor...
Targeted Gene Therapy Provides Relief For Chronic... →
Researchers in the Department of Medicine and Department of Neurosciences at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have discovered that chronic pain can be successfully treated with novel targeted gene therapy. In an effort to find a more effective treatment for chronic pain, researchers at Mount Sinai developed a gene therapy technique that simulates the pain-killing effect of opiate drugs. In the new...
Venter Institute Scientists Create First Synthetic... →
A team of 17 researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) has created the largest man-made DNA structure by synthesizing and assembling the 582,970 base pair genome of a bacterium, Mycoplasma genitalium JCVI-1.0. This work, published online today in the journal Science by Dan Gibson, Ph.D., et al, is the second of three key steps toward the team’s goal of creating a fully synthetic...
International Consortium Announces the 1000... →
Tues., Jan.22, 2008 — An international research consortium today announced the 1000 Genomes Project, an ambitious effort that will involve sequencing the genomes of at least a thousand people from around the world to create the most detailed and medically useful picture to date of human genetic variation
Maybe Too Little, Always Too Late →
The history of anti-recession efforts is that they are almost always initiated too late to do any good. This chart, based on recession timelines from the National Bureau of Economic Research, shows the enactment of stimulus plans is a fairly accurate indicator that we have hit the bottom of the business cycle, meaning the economy will improve even if the government does nothing
Contact lenses with circuits, lights a possible... →
Movie characters from the Terminator to the Bionic Woman use bionic eyes to zoom in on far-off scenes, have useful facts pop into their field of view, or create virtual crosshairs. Off the screen, virtual displays have been proposed for more practical purposes — visual aids to help vision-impaired people, holographic driving control panels and even as a way to surf the Web on the go. The...
Brighter LED Lights Could Replace Household Light... →
Researchers are developing new technology that could replace the household light-bulb within three years.
Darkest ever' material created →
The “darkest ever” substance known to science has been made in a US laboratory. The material was created from carbon nanotubes - sheets of carbon just one atom thick rolled up into cylinders. Researchers say it is the closest thing yet to the ideal black material, which absorbs light perfectly at all angles and over all wavelengths. The discovery is expected to have applications...
Anti-pollen nanotechnology coats hit the stores in... →
Apparel manufacturer Sanyo Shokai has released the first in a series of men’s coats which are pollen-resistant. They’re made from a fabric developed by Toray that’s produced in a nanotechnology process that repels water and pollen.
Inside Toyota's Hybrid Truck →
Inside Toyota’s Hybrid Truck This article in Business week on line also has a slide show that you can access to look at the various innovations in the concept vehicle.
Chickens and eggs alleviate environmental burden →
A study carried out by Dr Adrian Williams at Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, UK, has investigated the consumption of primary resources such as minerals and fossil fuels on 10 differing farming systems. It was a life cycle assessment (LCA) to determine the intensity of the environmental “footprint” that each one generates. Dr Williams found conclusively that poultry and eggs are the leaders in...
3 drop mobile data prices →
COMPETITION in the mobile broadband space continues to heat up with Hutchison Australia moving to double the amount of data downloads - without hiking prices - on its 3 mobile network for new and existing customers.
Decentralized Renewable Energy →
“Qurrent has in fact developed computer controlled energy management for entire streets, through which the available energy can be optimized between all houses
Virtual Cable →
Virtual Cable™ is a unique display for a car navigation system. The driver sees the Virtual Cable™ image through the windshield. It appears as if suspended over the road, similar to a trolley cable. The image is in true 3D and appears to be a natural part of the landscape. The driver uses only peripheral vision to follow the Virtual Cable™.
State of the World 2008: Table of Contents →
Worldwatch brings out tate of the World every year. You can go to this page and download chapter 1 which talks sbout sustainable economies. Well worth the read.
Ultra broadband conquers distance →
AN ultra-resolution broadband link has been unveiled, paving the way for people on opposite sides of the earth to direct brain surgery, conduct climate change experiments or interpret human genome data in real time with high-definition precision
SHIP-SHAPE SLEEP →
This is the world’s first recyclable Travelodge, made of 86 high strength steel modules resembling shipping containers, stacked on top of each other and securely bolted together. When finished, the giant Lego style structure will look and feel no different to the budget chain’s other 330 hotels in the UK, Ireland and Spain. The Verbus modules are then shipped from China with the...
Growing New Hearts from Old →
Scientists at the University of Minnesota have taken a big step toward making replacement organs with the recipients’ cells. In experiments performed on rats and pigs, the researchers stripped donor hearts of their cells to create scaffolds on which the recipients’ cells were grown.
The Air Car Preps for Market →
A French-designed car that’s propelled by compressed air and claims speeds of more than 60 miles per hour is expected to go into commercial production as early as this summer, although skeptics of the technology aren’t holding their breath.
General Motors buys into US ethanol company →
Europe’s Appetite for Seafood Propels Illegal... →
Walking at the Brixton market among the parrotfish, doctorfish and butterfish, Effa Edusie is surrounded by pieces of her childhood in Ghana. Caught the day before far off the coast of West Africa, they have been airfreighted to London for dinner.
Europe May Ban Imports of Some Biofuel Crops →
n a sign of growing concern about the impact of supposedly “green” policies, European Union officials will propose a ban on imports of certain biofuels, according to a draft law to be unveiled next week.
More Than Games, a Net to Snare Social Networkers →
Troops deployed to manage Pakistan grain... →
Authorities in Pakistan have deployed paramilitary troops to guard wheat supplies around the country amid fears of a huge shortfall. The Government has blamed hoarders and smugglers for the problem. Pakistan’s national disaster management authority has deployed thousands of paramilitary troops at wheat stores to ensure that store owners do not sell more than allowed by the Government
E. coli to be used in US biofuel production →
The University of California (UCLA) has developed a method of modifying bacteria in E. coli to produce advanced biofuels such as butanol.
Gene Therapy for Alcoholics →
Researchers in Chile have succeeded in keeping the drinking habits of alcoholic rats in check using gene therapy. The treatment mimics a natural mutation common in East Asian people, which lowers their tolerance to alcohol, making them less likely to become alcoholics.
Navigation is just part of the story with... →
They can plumb the Internet for the latest movie times, news headlines, stock figures and gas prices. They’ll even help you skirt traffic, find a parking spot or make a phone call. Oh, and they’ll navigate for you, too. The latest global positioning system devices on display at this week’s International Consumer Electronics Show are roving information portals — well beyond...
Sony BMG to start selling music downloads without... →
Sony BMG will start selling music downloads in the copy-protection-free MP3 format later this month in North America, as even the last holdout among the major record labels crumbled to the growing trend. Sony BMG Music Entertainment said in a statement that some digital albums will be available through a new download service called Platinum MusicPass starting Jan. 15 in the U.S. and late January...
14 rules to live by in the music business (or... →
I would’ve gotten to this eventually, but Fred’s post about it this morning, coupled with his post about what he’s learned about media from watching his kids pushed me to get there sooner. And I’m glad. Such great insights about not just the music business, but any business. Seriously, if you just follow one link from this blog today, make it this one and read it. —...
Google Enabled Televisions Coming Soon →
Japanese manufacturer Matsushita (Panasonic) has signed a deal with Google that will see the company launch flat panel television sets that allow users to access YouTube and other Google services such as Picasa Web Albums. — soxiam
Sony PSP calls on Skype →
OWNERS of Sony’s PlayStation Portable (PSP) device will soon be able to use the handheld unit to make phone calls over the internet using Skype. Sony said it would release a software update at the end of January that would enable PSP users to make Voice over IP calls over Skype.
Album sales fall even though digital sales boom →
Album sales in the United States plunged 9.5 percent last year from 2006, as the recording industry had another weak year despite a 45 percent surge in the sale of digital tracks, according to figures released Thursday. A total of 500.5 million albums in the form of CDs, cassettes, LPs and other formats were purchased last year, down 15 percent from the unit total for 2006, said Nielsen...
Consumer led innovation →
HACKERS, welcome! Here are detailed circuit diagrams of our products — modify them as you wish.” That’s not an announcement you’ll find on the Web sites of most consumer electronics manufacturers, who tend to keep information on the innards of their machines as private as possible. But Neuros Technology International, creator of a new video recorder, has decided to go in a different...
What My Kids Tell Me About The Future of Media →
I was reading a Goldman Sachs research report on the radio business on the plane back from Australia. I came across this chart of EBITDA multiples versus EBITA growth rates for various media categories. There’s not a ton of insight in that chart, but it got me thinking if I could learn anything about the various media categories from watching my teenage children. Here’s what...
The microbes within us could explain rising... →
Bengt Björkstén has a gold mine of feces in his freezer. Over the past 11 years, the Swedish pediatrician and immunologist has been carefully collecting fecal samples from a cohort of children living in Sweden and neighboring Estonia. The samples harbor a wealth of information on the children’s microbial inhabitants, which have been shown to play a vital role in immune function. Björkstén...
Weirdest headline of the year →
Exploding dogs pose no threat to estate houses: Minister
Synthetic DNA on the Brink of Yielding New Life... →
It has been 50 years since scientists first created DNA in a test tube, stitching ordinary chemical ingredients together to make life’s most extraordinary molecule. Until recently, however, even the most sophisticated laboratories could make only small snippets of DNA — an extra gene or two to be inserted into corn plants, for example, to help the plants ward off insects or tolerate...
End of Cheap Food →
FOR as long as most people can remember, food has been getting cheaper and farming has been in decline. In 1974-2005 food prices on world markets fell by three-quarters in real terms. Food today is so cheap that the West is battling gluttony even as it scrapes piles of half-eaten leftovers into the bin. That is why this year’s price rise has been so extraordinary. Since the spring, wheat...
Stanford's nanowire battery holds 10 times the... →
Stanford researchers have found a way to use silicon nanowires to reinvent the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that power laptops, iPods, video cameras, cell phones, and countless other devices.
Top 10 Obscure Google Search Tricks →
— didyouevernotice