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Experts declare ‘cyber war’ on cancer’s ‘social networking’

Researchers at Rice, Tel Aviv and Johns Hopkins universities aim to break cancer’s command-and-control codes
September 5, 2012

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In the face of mounting evidence that cancer cells communicate, cooperate and even engage in collective decision-making, biophysicists and cancer researchers at Rice University, Tel Aviv University and Johns Hopkins University are suggesting a new strategy for outsmarting cancer through its own social intelligence.

“We need to get beyond the notion that cancer is a random collection of cells running amok —  these cells lead… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Biotech | Social Networking/Web/Education

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Making stretchable electronics

Electronics conform to skin, arteries, and organs, allowing new surgical and measuring methods
September 5, 2012

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MC10, a startup, is getting ready to commercialize high-performance electronics that can stretch, allowing for innovations such as skin patches that monitor whether the wearer is sufficiently hydrated, or inflatable balloon catheters equipped with sensors that measure electrical misfiring caused by cardiac arrhythmias, Technology Review reports

To make both the hydration-­sensing patch and the catheter, gold electrodes and wires just a few hundred nanometers thick are deposited on silicon… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Electronics | Innovation/Entrepreneurship | Nanotech/Materials Science

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Wireless power system replaces batteries in implants

A breakthrough for miniaturizing implanted devices
September 5, 2012

High-frequency wireless power transmission to a device in the human heart. Red indicates greatest power; blue is least. (Credit: John Ho, Stanford Engineering)

Stanford University engineers have demonstrated the feasibility of a super-small, implantable cardiac device that gets its power from radio waves transmitted from a small transmitter on the surface of the body.

This is an impressive achievement that may lead to replacing bulky batteries in implants. That means the implants can be further miniaturized, while eliminating surgery to replace or charge batteries (or require a wired connection outside the body).… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Electronics

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The future of work in America

September 4, 2012

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Technology and the Web are destroying far more jobs than they create. We will need to develop a “Third Way” based on community rather than the Market or the State to adapt to this reality, novelist and economic commentator Charles Hugh Smith writes on Business Insider.

“The Internet is destroying vast income streams that once supported tens of thousands of jobs in industries from finance to music.… read more

Topics: Social/Ethical/Legal

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Harnessing the power of wave motion

September 4, 2012

opt-power-buoy

The first commercially licensed grid-connected wave-energy device in the nation, designed by Ocean Power Technologies, is in its final weeks of testing before a planned launch in October, The New York Times reports.

Last month, the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center in Oregon — financed by the United States Department of Energy in collaboration with Oregon State University and the… read more

Topics: Energy | Innovation/Entrepreneurship

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Visual Strategies

September 4, 2012

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A new book, Visual Strategies, by Felice C. Frankel and Angela H. DePace is “a guide to graphics for scientists and engineers, but it will be useful for anyone who wants to make clear presentations of data of any kind, The New York Times reports.

The book offers general guidelines, with illustrative graphics, and many real-life case studies. The authors show how they… read more

Topics: Social Networking/Web/Education | VR/Augmented Reality/Computer Graphics

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Tweets used as earthquake warning system

September 4, 2012

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Seismologists using Twitter to detect tremors say the social network beat their own advanced equipment in spotting a 7.6 earthquake on Friday off the Philippines, Sky News reports.

The system, called Twitter Earthquake Detection (Ted), which gathers real-time, earthquake-related Twitter messages, is being used as an early-warning system by the US Geological Survey (USGS) to quickly gather information about earthquakes around the globe.

It takes into account place and time,… read more

Topics: Environment/Climate | Social Networking/Web/Education | Survival/Defense

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Crowdsourcing the psych lab

'Mechanical turk' for psychologists?
September 4, 2012

Comparing lab and web data. Bars show + or - 1 standard deviation (credit: Laura Germine et al.)

Can we trust data from anonymous, unpaid volunteers on the Web as a source of data for psychology experiments? Yes, according to new research conducted by Harvard scientists

By conducting experiments online, researchers have been able to enlist as many as 65,000 volunteers to take part in studies of cognition, a number far larger than they could bring into the lab.

Despite the cost and time advantages,… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Social Networking/Web/Education

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All of a sudden I could see a little flash of light. It was amazing.

First implantation of an early prototype bionic eye with 24 electrodes
September 3, 2012

Early bionic eye prototype drawing (credit: Bionics Institute)

Bionic Vision Australia researchers have successfully performed the first implantation of an early prototype bionic eye with 24 electrodes.

Dianne Ashworth has profound vision loss due to retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited condition. She has now received what she calls a “pre-bionic eye” implant that enables her to experience some vision.

Her implant was switched on last month at the Bionics Institute, while researchers held their breaths in… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Electronics | Human Enhancement

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Researchers pioneer world’s first HIV/AIDS nanomedicines

Smaller doses may reduce drug side-effects and risk of drug resistance; still several years away from approval
September 3, 2012

TEM image of nanoparticles (credit: )

Scientists at the University of Liverpool are leading a £1.65 million project to produce and test the first nanomedicines for treating HIV/AIDS.

The research project, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), aims to produce cheaper, more effective medicines that have fewer side effects and are easier to give to newborns and children.

The new therapy options were generated by modifying… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Biotech | Nanotech/Materials Science

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Birth of a planet

University of Texas at Austin scientists are creating 3D models and visualizations of the birth of planets
September 3, 2012

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Collaborating with Greg Abrams of Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), Sally Dodson-Robinson and her team of researches at the University of Texas at Austin have developed advanced simulations to visualize how planets are formed over a timescale of millions of years.

They are modeling and simulating prototypical disks, and comparing the results to the Earth and the planets of our own solar system. The considerable computation involved was… read more

Topics: Physics/Cosmology | VR/Augmented Reality/Computer Graphics

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Drugs

September 3, 2012

Self-portrait on mushrooms (credit: Bryan Lewis Saunders)

“After experiencing drastic changes in my environment, I looked for other experiences that might profoundly affect my perception of the self. So I devised another experiment where everyday I took a different drug and drew myself under the influence.

“Within weeks I became lethargic and suffered mild brain damage. I am still conducting this experiment but over greater lapses of time.  I only take drugs that are given… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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Information overload? Not for most Americans, Northwestern researchers find

September 2, 2012

(Credit: iStockphoto)

“Information overload” may be an exaggerated way to describe today’s always-on media environment.

Actually, very few Americans seem to feel overwhelmed by the volume of news and information at their fingertips and on their screens, according to a new Northwestern University study.

A 2010 article in The New York Times featured a family of technology users framed as if they were addicts, unable to live… read more

Topics: Entertainment/New Media | Internet/Telecom | Social/Ethical/Legal

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Watch your back, Hasbro, 3D-printed games have arrived

September 2, 2012

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Ill Gotten Games‘ Pocket Tactics is the first open-source miniatures game designed to be manufactured on a 3D printer, Wired Design reports.

Consisting of character figurines, tiles, and dice, the pieces can be downloaded from Thingiverse and printed on a MakerBot. A complete set of parts takes several hours to extrude, but games can be played in just over 20 minutes.

The use of… read more

Topics: Entertainment/New Media | Nanotech/Materials Science

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Cloud computing for the poorest countries

September 2, 2012

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As companies like Amazon, Google and Microsoft sell computing everywhere, the most dramatic changes may be in places most of us do not now see. Already, places without clean water, decent sanitation or steady electricity are using supercomputers, according to The New York Times Bits.

Unlike the developed world, where speed, agility and cost are factors that make Amazon Web Services attractive,… read more

Topics: Computers/Infotech/UI | Internet/Telecom | Social/Ethical/Legal

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