GM ‘marathon’ mice break distance records
August 24, 2004
Mice that can run almost twice the distance of normal mice have been genetically engineered by Salk Institute scientists, raising questions over performance-enhancing drugs for atheletes.
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Virtual veins give nurses a hand
August 23, 2004
A virtual reality hand, complete with vital veins, that “feels” could help trainee nurses learn more effectively than with plastic mannequins, which give little idea of the pressure needed to puncture the skin and are not too realistic.
DNA technique protects against ‘evil’ emails
August 23, 2004
An algorithm named Chung-Kwei, originally designed to analyze DNA sequences, was able to identify spam with 96.56 per cent accuracy by analyzing text patterns.
Instead of chains of characters representing DNA sequences, the research group fed the algorithm 65,000 examples of known spam. Each email was treated as a long, DNA-like chain of characters. Teiresias identified six million recurring patterns in this collection, such as “Viagra”.
Big Bang Chronology Bolstered by Beryllium
August 23, 2004
Astronomers have proof that the very first stars were formed when the universe was less than 200 million years old. Their evidence? Minuscule amounts of beryllium atoms in the outer layers of two faint stars 7200 light-years from Earth.
Language may shape human thought
August 23, 2004
Language may shape human thought, suggests a counting study in a Brazilian tribe whose language does not define numbers above two.
Teleportation goes long distance
August 20, 2004
Physicists have carried out successful quantum teleportation of qubits with polarization-encoded photons over a distance of 600 meters.
Internet Heading to Light Speed
August 19, 2004
Buckyballs glued together could allow for optical switches for fiber networks, eliminatng network bottlenecks and forwarding data at up to 100 times the speed of today’s fastest networks.
Assembling Nano Building Blocks
August 19, 2004
University of Michigan researchers have discovered a way to self-assemble nanoparticles into wires, sheets, shells and other unusual structures using sticky patches that make the particles group themselves together in programmed ways. This method could be used to fabricate new nanoscale materials and devices.
The assemblies could serve as basic structural units to further prepare materials with more complex structures such as tubes, helices and 3-D networks, which could… read more
Artificial Retina
August 19, 2004
A retinal prosthesise implanted in the eye could restore the sight of millions.
It would use a digital video camera mounted on a pair of glasses, coupled via a miniature transmitter to a retinal implant array underneath the retina. The array’s electrodes would stimulate surviving nerve cells in response to images from the camera, providing a small patch of vision.
The Boston Retinal Implant Project hopes to test… read more
Web Surfers Hit Higher Speeds
August 19, 2004
A majority of U.S. home Internet users now have broadband: an estimated 63 million broadband users, or 51 percent of all home Internet users, as of July.
Special offers for broadband services, the growing use of multimedia on the Web, and the availability of music and video downloads drove Internet users to the faster service.
Nano convergence topic of SEMI webcast
August 18, 2004
The convergence of nanotechnology and the semiconductor industry will be discussed during SEMI’s quarterly webcast Wednesday at noon EDT.
New Technique That Improves The Power Of Atomic Force Microscopy
August 18, 2004
Researchers have developed a method that could vastly improve the ability of atomic force microscopes (AFM) to “see” the chemical composition of a sample on a nanometer scale, follow variations of the sample, and map its topographic structure.
To use the AFM in its new mode, the researchers attached antibodies keyed to individual proteins to the tip of an AFM’s probe. When an antibody reacts with the protein it… read more
A Laser Gets at the Layers
August 18, 2004
A new “selective plane illumination microscope” uses a slice of laser light to illuminate an intact specimen one thin layer at a time, building a high-resolution picture of the entire specimen without cutting it.
Samples can be kept alive and studied for hours or days while tissues develop and differentiate. The scientists say the microscope has better resolution than other living-sample imaging techniques, like multiphoton microscopy.
Nanotubes may have no ‘temperature’
August 18, 2004
Physicists have made a bizarre discovery: the concept of temperature is meaningless in some tiny objects because of the statistical fluctuations inherent in the quantum world.
Although the concept of temperature is known to break down on the scale of individual atoms, research now suggests that it may also fail to apply in rather larger entities, such as carbon nanotubes.
“If you’re down to a scale where temperature… read more
Report: World spending $8.6 billion on nano in ’04
August 17, 2004
Public and private individuals and institutions will spend more than $8.6 billion worldwide on nano research and development this year, according to “The Nanotech Report 2004,” published by New York-based Lux Research Inc.
The report also found that nanotech startups are beginning to make money, with revenue ranges between $10 million and $20 million.