Today and Tomorrow

What A Wireless World Could Mean For The Average Person

2007-12-22T10:58:00.000-08:00

How huch effect will take ?
World Initiative (WWI) has developed prototype user-centred systems that will potentially enable millions of people to make the most of third-generation (3G) and beyond mobile technology to work, relax and play any time, anywhere. ICT Results reports back from WWI’s crowning event.
It is Monday morning in the not-too-distant future and two neighbours, Bob the builder and Bob the businessman, are getting ready for work. The builder has to drive to a job in a nearby town and the businessman needs to take the train to the office. They switch on their televisions and request information on road and rail conditions.

Outside their front doors, the two Bobs wish each other a good morning and head their separate ways. On the train, the businessman watches the financial news on his palm pilot, while the builder tunes in his phone to his favourite digital radio channel and relaxes in the morning traffic to some classical music.

Meanwhile, the businessman phones his secretary and tells him through his earpiece that he forgot his PowerPoint presentation and speech. Bob the businessman’s palm pilot bleeps as he enters the state-of-the-art conference centre where he is to give a speech and presentation. It informs him that he has entered a high-data rate zone and asks him whether he would like to switch to ‘superbroadband’.

He sits in the conference building’s lounge area and notices a message from his secretary in his inbox. He begins to download the documents he requested and surfs the web to do some last-minute research.

In the evening, both Bobs decide to go out. The builder checks the opera programme on his phone, while the businessman checks the cinema schedule and they buy their tickets online. Their phones’ e-signatures authenticate who they are. As they enter the opera house and cinema, their phones automatically switch to mute.

Wonders of a wireless world

The EU-backed Wireless World Initiative (WWI) has developed the prototype user-centred systems that have brought these future Bobs a lot closer to the present. The integrated architecture the initiative’s five projects – MobiLife, SPICE, WINNER, Ambient Networks, E2R (see individual boxes) – have developed will potentially enable millions of people to make the most of third-generation and beyond mobile technology to work, relax and play any time, anywhere. And, to top it all off, their experience will not just be wireless but also seamless.

Funded under the previous Sixth Framework Programme (FP6, 2002-2006), the WWI has worked over the past few years to develop ambient networks which will enable the seamless transition and interaction between services across a range of currently distinct and disjointed technology domains.

“In the future, Bob and millions like him will be able to benefit from and enjoy lots of wireless services,” describes France telecom’s Marion Duprez, who heads WWI’s Cross-issue Validation Team. “The technology underpinning all this is very complex and sophisticated, but this does not matter to Bob.”

Threads in an intricate web

Although they do not concern Bob, these platforms and how they relate to one another matter greatly to WWI. Each of the initiative’s four projects focused on a particular technical challenge that needs to be overcome in order to enable mobile technology to come of age. At the same time, the projects worked closely together to ensure that their platforms and systems fit seamlessly together. This is what the WWI calls ‘transparent seamless mobility through distributed architecture’.

“Our team was in charge of creating the scenarios to show that the four projects could work together to provide integrated services,” explains Duprez in the demonstration area of WWI’s final conference, which took place in Brussels on 13 November 2007. “Creating this end-to-end system was a real challenge. It required a lot of brainstorming, coordination and experimentation.”

But, as the Brussels demonstrations amply illustrated, they pulled it off. “It has been very valuable to have this co-operation between telecom operators, manufacturers and universities. Commission support was also invaluable in ensuring that the projects were well-lead and coordinated,” noted Duprez.

Both industry and operators are already showing signs of interest. “At France Telecom, we have invested a lot of effort into these systems as part of our commitment to offer new services to our customers,” Duprez stressed.

MIT launches new global innovation initiative

2007-11-23T12:14:00.000-08:00

MIT today announced a new initiative that will strengthen, connect and accelerate its innovation efforts around the globe. The International Innovation Initiative (I³, pronounced "I-cubed"), which MIT President Susan Hockfield announced today at a conference in New Delhi, India, will provide a focal point for future interactions between MIT researchers and the global venture capital community.

"I³ will usher in a new era of partnership and collaboration, and provide new opportunities for innovation," said Hockfield. "The initiative will be a catalyst for new strategies to solve world problems -- such as climate change, energy and the environment -- and to drive economic growth."

I³ will use as its model the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, established at the MIT School of Engineering in 2002 to identify and incubate novel early-stage research developed at MIT, with the aim of turning great ideas into real-world products and processes. Founded with an initial donation by technology entrepreneur and visionary Desh Deshpande and his wife, Jaishree, the center has funded more than 65 projects; 12 of those have spun out of the center into commercial ventures with outside financing.

"The newly formed International Innovation Initiative provides a streamlined organizational umbrella to strengthen and enhance the innovation ecosystem by applying the best practices of the Deshpande Center in the School of Engineering to our international activities and collaborations," said Subra Suresh, dean of engineering and Ford Professor of Engineering.

Among its many objectives, I³ will work with international partners to identify and select collaborative research projects across multiple disciplines that could lead to new company formation; connect researchers to local and global venture capital networks; and develop courses for students that address technological innovation and go-to-market strategies.

I³ will be organized through the Deshpande Center within the MIT School of Engineering, and will be headed by Professor Charles L. Cooney, faculty director of the Deshpande Center.

Technorati : innovation innitiative, mit, mit news

MIT and India to create health science and technology institute

2007-11-23T12:05:00.000-08:00

MIT and the government of India's Department of Biotechnology today launched a partnership that will result in the creation of a new Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI) in India.

This new institute, which will be modeled after the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST), will include faculty from multiple disciplines and professions, offer degrees through multidisciplinary programs and develop strong ties with other institutions. Funded by the Indian government, the Indian HST will be a multidisciplinary, multiprofessional research and training center that is highly interconnected with regional centers of excellence.

The institute will increase India's capacity for translating scientific and technological advancements into medical innovations that have the potential to improve healthcare both in India and around the world.

HST Director Martha Gray and Dr. M. K. Bhan, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India, signed a letter of intent for this partnership today at a symposium in New Delhi titled "India and MIT: A Conversation about the Future."

"Tremendous potential exists in India, with its excellence in engineering and science. This partnership is an opportunity to create a long term, synergistic relationship that will result in wide ranging benefits to global health," said Bhan.

"Launching this new partnership with India's Department of Biotechnology will build on HST's pioneering model of medical education that integrates science, medicine and engineering to solve problems of human health," said Susan Hockfield, president of MIT. "We look forward to a future of significant collaboration across disciplines, across institutions and around the world."

To foster a culture of innovation in THSTI, HST will help recruit and train new THSTI faculty members. Each year starting in September 2008 and continuing until 2011, four recruited THSTI faculty fellows will join the HST faculty. These faculty fellows will train at HST for two years. During their stay they will develop translational research programs, design courses and curricula for THSTI, and develop close relationships with HST faculty and students.

These fellows will benefit from HST's nearly 40 years of experience bringing together science, engineering and medicine in education and translational medical research. HST's success stories include medical innovations such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, a low-cost AIDS detection kit and novel implantable drug delivery mechanisms.

HST and MIT will also benefit from having these fellows on campus. "We will have people immersed in our program who actually know about the unmet medical needs in India and who will expose our students and faculty to those needs," said Gray.

This exposure will help drive innovations that can make a real difference in global public health, said Gray. "I don't believe we can have a global impact on health if we don't have international partners as part of our community."

MIT and India have embarked on partnerships before. The two joined forces nearly 50 years ago to form the India Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kanpur, one of India's top-ranked engineering and science schools. "THSTI has the potential to be a second success story that could revolutionize medicine in India the same way the IIT schools revolutionized engineering and science," said Shiladitya Sengupta, assistant professor of medicine and an HST faculty member at Harvard Medical School.

Technorati : India, MIT, THSTI, collabration, health science, news

Digital Book

2007-11-20T04:35:00.000-08:00

Can Amazon Kindle Digital Book Fever

Amazon (AMZN) Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos considers the book a stubborn relic of the predigital universe. While other media, including music, are readily available over digital delivery devices such as Apple's (AAPL) iPod, the book has stuck with its hardbound and softbound covers and dog-eared pages for hundreds of years. "Why are books the last bastion of analog?" Bezos asked during a Nov. 19 press conference. "Can you improve upon something as highly evolved and well-suited to its task as the book and, if so, how?"

Bezos thinks he has the answer: Kindle, a handheld book reader he's hoping will help usher books into the digital age. On Nov. 19, Bezos unveiled the long-awaited device at the W Union Square hotel in New York. Kindle, available on Amazon for $399, holds about 200 books in a paperback-sized package and displays pages on a screen that appears more akin to paper than a backlit LCD screen.

Part portable library, part bookstore, Kindle is wirelessly hooked up to the Internet via Sprint Nextel's (S) high-speed cellular network, letting users download books at a moment's notice. Users can purchase books-some 90,000 titles are currently available-for about $10 apiece, and there are no connection-subscription fees.

Opening the Market
Amazon spent some three years on Kindle's design in hopes of creating a product so user-friendly that it will not only compete with printed books but also encourage users to choose it over reading the newspaper on handheld Web-connected devices such as smartphones. Kindle easily connects to the online dictionary Wikipedia and has a browser that lets users visit other Web sites. However, it only delivers those sites in black-and-white, and Web surfing is not intended to be its main function. "It's a single-purpose reading device," says Steve Kessel, Amazon's senior vice-president of worldwide digital media.

More broadly, Amazon hopes to widen the still nascent market for digital books (BusinessWeek, 9/3/07). Only the Sony (SNE) Reader has really gained much traction; it currently sells for between $300 and $400, according to prices listed for online retailers.

Kindle's creators took pains to make a smooth transition from analog to digital. The device lets users upload digital books and documents by e-mailing document attachments to a personal account associated with the device. It also stores books on Amazon's servers for easy reload in the event they're lost, corrupted, or the device gets stolen. Amazon didn't reveal any sales targets for the Kindle.

Subscription Base

Subscriptions to major publications, such as The New York Times (NYT) and Time Warner's (TWX) Time magazine, are available for between $5.99 and $15 a month. Amazon says it pays booksellers and periodical publishers a list price and then makes a profit from the difference between that and the download price. It does not share revenue from the sale of Kindle with the publishers.

Kindle also delivers blogs for between 99¢ and $1.99 per blog, per month, depending on how frequently the blog is updated. Blog publishers can sign up their services on Amazon's site and share in the subscription revenue. The charge, which may seem curious for usually free, ad-supported blogs, covers the expense of delivering the blog as well as providing publishers with an alternative revenue stream, says Amazon's Kessel.

Protection and Praise
Amazon does not protect the books with any digital rights management (DRM) technology. However, Kindle books are formatted specifically for the device and publishers are welcome to append their own DRM technology to their titles, says Kessel. To prove that publishers are embracing the technology rather than worrying about the potential for users to somehow hack into it and steal digital book titles, Amazon included a video featuring praise from well-known authors such as Nobel prizewinner Toni Morrison. "I like the fact that it travels," said Morrison. "It is faster, it's lighter, and I have more [books] at my disposal."

Whether the Kindle can finally ignite the digital book market remains to be seen. But the device is already receiving positive reviews (BusinessWeek.com, 11/19/07), even if some commentators consider it ugly and a little pricey. Looks shouldn't be a problem if, as Bezos hopes, the Kindle becomes a gateway into authors' imaginations. "The most important thing about Kindle is it does indeed disappear so you can enter the author's world," he says.

Technorati : Book, Digital
Del.icio.us : Book, Digital
Ice Rocket : Book, Digital
Flickr : Book, Digital
Zooomr : Book, Digital
Buzznet : Book, Digital

VMware Server 2 : Microsoft Unveils Stand-Alone Virtualization Server

2007-11-13T12:10:00.001-08:00

(VMW - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) stock was rising more than 5% early Tuesday after the virtualization-software seller unveiled VMware Server 2, the next generation version of its virtualization product.

VMware Server 2 enables users to set up new server capacity by partitioning a physical server into multiple virtual machines. The idea is to help businesses make better use of and simplify their information technology assets.

Shares of VMware were up $4.02 at $84.38 in premarket trading.

The company said a beta version of VMware Server 2 for Linux and Windows is available for download from its Web site.

Microsoft Monday tweaked its virtualization strategy by unveiling a stand-alone virtualization server that won't require users to run the Windows Server 2008 operating system.

The announcement came at the company's annual TechEd IT Forum conference in Barcelona, Spain, where Microsoft also outlined pricing, packaging and licensing for Windows Server 2008 and the availability of management tools that address needs of virtualized environments.

Microsoft's virtualization announcement, however, is just a placeholder since the technology likely won't be available until August 2008. Microsoft's Hyper-V technology, formerly code-named Viridian and Windows Server Virtualization, will ship no more than 180 days following the release of Windows Server 2008, which is now slated between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2008.

Microsoft's stand-alone hypervisor technology is called Hyper-V Server. It is hypervisor virtualization technology that is installed on the "bare metal" of a hardware platform without the need for a Windows operating system.

In fact, the Hyper-V Server could be the only piece of Microsoft technology running on the hardware given that Hyper-V supports virtual machines running operating system other than Windows, including Linux.

Microsoft rival VMWare has an enterprise-focused virtualization product it currently ships called ESX that also installs on bare metal.

Microsoft has been marketing virtualization as a feature of the operating system, but critics say the company is bending to the reality that OEMs will likely include a hypervisor virtualization layer as part of their hardware.

Dell, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, IBM, Lenovo, NEC and Unisys have all signed up to include Microsoft's Hyper-V server on their platforms.

Microsoft, however, also plans to sell Hyper-V directly to corporate users who could wipe a server clean and install Hyper-V Server, which is priced at $28 and allows an unlimited number of virtual machines on a single box.

"Microsoft had clearly been very much in the hypervisor-virtualization-is-a-feature-of-the-operating-system camp," says Gordon Haff, an analyst with Illuminata. "I don't think Microsoft would phrase it this way, but clearly this is a step back from you can only get virtualization in the OS."

For its part, Microsoft says Hyper-V Server recognizes the fact that all hardware in essence will be a virtualization appliance.

"What we are trying to do enable customers to live in world where they treat all compute resources -- such as CPU cycles, storage, networking -- as a single blob while providing a consistent way of maximizing effectiveness and utilization while reducing costs for IT and making things more automated for IT," says Andy Lees, corporate vice president in Microsoft's server and tools marketing and solutions group. "And virtualization is the key piece of technology to enable that."

Haff says Microsoft's strategy shift isn't a negative, just a realization of where the technology seems to be headed.

"I think the general direction is going to be that the base hypervisor virtualization is going to be feature of the server rather than the [operating system]," he says " People like Dell and HP are going to embedded a hypervisor in the server, and in my view, it is not a big jump from there to say that in the not too distant future virtualization is just something that comes with the server like BIOS."

In addition to VMWare, others offer hypervisor technology that can install on bare metal including XenSource, which was recently bought by Citrix. Novell and Red Hat are also offering hypervisor technology with their operating systems.

Microsoft has existing partnership deals with both Novell and XenSource around virtualization integration.

But rival VMWare says Microsoft is sending a mixed message.

"Their product architecture is that virtualization is part of the [operating system] so they seem to be rethinking what hypervisor should be," says Raghu Raghuram, vice president of products and solutions for VMWare. "They are going to be coming out in almost one year with a basic-function hypervisor where today we have a robust hypervisor and 20,000 customers." And Raghuram adds WMWare comes with benefits such as availability and various management tools.

Haff says that speaks to what is truly interesting with virtualization, which are the tools needed to run and maintain a virtualized environment, especially requirements around management, and the fact that virtualized environments force IT to think about other parts of the network including storage, VLans, load balancing, SSL acceleration and firewalls.

"It's not about server virtualization," Forrester analyst Frank Gillett told Network World in August, "It's about when I have virtual servers I can completely change how I think about IT infrastructure. When I move virtual servers around I have to have storage that is not only networked but flexible so when I move the virtual server the storage connections go with it."

To that end, Microsoft Monday announced the availability of three of its System Center tools, including Virtual Machine Manager to manage virtualized servers.

The other tools are System Center Configuration Manager 2007, for client and server deployment and update, and System Center Data Protection Manager 2007, for backup and data recovery.

Technorati : VMware Server 2, Virtualization Server .

AMD Announces High-Performance Chip Set : A technology commonly found in graphics processors to speed performance.

2007-11-08T11:32:00.001-08:00

Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD.N: Quote, Profile, Research) launched a new graphics chip on Thursday modified to crunch huge amounts of data, with potential customers in financial, engineering and scientific industries.

The new product, called FireStream, gives AMD an answer to a similar initiative launched by rival Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O: Quote, Profile, Research) this year to find broader uses for increasingly powerful graphics chips.

AMD's high-end FireStream 9170 uses a technology commonly found in graphics processors to speed performance. AMD is introducing a high-performance chip package that uses a technology commonly found in graphics processors, called parallelism, and applies it to general purpose computing, the company announced Thursday.

Parallelism breaks computing work into individual tasks that are worked on by a processor concurrently, or in parallel, instead of one after the other, as many general purpose processors do today.

Parallelism has been in use for a long time in graphics chips from companies like ATI and Nvidia. AMD, which bought ATI last year, said the technology also works well for some types of mathematical computation, so it is using it to speed up other applications.

Called the FireStream 9170, the chip package is aimed initially at high performance computers (HPCs) like those used by scientists for climate research and oil exploration, and by financial analysts for advanced number crunching. But it could also be used more widely in the enterprise for tasks like video-editing and security tasks, AMD said.

The 9170 will be priced at US$1,999, making it one of AMD's most expensive products, but it offers up to 500 gigaflops of computing power, according to AMD, or about 100 times the performance of one of its dual core Opterons. It will be offered in new computers, but it could also be added to an existing server or workstation with a PCI Express 2.0 x16 interface.

Software applications will need to be modified to take advantage of the FireStream's architecture, and AMD will release a software developer kit along with the chip package for application tuning.

AMD calls the computing style Stream Computing, and it began life at ATI before it was bought by AMD. ATI announced the first Stream product last year, but AMD didn't work hard to promote it. It is throwing more weight behind the second iteration.

The FireStream is being manufactured on an advanced, 55 nanometer manufacturing process and will use a "double precision" floating point technology for scientific and engineering calculations. The processor board includes 2G bytes of GDDR3 (Graphics Double Data Rate 3) RAM, a type of memory designed by ATI, and consumes under 150 watts of power, AMD said.

AMD also announced it has joined Hewlett-Packard's HPC Accelerator Program, suggesting the product will be offered in computers from HP.

Technorati : AMD, chip, high performance chip, new product, technology

A Warning !!!! :Chemical weapons create toxic waste nightmare

2007-11-05T08:49:00.000-08:00

We want environment for us , for next generation , so in all espect we have to think the reaction of thing or policies we are innitiating , have to clear about CONFLICT: EVOLUTION AND FUTURE OF COMBAT AND WEAPONS

MEETING in the Hague next week, the signatories to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) will celebrate the fact that Albania and the UK have destroyed their last chemical weapons and that India and South Korea are almost done. But there will be an elephant in the room: in their scramble to destroy weapons by a 2012 deadline, Russia and the US, which possess over 95 per cent of the world's chemical weapons, are creating thousands of tonnes of a nasty, toxic residue that they are having trouble disposing of.

Chemical weapons can be incinerated directly. But fearing a release of toxic gases, half the American and all the Russian weapons sites are breaking down the lethal molecules by adding alkali, a technique called hydrolysis. This creates a new problem: how to dispose of the resulting toxic soup, known as the hydrolysate.

Technorati : chemichal weapons, environment, futiure world, toxic

FlashbacK : 50 Years Ago: The First Dog in Orbit

2007-11-05T06:53:00.001-08:00

It's today :Research on space is showing the unlimited fortune of creation ,

Just a month after the Soviet Union stunned the world by putting the first artificial satellite into orbit, it boasted a new victory - a much bigger satellite carrying a mongrel dog called Laika.

The mission, 50 years ago Saturday, ended sadly for Laika but helped pave the way for human flight.

As with other episodes of the Soviet space program, Laika's mission was hidden under a veil of secrecy, and only after the collapse of the Soviet Union could the participants tell the real story behind it.

The satellite that carried Laika into orbit was built in less than a month in what was perhaps the world's fastest-prepared space mission ever.

Excited by the international uproar over the launch of Sputnik on Oct. 4, 1957, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev summoned Sergei Korolyov, the father of the Soviet space program, and ordered him to come up with "something new" to celebrate the Nov. 7 anniversary of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.

Khrushchev's demand was a shock even for Korolyov, whose team had managed to put together the first Sputnik in less than three months, said Georgy Grechko, a cosmonaut who started his career as a space engineer.

"We didn't believe that you would outpace the Americans with your satellite, but you did it. Now you should launch something new by Nov. 7," Korolyov quoted Khrushchev telling him, according to Grechko.

Boris Chertok, Korolyov's right-hand man, said the short notice made it impossible to design a principally new spacecraft, but there was also little sense in simply repeating the Sputnik launch.

"Korolyov rightly feared that this holiday gift could end up in an accident that would spoil a hard-won victory," Chertok wrote in his memoirs. But they couldn't argue with Khrushchev, and the decision to conduct the launch was made on Oct. 12.

When someone on Korolyov's team suggested putting a dog into orbit, he jumped at the idea.

Little was known about the impact of space flight on living things, and some believed they would be unable to survive the launch or the conditions of outer space.

The Soviet Union had experimented with launching dogs on short suborbital missions during ballistic missile tests, and some of them survived several such missions. All of them were stray mongrel dogs - doctors believed they were able to adapt quicker to harsh conditions - and all were small so they could fit into the tiny capsules.

Just nine days before the launch, Doctor Vladimir Yazdovsky chose one of them - 2-year-old Laika - for the mission.

Stories about how she was chosen vary. Some say Laika was chosen for her good looks - a Soviet space pioneer had to be photogenic. Others say space doctors simply had a soft spot for Laika's main rival and didn't want to see her die: Since there was no way to design a re-entry vehicle in time for the launch, the glory of making space history also meant a certain death.

"Laika was quiet and charming," Yazdovsky wrote in his book chronicling the story of Soviet space medicine. He recalled that before heading to the launchpad, he took the dog home to play with his children.

"I wanted to do something nice for her: She had so little time left to live," Yazdovsky said.

Working round-the-clock, Korolyov and his team combined a capsule that would carry the dog with basic life-support systems and elements of the first Sputnik. To simplify the design, they decided not to separate the satellite from the booster's second stage.

They worked without blueprints at a pace that was breathtaking even at the time of the space race and seems utterly impossible by today's standards.

"Now when we have computers, sophisticated industrial equipment, lasers and other things, no one is capable of making a new satellite in just one month," Grechko said in an interview. "Now it would take a month just to start doing the paperwork. Korolyov told us later that it was the happiest month of his life."

As a result of some last-minute technical problems, Laika had to wait for the launch in the cabin for three days. The temperatures were low, and workers put a hose connected to a heater into the cockpit to keep her warm.

On Nov. 3, Laika blasted off into space in Sputnik 2, which weighed 1,118 pounds - a show of Soviet ability to take big payloads into space.

Sputnik 1 weighed just 184 pounds. The first U.S. satellite, Explorer 1, launched on Jan. 31, 1958, weighed about 31 pounds.

When Laika reached orbit, doctors found with relief that her pulse, which had risen on launch, and her blood pressure were normal. She ate specially prepared food from a container.

According to official Soviet reports, the dog was euthanized after a week. Laika's mission drew a wave of protests from animal protection activists in the West.

It wasn't until after the Soviet collapse, that some participants in the project told the true story: Laika indeed was to be euthanized with a programmed injection, but she apparently died of overheating after only a few hours in orbit. There was no information to indicate when exactly she died.

"It was impossible to build reliable life-support and thermal-control systems in such a short time," Chertok said in his memoirs.

Several other dogs died in failed launches before the successful space flight - and safe return to Earth - of Belka and Strelka in August 1960. After a few other flights with dogs, the Soviet Union put the world's first human - Yuri Gagarin - into space on April 12, 1961.

Gagarin is said to have joked: "I still don't understand who I am: the first human or the last dog in space."

Technorati : First Dog in Orbit, creation, research, space

Space : One Collective Soul in Outer Space

2007-11-04T20:28:00.001-08:00

A reality check on dreams for space: the repairsThe crews from the shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station had a farewell ceremony today and closed the hatch between the two craft. Discovery will undock tomorrow and prepare for its return to Earth on Wednesday.
It was a blubberfest.
This has been an intense mission - the planned tasks involved some of the toughest technical challenges in the history of the space station's construction process, and included adding a new room to the station, the Harmony module, and moving an enormous solar array and truss from its temporary position on top of the station to its far left side.
Astronaut Scott Parazynski worked along the truss assembly of the International Space Station on Saturday, preparing equipment for mounting on the boom extension.
NASA/Reuters

But beyond those efforts, problems made the mission even tougher. The solar array tore as it was being re-deployed, setting off a scramble to come up with a spacewalk that could repair the tear and get the array functional before the shuttle left. Without that array fully extended and able to be rotated on its own rotary joint, space station construction would have been stalled and upcoming missions delayed.
And on top of that, spacewalkers detected damage to the rotary joint on the right side of the station, one that keeps the right-side solar arrays facing the sun - a problem that will have to be addressed down the road. In a high-risk, high-stakes spacewalk Dr. Scott E. Parazynski fixed the array on Saturday.
So it's no surprise that the farewells are more than a little emotional. Clayton Anderson, who spent 137 days as a space-station crew member and will be coming home on Discovery, kept turning off his microphone as he was overcome with emotion as he thanked the "folks on the ground" - flight-control engineering and training teams in Houston, Huntsville and Moscow. "I say thank you," he said, his voice breaking. "You are indeed the best and the brightest that our world has to offer."
Over the communications loop, there was loud applause from the "folks on the ground."
Mr. Anderson then played the song "Reunion," by Collective Soul. His crewmates swayed to the music (which in zero gravity has to be seen to be believed) as it played, tinny over the orbit-to-ground transmission:
Change will come
Change is here
Love fades out
Then love appears
Now my water's turned to wine
And these thoughts I have
I now claim as mine
I'm coming home
Change has been
Change will be
Time will tell
Then time will ease
Now my curtain has been drawn
And my heart can go
Where my heart does belong
I'm going home
Discovery's commander for this mission, Pamela A. Melroy, also teared up as she thanked the the station commander, Peggy A. Whitson, and the Russian cosmonaut on board the station, Yuri Malenchenko, and said goodbye to crew member Daniel M. Tani, who will stay aboard the station. "We promise we'll send somebody to come pick you up and bring you home," she joked.
"We're family now," she said.
Mr. Tani wiped his eyes repeatedly as well.
Col. Malenchenko made headlines in 2003 during his last stint aboard the station, when he got married from orbit: his bride, Ekaterina Dmitriev, was on earth in the Villa Capri restaurant near the Johnson Space Center. A justice of the peace did the honors; Col. Malenchenko wore a bowtie with his flight suit and was represented on the ground by a paper cut-out.
One can only wonder what the stoic Col. Malenchenko thought of the waterworks from his American crewmates, but when it came time to say goodbye, he gave Mr. Anderson what looked like a real rib-crusher of a hug.
Anyone who wants to see the emotional session can tune in to NASA television, where the farewell ceremonies are replayed as part of the highlights reel that runs on the hour.

Technorati : harmony, space station, space station repair

Neurology : Big MIT contingent at Society for Neuroscience meeting

2007-11-04T12:59:00.001-08:00

MIT's excellence in brain research will be showcased next week in San Diego as Institute scientists give five of the 24 invited talks at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience.

"This is an extremely high representation from one institution," said Mriganka Sur, chair of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and one of the MIT speakers.

The Society for Neuroscience is the world's largest organization of scientists devoted to studying the brain. Some 30,000 people are expected to attend the group's annual -conference.

One of the five MIT researchers, H. Sebastian Seung, professor of computational neuroscience, will give the Presidential Special Lecture on "The Once and Future Science of Neural Networks." In his talk, Seung will describe a revolutionary new way to create a nanoscale-level map of the brain's axon and dendrite "wires" based on actual human brain tissue. This cutting-edge field, called computational neuroanatomy, is expected to confirm or deny long-held basic assumptions about how the brain works.

Seung's laboratory is one of a handful in the world working on a new initiative called "the connectome," which seeks to translate three-dimensional images of the brain at nanoscale resolution into a circuit diagram of all the brain's neurons and synaptic connections.

Current models of the human brain revolve around the belief that synapses' connections determine brain function and that synaptic plasticity underlies learning and memory. But now, "we have seen tantalizing hints that these basic ideas are at least partially true, as well as examples where they fall short," said Seung, who also is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator. "The advent of high-throughput methods for gathering neurophysiological and neuroanatomical data will transform our ability to test the foundations of neural network theory."

The other MIT speakers and their topics are:

Mark F. Bear, Picower Professor of Neuroscience, director of the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and HHMI investigator, will speak on "Modification of Cerebral Cortex by Experience." More than four decades of research on how synapses are formed, strengthened, weakened and lost under the influence of sensory experience have culminated in a deep understanding of the mechanisms for this synaptic plasticity. The knowledge ranges from novel insights into the pathophysiology of developmental disorders to new strategies to enhance perceptual learning and recovery from environmental deprivation, he said.

Li-Huei Tsai, Picower Professor of Neuroscience and HHMI investigator, will speak on "Mechanisms Underlying Prevention of Cognitive Decline and Restoration of Memory in Age-Dependent Neurodegenerative Disorders." The number of people with Alzheimer's disease is expected to triple from 5 to 15 million by the year 2050. Age-dependent neurodegeneration and dementia is currently incurable. Tsai's lecture will focus on recent research of cellular mechanisms, including synaptic plasticity, which have provided models for understanding neurodegeneration and memory loss. A particular emphasis will be placed on new strategies to prevent decline or restore memories.

Mriganka Sur, Sherman Fairchild Professor of Neuroscience, will speak on "New Approaches for Revealing Cortical Function: Plasticity and Dynamics of Visual Cortex Networks." Sur will talk about how a range of novel tools, including in vivo high-resolution imaging of neurons, synapses and astrocytes, cell-specific markers and genetically engineered probes, along with new experimental paradigms, are transforming the analysis of cortical networks.

Susan L. Lindquist, professor of biology, member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and HHMI investigator, will give the Albert and Ellen Grass Lecture. Proteins begin as long strings that must fold precisely. The misfolding of certain amyloidogenic proteins associated with neuronal cells is responsible for certain neurodegenerative diseases. Surprisingly, she said, similar changes in the folding of other proteins may have beneficial effects in learning and memory. Lindquist's lecture will investigate therapeutic strategies to control the folding of amyloidogenic proteins.

Technorati : Cognitive Sciences, Neurology, Neuroscience, brain science

Technology : MIT develops 'tractor beam' for manipulation of cells on silicon

2007-11-04T09:12:00.001-08:00

E. coli cells are manipulated on a silicon chip by MIT researchers using 'optical tweezers' to form the letters 'MIT.'

Tool could manipulate tiny objects on a chip,

In a feat that seems like something out of a microscopic version of Star Trek, MIT researchers have found a way to use a "tractor beam" of light to pick up, hold and move around individual cells and other objects on the surface of a microchip.

The new technology could become an important tool for both biological research and materials research, say Matthew J. Lang and David C. Appleyard, whose work is being published in an upcoming issue of the journal Lab on a Chip. Lang is an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Engineering and the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Appleyard is a graduate student in Biological Engineering.

The idea of using light beams as tweezers to manipulate cells and tiny objects has been around for at least 30 years. But the MIT researchers have found a way to combine this powerful tool for moving, controlling and measuring objects with the highly versatile world of microchip design and manufacturing.

Optical tweezers, as the technology is known, represent "one of the world's smallest microtools," says Lang. "Now, we're applying it to building [things] on a chip."

Says Appleyard, "We've shown that you could merge everything people are doing with optical trapping with all the exciting things you can do on a silicon wafer … There could be lots of uses at the biology-and-electronics interface."

For example, he said, many people are studying how neurons communicate by depositing them on microchips where electrical circuits etched into the chips monitor their electrical behavior. "They randomly put cells down on a surface, and hope one lands on [or near] a [sensor] so its activity can be measured. With [our technology], you can put the cell right down next to the sensors." Not only can motions be precisely controlled with the device, but it can also provide very precise measurements of a cell's position.

Optical tweezers use the tiny force of a beam of light from a laser to push around and control tiny objects, from cells to plastic beads. They usually work on a glass surface mounted inside a microscope so that the effects can be observed.

But silicon chips are opaque to light, so applying this technique to them is not an obvious move, the researchers say, since the optical tweezers use light beams that have to travel through the material to reach the working surface. The key to making it work in a chip is that silicon is transparent to infrared wavelengths of light--which can be easily produced by lasers, and used instead of the visible light beams.

To develop the system, Lang and Appleyard weren't sure what thickness and surface texture of wafers, the thin silicon slices used to manufacture microchips, would work best, and the devices are expensive and usually available only in quantity. "Being at MIT, where there is such a strength in microfabrication, I was able to get wafers that had been thrown out," Appleyard says. "I posted signs saying, 'I'm looking for your broken wafers'."

After testing different samples to determine which worked best, they were able to order a set that was just right for the work. They then tested the system with a variety of cells and tiny beads, including some that were large by the standards of optical tweezer work. They were able to manipulate a square with a hollow center that was 20 micrometers, or millionths of a meter, across--allowing them to demonstrate that even larger objects could be moved and rotated. Other test objects had dimensions of only a few nanometers, or billionths of a meter. Virtually all living cells come in sizes that fall within that nanometer-to-micrometers range and are thus subject to being manipulated by the system.

As a demonstration of the system's versatility, Appleyard says, they set it up to collect and hold 16 tiny living E. coli cells at once on a microchip, forming them into the letters MIT.

The work was supported by the Biotechnology Training Program of the National Institutes of Health, the W.M. Keck Foundation and MIT's Lincoln Laboratory.

Technorati : Chips, MIT, MIT news, Star Trek, silicon

Nanotechnology :MIT works toward 'smart' optical microchips

2007-11-04T09:02:00.001-08:00

Light-powered micro-machines could advance telecommunications,

Rings, one millionth of a meter in size, are the moving parts of a 'smart' micromachine that could be powered and controlled by light on an optical chip. The rings move around and adapt to the color of light that is traveling through the bar, right.

A new theory developed at MIT could lead to "smart" optical microchips that adapt to different wavelengths of light, potentially advancing telecommunications, spectroscopy and remote sensing.

Postdocs Peter Rakich, left, and Milos Popovic of MIT's Research Laboratory of Electronics stand in front of a monitor that shows a demonstration of the way they propose to control microchips with light.

Drawn by the promise of superior system performance, researchers have been exploring the concept of microchips that manipulate light instead of electricity. In their new theory, the MIT team has shown how such chips could feature tiny machines with moving parts powered and controlled by the very light they manipulate, giving rise to fundamentally new functionality.

"There are thousands of complex functions we could make happen by tinkering with this idea," said Peter Rakich, an MIT postdoctoral associate who invented the theoretical concept along with postdoc Milos Popovic. The work was described in the cover story of the November issue of Nature Photonics.

For example, such chips could one day be used to remotely adjust the amount of bandwidth available in an optical network, or to automatically process signals flowing through fiber-optic networks, without using any electrical power, Rakich said.

Coauthors on the paper were Marin Soljacic, assistant professor of physics; and Erich Ippen, the Elihu Thomson Professor of Electrical Engineering and professor of physics.

"The idea that opto-nanomechanical devices can be designed to self-adapt to all-optical control--i.e., by self-aligning their resonances to optical control frequencies and by permitting all-optical tuning and dimension control--is new and exciting," said Ippen.

Earlier this year an MIT team composed of many of the same researchers showed that photonic circuitry could be integrated on a silicon chip by polarizing all of the light to the same orientation. The current work shows how tiny mobile machines can be built on such chips, taking advantage of the substantial pressures exerted by photons as they strike the walls of a cavity.

In the macroscopic world, light waves do not exert significant forces, but in the unique world of the microscopic, coupled with ultrapure laser light, photons bouncing off the walls of a cavity can build up a measurable force called radiation pressure. This is similar to the pressure exerted by gas molecules trapped in an aerosol can.

To take advantage of this radiation pressure, the researchers propose machines built from ring-shaped cavities only millionths of a meter in size located on the chip surface. When pressure on the cavity walls is high enough, the cavity is forced to move. This movement forms a critical part of an optical micromachine, which adjusts its configuration to respond to light in a predesigned way.

A unique application of this concept involves processing data that travels in fiber-optic networks. Today resonators employed in fiber-optic networks have to be synchronized with the incident light to ring at its frequency, in the same way an opera singer has to tune the pitch of her voice to make a wine glass ring.

Remarkably, a "smart" resonator based on the MIT concept could chase the frequency (color) of the laser light incident upon it. As the frequency of the laser beam changes, the frequency of the resonator will always follow it, no matter where it goes.

In other words, this new, unique resonator is like a wine glass that self-adjusts to the pitch of the singer's voice and follows it along throughout a song, Rakich said. He noted that physical systems that adapt to driving light and behave like these nanomachines do not exist elsewhere in nature.

By coupling the resonating cavities with nano-scale cantilevers, optical devices analogous to microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices can be created.

Although the researchers focused on ring-shaped cavities, their model could be applied to other structures as well.

"Our objective now is to develop a variety of light-powered micro- and nanomachines with unique capabilities enabled by this technology," explained Popovic. "But the first step will be to demonstrate the concept in practice."

The research was funded in part by the Army Research Office through MIT's Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies.

Technorati : MIT Research, Nanotechnology, new chips, smart' optical microchips

TECH Market and economy : Silicon Valley economy despite uncertainty nationwide

2007-11-04T08:33:00.001-08:00

Technology companies are prospering while Wall Street continues to deliver shocks like Merrill Lynch's $7.8 billion write-down due to a collapsing mortgage market and the reported looming departure of Citigroup Chief Executive Charles Prince. Adding to the woes, oil prices have topped $90 a barrel.

A week of turmoil in the financial industry and stock market has left technology stocks and Silicon Valley largely unscathed, reflecting trends that are making the region an economic star.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index finished slightly higher over the past week, while the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 index had significant drops.

Apple had a surprisingly strong quarter, and Google stock passed $700 a share as the Mountain View Internet search company joined eBay, Yahoo, Intel, Seagate Technology and Genentech in reporting strong revenues. Microsoft revenue was up more than 23 percent from the same quarter in the previous year.

The strength extends to the broader Silicon Valley economy. A forecast by Spectrum Economics, released last month, reports that the region "unleashed itself from a faltering U.S. economy" during the past two years.

"Silicon Valley soared while the U.S. economy swooned," said the September 2007 update to the study, done for the San Jose Redevelopment Agency.

The United States may have lost its global competitive advantage in many areas, bua clear advantage, said Sung W. Sohn, Hanmi Bank's chief executive and president.

The housing market's troubles haven't affected the valley's overall economy, Spectrum said, while rising energy costs benefit high tech and green tech, one a valley staple and the other an emerging growth area.

"If you want to save energy, you have to use more electronics," Spectrum's chairman, Richard Carlson, said in an interview.

Venture capital is making a comeback in the wake of the mortgage bubble. "Compared to those screwball collateralized mortgage obligations, high tech looks simple," Carlson said.

Exports are buoying up the regional economy, too, as the declining dollar makes U.S. products a bargain to foreign buyers.

American technology companies "are huge exporters," Carlson said.

Though there was a drop of almost 2,200 in valley jobs in September over the month before, the numbers were skewed by a decline in public-sector hiring. That may be due to a late start for the school year, he said. Computer manufacturers added 1,800 jobs in September compared with a year earlier, but posted small losses from the previous month.

"The nation's economic problems will continue, but not at a level that is likely to threaten Silicon Valley's growth," the Spectrum study concluded.

The valley's job growth may slow somewhat but should outpace the nation's, according to Stephen Levy of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy.

"We'll be affected by housing, but less so because we didn't have a surge in home building or subprime loans," Levy said.

"We have the strongest new exciting sector in the world of opportunities around clean tech and the new funding for it," Levy said. "We are alive on the venture capital side and the Internet side. Nothing that's happened has threatened the resurgence of our economic base."

While the U.S. Commerce Department reported that the national economy turned in a solid 3.9 percent third-quarter growth in gross domestic product, economists worry that it may be the last encouraging quarterly number for a while.

That's because while consumer spending has remained strong, economists puzzle over where consumers were getting their spending money. The refinancing boom is over, and that was believed to have propelled consumer spending over the past two or more years.

"The 'Energizer Bunny' of the U.S. economy is the consumer," Carlson said. "The consumer has been taking some pretty serious hits, but it just keeps going."

t technology is one where it retains .

Technorati : economy control, silicon valley, technology market

EARTH QUAkE : Living on a fault: Homeowners shake off quake risk

2007-11-04T07:53:00.001-08:00

Earth quake :

While only a few people in the east foothills experienced the shaking so near the epicenter, the Sabins are hardly alone living close to danger. There are at least 369,000 more people living near three major faults - the San Andreas, the Hayward and the Calaveras - than during the 1989 Loma Prieta quake. That 6.9 temblor, centered in the Santa Cruz Mountains, killed 62 people and caused $6 billion in destruction.

The newer population .

estimate comes from a 24hoursNews review of U.S. Geological Survey fault maps and data collected in 1990 and 2007 by the U.S. Census Bureau and the California Department of Finance. It is almost certainly low.

It does not include the populations of unincorporated areas of Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa and San Mateo counties. And it does not include the growth of cities such as San Jose and Palo Alto, only parts of which are within five miles of one of the faults.

But for perspective, those 369,000 people represent more than 40 percent of the total population growth in those four counties since 1990.

The most growth - more than 200,000 people - has been along the Hayward Fault, particularly in Milpitas, Fremont and Hayward - an area seismologists say could be primed for another big shake.

A tour of fault country, days after the Bay Area's strongest quake since Loma Prieta, took a reporter from the redwood-clad billionaire estates of Woodside to the sunny suburban hillsides of Fremont to the rural hills above San Jose, where somebody like Kathy Sabin can still have enough land to keep 47 animals near the nation's 10th-most-populous city.

Homeowner after homeowner, when asked why they moved so close to a known fault, said accepting earthquake danger is part of the bargain you strike in exchange for the incredible views, weather, culture and outdoor life of the Bay Area. None of them intends to move. And there is also a subtle psychological adjustment: It's not so much a discounting of earthquake danger, but a sense that other natural disasters elsewhere are somehow worse.

As a California native, "I'm kind of used to earthquakes," said Kathy Sabin. "I would be more afraid of a tornado or a hurricane."

If the East Coast and the Gulf Coast have their hurricanes and blizzards, and the Midwest its tornadoes and floods, earthquakes are "our" natural disaster. Even as they threaten us, they also seem to define who we are.

San Andreas Fault

Loaded with plywood building materials, the truck wound its way through the rural groves of Woodside, past gated estates, past women on horseback, past an aptly named "Why Worry Lane."

The center of Woodside is less than a mile from the San Andreas Fault, but there's a lot of construction. Town records say the value of building permits for new construction, additions and alterations is up 35 percent in 2007 over the same period last year.

Real estate agents can recount multimillion-dollar sales falling through because of a mountain lion in the back yard, but hardly ever due to the nearby fault.

Though people are aware of the fault, it has not hurt real estate values, said Jayne Williams, an agent with Coldwell Banker. She was speaking with a friend - Pam McReynolds of La Honda - in the Woodside center, across the street from where Williams had been during the Loma Prieta quake.

"We've grown up with it," Williams, a Woodside native, said of the fault.

Of course, Williams' sister moved to Cape Cod to escape earthquakes. But Williams and McReynolds said they wouldn't trade natural disasters with her.

Farther south along the San Andreas - even on Loma Prieta Way in the mountains above Los Gatos, where a wag might say you're asking for trouble - new homes are being built.

But asked for the most earthquake-safe place to build a house in the Bay Area, USGS seismologist Tom Brocher only chuckles.

"As a rule of thumb, if you're within five miles, you are going to be strongly shaken," he said.

"If I told you to live in San Ramon, you're living on the Calaveras Fault, or close to it. In Pacifica, you're on the San Andreas Fault. Almost all of us live within five miles or so of one of the major faults."

Brocher said people should consider the earthquake hazard zone disclosures amid the stack of papers they sign when they buy a home.

"All you want to do is sign and take ownership of the house," he said. "We would like people to pay attention to that. They should definitely be aware of the risk."

And where in the Bay Area does a USGS seismologist live?

Brocher said he chose his home in Millbrae as much for its flat lot - safe from earthquake-triggered landslides - and its distance from soil liquefaction hazards around San Francisco Bay, as for its relative proximity to a fault line. He's just 1.5 miles from the San Andreas.

"I told my wife, 'Look you're not going to have any view of the bay,' " he said.

Hayward Fault

A good chunk of the Bay Area's population wasn't living here during the Loma Prieta quake. Many weren't even alive. About 29 percent of the population of Santa Clara County is under 21 - too young to remember Loma Prieta even if they had been born in 1989.

So for many, the Alum Rock quake was a first. But not for Sandy Movahed. The Fremont resident definitely remembers 1989: The Loma Prieta quake demolished her office in San Francisco. And yet she bought a home with her husband a few hundred yards from the Hayward Fault. A court reporter who transcribed lengthy state hearings on earthquakes, Movahed knows plenty about the phenomenon. She is confident the Bay Area's strict building codes will provide some protection.

"Bottom line," she says, "nobody knows when there's going to be an earthquake."

And one more thing: Her sunny neighborhood under the grassy hills, which overlooks the silver sweep of San Francisco Bay, has "probably the most perfect weather in the world."

Calaveras Fault

At the epicenter of Tuesday's quake, nobody seemed too concerned about future quakes.

Don and Joann Reed said the Loma Prieta quake caused a mini-tsunami that washed right out of their swimming pool. This quake did nothing like that.

"We're on fractured rock here, and I hear tell that fractured rock is better for you than solid rock," Joann Reed said.

Living on the Calaveras Fault for 32 years, the retired couple dismissed the thought of moving to escape a quake.

"Earthquakes don't happen as often as the hurricanes, and the tornadoes and the floods and those bad electrical storms and the awful heat with the humidity in the summertime and the just intolerable cold in the wintertime," Joann Reed said of the troubled life elsewhere. "Here it's an occasional earthquake and the rest of the time it's just like heaven."

Technorati : Calaveras, Hayward, San Andreas, earth quake

Space Station's Damaged Panel Is Fixed

2007-11-03T22:21:00.001-07:00

Astronauts patched a damaged solar panel on the international space station yesterday during a tricky and dangerous seven-hour spacewalk.

Perched on the tip of an extension of the station's long robotic arm, astronaut Scott E. Parazynski snipped off tangles of broken and frayed wires that had ripped open two spots on the huge solar array, and installed five jury-rigged straps to reinforce the damaged area, allowing the panel to finally unfurl fully.

In this image provided by NASA television astronaut Scott Parazynski, top, gets into the foot restraints with the assistance of astronaut Douglas Wheelock at the end of the 90-foot robotic arm and boom extension, center, which will carry Parazynski for a 45-minute ride to the damage site at the start of the space walk to repair the damaged solar array Saturday Nov. 3, 2007.

"Excellent work, guys, excellent," space station commander Peggy A. Whitson said after the tense, painstaking job was finally done.

The spacewalk was considered particularly risky, with Parazynski venturing farther from the safety of the station than ever before. The repairs were unusually complicated because the astronauts were unable to fully assess the damage before getting close to the array and had to hope that their quickly improvised repair plans would work. Normally, such a repair mission would take weeks or even months of preparation and rehearsal.

But without the repairs, the damaged solar wing could have become structurally unstable, posing a hazard to the outpost and requiring that it be jettisoned.

Without the panel, the station would not have enough power to continue expanding. That could have forced a postponement of the installation of the next component, a European laboratory, next month. NASA is under pressure to complete the construction of the station before it retires the aging space shuttle fleet in 2010.

So, wearing protective spacesuits, Parazynski and astronaut Douglas H. Wheelock ventured out of the station, orbiting about 213 miles above the East Coast, just past 6 a.m. to begin the unprecedented job.

"Go out there and fix that thing for us," Whitson radioed just before the pair left the safety of the station's airlock.

With Wheelock positioned at the base of the solar array, Parazynski anchored his feet to the end of a 50-foot boom from the space shuttle; the boom was grasped in the middle by the station's 58-foot robotic arm. The arm carried him on a slow-motion, 45-minute trip half a football field away to just barely reach the damaged panel.

Dramatic live-television images showed Parazynski atop the extended arm with the bright orange solar array behind him and the brilliant blue and white Earth below.

Once there, Parazynski, an emergency-room physician, assessed the full extent of the damage for the first time, describing a daunting "hairball" of tangled wires in the area that was mangled when the solar panel was deployed Tuesday. The panel suffered two tears; the largest was about 2 1/2 feet long.

All the tools and all the metal parts of Parazynski's spacesuit were wrapped with insulating tape to minimize the risk of the astronaut getting shocked by the electric array, which is generating 160 volts. His bulky gloves were also covered with extra mittens for added protection.

Using an L-shaped device, dubbed a "hockey stick," to periodically and gently nudge the array away, as well as needle-nose pliers, vice-grips and clippers to cut away and secure loose wires, Parazynski methodically completed the repair, radioing his colleagues each step of the way.

Parazynski, one of the most experienced spacewalkers, installed five "cuff links," which the astronauts had pieced together from spare parts aboard the station. The three- to five-foot long pieces are insulated cables with aluminum plates at each end that Parazynski slipped into holes in the array like cuff links into a shirt sleeve. They are designed to support the damaged area and prevent further tearing.

Once all five were installed, Parazynski and Wheelock watched closely as ground controllers slowly unfurled the solar panel to its full 110-foot length. Parazynski then rode the robotic arm back to safety, returning inside the station with Wheelock at 1:22 p.m.

"It certainly was a really good day overall," said Dina Contella, lead spacewalk officer, during a briefing afterward.

The torn array, however, is just one of the problems facing the station. Metal shavings were discovered earlier in a joint on the station, jamming control of the solar arrays on that side. Space station managers are trying to determine how to fix that malfunction.

Technorati : repair, space, station

Research : Elevated Nitric Oxide In Blood Is Key To High Altitude Function For Tibetans

2007-11-03T09:53:00.001-07:00

Cynthia Beall studies adaptation to high altitudes. (Credit: Image courtesy of Case Western Reserve University)

How can some people live at high altitudes and thrive while others struggle to obtain enough oxygen to function?

The answer for Tibetans who live at altitudes around 14,000 feet is increased nitric oxide (NO) levels. High levels of NO circulate in various forms in the blood and produce the physiological mechanisms that cause the increased blood flow that maintains oxygen delivery despite hypoxia--low levels of oxygen in the ambient air and the bloodstream.

Researchers from Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic report that Tibetans have 10 times more NO and have more than double the forearm blood flow of low-altitude dwellers. The findings from a comparison of NO levels in the high and low altitude dwellers are reported in a recent article.*

The low barometric pressure of high altitudes generally causes low arterial oxygen content among Tibetans, yet the researchers have found that Tibetans consume oxygen at normal rates.

"We asked how that could be done," said Cynthia Beall, the S. Idell Pyle Professor of Anthropology at Case Western Reserve University. For two decades, Beall has been one of the world's leading researchers in the studies of high altitude adaptation in different populations in Ethiopia, South America and Tibet.

Beall collected blood samples and blood flow readings from the forearms of 88 Tibetans during a 2002 research trip that was funded by the National Science Foundation. The blood flow data and blood samples were brought back to the United States where Serpil Erzurum, chair of pathobiology, Cleveland Clinic, and the paper's lead author, analyzed the information. In Erzurum's lab, Allison Janocha, a Case Western Reserve graduate, performed many of the technically challenging analyses.

For comparison, the scientists collected the same information from 50 near sea-level dwellers from the United States who participated in the study at the General Clinical Research Center at the Cleveland Clinic.

The combined increase in NO and blood flow levels resulted in double the amount of oxygen delivered to the capillary beds in the Tibetans' arms.

The researchers hypothesize that Tibetans have a genetic mutation that allows high NO production. Genetic studies and comparable data on sea-level populations living at high altitude would be needed to test that hypothesis, said Beall.

During the study, the researchers also recognized another population difference: Tibetan women were found to have higher nitrite and lower nitrate levels than those of Tibetan men, whereas no gender differences were found in sea-level dwellers.

In this research, blood flow is determined by the length, number and width of the diameter of blood vessels. These numbers are determined partly by NO, which is a dilator of the vessels and prevents high blood pressure, which would result from increased blood flow in restricted blood vessels. NO also helps in the release of oxygen to tissues.

NO reacts in the blood to produce nitrite, nitrate, nitrosothiol proteins and á-nitrosyl hemoglobin, which can be used as indicators of NO production. To confirm the increases in NO, the researchers subjected the Tibetan samples to sensitive high performance liquid chromatography, where the results verified the 10-fold increase of NO in the blood.

This study continues to unravel the mysteries of high altitude adaption and follows Beall's 2001 study, published in Nature, on the NO levels in exhaled breath of Tibetans, which were found to be 25 percent greater than that of local Cleveland residents. There was also a related paper on NO and pulmonary blood flow in 2005 in the Journal of Applied Physiology. Brian Hoit of the department of medicine at the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine was the lead author on that paper.

*"The journal article is "Higher Blood Flow and Circulating NO Products Offset High-altitude Hypoxia among Tibetans," published in the current Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Researchers on the most recent study include Sudhakshina Ghosh, Allison Janocha, Weilin Xu, Dennis Stuehr, and Jesus Tejero from the CCF department of pathobiology; and Selena Bauer, Martin Feelisch, and Nathan Bryan from the Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute in Boston University School of Medicine; and Craig Hemann and Russ Hille from Ohio State University

Technorati : Nitric Oxide In Blood, research

Analysis Of Solar Wind Helps Illuminate solar System Evolved

2007-11-03T06:10:00.001-07:00

Analyzing the mix of hydrogen, oxygen and noble gases found in the sun can answer one of the biggest questions of the universe: How did our solar system evolve? (Credit: iStockphoto/Alexander Hafemann)

As reservoirs of valuable information go, nothing beats the sun. This sphere of heat and energy holds 99.9 percent of the solar system, saved in all original proportions after planets and meteorites formed. Analyzing the mix of hydrogen, oxygen and noble gases found in the sun can answer one of the biggest questions of the universe: How did our solar system evolve?
Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis and a large team of colleagues marked the beginnings of that odyssey by examining samples of solar wind for neon and argon, two abundant noble gases.

These samples came from NASA's Genesis mission, which launched in 2001, and orbited the sun for more than two years, collecting samples of solar wind. In 2004, the soft landing planned for the craft went wrong and Genesis smashed into the Utah mud, splintering into more than 10,000 pieces. Fortunately, these fragments were large enough to yield highly precise data for neon and argon.

Alex Meshik, Ph.D., lead author and research professor of physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University, credits mission planners for preparing for every outcome long before launch. At the time, decisions to craft solar wind collection arrays in different thickness in case they were broken on landing likely saved all data.

"The arrays are made of super-pure metals and diamonds deposited on sapphire," Meshik says. "There was no way to mark them otherwise. Now we can take a piece and know which array it came from."

Genesis collected samples by deploying different arrays during three types, or flow regimes, of solar wind: low-speed, high-speed and the spectacular coronal mass ejections. Because solar wind streams at different velocities in different regimes, on-board instruments move the arrays to collect separate data for the different regimes.

The abundances and isotopic composition of the noble gas from the regimes could in turn be used to understand how well the solar wind truly represents solar composition.

Data presented in the Science paper made one thing clear: The isotopic composition of neon and argon in all three regimes were the same. So measuring solar wind means that you are sampling the solar corona, the place at which ions stream out of the sun.

"This is good for future measurements of nitrogen and oxygen and other elements because if it's true for noble gases, it's true for other elements as well," says Meshik.

This work gives scientists who design models of how the solar system formed the actual ground truth, explains Charles Hohenberg, Ph.D., WUSTL professor of physics. Differences in isotopic composition between the planets and the sun tell us about their evolutions. Also, the team's ability to measure neon and argon with high precision helps other Genesis scientists calibrate their data.

Although Washington University scientists won't be measuring oxygen -- a critical element for planetary studies -- their Genesis findings will help scientists make their measurements more accurate.

"There are so many elements that other scientists would like to measure that are very, very difficult to measure because of their low abundance and high potential for contamination," says Hohenberg.

Refining the equipment

Even though WUSTL scientists were able to extract valuable data from Genesis' broken pieces, the work required the design of new equipment and refinement of existing measuring devices. Both Meshik and Hohenberg stressed the team aspect that made and continues to make this project possible.

Five of eight authors on the current Science paper come from Washington University. In addition to Meshik and Hohenberg, fourth-year graduate student Jennifer Mabry, whose Ph.D. research is based on this work; senior research scientist Olga Pravdivtseva, Ph.D.; and Yves Marrocchi, who is now at Nancy-Université in France, worked on all aspects of the project. Also among the co-authors is a former student of Hohenberg's, Chad Olinger, Ph.D., who is at Los Alamos.

Next, WUSTL scientists will measure heavy noble gases from the solar wind samples -- they've already redesigned two new mass spectrometers specially made for this effort. Unlike argon and neon, which are abundant enough for multiple measurements, the rarity of heavy nobles like xenon allow for perhaps only one or two attempts.

The Genesis mission was the first since the Apollo era to bring extraterrestrial material back to Earth, so the team wants the best measurement of the sun's xenon and krypton possible. Therefore, these measurements have been delayed while measurement techniques are optimized.

"If you look at meteorites, the argon that you measure is very close to what you see in the sun. That's not the case for xenon and krypton and that's not the case for the atmosphere. Understanding how those things all fit together is important. Nobody really knows yet," says Hohenberg.

Technorati : solar System, solar power

Internet security company confirms finds a new trojan attacking Apple Mac computers with malware

2007-11-02T15:24:00.001-07:00

Hackers have launched a rare and troubling attack on Apple Inc.'s computers.

Apple on Thursday confirmed reports of pornography Web sites where hidden software, once downloaded, could take control of an Apple computer. Apple did not immediately respond to claims that it is the first instance of a Trojan horse attack on Apple's Macintosh platform.

"We've been made aware that a small number of Web sites attempt to trick Mac OS X users to install malicious software on their Macs," said Apple spokeswoman Lynn Fox. "Apple has a great track record for keeping Mac OS X users secure, and as always, we encourage people to install software only from trusted sources."

The timing of the Trojan horse suggests there are more to come, say some computer and Internet security professionals. As Apple's popularity rises, "the bad guys are taking Macs seriously now," wrote Bojan Zdrnja, of the Internet Storm Center, which is led by the Escal Institute of Advanced Technologies.

After confirming the claims reported by computer-security firm Intego, Symantec engineer Joji Hamada wrote on Symantec's Web site of suspicions that a wave of attacks and viruses are due. "If we see a rise in Mac malware, then we will have to assume that there are profits to be made in malware for Macs as well," he wrote. "Stay tuned."

Mac is the primary target of a new Trojan malware attacking Apple computers. The fake codec trojan was identified by Intego, a maker of Internet security software for the Mac.

A fake codec pretends to be a free video codec, often posted on a pornography site to fool victims into installing it. It's not a video codec at all, but a piece of malware intended to compromise with the victim's machine. Although there are many Microsoft Windows-based fake-codec Trojans posted

on porn Web sites, Intego's find is genuinely believed to be the first Mac-based fake codec of its type.

Antispyware company Sunbelt Software claims that it is the first fake codec for the Apple Mac. They say that the author of the fake code used social-engineering tactics to get someone to download it. This one changes the desktop DNS to hijack it and redirect the user to various sites.

Trojans typically are harmless but there are ones out there that will hijack and corrupt data files. In some cases, the computer user will have to reinstall their operating system to eliminate the trojan.

Porn sites are notorious for malware campaigns by using trojans to get the pc user to buy something. Professional malware writers are actually paid by companies to create such practices

Technorati : new trojan attacking Apple Mac

New iDrive Atomic Force Microscopy Accessory Allows Simpler AFM Fluid Imaging

2007-11-02T13:40:00.001-07:00

Asylum Research, a manufacturer of advanced Atomic Force Microscopes (AFMs), introduces the iDrive cantilever holder. This new microscope accessory simplifies AFM fluid imaging and allows auto-tuning of cantilevers in fluid. It is exclusively available for use with Asylum Research MFP-3D™ AFMs.
iDrive uses a patented technique to magnetically actuate the cantilever by driving a small current through the cantilever legs in the presence of a magnetic field. Multiple peaks that are typically associated with piezo driven fluid tunes are eliminated. Unlike other magnetic actuation techniques, iDrive does not require expensive magnetically coated cantilevers. Such coatings can cause unwanted cantilever bending, may expose the sample to potentially harmful metal ions, may corrode in biological solutions, and have a limited shelf life.

The cantilever holder can be operated in either iDrive AC mode or standard piezo-driven AC mode. The iDrive cantilever holder incorporates the magnet within the holder for an unobstructed bottom view of transparent samples.

The iDrive accessory includes a cantilever holder and iDrive compatible probes. It is compatible with other MFP-3D accessories including the Closed Fluid Cell and BioHeater.

Technorati : Accessory, Atomic Force, Microscopy

Carbon Nanotubes May Lead to Ballistic Protection and Bullet Proof Vests That Bullet Bounce From Leaving No Damage

2007-11-02T12:40:00.001-07:00

Most anti-ballistic materials, like bullet-proof jackets and explosion-proof blankets, are currently made of multiple layers of Kevlar, Twaron or Dyneema fibres which stop bullets from penetrating by spreading the bullet's force. Targets can still be left suffering blunt force trauma - perhaps severe bruising or, worse, damage to critical organs.

Bulletproof jackets do not turn security guards, police officers and armed forces into Robocops, repelling the force of bullets in their stride. New research in carbon nanotechnology however could give those in the line of fire materials which can bounce bullets without a trace of damage.
A research paper published in the Institute of Physics' Nanotechnology details how engineers from the Centre for Advanced Materials Technology at the University of Sydney have found a way to use the elasticity of carbon nanotubes to not only stop bullets penetrating material but actually rebound their force.

The elasticity of carbon nanotubes means that blunt force trauma may be avoided and that's why the engineers in Sydney have undertaken experiments to find the optimum point of elasticity for the most effective bullet-bouncing gear.

Prof Liangchi Zhang and Dr Kausala Mylvaganam from the Centre for Advanced Materials Technology in Sydney, said, "By investigating the force-repelling properties of carbon nanotubes and concluding on an optimum design, we may produce far more effective bulletproof materials.

"The dynamic properties of the materials we have found means that a bullet can be repelled with minimum or no damage to the wearer of a bullet proof vest."

Working at the scale of a nanometre (one billionth of a metre), condensed matter physicists engineer structures that manipulate individual atomic and molecular interactions. Working at this microscopic scale allows engineers to design fundamentally different and useful materials.

One of these materials is nanotubes, a one-atom thick sheet of graphite, rolled into a cylinder that is held together by a very strong chemical bond called orbital hybridisation.

Nanotubes bind together into a strong 'rope' because of the Van der Waals force they share. Van der Waals is the weak attraction that molecules have for one another when they are brought close together, used, for example, by geckos when they stick to a ceiling.

Technorati : defence, nanotechnology

Nanotechnology, The new light to Revolutionize Natural Gas Industry

2007-11-02T12:20:00.000-07:00

Nanotechnology ,The new light of the various solution has began to shows for future natural gas industry

Researchers from the University of Wyoming in the U.S. say that nanotechnology could present several opportunities for the natural gas industry, but that its use is hindered by lack of innovation in the industry, a perception of high cost, and a lack of awareness about nanotechnology. The researchers say that carbon nanotubes and porous engineered nanomaterials could be used to improve the efficiency of extraction in gas fields and other sources of natural gas. Additionally, they say that other nanomaterials could potentially be used to improve purification and storage of hydrocarbons, as well as for environmental remediation of pollutants.

Nanotechnology could revolutionize the natural gas industry across the whole lifecycle from extraction to pollution reduction or be an enormous missed opportunity, claim two industry experts writing in Inderscience's International Journal of Nanotechnology. They suggest that nanotechnology could help us extract more fuel and feedstock hydrocarbons from dwindling resources. However, industry inertia and a lack of awareness of the benefits could mean a missed opportunity.
According to Saeid Mokhatab and Brian Towler of the Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Department, at the University of Wyoming, in Laramie, there are many opportunities for the industry to exploit nanotechnology. However, there is a traditional lack of innovation in the exploration and production sector, a perception of high costs, new risks, and a general lack of awareness of the benefits of nanotechnology.

The researchers have now described the potential benefits of nanotechnology, which could change that perception. Mokhatab and Towler point out that nanomaterials, such as nanotubes or engineered porous minerals, might be used in the gas field or other source to improve the efficiency of extraction of a wide variety of hydrocarbon fuel compounds and chemical feedstocks.

Similarly, related nanomaterials might be used to improve purification and storage of hydrocarbons, while yet other nanomaterials might be used in environmental remediation, allowing contaminated sites to be cleaned up of harmful pollutants. Nanomaterials might even be developed as corrosion inhibitors for equipment and at the same time, more sophisticated nanotechnology could be developed as solid-state gas sensors for air pollution monitoring.

"The past decade has seen explosive growth worldwide in the synthesis and study of a wide range of nanostructured materials, the building blocks of nanotechnology," the researchers explain, "Investigations of mechanical, chemical, electrical, magnetic, and optical behaviour of nanostructured materials have demonstrated the possibilities to engineer the properties of these new materials for a wide range of applications."

The researchers add that as readily accessible hydrocarbon reserves become depleted, the oil and gas exploration and production industry faces increasing technical challenges. These challenges boil down to increased costs and limitations on drilling and production technologies.

Technorati : Nanotechnology

WARNING : Feds List Chemicals That Can Be Misused

2007-11-02T12:02:00.001-07:00

The average chicken farmer does not have enough chemicals to make his farm a terrorist target, but many fertilizer wholesalers and paper mills do - and they'll have to tell the government about it as part of new anti-terrorism measures.

On Friday, the Homeland Security Department plans to release a final list of chemicals that businesses must report to keep dangerous materials out of the hands of terrorists. It's part of new authority Congress gave the department to keep an eye on places where hazardous chemicals are kept.

An original list of 344 chemicals - some with specific weight thresholds - was proposed in April and caused an uproar among businesses that had assumed they would be exempt from such terror-related reporting laws. If a facility has a chemical on the department's list, it has to fill out an online form that the Homeland Security Department will use to decide whether the chemical poses enough of a terrorist risk that the facility's security measures should be regulated.

Many chicken farms, for example, keep more than 7,500 pounds of propane, the threshold on the original list. But a new reporting threshold of 60,000 pounds for propane exempts them.

Colleges and universities that keep chemicals in many of their laboratories were spun up over the proposed list as well. The final list will only affect universities that carry large amounts of a certain chemical and small amounts of chemicals that could be used as weapons.

However, just because a business is required to fill out the government's online questionnaire does not necessarily mean that they'll be regulated by the government, said a Homeland Security official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, because the final list had not yet been published.

"Once we assess that they have large amounts of chemicals of consequence, then what we will do is work with them on a plan so that they can secure a facility," the official said.

The potential to use certain chemicals as weapons is one of the reasons the government came up with the list. For example:

_Hydrogen peroxide, commonly used to bleach paper, can also be used in liquid explosives - the weapon of choice in at least two foiled terror plots. Those plots led to prominent airport security measures, including restrictions on how much liquid passengers can carry on planes and the screening of shoes.

_Ammonium nitrate, used in most fertilizers, has been a main ingredient in bombs used in attacks across the world. The 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people, involved 2 tons of ammonium nitrate.

_Chlorine, which is generally used as a disinfectant, has been a popular explosive ingredient in attacks in Iraq.

As a result, businesses with more than 500 pounds of chlorine that could potentially be stolen, and businesses with 2,500 pounds of chlorine that could be hazardous if released, will be subject to reporting requirements.

Most businesses with these amounts of chlorine are water treatment facilities or specialty chemical manufacturers, said Scott Jensen, spokesman for the American Chemistry Council, which represents about 90 percent of the nation's chemical makers.

Facilities with at least 2,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate used in fertilizers that could be easily stolen and potentially used to make a bomb must also fill out the online forms. These include producers and wholesalers, according to the Fertilizer Institute, a Washington-based trade group.

And businesses that have hydrogen peroxide at a 35 percent concentration will also be subject to regulations. Many paper mills and water treatment facilities use this grade of hydrogen peroxide, Jensen said.

Dropped from the list entirely were acetone and urea. Acetone is commonly used in nail polish remover, and urea is used in fertilizer.

Technorati : Fertilizer, chemical

Spacewalk delays to fix broken solar wing

2007-11-02T10:52:00.001-07:00

(24hoursnews) Astronauts are gearing up for a tricky solar wing repair at a far end of the International Space Station (ISS) tomorrow.

Crewmembers scrounged around the orbital laboratory yesterday for supplies, crafting "cuff links" with them that will button up two rips in the solar array wing. Today, mission controllers here at Johnson Space Center (JSC) sent astronauts on another scavenger hunt to find tools for repairing the power-generating blanket.

The space station now confronts two major threats to its power supply, both of which arose during the STS-120 mission. In addition to the maimed solar wing, which generates electricity but is structurally unstable, spacewalker Dan Tani discovered unusual metallic grit in solar-array-orienting gears on Oct. 28.

Since the solar array tore during its deployment on Oct. 30, however, mission managers abandoned inspecting the gears and scrambled to make the solar wing fix a top priority.

"We've had at least three or four extra teams running throughout the shifts," said Heather Rarick, ISS flight director, of the efforts to finish detailed plans for tomorrow's spacewalk. "It's just been a fantastic effort."

Astronauts took the changes in stride as well, offering up their sparse free time to outfit the space station's newest room as well as create the solar wing-saving cufflinks. Today, cremembers prepared Parazynski's 90-foot (27.4-meter) ride on an extended robotic arm to the damaged solar wing.

"We know and understand how hard you guys are working down there," spacewalker Doug Wheelock told mission controllers last night. "We're ready to execute."

Wheelock will accompany Parazynski during the fourth and now final spacewalk of the mission. A fifth spacewalk was planned for Sunday, but mission managers cancelled the operation to focus on hashing out plans to repair the 4B solar wing, which is attached to the Port 6 truss section of the space station.

NASA awoke the 10 free-floating astronauts this morning to the song "World" by Five for Fighting. "We're looking forward to another great day working with you and building the space station," Wheelock said as he awoke, dedicating the tune to hard-working crews on the ground.

Discovery and its seven-astronaut crew are slated to leave the orbital laboratory on Nov. 5 and land at Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 7, weather permitting. NASA officials said that the crew has enough supplies to stay docked for the ISS for two more days, should the need arise.

Technorati : NASA, news, spacewalk

Public Health Risks from Climate Change are Key Concern Commentsby Professor Jonathan A. Patz

2007-10-29T14:31:00.001-07:00

Message not to be Lost in Debate: Public Health Risks from Climate Change are Key Concern - Oct 26, 2007

Comment by Professor Jonathan A. Patz, University of Wisconsin, Madison

With all the attention over the Bush Administration's mishandling of senate testimony by CDC Director, Julie Gerberding, I fear that the central clear message is being overshadowed by the (albeit errant) procedural aspects of the situation. Serving as a Lead Author for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports of 1995, 1998, 2001, and 2007 (and Health Co-Chair for the US National Assessment on Climate Change) I can reaffirm that the original CDC testimony was scientifically accurate and consistent with IPCC findings.

But more than enough press has focused on the handling of the testimony, and not enough on the important messages that Congress and the American public need to know about Global Warming. These are:

1) Our public's health is indeed at risk from the effects of climate change acting via numerous hazardous exposure pathways, including: more intense and frequent heat waves and storms; ozone smog pollution and increased pollen allergens; insect-borne and water-borne infectious diseases; and disease risks from outside the US - afterall, we live in a globalized world. Some benefits from reduced cold and some decline in certain diseases can be expected, however, the scientific assessments have consistently found that, on balance, the health risks outweigh the benefits.

2) The Department of Health and Human Services, that includes CDC and NIH, are responsible for protecting the health of the American public. To the extent that extremes of climate can have broad population-wide impacts, neither the CDC nor NIH have directed adequate resources to address climate change, and to date, funding has been minimal compared to the size of the health threat.

3) There are potentially large opportunities and co-benefits in addressing the health risks of global warming. Certainly, our public health infrastructure must be strengthened, e.g, fortify water supply systems, heat and storm early warning and response programs, and enhance disease modeling and surveillance. However, energy policy now becomes one and the same as public health policy. Reducing fossil fuel burning will: (a) further reduce air pollution, (b) improve our fitness (e.g., if urban transportation planning allows for more Americans to travel by foot or bike, than by car), and (c) lessen potential greenhouse warming.

In short, the challenges posed by climate change urgently demand improving public health infrastructure AND energy conservation / urban planning policies - as such, climate change can present both enormous health risks and opportunities. But without funding from Congress to address climate change, CDC has its hands tied.

Web Resources:
Global & Sustainable Environmental Health at the University of Wisconsin, Madison
http://www.sage.wisc.edu/pages/health.html

Website for Middle School teachers and students, and the general public
http://www.ecohealth101.org

Technorati : Climate Change, public health

Quantum Cascade Laser Nanoantenna Created :with a wide-range of potential applications

2007-10-29T13:53:00.001-07:00

In a major feat of nanotechnology engineering researchers from Harvard University have demonstrated a laser with a wide-range of potential applications in chemistry, biology and medicine. Called a quantum cascade (QC) laser nanoantenna, the device is capable of resolving the chemical composition of samples, such as the interior of a cell, with unprecedented detail,

Spearheaded by graduate students Nanfang Yu, Ertugrul Cubukcu, and Federico Capasso, Robert L. Wallace Professor of Applied Physics, all of Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the findings will be published as a cover feature of the October 22 issue of Applied Physics Letters. The researchers have also filed for U.S. patents covering this new class of photonic devices.

The laser's design consists of two gold rods separated by a nanometer gap (a device known as an optical antenna) built on the facet of a quantum cascade laser, which emits invisible light in the region of the spectrum where most molecules have their tell tale absorption fingerprints. The nanoantenna creates a light spot of nanometric size about fifty to hundred times smaller than the laser wavelength; the spot can be scanned across a specimen to provide chemical images of the surface with superior spatial resolution.

The device consists of an optical antenna fabricated on the facet of a quantum cascade laser emitting infrared light with a wavelength of 7 microns. The Harvard team used nanofabrication techniques to form the optical antenna, which consists of two gold rectangles, each 1.2 microns long, separated by a narrow gap (100 nm). Light from the laser illuminates the antenna, resulting in an intense spot of light in the gap of size seventy times smaller than the wavelength. This is far smaller than what would be possible with the conventional approach of forming a spot of light by focusing with a lens. Due to the wave nature of light, such a spot would have a diameter of more than 7 microns. The figure is an electron microscope micrograph of the facet of the QC laser with the built-in nanoantenna. Shown are also an atomic force microscope topographic image of the antenna and an optical image obtained with a near field scanning optical microscope, showing the highly localized light spot in the antenna gap. (Credit: Nanfang Yu, Ertugrul Cubukcu, and Federico Capasso)

"There's currently a major push to develop powerful tabletop microscopes with spatial resolution much smaller than the wavelength that can provide images of materials, and in particular biological specimens, with chemical information on a nanometric scale," says Federico Capasso.

While infrared microscopes, based on the detection of molecular absorption fingerprints, are commercially available and widely used to map the chemical composition of materials, their spatial resolution is limited by the range of available light sources and optics to well above the wavelength. Likewise the so-called near field infrared microscopes, which rely on an ultra sharp metallic tip scanned across the sample surface at nanometric distances, can provide ultrahigh spatial resolution but applications are so far strongly limited by the use of bulky lasers with very limited tunability and wavelength coverage.

"By combining Quantum Cascade Lasers with optical antenna nanotechnology we have created for the first time an extremely compact device that will enable the realization of new ultrahigh spatial resolution microscopes for chemical imaging on a nanometric scale of a wide range of materials and biological specimens," says Capasso.

Quantum cascade (QC) lasers were invented and first demonstrated by Capasso and his group at Bell Labs in 1994. These compact millimeter length semiconductor lasers, which are now commercially available, are made by stacking nanometer thick layers of semiconductor materials on top of each other. By varying the thickness of the layers one can select the wavelength of the QC laser across essentially the entire infrared spectrum where molecules absorb, thus custom designing it for a specific application.

In addition by suitable design the wavelength of a particular QCL can be made widely tunable. The range of applications of QC laser based chemical sensors is very broad, including pollution monitoring, chemical sensing, medical diagnostics such as breath analysis, and homeland security.

The teams co-authors are Kenneth Crozier, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, and research associates Mikhail Belkin and Laurent Diehl, all of Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; David Bour, Scott Corzine, and Gloria Höfler, all formerly with Agilent Technologies. The research was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the National Science Foundation. The authors also acknowledge the support of two Harvard-based centers, the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center and the Center for Nanoscale Systems, a member of the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network.

Technorati : Nanotechnology, Quantum Cascade