Revolutionary high speed 'Cloud' computing software being developed

University of Melbourne, Australia

Revolutionary new software which harnesses the power of networked computers to analyze data at high speeds is being developed by new start-up company Manjrasoft Pty Ltd and researchers within the University of Melbourne, Australia.

Source

High-Temp Superconducting Nanowire System is First of its Kind

Scientists from the California Institute of Technology have, for the first time, created an array of nanowires that are superconducting at relatively high temperatures. This work, published recently in Nano Letters, could lead to the incorporation of superconducting nanowires into emerging nanotechnologies.

Source

Gas pump made of minerals has no moving parts

Scientists have discovered that a type of hard mineral called zeolite can provide a high rate of gas flow in a micro-scale gas pump. Because the pump is based simply on temperature differences and has no moving parts, it could provide reliable and precise control of gas flow for a variety of applications, such as gas-sensing breath analyzers and warfare agent detectors.

Source

Silicon ribbons pave the way for graphene-like sheets

There is one thing that graphene can’t do and that is to fit easily into the silicon-based electronics industry. And while graphene based chips hold much promise, it’s hard to see chip makers re-tooling to use carbon instead of silicon in the near future.

That’s why a number of groups have become to look at the possibility of making silicon versions of grahene, a material called silicene. Silicon nanowires made their first appearance in 2005. And now Christelle Leandri at the Center for Interdisciplinary Nanoscience in Marseille, France, and a few buddies have made silicene for the first time, albeit in the form of stripes or nanoribbons.


Source

Supersolids

Almost 40 years ago, two Russian physicists predicted the existence of a new state of matter called a supersolid. They reasoned that at very low temperatures, the rules of quantum mechanics would allow a solid to move with zero resistance and that this would allow one solid to move through another like magician walking through a wall.

Source

Welcome to the Talking Web

That's the purpose of FlowGram's Flowgrams. Available at flowgram.com, Flowgram is a free beta Web service that lets users combine live Web pages and other content and create a shareable narrated walk-through.

Flowgram

Unified cloud interfaces on the horizon

Portability between clouds is clearly a problem, especially if you need to replicate an environment or application within your enterprise. You are effectively stuck, if not actually locked-in to the cloud provider you sign on with.

According to the post, the "unified cloud interface" (aka cloud broker) will serve as a common interface for the interaction with remote platforms, systems, networks, data, identity, applications, and services.

Source

Another Source

X-Ray Vision Camera

This technology has been adapted and marketed to make real xray cameras, x-ray vision, and x-ray infrared pass filters. Unlike the Xray glasses you probably saw advertised in the back of comic books when you were a kid, this technology really does see through many types of clothing. The filter is ideal for law enforcement officers, and security and surveillance personnel.

Source and to Buy

A Great Idea

Interactive Tattoos

Utilizing future technology, Dattoos have yet to reach fruition. The final concept aims to achieve a convergence of the following capabilities: DNA-reader and identification technology; nanosensors and interactive "touch reading" for finger tips (Braille); pattern and image recognition; self-learning and educational applications; living materials that change shape and feel; flexible OLED displays; full voice interaction, directional laser speakers; bionic nano chips; and cyborg components.

Researchers in cerebral tissue breakthrough

OSAKA Japan--Researchers have created cerebral tissue from human embryonic stem cells, an achievement thought likely to lead to a breakthrough in tackling Alzheimer's disease as well as pave the way for new regenerative treatments and other drugs, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

source

AIST Makes Highly Elastic Plastic from CO2

Japan

Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) made a highly elastic and strong plastic from CO2.

With an elastic modulus of 2.4Gpa and a strength of 17.9Mpa, the plastic is expected to be used as an environment-conscious material that may replace petroleum-based plastics like polyethylene and polypropylene.

Source

New Display Device Claims 'Newspaper Quality'

Japan


Funai Electric Advanced Applied Technology Research Institute Inc developed a new reflective display device that the company claims has display properties "equivalent to those of newspaper."

Phote shows a comparison between the new display device and a newspaper is shown on the left. On the right are a reflective LCD panel and electronic paper (from Funai's promotional materials).

Source

Undergroud navigation system

Aichi Steel Corp. said Tuesday it has developed the first navigation system employing a geomagnetic sensor that can provide location information and directions in underground malls and other complexes.

The system — comprising a geomagnetic sensor, an acceleration sensor and a microprocessor — can display current location and directions even in underground shopping malls where radio waves for the satellite-based Global Positioning System cannot be received.

Source

Radar technology to predict arrival of strong winds developed

Japan

Two research institutes in Japan have jointly developed technology to foretell areas which might be hit by strong winds an hour ahead of time by using a radar observation network in the Tokyo metropolitan area, researchers said Monday.

Source

Race heats up for Space Elevator

One location being considered by NASA for such a platform is off the coast of Perth, according to the West Australian co-author of the book Leaving The Earth By Space Elevator, Philip Ragan.

Source

China, U.S. to collaborate on solar energy technology

China

The Institute of Electrical Engineering (IEE) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which is affiliated with the Department of Energy, signed a memorandum of understanding over the weekend.

Source

The Ulgy 105 MPH Car

MoonBeam took Jory about a year (1000 hours) to engineer and build working about 20 hours a week. It's out of pocket price including the donor 1985 Honda Elite 150 and another 84 Honda 125 was $2500.

Source

Graphene-based memory eyed by researchers to replace flash

A research team at Rice University led by James Tour with Yubao Li and Alexander Sinitskii have discovered that memory cells created by graphene (thin sheets of graphite) can be 5x as dense while requiring significantly less power to operate. In addition, the lab has already experimented with up to 20K cycles and there was "no discernable degradation."

Source

Europe's Digital Library

Europe's answer to Google Books went on line today and was immediately bogged down by traffic. The site, www.europeana.eu, gives viewers access to some 2 million books, images, paintings and other cultural objects.

Source

La Portal The Europeana site is temporarily not accessible due to overwhelming interest after its launch (10 million hits per hour).

World's first custom-made bones

University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Medicine

If successful, the Japanese method could open the way for doctors to create new bones within hours of an accident so long as the patient has electronic data on file.

Source

University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Medicine

Source

Model Predicts Equipment Remaining Life, Links to Inventory

Nagi Gebraeel, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech’s H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, has developed models that use data from real-time sensor measurements to calculate and continuously revise the amount of remaining useful life of different engineering systems based on their current condition and health status. These predictions are then integrated with maintenance management and spare parts supply chain policies as part of an autonomous “sense and respond” logistics paradigm.

Source

New Tool Can Measure ‘Reality’ of Virtual Worlds

A research team, led by North Carolina State University’s Dr. Mitzi M. Montoya, has developed a new way of measuring how “real” online virtual worlds are – an important advance for the emerging technology that can be used to foster development of new training and collaboration applications by companies around the world.

Source

MU Engineer Creating More Sensitive, Safer Landmine Detectors

In a landmine radar system, ground-penetrating radar scans the surface for underground objects. Besides sensing landmines, the radar also has undesirable responses from clutter objects, such as scrap metal debris, plant roots and rocks. Dominic Ho, the Dowell Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering in the MU College of Engineering, is working with Army employees and private defense contractors to enhance the system, and distinguish between true positive signals that are from landmines and false positive signals that are from clutter objects and can be ignored safely.

Source

Researcher develops inference technique that estimates how many people will fall sick in an epidemic

In his third year of internal Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD) funding, Jaideep Ray has figured out a way to determine the number of people likely to be infected and die from noncommunicable illnesses like anthrax — ailments that could be caused by a potential bioterrorist attack — as well as communicable diseases like smallpox.

Source

Tiny Solar Cells Built to Power Microscopic Machines

The cells were made of an organic polymer and were joined together in an experiment aimed at proving their ability to power tiny devices that can be used to detect chemical leaks and for other applications, says Xiaomei Jiang, who led the research at the University of South Florida.

Source

IBM to build 'brain-like' computers

IBM has announced it will lead a US government-funded collaboration to make electronic circuits that mimic brains. Part of a field called "cognitive computing", the research will bring together neurobiologists, computer and materials scientists and psychologists. IBM has been granted $4.9M from Darpa.

Source

bug-sized, flying spies

Photo, taken from computer animation video and released by the U.S. Air Force, shows the next generation of drones, called Micro Aerial Vehicles, or MAVs. The MAVs could be as tiny as bumblebees and capable of flying undetected into buildings, where they could photograph, record, and even attack insurgents and terrorists.

Source

g-Eclipse

The g-Eclipse project aims to build an integrated workbench framework to access the power of existing Grid infrastructures. The framework will be built on top of the reliable eco-system of the Eclipse community to enable a sustainable development. The framework will provide tools to customize Grid users' applications, to manage Grid resources and to support the development cycle of new Grid applications.

Source

Aids Cure?

A patient from Berlin has been AIDS free for two years after having a bone marrow transplant to cure his leukaemia.

The breakthrough appears to be that Dr. Hütter, a soft-spoken hematologist who isn't an AIDS specialist, deliberately replaced the patient's bone marrow cells with those from a donor who has a naturally occurring genetic mutation that renders his cells immune to almost all strains of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Source

Shape-Shifting Materials

Intel researchers are also investigating how millions of tiny micro-robots, called catoms, could build shape-shifting materials.

Source

Wireless Power Technology

The magic of WREL is that it promises to deliver wireless power safely and efficiently.

Source

MIT's 6-D Display

Researchers at MIT have recently created “‘6D”’ images which are extraordinarily realistic.

Associate professor at the MIT media lab, Ramesh Raskar, says “Even if you have the best hologram out there, the hologram does not look real.” However, the new system has a comparatively low-resolution laboratory proof-of-concept but could be applied in training and teaching purposes. Raskar also adds, “In training someone how to carry out industrial inspections, an image of the device to be inspected would respond just like a real object when the inspector shines lights on it from different angles, for example.”

Source

Source

Stem cells prompted to grow new eyes

Stem cells from frog eggs can be genetically prodded to develop into functional eyes in tadpoles.

Source

Yahoo's GLUE

Try it out?

Source

First Wraparound View of Vehicles in Real Time

Japan

Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. announced today the development of a new video-processing technology that enables a complete wraparound view of a vehicle's perimeter in real time, to enhance the driver's field of view.

Source

Searaser - hydro power from the sea

Hydro energy for the production of electricity is the next most efficient energy source and has advantages over direct wind systems in being clean, storable and controllable.

Source

7 promising new green-power technologies

From algae-based biofuel to electric-vehicle batteries to garbage that creates ethanol, the ways we can push aside fossil fuels are multiplying at a rapid pace.

Source

Pocket Projector

Smaller than most smart phones, this new micro-portable projector fits in your palm and is the ideal companion to ultra-portable media devices such as iPods, PDA’s, smart phones and digital cameras.

Source

University of Melbourne, Australia - Tech Transfer

http://www.research.unimelb.edu.au/ventures/technologies/index.html

Reverse Osmosis-Capable Subsurface Drip Irrigation

University of New South Wales, Australia

The technology enables crop producers to use brackish (with a high salt content) water as a source of irrigation for high value crops, where other sources of water are unavailable.

http://www.nsinnovations.com.au/industry/technologies/environmental/07_2178~reverse~osmosis.pdf

Biopolymer Adhesive for Tissue Repair

University of New South Wales, Australia

A novel tissue repair technology developed at the University of New South Wales presents a tremendous licensing opportunity for a company with existing expertise in the tissue repair and wound healing sector.

UNSW scientists have developed a proprietary laser activated polysaccharide adhesive system that has been demonstrated in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo. This polysaccharide adhesive system is an alternative to albumin solders and other biological glues, and alleviates many of their associated disadvantages.



http://www.nsinnovations.com.au/industry/technologies/biotechnology/index.html

http://www.nsinnovations.com.au/industry/technologies/biotechnology/ncds/04_1838_Biopolymer_adhesive_NCD.pdf

Modular Decentralized Control of Reconfigurable Redundant Systems

University of New South Wales, Australia

The demand for automation has seen a growing need for robotic devices with more sophisticated control mechanisms. The School of Mechanical Engineering at UNSW has developed a manipulator (a sub-class of robotic devices) which is able to adapt to its surroundings, avoid obstacles and achieve stable motion through an unmapped environment with a known target. NSi seeks interested end-users of this technology and/or funds to develop a complete proof of concept prototype.

http://www.nsinnovations.com.au/industry/technologies/mechanical/index.html

Industry Training Using Virtual Reality

University of New South Wales, Australia

The dangerous nature of industries like mining, construction, policing and the military make it difficult to adequately train staff in a realistic environment. Most training methods are both costly and inadequate.

The solution developed by UNSW provides a virtual version of the dangerous environment. This removes the risks and costs of training people in the dangerous real world by immersing the trainees in a highly realistic 3 dimensional virtual world.

http://www.nsinnovations.com.au/industry/technologies/itc/07_2091~vrsoftware~icinema.pdf

Ink Jet Printing for High Efficiency Silicon Solar Cells

University of New South Wales, Australia

Inkjet printing is seen as a suitable method for carrying out a range of processes involved in the fabrication of solar cells.

http://www.nsinnovations.com.au/industry/technologies/renewables/05_1910_ink_jet_printing_ncd.pdf

A compact portable solar powered energy concentrator

University of New South Wales, Australia

In order to use solar energy to either produce high temperatures for increased chemical reaction kinetics for example, or high radiant energy flux for surface interactions, it is necessary to focus the incoming sunlight to increase the local radiation flux.

What is the technology?
The invention uses micro and nano-fabrication techniques to produce an array of micro-lenses to focus light onto an array of micro-channels tens of micrometers wide. The micro-channels contain specific components, such as thin film selective surfaces, photovoltaic cells or titanium dioxide photo-catalysts.

http://www.nsinnovations.com.au/industry/technologies/renewables/07_2082_microreactor_ncd.pdf

University of New South Wales - Tech Transfer

http://www.nsinnovations.com.au/industry/technologies/index.html

Quantum Computing

Researchers in the U.K. and the U.S. on Friday published a paper detailing discoveries that might bring a fully functional quantum computer one step closer to reality.

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/153945/researchers_take_a_step_ahead_in_quantum_computing.html

http://prl.aps.org/

Quantum Computing

Researchers in the U.K. and the U.S. on Friday published a paper detailing discoveries that might bring a fully functional quantum computer one step closer to reality.

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/153945/researchers_take_a_step_ahead_in_quantum_computing.html

http://prl.aps.org/

Australian National University - Tech Transfer

http://www.anu.edu.au/commercialisation/technology-opportunities.php

Intranasal flu vaccine protective against seasonal and H5N1 avian influenza infections

Australian National University

Scientists from the John Curtin School of Medical Research at the ANU have developed a new flu vaccine effective in inducing Tc as well as Ab responses.

http://www.anu.edu.au/commercialisation/pdf/Mohammedausbiotech.pdf

Rendering for an Interactive 360º Light Field Display

http://gl.ict.usc.edu/Research/3DDisplay/

Teleportation concept

The University of Queensland, Australia

“We propose a scheme which allows an atom laser beam to disappear at one location and reappear at another,” Dr Bradley said. “We feel that our scheme is closer in spirit to the original fictional concept,” Dr Haine said. “What differentiates our scheme from what is usually termed quantum teleportation is that our scheme does not require the sender and receiver to share entangled states, as there is no measurement step involved in sending the information.

http://www.uq.edu.au/research/index.html?page=67880&pid=67756

Skin cancer vaccine

Ian Frazer, Director of the Diamantina Institute at The University of Queensland

What we've learnt together, through the study of animal models, is that the skin has natural defences which switch off killer T cells (the cells we can produce by vaccination that are designed to get rid of “bad” skin cells). We've also found a number of ways to overcome these blocks and let the immune system work.

We now want to test vaccines based on this knowledge in clinical trials, to find out whether we can develop vaccines that could be used to treat people at risk of skin cancer. We're particularly interested in the skin cancers caused by papillomavirus – we've vaccines to prevent papillomavirus infection, but no vaccines to treat existing infections with these viruses at the moment, and that's what we're working to produce.

http://www.uq.edu.au/news/?article=16608

Bluebox Ideas Competition

Bluebox is the technology transfer and commercialisation company for the Queensland University of Technology, Australia.

A robotic ultrasound technique for use in cancer treatment developed by Queensland University of Technology researcher Professor Christian Langton from the Faculty of Science was selected as the winner of the bluebox Ideas Competition for 2008.

First place ($10,000):
# Professor Christian Langton – “A robotic ultrasound technique for use in cancer treatment” (Faculty of Science)


# Runners up ($7,500): Toby Gifford – “Interactive music software to accompany human musicians" (Faculty of Creative Industries)
# Professor Nathan Efron, Nicola Pritchard and Katie Edwards – “A testing device to determine neuropathy” (Faculty of Health)


# Finalist: Reece Clothier and Duncan Greer – “An automated airspace guidance system” (Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering)


# Notable mentions: Ritwik Majumder – “Stability and control of microgrid” (Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering)
# Sarah Bankins and Naomi Puchala – “Understanding, meeting and managing the expectations of different generations: Managers and graduates online learning product” (Faculty of Business)
# Hugh Brown – “Musowiki.net” (Faculty of Creative Industries)
# Associate Professor Neil King – “Developing an electronic device for monitoring appetite and health” (Faculty of Health)
# Christian Flender – “Model-driven service engineering” (Faculty of Information Technology)
# Professor Des Butler – “Air Gondwana” (Faculty of Law)
# Dr Tristan Croll and Dr Sean Richards – “A next-generation model of full thickness skin” (Faculty of Science)

http://www.qutbluebox.com.au/news/upcomingeven/competitions/index.jsp

Shade tolerant solar cells

Queensland University of Technology Research, Austrialia

Queensland University of Technology (QUT) researchers have developed novel solar cell array components which, when subjected to partial shading, may be capable of generating the same level of power output as if the solar cell array was uniformly illuminated.

http://www.qutbluebox.com.au/docs/Flyer-ShadeTolerantSolarCells.pdf

Queensland University of Technology Research, Austrialia - Tech Transfer

http://www.qutbluebox.com.au/

University of Adelaide, Australia - Tech Transfer

http://www.adelaide.edu.au/aripl/

University of Technology, Sidney, Australia Research Projects

http://www.research.uts.edu.au/projects/index.html

Australia's Intelligent Grid Research Program

The Intelligent Grid Research Program is an Australian collaboration between five universities investigating technologies and practices to make our electricity networks smart, greener and more efficient.

The electricity “grid” is a collective name for all wires, transformers and infrastructure that transport electricity from power plants to users. In all networks, some energy is lost as it is travels, making distribution inefficient.

An “intelligent” electricity grid has a minimal amount of waste and a highly efficient use of power. It is an electricity network that uses distributed energy resources and advanced communication and control technologies to deliver electricity more cost-effectively, with lower greenhouse intensity and in response to consumer needs.

http://igrid.net.au/

Dwindling phosphorus supplies a threat to global food production

University of Sidney, Australia

"Like oil, global production of quality phosphate rock is likely to reach a peak after which demand will outstrip supply," said ISF Director Stuart White. "Our research suggests we could see a global peak of phosphorus by 2030, and there are no alternatives on the market that could replace phosphate rock at any significant scale".

http://www.newsroom.uts.edu.au/news/detail.cfm?ItemId=13395

The innovative athletes’ cooling jacket

RMIT University, Australia

The innovative athletes’ cooling jacket was developed by RMIT.

http://www.rmit.edu.au/browse;ID=rwzk4daba29j

University of Auchland - Tech Transfer

http://www.uniservices.auckland.ac.nz/pageloader.aspx?page=708d8d0d82

University of Toronto, Canada - Tech Transfer

http://innovations.utoronto.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=section&id=9&Itemid=51

VisualComplexity.com

VisualComplexity.com intends to be a unified resource space for anyone interested in the visualization of complex networks. The project's main goal is to leverage a critical understanding of different visualization methods, across a series of disciplines, as diverse as Biology, Social Networks or the World Wide Web.

http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/

Research in Action

University of Toronto, Canada

Every year, the Department of Computer Science (DCS) opens its doors to host “Research in Action,” a research showcase that welcomes over 100 industry representatives from the Greater Toronto Area and beyond.

http://web.cs.toronto.edu/dcs/index.php?section=191

Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Tech Transfer

http://www.yissum.co.il/

Faculty Research Interests

THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM

http://www.huji.ac.il/dataj/controller/ihoker/

Catholic University of Louvain, Norway - Tech Transfer

http://lrd.kuleuven.be/en/entrepreneur/int_property/technology.htm

Norwegian University Science & Technology - Tech Transfer

http://www.tto.ntnu.no/index.php?p=23-50-47

University of British Columbia, Canada - Tech Transfer

http://www.uilo.ubc.ca/industry_investment.asp

University of Waterloo, Canada - Tech Transfer

http://www.research.uwaterloo.ca/ttlo/technologies.html

McGill University, Canada Tech Transfer

http://www.flintbox.com/search.asp?sID={90B01DE7-078C-44AC-B1ED-5301F440D92F}

Smart Wheelchair Able to Avoid Collisions

University of British Columbia, Canada

Pooja Viswanathan has developed a smart wheelchair for elderly people suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease.

http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/ubcreports/2008/08nov06/wheelchair.html

Engineering students showcase innovative tech projects

University of Waterloo, Canada

Automatic Bicycle Transmission

Automatic Garbage Pickup Robot

Home Energy Distribution and Storage System

Smart Avalanche Transceiver

http://newsrelease.uwaterloo.ca/news.php?id=4934

http://eceprojects.uwaterloo.ca/symposium.html

A new laser technique from TAU seals and heals wounds

Tel Aviv University

Using carbon dioxide lasers to seal wounds inside the body and out with a technique known as “laser welding,” a team of Tel Aviv University researchers have perfected a new device to heat body tissue in a precisely controlled manner.

“It could also become a device for the battlefield, allowing soldiers to heal each other on contact with a laser wand,” says Prof. Abraham Katzir, who currently holds the Carol and Mel Taub Chair in Applied Medical Physics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at Tel Aviv University

http://www2.tau.ac.il/news/engnew.asp

A beauty machine

Tel Aviv University

Prof. Daniel Cohen-Or of the Blavatnik School of Computer Sciences built a beauty machine that, with the press of a button, turns a picture of your own ordinary face into that of a cover model. While its output is currently limited to digitized images, the software may be able to guide plastic surgeons, aid magazine cover editors, and even become a feature incorporated into all digital cameras.

http://www2.tau.ac.il/news/engnew.asp

HighTech system to cut hospital-related infections by half

Tel Aviv University

Hospitals are supposed to be havens for healing, but the numbers tell a different story. Too many people are infected by illnesses they acquire after they’ve been admitted, and hospital-related infections continue to be the number-two killer of hospitalized Americans after heart disease.

http://www2.tau.ac.il/news/engnew.asp

Putting the Squeeze on Polymers is easier at the Nanoscale

Trinity College Dublin

A new discovery about polymer flow at the smallest scales.

According to Dr Graham Cross, film thickness and molecular intertwining are crucial: “You can think of polymer materials like cooked spaghetti, with long chains knitted together to form a tough substance. However, when the polymer film is made thinner and thinner, the polymer chains lie-down on a plane instead of becoming tangled in three dimensional space. The polymer chains begin to behave in isolation as they find it increasingly difficult to intertwine with each other. Their viscosity is decreased and this increases the flow.”

http://www.tcd.ie/Communications/news/pressreleases/pressRelease.php?headerID=1001&pressReleaseArchive=2009

A Showcase of Leading-Edge Technologies Developed by TCD Researchers in Information & Communications Technology

Trinity College Dublin

1.Metakall – Pay-as-you-go electronic payment architecture

2.Anamates - Animating with ease

3.CITU – Automatic Image Annoation

http://www.tcd.ie/Communications/news/pressreleases/pressRelease.php?headerID=1035&pressReleaseArchive=2009

Environmental Engineering Provides Safe Drinking Water

Trinity College Dublin

The first full-scale continuous flow solar disinfection system for a village community has been installed in Ndulyani in the Mutomo area of Kenya to supply safe drinking water for approximately 600 people. The system has been developed over several years by successive research students under the supervision of Laurence Gill in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering.

http://www.tcd.ie/Communications/news/news.php?headerID=1042&vs_date=2008-11-1

Iron-based Materials Could Unlock Superconductivity's Secrets

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are decoding the mysterious mechanisms behind the high-temperature superconductors.

http://www.physorg.com/news145800057.html

http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/techbeat/tb2008_1112.htm#htc

Study Shows How Personalities Differ

Although members of the same species share more than 99 percent of their genetic makeup, individuals often have small differences.

http://www.physorg.com/news145793087.html

Quantum cloaking makes molecules invisible

The University of Upssala, Sweden

"We propose a method for detecting and manipulating quantum invisibility based on THz cloaking of molecular identity in coherent nanostructures,” says Jessica Fransson.

http://arxivblog.com/?p=712

http://www.uu.se/en/node4

Second Life Fling Causes Real Life Divorce

It seems the honeymoon of romance in Second Life's alternative world has collided with bump in the divorce courts of real world, certainly that is the case of one British couple, Amy Taylor and David Pollard who are now seeking a legal split.

One morning, 28-year old Amy Taylor, awoke to find her husband Dave, who is 40, having sex with a prostitute, not a real one you understand, but his avatar character Dave Barmy was getting a little pay-to-play action on the side in cyberspace.

http://www.redherring.com//blogs/25481

Ancient Rome in 3D

Google Earth: A new highlight for Earth is a layer visualizes ancient Rome as it is believed to have looked like in 320 A.D. It includes buildings that have withstood test of time, like the famous Coliseum, in addition to objects that no longer exist, as well as roads and terrain. Users can experience a breathtaking Rome in 360 degrees, fly though streets and even see the detailed interior of some buildings.

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/40188/98/

Virtual Learning

Educators will be confronted with students who know the metaverse well.

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/65082.html?wlc=1226665208

Bionic Vision Australia "Bionic Eye"

Australia

Bionic Vision Australia will pursue the development of the most technologically advanced bionic eye to improve the sight of people with degenerative or inherited retinal disease.

http://www.reuters.com/article/blogBurst/science?type=scienceNews&w1=B7ovpm21IaDoL40ZFnNfGe&w2=B80EKKDZW7XjzuNGrifTUKY&src=blogBurst_scienceNews&bbPostId=Cz3F0oK3q4KWdCz6qIFHFZFoosB3aowMCIP1IsB1thie4EfRoL&bbParentWidgetId=B80EKKDZW7XjzuNGrifTUKY

http://www.bionicvision.org.au/

Surfing the Censored Internet

The biggest example of this is what is called The Great Firewall of China, the system used by the Chinese government to control what Chinese citizens can read and access on the Internet. What is it like to have access to a censored and controlled Internet, where there's always a chance that a site you want to go to is blocked and inaccessible?

Click here to try "BAIDU"

Low Flying Robot helicopters

Engineers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) have modified an unmanned commercial civilian helicopter to fly fast and low while avoiding obstacles such as buildings, trees or power lines.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn15150

http://www.ri.cmu.edu/labs/lab_21.html

New Protein Patterning Technique

Canadian researchers have created a new protein patterning technique that’s enabled them to reproduce complex cellular environments and a miniature version of a masterpiece painting.

”We see this technique as being very relevant to neuroscience and immunology research. With this system, we laid down a chemical gradient to guide the growth of nerve fiber, which is very useful in studying nerve damage and repair,” says Santiago Costantino, the study’s lead author and a scientist at the Université de Montréal and Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital Research Centre.

http://nouvelles.umontreal.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2015&Itemid=206

Children and Cyber Bullying

Ireland

A significant percentage of young children are subjected to bullying and abuse via their mobile phone and popular social network accounts. In Ireland, the industry has been asked to come up with solutions for this problem and a government office is due to publish a guide on the issue in the near future.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/1113/breaking77.htm

Your future and your DNA

Earlier this month, a Mountain View, Calif., company called Complete Genomics announced that by next year it will be able to read out an entire personal genome for $5,000.

So far, hundreds of diagnostic tests are on the market, with hundreds more on the way. Mail-order genetic testing services are legion.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122539728499285289.html

User-Generated Government

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-146728

The Memory Molecule

A new study by researchers from the Medical College of Georgia and the Shanghai Institute of Brain Functional Genomics shows that an enzyme called alpha calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (αCaMKII) [this is a type of CaM Kinase] is essential for the formation and retrieval of memories. By briefly altering levels of αCaMKII activity at different stages of the memory process, they were able to prevent the transfer of new memories from short-term to long-term storage and to selectively erase specific memories as they were being recalled.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-power-of-the-memory-molecule

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=experts-short-term-memory-to-long-term

https://my.mcg.edu/portal/page/portal/News/archive/2008/494AA8A8CB7B2366E0440003BAD149FF

Is the Brain the ultimate computer interface?

Technology now exists that uses brain signals to control a cursor or prosthetic arm. How much further development of brain-machine interfaces might progress is still an imponderable.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=jacking-into-the-brain

Brain Implants

Surgeons have implanted a novel neural prosthesis into a paralyzed patient’s brain. The high-tech device enables the patient to communicate his thoughts to a computer, which translates them into spoken words. Nine people so far have received brain-implanted prostheses.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=putting-thoughts-into-action

Can Coal really be clean?

Throughout this past election season we heard about “clean coal.” The phrase sounds great to Americans concerned about our dependence on foreign oil, and the U.S. has enough coal to generate our electricity for hundreds of years. But what do “clean coal” technologies really entail, and can an ancient energy source responsible for 40% of U.S. CO2 emissions really clean up its act?

The US DOE sees "zero emissions" coal technology as a core element of its future energy supply in a carbon-constrained world. It had an ambitious program to develop and demonstrate the technology and have commercial designs for plants with an electricity cost of only 10% greater than conventional coal plants available by 2012, but with the cancellation of FutureGen this is in doubt.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/clean-coal.htm

http://world-nuclear.org/info/inf83.html

http://fossil.energy.gov/programs/powersystems/futuregen/

Steam Powered Car

This svelte steam powered car was created using salvaged parts (including tea kettles) and is capable of achieving speeds of 170mph! Developed by Edward Montagu and created by a team of graduate students in the University of Southampton, the car will soon attempt to shatter the record for the fastest steam powered vehicle in the world - previously set in 1906.

http://www.inhabitat.com/

http://www.southampton.ac.uk/

NOTE: I could not find any information about this car on the southampton website.

Also see: http://www.steamcar.co.uk/index.htm

Using plasma to turn garbage into electricity

Recently St. Lucie County in Florida announced that it has teamed up with Geoplasma to develop the United States’ first plasma gasification plant. The plant will use super-hot 10,000 degree fahrenheit plasma to effectively vaporize 1,500 tons of trash each day, which in turn spins turbines to generate 60MW of electricity - enough to power 50,000 homes!

http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/11/12/plasma-plants-vaporize-trash-to-generate-energy/

http://www.geoplasma.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_arc_waste_disposal

$30.7M Intelligent Transportation System for the Massachusetts Highway Department

The completed system will provide MassHighway an advanced traffic management system with the capability to monitor traffic for congestion and incident management while providing real-time roadway information to the traveling public. A shared resource platform will provide additional marketable infrastructure capacity enabling economic development initiatives as well as broadband deployment opportunities. The entire system is designed to be fully scalable for ease of future technology upgrade deployment, ensuring MassHighway's ability to expand their ITS network and deployed technologies well into the future.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/Adesta/MassHighway/prweb1586624.htm

Blink of the Eye Transmission Speed System On A Chip

National Taiwan University (NTU)

The system on a chip combines Front-End Circuits and an antenna array to reach the ultimate transmission speed. In practice the SoC chip can download a 4-GB video in about 10 seconds. The same video would take up to 2-hours using WiFi, 1.5-hours using ADSL and 4.5-hours using Bluetooth to complete the download.

http://www.physorg.com/news145636894.html

Bhuvan - an indigenous mapping system by ISRO

The Space Applications Centre (SAC) of ISRO

Bhuvan: the first Indian satellite mapping tool. Bhuvan, which literally means earth, is one of the landmark inventions by SAC. It is similar to Google Earth or Wikimapia, but enables an user to zoom far closer than the aerial view from a chopper.

Dr G Madhavan Nair, the ISRO chairman announced that Bhuvan would use the data recorded by the Indian satellites only. Nair also assured that the prototype of Bhuvan would be ready by the end of November. But the official inauguration will be by March 2009.

http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=147776

Californians Approves Proposition 1a

Proposition 1A, or the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century appeared on the November 2008 ballot in California.[1] The measure was approved with 52.3% of the vote.

The 800-mile rail line would link Anaheim, Los Angeles, Fresno and San Francisco. Project planners also want to eventually add Sacramento, San Diego and Oakland.

http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_1A_(2008)

http://www.redherring.com//blogs/25416

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is a general concept that incorporates software as a service (SaaS), Web 2.0 and other recent, well-known technology trends, in which the common theme is reliance on the Internet for satisfying the computing needs of the users.

Liquid crystal lubricant better than oil

Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials, Germany

Researchers at Germany's Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (FG) have developed a liquid crystal lubricant that reduces friction to almost zero. Built of the same materials inside our LCD monitors, for applications like gears and bearings this new discovery may put oil out of business.

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/40132/113/

http://www.iwm.fraunhofer.de/englisch/e_index.html

Philips Research I-Pill

Philips Research announced its new intelligent pill technology “iPill”, targeted at assisting drug development and enabling new therapies for debilitating and life-threatening digestive tract disorders such as Crohn's disease, colitis and colon cancer.

http://www.newscenter.philips.com/about/news/press/20081111_ipill.page

Intellegence Operation System for Cars; I-WAY

The goal of I-WAY is to develop a multi-sensorial system that can ubiquitously monitor and recognize the psychological condition of driver as well as special conditions prevailing in the road environment.

http://www.iway-project.eu/

DeepDyve Search Engine

Most search engines skim the web's surface. They overlook and do not index the vast collections of high quality, hard to find information hidden in the Deep Web. Formerly known as Infovell, we are DeepDyve, the research engine for the Deep Web.

http://www.deepdyve.com/

Google traces flu trends across the U.S

We've found that certain search terms are good indicators of flu activity. Google Flu Trends uses aggregated Google search data to estimate flu activity in your state up to two weeks faster than traditional systems.

http://www.google.org/flutrends/

Identifying People By Their Odor

"These findings indicate that biologically-based odorprints, like fingerprints, could be a reliable way to identify individuals," said Monell chemist Jae Kwak.

http://idle.slashdot.org/idle/08/11/11/2223205.shtml

http://www.monell.org/news_h.htm

National Ignition Facility

Creating a miniature star on Earth: that's the goal of the National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world's largest laser.

The National Ignition Facility out at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California is the size of a football stadium and equipped with the largest laser in the world. The laser will be done by 2009 and the facility scheduled to begin testing in 2010, the folks running the show have set an ambitious timetable of realizing fusion power by 2011.

https://lasers.llnl.gov/

Hitachi Finger Vein Biometric Systems

Finger vein authentication, introduced widely by Japanese banks in the last two years, is believed to be the fastest and most secure biometric method. Developed by Hitachi, it verifies a person's identity based on the lattice work of blood vessels under the skin.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,450004,00.html

http://www.hitachi-capital.com.sg/whatsnew/hitachi_finger_vein.html

Al Gore's five-step plan to clean electricity

Al Gore laid out a multifaceted plan to make the U.S. electricity system carbon-free in 10 years.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10092364-54.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=GreenTech

The problem, solution and benefits as outlined at repoweramerica.org:

The Problem: The US electricity transmission and distribution system – or ‘grid’ — is in critical need of an upgrade. It is old, balkanized and too limited in its reach. The current grid is a series of independently operating regional grids – it can’t meet the needs of a nation whose economy would benefit substantially from the system optimization that comes with national interconnection. Its limitations and vulnerability to failure are also reported to cost the nation $80 billion to $188 billion per year in losses due to grid-related power outages and power quality issues.1 And most critical to clean energy development, areas rich in renewable resources like solar, wind and geothermal are currently not well-served and thus have no ‘highway’ available to move power outputs to the markets where that power is needed.

The Solution: Modernize and expand the infrastructure for moving electricity from where it is generated to where it is needed through a unified national smart grid. Make that grid ‘smart’ so that it can monitor and balance the load, accommodate distributed energy from local areas and, in the near future, capitalize on a massive national fleet of clean plug-in cars. This new grid encompasses both the long-distance, high-voltage transmission lines and the lower voltage distribution systems that connect the power to customers.

The Benefits: Updating our grid with advanced transmission will save money, increase reliability and protect consumers from outages, and make possible a clean electricity system. It will move renewable power from where it is generated to wherever it’s needed, whenever it’s needed. Just like the interstate highway system and railroads before it, investing in modernization of the grid will create thousands of jobs for American workers.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/collaboration/?p=160.

Google Reader Translates RSS Feeds

Google Reader is now automatically translating RSS feeds. It's easy to use too. You just subscribe to a feed in any language and when it appears in your Google Reader you click on the "Feed Settings" tab on the top of the feed and then click "translate into my language."

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10093876-93.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1023_3-0-5

http://www.google.com/reader

WIRELESS OPEN-ACCESS RESEARCH PLATFORM

Rice University

Rice University's WARP is a scalable and extensible programmable wireless platform, built from the ground up, to prototype advanced wireless networks. The open-access WARP repository allows exchange and sharing of new physical and network layer architectures, building a true community platform. Xilinx FPGAs are used to enable programmability of both physical and network layer protocols on a single platform, which is both deployable and observable at all layers.

http://warp.rice.edu/

Mini nuclear plants could power 20,000 homes

Nuclear power plants smaller than a garden shed and able to power 20,000 homes will be on sale within five years, say scientists at Los Alamos, the US government laboratory which developed the first atomic bomb.

The miniature reactors will be factory-sealed, contain no weapons-grade material, have no moving parts and will be nearly impossible to steal because they will be encased in concrete and buried underground.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/09/miniature-nuclear-reactors-los-alamos

http://www.hyperionpowergeneration.com/index.html

Source

Source - Japan

Samsung Exhibits Bend-resistant Flexible E-paper

The 14.3-inch display is 0.3mm thick and has a resolution of 1060 x 750.

http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20081031/160566/

E-paper Products Developed by Asian Makers

Pictures of various e-paper products...

http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20081105/160764/

Panasonic Develops New Technology Electrically Identifying Physical Characteristics from DNA

Panasonic, the leading brand by which Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is known, in collaboration with Professor Naoki Sugimoto of Konan University, has developed a technology for electrically identifying single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs[1] (sequence variations in DNA[2]). This world-first technology* provides economical and accurate identification of SNPs by measuring electrical current without attaching DNA to electrodes.

This technology makes it possible to predict individuals' responses to drugs and their risk of developing disease. In the future, this technology is expected to enable hospitals or clinics to provide patients with treatments and drugs tailored to their individual physical characteristics. With this new technology, Panasonic is contributing to a more personalized medical treatment based on the patient's DNA sequence.

http://panasonic.co.jp/corp/news/official.data/data.dir/en080819-2/en080819-2.html

Panasonic to Release Chemical-resistant PC for Medical Use

Panasonic Corp will release March 10, 2009, a tablet-shaped mobile PC intended for doctors and nurses who use medical charts and medical applications software at healthcare facilities.

http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20081107/160904/

Chinese students to dominate world education market

University World News

More than 350,000 mainland Chinese students are believed to be studying for degrees at overseas universities this year and the number is predicted to rise to 645,000 within 20 years.

http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20071101150549773

Experimental atomic clock

Tokyo University

A group of Tokyo University scholars has created an experimental atomic clock that is believed to be far more accurate than current ones that gain or lose just a second over tens of millions of years, it has been learned.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/science/20081028TDY03101.htm

Solar Powered Ships

The Australian Solar Sailor company announced a deal with China's biggest shipping line, COSCO, to fit some of their jumbo jet sized solar-powered sails to a tanker and bulk carrier.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/11/solar-sailor-sun-sails-to-be-fitted-to-chinese-cargo-ships.php

Need a flashlight 135 years from now?

The UC3.400 contains no batteries, but rather a sophisticated energy management system called FlashPoint Power Technology. This technology utilizes environmentally friendly ultracapacitors that work together with revolutionary computer circuitry to efficiently manage how energy is loaded into the flashlight, and then optimizes how the energy is dispersed to maximize both performance and runtime.

The 5.11's Light for Life™ UC3.400™ Flashlight fully charges in 90 seconds and delivers up to 23.5 hours of total runtime (98% uptime) in a 24-hour period.

http://flashlightnews.org/story1762.shtml

US Military's Wish List

Dr. John Parmentola, Director of Research and Laboratory Management with the Army’s science and technology office, told military bloggers Nov. 3 that the Army is “making science fiction into reality” by creating realistic holographic images, generating virtual humans and diving into quantum computing.

http://www.dodbuzz.com/2008/11/04/army-tries-holograms-qauntum-computing/

The 26th Army Science Conference: http://www.asc2008.com/overview.htm

Honda's Experimental Walking Assist Device

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. unveiled its second experimental walking assist device that helps support bodyweight to reduce the load on the user's* legs while walking, going up and down stairs, and in a semi-crouching position.

http://world.honda.com/news/2008/c081107Walking-Assist-Device/

Honda's first walking assist device: http://world.honda.com/news/2008/c080422Experimental-Walking-Assist-Device/

Force Field for Space Craft

Science and Technology Facilities Council

Force field technology used to protect spaceships in science fiction could soon become science fact.

http://www.scitech.ac.uk/PMC/PRel/STFC/Forcefield.aspx

http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0741-3335/50/12/124025

Battery-free, multi-detection RFID

GE Global Research, the technology development arm of the General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), today announced a battery-free, multi-detection radio-frequency identification (RFID) sensing platform that could enable a wide range of low cost wireless sensing products in healthcare, security, food packaging, water treatment and pollution prevention. GE's unique RFID sensors are built on traditional RFID tags.


http://www.genewscenter.com/content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=4261&NewsAreaID=2

Cloning a mouse using tissue that was frozen for 16 years

A research team from the Institute of Physical and Chemical Science (Riken) has succeeded in cloning a mouse using tissue from a mouse that was frozen for 16 years.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/science/20081105TDY03104.htm

http://www.riken.jp/engn/index.html

NOTE: There is no reference to this cloning on the Riken web site?

Rainforest Fungus Produces Diesel

A fungus that lives inside trees in the Patagonian rain forest naturally makes a mix of hydrocarbons that bears a striking resemblance to diesel, biologists announced today. And the fungus can grow on cellulose, a major component of tree trunks, blades of grass and stalks that is the most abundant carbon-based plant material on Earth.

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/11/rainforest-fung.html#more

Ant colonies don’t have traffic jams

Traffic jams are the bane of modern life. But could it be possible that one of this planet’s more ancient life forms could show us how to better regulate road traffic?

http://arxivblog.com/

The changing capacity of a steganographic channel

The central problem for steganographers: how much data can be hidden without being detected. Two computer scientists have made a major theoretical breakthrough by tackling the problem in the same way that the electrical engineer Claude Shannon calculated the capacity of an ordinary communications channel in the 1940s. In Shannon's theory, a transmission is considered successful if the decoder properly determines which message the encoder has sent. In the stego-channel, a transmission is successful if the decoder properly determines the sent message without anybody else detecting its presence.

http://arxivblog.com/?p=696

Solar Power from a Balloon

Cool Earth Solar has one of those radical green-tech ideas that may actually make a real commercial impact.

They have developed a breakthrough solar technology that can ultimately produce enough clean energy to address the global energy crisis. This patented concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) technology dramatically reduces the cost and time to develop solar power plants capable of generating massive amounts of clean energy at prices competitive with fossil fuels.

Each 8-foot-diameter balloon concentrator is made of plastic film—the same kind of plastic film used to bag potato chips, pretzels, and so on—with a transparent upper hemisphere and a reflective lower hemisphere.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10080034-54.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=GreenTech

http://www.coolearthsolar.com/technology

Chinese Trojans are this big

According to MircoSoft, Chinese computers are infected with more browser-based exploits than anywhere else.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10080428-83.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1009_3-0-20

http://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/sir.aspx

Researchers develop method for transmitting medical images via cell phones

Hebrew University, Berkeley

A process to transmit medical images via cellular phones that has been developed by a Hebrew University of Jerusalem researcher has the potential to provide sophisticated radiological diagnoses and treatment to the majority of the world’s population lacking access to such technology.

http://www.hunews.huji.ac.il/articles.asp?cat=6&artID=861

Beginning to understand where we are!

Norwegian University Science & Technology

Previously, researchers at the Kavli Institute at NTNU discovered the brain’s own GPS – a particular type of cells from which the sense of locality stems. Now, they are adopting gene technology in order to dig deeper: They want to know how advanced mental phenomena such as memory, sense of locality and decisions come into existence in the interaction between millions of nervous cells.

http://www.ntnu.no/news/brain

There is a Chinese-Japanese proverb: “A frog deep in a well does not know about the ocean.”

Nagoya University Japan

It is essential to have a system where ground-based observations and theoretical research integrate to conduct “interactive” studies on multi-faced, nonlinear phenomena occurring in outerspace surrounding the Earth.

http://gedas22.stelab.nagoya-u.ac.jp/gedas/eng/index.html

Researchers crack McEliece encryption system

Eindhoven University of Technology Netherlands

TU/e researchers have managed to crack the code of the so-called McEliece encryption system. This system is a candidate for the security of Internet traffic in the age of the quantum computer -the predicted superfast computer of the future. Simultaneously with this feat, the scientists presented a new key.

http://w3.tue.nl/en/news/news_article/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=7154&tx_ttnews[backPid]=361&cHash=9fc8386863

New bridge can be built in two weeks

Chalmers University of Technology

With new bridge-building materials, industrial production methods, and an efficient construction process, it will be possible to start using a bridge only two weeks after construction starts on the site.

http://chalmersnyheter.chalmers.se/chalmers03/english/Article.jsp?article=11664

Deactivating Radioactive Waste

Vienna University of Technology

If the duration of the necessary isolation can be diminished, we could “eliminate” the waste. Nuclear physicists of the Vienna University of Technology (TU) are researching, as part of a consortium represented in the entire Europe, the interaction of neutrons with relevant materials for the purpose of building an appropriate facility for the transmutation of dangerous residues.

http://www.tuwien.ac.at/aktuelles/news_detail/article/5115/

Miniature crystals that could revolutionise the way we harvest and use solar energy

The University of Queensland

University of Queensland researchers have made a groundbreaking discovery that produces highly efficient miniature crystals that could revolutionise the way we harvest and use solar energy. “We have grown the world’s first titanium oxide single crystals with large amounts of reactive surfaces, something that was predicted as almost impossible,” Professor Max Lu said.

http://www.uq.edu.au/research/index.html?page=90750&pid=90343

Moving a geological structure virtually

Inria, Valbonne, France

To move virtually in a geological structure, to simulate the impact of an installation… All that is possible today thanks to the applications of virtual reality developed for the geoscientific data.

http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?doit=done&tt=url&intl=1&fr=bf-res&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Finterstices.info%2Fjcms%2Fc_14745%2Fvisualisation-immersive-et-interaction-haptique-une-revolution-pour-les-geosciences&lp=fr_en&btnTrUrl=Translate

Generating hydrogen from nuclear power

ITTK - India

General Motors, one of the auto industry's hydrogen leaders, is actively investigating nuclear power as a source of inexpensive hydrogen. "Nuclear certainly can play a role", says Britta Gross, manager of hydrogen infrastructure for GM. The company hopes to have the feasibility of fuel-cell vehicles demonstrated by 2010, and it's actively searching for affordable hydrogen production options.

http://www.iitk.ac.in/infocell/iitk/newhtml/storyoftheweek.htm

A new method to reduce drag of high speed space vehicles

Indian Institute of Science

A new innovative technology for increasing the range of high speed missiles by reducing the drag encountered during its flight has been developed in the high enthalpy aerodynamics laboratory in the Dept. of Aerospace Engineering.

http://www.iisc.ernet.in/researchhigh/drag.shtml

Artificial tongue

Assoc Prof Chang has been leading the Medicinal Chemistry Programme at NUS and the Lab of Bioimaging Probe Development of the Singapore Bioimaging Consortium — and for the past several years, he has been making discoveries which may in the near future, revolutionalise the way scientists detect and analyse proteins and other biological molecules. More significantly, his research will pave the way to developing novel methods to help clinicians detect disease such as cancer.

http://www.nus.edu.sg/corporate/research/gallery/research130.htm

NTU & SIMTech announce the first antenna-in-package solution for single-chip 60-GHz radio

Researchers at Nanyang Technology University (NTU) and Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech) have successfully developed the first Antenna-in-Package (AiP) solution in LTCC (low-temperature co-fired ceramic) technology for single-chip 60-GHz radio. This highly-integrated solution is set to revolutionise the wireless communications and millimetre-wave engineering as government and commercial organisations are now able to utilise the unlicensed 57-64 GHz band for application development.

http://news.ntu.edu.sg/pages/newsdetail.aspx?URL=http://news.ntu.edu.sg/news/Pages/NR2008_Oct21-2.aspx&Guid=3d343e07-26ca-4030-808d-79ee7c17693e&Category=News+Releases

Bringing 3D Graphics and Videos to Mobile

Nanyang Technological University

There are two major objectives in the research. One is to re-examine and re-design suitable techniques for mobile 3D graphics application, i.e. bringing 3D graphics to mobile. The other is to develop a framework to cleverly integrate computer graphics and video technologies for delivering real-world dynamic scenes in a virtual reality way to mobile users, i.e. bringing 3D video to mobile.

http://research.ntu.edu.sg/pages/newsdetail.aspx?URL=http://research.ntu.edu.sg/news/Pages/Bringing3DGraphicsandVideotoMobile.aspx&Guid=711098c2-f55d-4e09-8e4f-eb0725e1f25d&Category=Hot+Research+Topics

Stem cells to defeat blindness

LONDON'S GLOBAL UNIVERSITY

A team of scientists led by Professor Robin Ali (UCL Institute of Ophthalmology) and Dr Jane Sowden (UCL Institute of Child Health), has pioneered a stem cell-related treatment to restore the sight of blind mice, which could have significant implications for the repair of the central nervous system.

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/research/resources/casestudies/

Researchers find new chemical key that could unlock hundreds of new antibiotics

Chemistry researchers at The University of Warwick and the John Innes Centre, have found a novel signalling molecule that could be a key that will open up hundreds of new antibiotics unlocking them from the DNA of the Streptomyces family of bacteria.

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/researchers_find_new/

Toyota's Vision for the Future of Transportation - Very Personal

The single-person vehicle package boasts an individual design with a “wearable” feeling.

I-Swing


I-Real

I-Unit

Digital hearing aid and bone conduction cordless phone supports hearing

If you place the bone conduction portion of the phone on your head, the sound is communicated through the skull to your inner ear, and it sounds as though you can hear the voices from inside your head. It's quite a mysterious feeling. Which part offers the best hearing differs from person to person. For me, it was the part of the bone that protrudes above the ear.

http://ex-blog.panasonic.co.jp/exhibition/en/2008/09/hcr08_441.html

A prototype of the Wi-Fi phone

A prototype of the Wi-Fi phone, which allows you to talk for free using Skype(TM) off your phone, not your computer was on display. What is interesting about it is that it comes with a small router. If you connect the router to the network at hotels and offices using a LAN cable, you can use this phone without a computer. Moreover, the use of the router has greatly improve the battery life of the phone itself (standby time of 55 hours, talk time of 4.5 hours). Of course you won't need the router if your in an environment where there is wireless LAN.

http://ex-blog.panasonic.co.jp/exhibition/en/2007/06/interop-360.html

3-D TV

Earlier this year, Peyghambarian and and a team of researchers at the UA developed technology that's a breakthrough in 3-D imaging. It's now being hailed as a potential big step toward 3-D video and movies.

http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/262103

http://www.optics.arizona.edu/opti588/Presentation/AutosteoscopicDisplay/Matusik_3DTV_acquisitionTrans_autostereodisplay_SIG04.pdf

DAILY RFID introduces jewellery tracking system

DAILY RFID recently announced the availability of RFID jewellery tag designed to automatic jewellery tracking to market communities, secured storing and other areas. The RFID jewellery Tag, which measures 0.6mm in thickness, is priced at 1.2USD.

http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=147007

UPDATED: British documentary cites science, sun responsible for both global warming and cooling

A documentary film broadcast on Britain's Channel 4 in March, 2007 entitled "The Great Global Warming Swindle," reports a very different take on global warming than is being widely reported here in the United States. Graphs depicting data gathered by independent research scientists show that in every instance of recorded temperature change, there is a direct corresponding change in the sun's intensity.

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/39986/113/

The Documentary is posted here in 8 parts:

MIT scientists baffled by global warming theory, contradicts scientific data

Scientists at MIT have recorded a nearly simultaneous world-wide increase in methane levels.

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/39973/113/

Tool to measure reality of virtual worlds

A research team led by Dr. Mitzi Montoya of North Carolina State University has developed a way to put a number on how realistic online virtual online words are.

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/39956/113/

A Scientific Enquiry into "Size"

There has been quite a lot of research conducted on women’s body image and we have a reasonable understanding of the types of factors that impact on women’s body image and that ultimately lead to disorders like Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa. However, we know very little about men’s body image and the factors that impinge on the way males think about their bodies. Consequently we also know very little about how this impacts on men’s health.

Study can be found here

.

UK: Room temperature superconductivity

Scientists at the University of Cambridge have for the first time identified a key component to unravelling the mystery of room temperature superconductivity, according to a paper published in the scientific journal Nature on 9 July.

http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20080717162910344

CHINA-INDIA: Scientists forge closer ties

Indian and Chinese scientists are increasingly working together but it might take a few years before it becomes significant or sets the pace for South-South scientific collaboration.

http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20080911161755354

A pill to eliminate obesity - and diabetes

Dr Michael Mathai describes his finding that a common blood pressure drug also might also cause weight loss and possibly reduce the chances of many overweight people around the world becoming diabetics.

http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20081024091108566

Japanese to build space elevator invented in Russia

Japanese engineers intend to build an elevator to deliver cargo into space. Japanese authorities are prepared to allocate $10 billion for the project.

http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20081006/117469160.html

Robot suit for rent in Japan to help people walk

A robotic suit by Cyberdyne will be available to rent in Japan for $2,200 a month starting this week.

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20081007/ap_on_hi_te/as_japan_robot_suit_2

NEC LCD Technologies Develops E-Paper Enabling Large Displays with Multi-Tiling

NEC LCD Technologies has developed multiple sizes (A3 and A4 equivalent) of electronic paper (e-paper) modules using the microcapsule electrophoresis system.

http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20081028/160281/

40-inch OLED Panel Is Largest Size Possible,' Samsung Says

"Our low temperature poly-Si TFT mass-production line cannot make panels larger than 31 inches," a Samsung staffer said. "This 40-inch TFT panel is the largest size that can be made on our pilot line, and it cannot be mass-produced right away."

http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20081030/160448/

Japanese firms Exhibits Electronic Papers Using SiPix Technology

Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (CPT) and Chi Hsin Electronics Corp of the Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO) Group both exhibited monochrome electronic papers modularized by using the "Microcup" electronic paper technology developed by SiPix Imaging of the US.

http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20081031/160563/

'Immortal' jellyfish never dies?

Researchers say that while other types of jellyfish disintegrate after death, benikurage reverts to an earlier stage of development. Its red core, which includes the jellyfish's mouth, stomach and reproductive organs, does not dissolve but continues to accumulate nutrients from the seawater and later forms the basis of a new semitranslucent body for the creature.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200810280059.html

China warns of 'difficulties' in cutting greenhouse gas emissions

China, the world's second largest emitter of greenhouse gases, warned Wednesday of the difficulties it faces in tackling the problem and called on developed countries to help it.

http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=406752

Japan: Global Industrial and Social Progress Research Institute (GISPRI)

Reports found here.

Japanese Failure Knowledge Database

The Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) has studied accidents and failures in the fields of science and technology. The lessons learned have been used to create the Failure Knowledge Database. This database can be accessed free of charge.

Failure Knowledge Database

Japan's Annual Report on the Promotion of Science and Technology

See Report Here

CERN Lab Technologies to make its way into enterprise

Cutting-edge particle physics is being used to hone new technology that will eventually make its way into enterprises. The Cern nuclear-physics laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland, is helping the technology industry refine the multicore processors and fat gigabit networks destined for the datacentres of tomorrow through the Openlab initiative.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/emergingtech/0,1000000183,39523001,00.htm

Spintronics, Graphene and Memristors

Experts are exploring three technologies to overcome silicon's extreme heat and move huge amounts of data quickly: spintronics, graphene and memristors. They are what will someday make ultra-energy-efficient supercomputers small enough to fit anywhere.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/10/13/eod.faster.laptops/index.html

Spintronics

Graphene

Memristors

TX Active® - A Cement that Reduces Pollution

TX Active® is a photocatalytic principle for cement products which can reduce organic and inorganic pollutants that are present in the air. Its effectiveness has been thoroughly tested and thus certified by important independent research centers (CNR, ARPA, IspraResearchCenter). Its formulation is the result of 10 years of research, tests and applications carried out by CTG (Centro Tecnico di Gruppo, a company in the Italcementi Group) which has led to the final formulation of the active principle. Italcementi will make this material available to the whole construction sector which will thus be able to offer products with high quality standards under the “TX Active®” brand.

In a large city such as Milan, researchers have calculated – on the basis of test results – that covering 15% of visible urban surfaces with products containing TX Active® would enable a reduction in pollution of approximately 50%.

http://www.italcementigroup.com/ENG/Media+and+Communication/News/Corporate+events/20060228.htm

The IP for Smart Objects Alliance

"Today, with this association, we are creating the foundation which makes the Internet of Things a reality. We are bringing together companies across the globe with the objective of using IP to interconnect physical objects with the global Internet. Through our Technical Advisory Board we will document, demonstrate and teach how IP can be used in Smart Objects and provide IPSO members with updates on technology standards. This IP Smart Object technology will play an essential role in the challenge to master our energy distribution and consumption, automate our homes and work environments, modernize our cities and satisfy many other market requirements" Geoff Mulligan, Chairman; Patrick Wetterwald, President; JP Vasseur, TAB Chairman

http://www.ipso-alliance.org/Pages/default.aspx

GPS Underware?

GPS underwear designed by Austria Leo designs. The underware has installed a global positioning system receiver in the waist, which may momentarily monitor clothing's position.









http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?doit=done&tt=url&intl=1&fr=bf-home&trurl=http%3A%2F%2F66.196.80.202%2Fbabelfish%2Ftranslate_url_content%3F.intl%3Dus%26lp%3Dzh_en%26trurl%3Dhttp%253a%252f%252fwww.thebeijingnews.com%252fnews%252fguoji%252f2008%252f11-01%252f008%2540022203.htm&lp=zh_en&btnTrUrl=Translate