October 2011

31 October 2011

The Wonders of Graphene

The most amazing discovery in terms of material technology in the last decade is graphene. Graphene is a super-conductive form of carbon, made from single-atom-thick sheets.

A graphene circuit can operate at high frequencies of up to 10GHz (10 billion cycles per second), and at temperatures of up to 127°C. It is the most transparent, strongest and most conductive material on Earth. Because of this, graphene could be an ideal candidate for Transmission Electron Microscopy.

Professor Andrea Ferrari of Cambridge University says that besides being totally flexible, graphene could give great feedback when used as a touch screen of a phone or a tablet. "Your phone will be able to sense if you're touching it, will sense the environment around - you won't have to press a button to turn it on or off, it will recognise if you're using it or not.", he says.

Video: What is Graphene and what is graphene used for?

Everyday, scientists and researchers are discovering new ways that this material can be used.

Researchers at UC Santa Barbara have discovered a new method to synthesize high quality graphene in a controlled manner. Their process opens up a more economical and mass produced high quality graphene that electronic manufacturers can use. Currently, the stumbling block in the use of graphene is that it is tedious and expensive to manufacture it. But with this latest discovery, it opens up a more industry-friendly way to creat the material.

Kaustav Banerjee, a professor with the Electrical and Computer Engineering department and Director of the Nanoelectronics Research Lab at UCSB. He is the lead scientist in this experiment. "There is no doubt graphene is a superior material. Intrinsically it is amazing," says Professor Banerjee. "It is up to us, the scientists and engineers, to show how we can use graphene and harness its capabilities. There are challenges in how to grow it, how to transfer or not to transfer and pattern it, and how to tailor its properties for specific applications. But these challenges are fertile grounds for exciting research in the future."

Researchers Look into Lung Regeneration

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College are looking into the possibility that humans can be able to regenerate their own lungs.

In the journal Cell, the scientists have reported that they uncovered the biochemical signals in mice that trigger generation of new lung cells. The cells called, alveoli, are the tiny, grape-like sacs within the lung where oxygen exchange takes place. The biochemical signal have been specifically pinpointed to originate from the endothelial cells that are found lining the interior of blood vessels in the lung.

Mice have been long been known to regenerate and expand the capacity of its lung when needed, the researchers have identified the biological signal that activates this and hopes that this can help in duplicating this process with humans.

Dr. Shahin Rafii is the Arthur B. Belfer Professor of Genetic Medicine and co-director of the Ansary Stem Cell Institute at Weill Cornell Medical College. He says, "Several adult human organs have the potential upon injury to regenerate to a degree, and while we can readily monitor the pathways involved in the regeneration of liver and bone marrow, it is much more cumbersome to study the regeneration of other adult organs, such as the lung and heart..."

Video: How biochemical signals are transmitted to a cell in the human body

Dr. Rafi adds, "It is speculated, but not proven, that humans have the potential to regenerate their lung alveoli until they can't anymore, due to smoking, cancer, or other extensive chronic damage. Our hope is to take these findings into the clinic and see if we can induce lung regeneration in patients who need it, such as those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)."

Independent of this, scientists have also managed to grow alveoli cells from stem cells. Although still in the experimental stage, studies into lung regeneration can lead to other things. Stem cells are cells that can be made into other types of cells.

We may be looking at a world where injuries can be treated by regenerating the affected organ.

US$10 Million Contest to Sequence Centenarian Genome

Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) company, Medco Health Solutions Inc, held a contest on which laboratory can accurately and economically sequence 100 genomes. The genome sequence should focus on the DNA of people over 100 years old.

The prize? US$$10 million.

Geneticist Craig Venter says, "All the technology that people are buying now gives slightly different answers. That means by definition they are not good enough for diagnostics."

Difference in standards among medical companies complicate the quality, speed and accuracy of the tests. Achieving a medical standard can address this. Companies involved in this line of business includes Applied Biosystems, Illumina and Complete Genomics. And all of them have their own standards.

The aim is to achieve a "medical grade" standard for gene sequencing that could be used for personalizing medical treatment based on the person's genes.

Craig Venter is known for being one of the first to sequence the human genome. He also created the first cell with a synthetic genome in 2010. He is now working with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to come up with an agreed upon definition "to take genomics to the next grade".

Video: Sequencing the human genome:

100 centenarians are currently being selected and their genomes will be given to laboratories on Jan 2013. The contest will end on Feb 2013. Laboratory teams will compete on the accuracy, cost, speed and completeness of genome sequencing. The first team to accurately sequence the whole genome of the 100 subjects within the time period of 30 days will get the US$10 million prize. The allowable error rate for the competition should be less than one per million base pairs.

If successful, Venter believes that this will innovate and open up a whole new possibility in treating medical conditions.

Unlike embryonic stem cell research, genome technology would allow scientists and geneticists to create a cell from a synthetic genome structure. That cell can be designed to address a medical condition or biological defect.

30 October 2011

The Spaceships of Virgin Galactic

500 people have already booked flights. The trip will last two and a half hours. Tickets cost US$200,000. And deposits start at US$20,000.

Yep. It's not a trip on a private jet plane. It's more than a trip on a Gulfstream G5 or a Lear Jet, its on a space ship and it's to outer space. The trip promises a view of the Earth just as the astronauts do when going into space. The flight also includes five minutes of weightlessness.

Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic have been on the spotlight since he announced commercial flights to outer space. He recently opened Spaceport America in New Mexico. Sir Richard calls it the "Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space". The take off and landing site for the service.

With names like Space Ship Two, White Knight Two and even Mothership Eve, what do the spaceships look like? Here's an animated video of the space vehicles and how they will bring people into space. It truly is a great video on it:

So, what do you think? As already mentioned, it's not really a private chartered flight on a jet plane from Tokyo to New York. But for 200k, that flight should serve some killer food.

Oh wait, did I mention that the commercial first flights will start around 2013?

Speed of Light Theory To Be Challenged Again

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LATEST CERN NEWS
18 March 2012
CERN UPDATE: ICARUS Experiment Indicate Neutrino Speed Consistent With Speed Of Light
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After announcing that they have observed particles travelling faster than the speed of light, Physicists at CERN ( European Organization for Nuclear Research) will be conducting the experiment again but in another way. They will address issues that may others have brought up that may have given the first experiment false readings. They want to make sure that their readings are accurate.

In the experiment, particles called neutrinos are sent through the Earth's crust from CERN in Geneva towards Italy at the Gran Sasso laboratory 732km away. The experiment is named OPERA (Oscillation Project with Emulsion-Tracking Apparatus).

Last September, scientists announced that they have observed that the particles were travelling faster than the speed of light. Scientists consistently noticed that the neutrinos traveled 60 nanoseconds faster than the speed of light. Current theories on physics state that this is impossible.

Last month, Ronald van Elburg of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands found an explanation that explained the error in reading the faster than light in neutrino speed. According to van Elburg, it has to do with using gps satellites that OPERA used in measuring the neutrino speed.

Video: OPERA experiment

In the re-calibrated experiment, instead of using firing the protons in a long pulse of 10 microseconds, they will be sent in a series of short bursts of just one or two nanoseconds with a gap of 500 nanoseconds between each burst. They will also be switching from accelerating protons to accelerating lead ions. Hopefully, they will settle the issue once and for all.

According to Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity, nothing can travel faster than light. Most of modern physics is based on this theory. If this is proved wrong and faster than light speed is possible, physicists the world over would have to rethink and redo everything that they know about physics.

Other physics lab are conducting their own experiments as well as collaborating on this one.Teams working on other Gran Sasso experiments will begin independent cross-check analysiss of Opera's results. The US Minos experiment and Japan's T2K experiment will also test the observations.

29 October 2011

Vaccine to Treat Lung Cancer Being Developed

Researchers are developing a vaccine that can treat the most common type of lung cancer. The vaccine, called TG4010 is a modified version of the pox virus. The virus is distantly related to the smallpox virus strain.

Adding the vaccine to 148 patients undergoing chemotherapy showed that the cancer cells progression has slowed down. The results are still being studied since there is no definite conclusion that it helps in recovery. The survival rate of these patients have appeared to be marginal. The difference on the average rate of survival of patients treated with the vaccine against those who haven't is only 0.4 months (10.7 months against 10.3 months).

Vaccines for cancers are developed by using the same principles as that of vaccines against infection. It uses the body's immune system to attack cancer cell tumors. When a cell becomes cancerous and starts continuously dividing, it starts to look different. The immune system is then taught and trained to identify these cells by the proteins on the surface of these cells and attack them.

Video: Dr. John Sampson of Duke University Explains What a Cancer Vaccine Is:

That is how they developed TG4010.

Patients who volunteered for the study underwent chemotherapy and 50% of them were infected with the TG4010 virus. After 6 months, the patients who were vaccinated appeared more stable than the others who weren't. As noted, the survival rate is still marginal compared to the standard average.

Prof Peter Johnson, chief clinician at Cancer Research UK, said: "There's a lot of interest in harnessing the power of the immune system to treat cancer. This early-stage study shows that combining a vaccine with chemotherapy is possible, and may have some benefits for some people with lung cancer.But this study leaves a lot of unanswered questions - further research is needed to see whether the vaccine will actually improve survival for lung cancer patients."

Scientists are constantly looking for a cure for cancer. Outside of vaccines, they are also researching embryonic stem cells. Currently, stem cell research is under fire due to moral issues of procuring them. This may change as scientists are now looking into cloning a human embryo that could produce stem cells.

Helium 3 to be Mined in the Moon

We're almost close to be going back to the moon again.

And this time, it's not for scientific purposes. It's more industrial. We are going to be mining the moon! Check the video below on the benefits on mining on the moon.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has partnered with Astrobotic Technology, a spinoff of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. The purpose of the partnership is to mine the moon for water and fuel. With the recent budget cuts NASA received due to a slowing US economy, the space agency has been going to private companies to augment its funding and even research. Aside from Astrobotic, NASA has also partnered up with the Sierra Nevada Corporation to produce a Space Taxi (The Dream Chaser) that would ferry passengers to space and back.

Reports say they have negotiated 7 contracts with Astrobotic, including one that will develop an excavator and also others to give NASA info on how they will help achieve its mission and conduct mining operations at a low cost. Aside from water, their mining operation will also target minerals such as methane and ammonia. Researchers are sure that these exist beneath the moon's surface. They just have to study how much and what form these minerals take in the lunar landscape.

David Gump, president of Astrobotic says, "We'll have a field-tested robot that will be able to go to the poles... The readings ... indicate there’s pretty substantial water at the poles, but we won’t know more until you go and take samples. So we’ll both confirm the readings taken from orbit and discover how the resource is spread out."

Video: Helium 3 and why its best to mine it on the moon

They also have secured corporate sponsorship in exchange for bringing cargo of around 240 pounds to the moon. These include scientific instruments needed to test the lunar surface. Also, if successful, they will also win Google's Lunar X Prize of US$20 Million for returning to the moon.

Another thing the company wants to focus in is the mysterious Helium 3. A rare element on the moon deposited by the solar winds. Many believe that is going to be a major element for fusion reactors. Current reactors use fission. This involves radioactive fuel and creates huge quantities of heat. Mining this mineral would certainly benefit energy production here on Earth if research holds true.

Gump says, "If we can convert to a fusion fuel cycle, it’s carbon free and radiation free... It could really improve things on Earth and be the basis for a very benign and cost-effective way to stabilize our civilization."

28 October 2011

Gasoline from Algae

Phil Savage and a team of engineers at the University of Michigan are at the forefront of a new study. Growing gasoline; Oil manufactured by algae.

Oil from algae. That's the future energy source we may be looking at. And hey, it's as green as it can get. Even the algae are literally green!

Using treated sewage as a source for their nutrients, these algae can grow real fast. The reason? They are very efficient in converting sunlight into biomass.

PhD student Bobby Levine says, "Typically, in America, we make biodiesel out of soybeans and we get something on the order of 50 gallons of biodiesel per acre per year from soy. With algae, the estimates range very widely, but you can get anywhere from between 1,000 to 5,000 gallons of bio-oil per acre per year."

The oilfield of the future will be a farm. And Savage's process is two times more efficient than present technology in algae oil production.

He elaborates, "We use more of what's there. You know, with the biodiesel process, people are excited if they have an algae that's 50 percent oil, but then right away they're only using 50 percent of the mass, of the biomass. With our approach, we’d like to be able to liquefy, you know, 100 percent..."

Video: Biofuel by the University of Missouri Systems:

In order to achieve this is similar to how crude oil is converted to usable fuel. The algae after being "treated" in a hot sand bath, is brought to a so called refinery. In this case, another laboratory. Here, researchers are creating molecules or catalysts that will rearrange the structure of the algae in a way that they will resemble fuel that can be used in a combustible engine. And to add to it, they try to squeeze every last drop of fuel they can get.

Study reporter Lisa Raffensperger says, "They’ll be genetically modifying microbes like E. coli to digest the waste. Ideally, the waste will also be converted into useful fuel. It’s just one more way to “close the loop,” as these researchers say. To minimize energy input and reduce carbon emissions..."

Stars Discovered Producing Complex Organic Compounds

Astronomers have discovered one of the strangest things in the Universe; complex organic compounds. It seems that aside from living organisms, stars can also manufacture these naturally in the vacuum of outer space.

Prof. Sun Kwok and Dr. Yong Zhang of the University of Hong Kong discovered a substance in outer space that contains a combination of aromatic (ringlike) and aliphatic (chainlike) elements. These are commonly found all through the Universe. The complexity of the substance is similar to that of coal and of petroleum. Common perception is that coal and oil is a by-product of living organisms. The discovery of these substances leads to the suggestion that complex organic compounds can be created in outer space even when no there are no living things present.

Video: Organic materials on another planet

The researchers investigated an unsolved phenomenon: a set of infrared emissions detected in stars, interstellar space, and galaxies. These spectral signatures are known as "Unidentified Infrared Emission features". For over two decades, the most commonly accepted theory on the origin of these signatures has been that they come from simple organic molecules made of carbon and hydrogen atoms, called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules. From observations taken by the Infrared Space Observatory and the Spitzer Space Telescope, Kwok and Zhang showed that the astronomical spectra have features that cannot be explained by PAH molecules. Instead, the team proposes that the substances generating these infrared emissions have chemical structures that are much more complex. By analyzing spectra of star dust formed in exploding stars called novae, they show that stars are making these complex organic compounds on extremely short time scales of weeks. Source

Aside from the production of this organic matter, stars are also ejecting it into outer space particularly in general interstellar space which is the region between stars.

Kwok says, "Our work has shown that stars have no problem making complex organic compounds under near-vacuum conditions. Theoretically, this is impossible, but observationally we can see it happening."

27 October 2011

Futuristic Taxi Cab in New York City by 2014

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Update: Mayor Bloomberg has announced that the winning entry for the New York Taxi contest is the Nissan NV200.
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New York City! Central Park, The Empire State Building, and yellow taxi cabs from Turkey.

Turkey? Turkey, the country Turkey? eh?

Yep.

If all goes well, Turkey, a country 5,000 miles away will be making the city's world renowned taxi cabs. Turkish car maker, Karsan is one of three finalists in NYC's search for the taxi of the future. Their entry is a glass roofed, eco-friendly vehicle built from scratch. Actually the Karsan V1 is the only entry that's built and designed from scratch.

If they win, their winning entry will be New York City's exclusive taxi cab for ten years or so. And yep, it will still be in yellow.

Turkey isn't really known for making cars. It doesn't even register as a country that makes one. But that's because all cars that the country makes are built under license for other major car makers such as Hyundai, Peugeot, Citroen and Renault. Winning this entry will certainly put them on the map.

Jan Nahum, executive director of Karsan says, "Having a vehicle designed and built in Turkey being used as a New York taxi would be a very strong branding opportunity for the Turkish automotive industry,"

Video: The Karsan V1:

The Karsan V1 is designed to be wheelchair accessible, have enough room to hold five passengers and a stroller, as well as a glass roof to give passengers a view of New York's skyscrapers. It can run on gasoline, natural gas, or by fuel cells if it goes electric. The engine will depend on which technology is the most efficient at the time..

Currently, there are 16 different vehicles from nine manufacturers in the current fleet of around 13,000 taxicabs. The winner of the "Taxi of Tomorrow" contest will be the first ever custom-built New York taxi. "...this project marks the first time ever -- anywhere -- that such an exercise will be backed up by an automotive manufacturer that can turn these concepts into tangible reality," New York Taxi and Limousine Commissioner David Yassky said in a statement.

The winner will be announced early next year and the vehicles are expected to be on the road by 2014.

Aside from Karsan, Ford and Nissan are included in the top 3. Ford's entry is the Transit Connect while Nissan's design is based on the Nissan Van. Ironically, if Ford wins, the Transit Connect will be built in Turkey and adapted in the United States.

Scientists Discover Huge Cloud of Water in Outer Space

Astronomers have discovered a huge cloud of water vapor in outer space.

It's cold enough to form comets and deliver oceans to dry planets. How big is the cloud?

It's huge enough to fill thousands of earth sized planets with water.

Astronomers detected the object "within the planet-forming disk surrounding the star TW Hydrae. TW Hydrae is 176 light years away in the constellation Hydra and is the closest solar-system-to-be."

University of Michigan astronomy professor Ted Bergin says, “This tells us that the key materials that life needs are present in a system before planets are born... We expected this to be the case, but now we know it is because have directly detected it. We can see it.”

Here is the European Space Agency's video on water in outer space:

Using the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared (HIFI) aboard the Hershel Space Observatory, researchers detected the chemical signature of water in the object. The orbiting space observatory is part of a European Space Agency mission along wtih the participation of NASA. Hershel is an orbiting telescope that allows astronomers, scientists, and researchers to observe at the far-infrared wavelengths. These wavelengths are where organic molecules and water emit their chemical signatures.

According to the UM article, "Scientists had previously found warm water vapor in planet-forming disks close to the central star. But until now, evidence for vast quantities of water extending into the cooler, far reaches of disks where comets and giant planets take shape had not emerged. The more water available in disks for icy comets to form, the greater the chances that large amounts will eventually reach new planets through impacts..."

The principal investigator of the study, Michiel Hogerheijde of Leiden University in the Netherlands says that, “The detection of water sticking to dust grains throughout the planet-forming disk would be similar to events in our own solar system’s evolution, where over millions of years, these dust grains would then coalesce to form comets. These would be a prime delivery mechanism for water on planetary bodies,”

Scientists theorized that comets delivered a significant portion of Earth's oceans. Researchers also found that the ice on a comet called Hartley 2 has the same chemical composition as our oceans water.

Move Over Nicotine Patch. Cigarette Candies Are Coming!

Cigarette smokers who want to quit or want to have an alternative to ease them out of smoking may find that help may be on the way.

From the nicotine patch, it seems we are seeing the emergence of a new tobacco product. The dissolvable tobacco lozenge; cigarette candy! Actually nicotine candy would be the proper term. And these candies are for adults only!

With the public's heightened awareness on the dangers of smoking, strict regulatory guidelines, and a shrinking market, companies are looking for an alternative tobacco product that doesn't require smoking it.And because of laws banning smoking in public places, smokers are discouraged. This results in lower revenues for traditional cigarette companies in the long run.

Revenue for smokeless products grew 11% in 2010. Some companies, like Star Scientific Inc., are even considering the health care component as a way to transition its use away from combustible tobacco products.

Video: Nicotine lozenges

"Star Scientific makes two dissolvable tobacco lozenges, Ariva and Stonewell, which are not subject to Chapter IX of Federal Food Drug & Cosmetic Act. The company recently lost a bid for a new trial in its patent-infringement case against Reynolds American Inc."
Source: Marketwatch

Star Scientific says that, "researchers from the Department of Psychiatry at the Medical University of South Carolina published a study last year arguing that dissolvable tobacco products “led to a significant reduction (40%) in cigarettes per day, no significant increases in total tobacco use, and significant increases in two measures of readiness to quit, either in the next month or within the next 6 months.”

After a wide acceptance of the nicotine patch, a nicotine candy does have more of an appeal because of the active participation of the person in consuming it. It's akin to doing something "with your hands" just like what smoking does. Nicotine patches are more static in the sense that after applying the patch, the wearer does not have to do anything else. It must be noted that hard candies or even gum have been an age old alternative to smoking.

With the advent of products like these, maybe tobacco use will go on the rise again. Except that instead of lighting up, people will be dissolving them down.

26 October 2011

Commercial Space Travel To Start by 2013

Nope. Those aren't UFO's you are seeing in the New Mexico skyline.

Last week, Sir Richard Branson dedicated Spaceport America, the world's first built-from-scratch commercial spaceport. Among the attendees were New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez and astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

The crowd included about 150 people who have already bought tickets for the flights to outer space. They were treated to a flyover from Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo (image), the main vehicle or "mothership" that will launch the suborbital spacecraft.

Here is Sir Richard Branson on a promotional video about Virgin Galactic's space flight:

Owned by Branson's company, Virgin Galactic, he plans to conduct commercial flights to outer space by 2013. The space flight experience promises passengers views of the Earth as seen only by astronauts.

He hopes to launch the outer space service in two years time if things go well. Stephen Attenborough, the firms commercial director stressed that the customers' safety is paramount. Originally, Sir Richard planned a first commercial space trip in 2007 with his spacecraft, SpaceShip Two.

Test flights are currently ongoing, with rocket-powered tests scheduled for next year. The eccentric billionaire hopes hopes that Virgin Galactic's commercial space flights could begin soon after.

Once operational, the 2.5-hour space flight will offer five minutes of weightlessness and cost $200,000. Around 500 people have already bought tickets.

For the first trip, he plans to take his children with him. "They are willing to put a large amount of money up front because they trust us, because they know we will only take them to space if it's safe to do so," he said.

25 October 2011

Mysterious Coded Manuscript Cracked After 300 Years

The Copiale Manuscript is a 300 year old document handwritten in an unknown code of Greek, Roman, and abstract symbols.. It was found hidden in an academic archive in East Germany. No one knew what the document is about or what it said.

Kevin Knight of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering joined up with Beáta Megyesi and Christiane Schaefer of Uppsala University in Sweden decided to solve the mystery once and for all.

Video: Kevin Knight talking about the Copiale Cipher:

The “Copiale Cipher” is a 105 pages manuscript containing all in all around 75000 characters. Beautifully bound in green and gold brocade paper, written on high quality paper with two different watermarks, the manuscript can be dated back to 1760-1780. Apart from what is obviously an owner's mark (“Philipp 1866”) and a note in the end of the last page (“Copiales 3”), the manuscript is completely encoded. The cipher employed consists of 90 different characters, comprising all from Roman and Greek letters, to diacritics and abstract symbols. Catchwords (preview fragments) of one to three or four characters are written at the bottom of left–hand pages.
Source

To break the Copiale Cipher, researchers tracked down the original manuscript to a private collector. They then transcribed a machine-readable version of the text to help quantify the data and study the co-occurrences of certain symbols and other patterns.

Using brain power and computer technology and not to mention a lot of hits and misses, they discovered that the document was written by an 18th century German secret society. It laid out their the rituals and political leanings. "The rituals detailed in the document indicate the secret society had a fascination with eye surgery and ophthalmology, though it seems members of the secret society were not themselves eye doctors".

They have also posted their findings online.

Knight is now focusing on deciphering other coded messages such as the one sent by the Zodiac Killer. He is also applying his computer-assisted codebreaking software to other famous unsolved codes such as the last section of "Kryptos," an encrypted message carved into a granite sculpture on the grounds of CIA headquarters, and the Voynich Manuscript, a medieval document that just like the Copiale Cipher, has remained a mystery.

Professor to make US$400,000 Hamburger

Professor Mark Post has been given around US$417,000 (€300,000) to make a hamburger.

But he has to do it without using meat coming from an animal and has one year to do it.

Mark Post is head of the Department of Vascular Physiology at Masstricht University in the Netherlands. He is focusing his research on growing meat in the lab rather than procuring it the natural way. "We want to turn meat production from a farming process to a factory process," he explained.

A philanthropist got in touch with Prof Post and offered to pay him to make the hamburger using his research. "It is likely the most expensive hamburger that we will ever see on this planet," said Post. In the same vein, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animal (PETA) has also announced a prize of $1 million for the first company or individual to bring synthetic meat to consumer shops in at least 6 US states by 2016.

Instead of using cows and other farm animals for meat, Post will grow the meat using muscle stem cells procured from the animal. Instead of using embryonic stem cells which according to him does not work, Prof Post will be using stem cells called myosatellites. These are stem cells normally used by the body to repair damaged muscle.

Video: In Vitro Meat or Meat grown in a lab:

Myosatellite cells can be extracted from a mature animal without killing it and have numerous advantages. Firstly, they are "one way" cells, in the sense that they can only become muscle cells.

Secondly, as the muscle cells proliferate they have an innate tendency to organise into muscle fibres. All that Prof Post has to do to form a strip of muscle is provide anchor points for the fibres to grow around, and the muscle forms by itself. "It's a bit like magic," he said.
Source: BBC

Professor Post wants a celebrity chef to prepare the hamburger, minced with onions and spices. "It would be great if someone like Jamie Oliver agreed to cook it for us, and a famous actress ate it...We don't really know where the taste of meat comes from," Post said. "We assume it comes from fat, but there may be other components, most of them are unknown so it's a bit of a mystery how the conditions we use during the culturing of the meat will affect the taste."

The only know person known to have tasted the meat was a TV journalist from Russia. "He just grabbed it out of the dish and stuffed it into his mouth before I could say anything," said the professor. "He said it was chewy and tasteless."

Kung Fu Pandas Set to Attack World of Warcraft

It seems that Pandas will now be part a playable race in the MMORPG giant, World of Warcraft.

They have been an in-joke among the players after Blizzard spoofed it as part of a joke on April Fools Day years ago (The Panda Express). Now the lost continent of Pandaria will open its shores to the online game and let World of Warcraft players be part of the Pandaren race.

The fourth expansion will be called Mists of Pandaria and was announced at the BlizzCon annual conference held in Anaheim, California last week.

Video: World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria:

It's third expansion, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, seemed to have failed and lost seasoned players complaining of impractical game mechanics and repetitive play style. World of Warcraft has about 10 million players logging in to gather gold and precious powerful gear, kill monsters, and comple quests. Financial reports suggest the game generates about $360m per quarter for Blizzard.

In order to entice game players back and keep its remaining base hooked to the game, Blizzard has proposed a deal which will give a free copy of the forthcoming game Diablo III and a flying mount (Tyrael’s Charger) that players can use with all their WOW characters as long as they commit to play the World of Warcraft for the next year.

24 October 2011

Europe Court Rules Against Stem Cell Patent

"The use of human embryos for therapeutic or diagnostic purposes which are applied to the human embryo and are useful to it is patentable. But their use for purposes of scientific research is not patentable... A process which involves removal of a stem cell from a human embryo at the blastocyst [early embryo] stage, entailing the destruction of that embryo, cannot be patented." This statement was released early last week by The European Court of Justice.

Following a challenge by Greenpeace over a patent for nerve cells from embryonic stem cells, the issue whether a stem cell process can be patented was brought to light. And with this ruling, a number of research facilities and scientist are concerned that the ruling would threaten the future of embryonic stem cell research. Companies in Europe would be less likely to invest in stem cell research they say.

Video: Debate on Stem Cell research:

But Greenpeace and other supporters argued it was unethical to patent cells from a human embryo. They say that they are not opposed to stem cell research itself but to "the idea that patents can be granted for scientific discoveries as opposed to inventions". The European Court also saw it that way and ruled in their favor.

It is too early whether or not this can derail research and advancements in stem cell research. Early this month, Pfizer has already started doing human clinical trials to cure blindness in old people thru stem cell treatment.

Embryonic stem cells can be turned into any tissue in the body and as such, is an important tool in disease treatment.

Hackers Getting More Advanced and Dangerous

When the Stuxnet worm hit the Iranian Nuclear Facility incapacitating it, little did everyone know that this marked the entry of a new kind of global security threat inside and outside the computer world.

The Stuxnet worm was created to derail Iran's nuclear program to devastating results. It was designed to damage centrifuges in the nuclear plants by affecting how fast the controllers instructed the centrifuges to spin. These controllers were manufactured by Siemens and was part of embargoed equipment procured secretly by Iran.

Stuxnet infected five Iranian organizations suspected to be uranium infrastructure facilities. It was noted that although the worm was not isolated to just in Iran, but only the computers in the Iran nuclear program was damaged by Stuxnet. This led to the belief that this attack was conducted with support from the United States and Israel.

Now, this kind of attack can be replicated by computer hackers everywhere targeting not only individuals but also companies, factories and even nations. Technological advances in both computer hardware and software has made hacking cheaper and more available to most anyone interested in it. Viruses, worms, and hacks are now more elaborate and destructive. What was once thought to be too costly and impossible to do is now feasible. From simple DDOS attacks and defacing websites, hackers now have the potential to actually control equipment and facilities at their behest.

Dillon Beresford, a computer security researcher, said that it only took him 2 months and US$20,000 in electronic and computer equipment to find more than a dozen security vulnerabilities in the same type of electronic controllers affected by Stuxnet in Iran. These vulnerabilities allowed him to take remote control of the devices and reprogram them.

Video: The Stuxnet Worm

"What all this is saying is you don't have to be a nation-state to do this stuff. That's very scary," industrial control system expert, Joe Weiss said. "There's a perception barrier, and I think Dillon crashed that barrier."

One main factor to the vulnerability is that controllers are not easily replaced. They last for decades and regular replacement is not just costly, it is not also easy.

The threat is not isolated to nuclear power plants. Experts have found vulnerabilities in jails, and prisons. They discovered vulnerabilities that allow them to control most of the facilities systems such as those that control doors, alarms, and video feeds. All it takes is inserting the virus code or worm code into the facilities network (which they have done in the experiment) and the major systems of the prison are in their control.

With situations such as these, companies should be aware of their own vulnerabilities and prioritize regular security checkups for viruses, worms, and possible security holes as well as investing in countermeasures both physical and technological. Computer security has to be on top all the time.

Ulf Lindqvist, an expert on industrial control systems of SRI International said, "The situation is not at all as bad as it was five to six years ago, but there's much that remains to be done... We need to be as innovative and organized on the good-guy side as the bad guys can be."

For years, ill-intentioned hackers have dreamed of plaguing the world's infrastructure with a brand of sabotage reserved for Hollywood. They've mused about wreaking havoc in industrial settings by burning out power plants, bursting oil and gas pipelines, or stalling manufacturing plants.

But a key roadblock has prevented them from causing widespread destruction: they've lacked a way to take remote control of the electronic "controller" boxes that serve as the nerve centers for heavy machinery.

The attack on Iran changed all that. Now, security experts — and presumably, malicious hackers — are racing to find weaknesses. They've found a slew of vulnerabilities...
Source: ABCNews

23 October 2011

Aerogels

It is known as "frozen smoke", "solid smoke", "solid air" and even "blue smoke" due to its translucency. Aerogel is a material with the lowest bulk density of any known porous solid. It is light and contrary to popular belief, it breaks easily when pressed firmly enough. It is strong structurally but like glass, it will shatter when deliberate force is applied to it.

Despite their name, aerogels are rigid, dry materials and do not resemble a gel in their physical properties; the name comes from the fact that they are derived from gels. Pressing softly on an aerogel typically does not leave a mark; pressing more firmly will leave a permanent depression. Pressing firmly enough will cause a catastrophic breakdown in the sparse structure, causing it to shatter like glass—a property known as friability; although more modern variations do not suffer from this. Despite the fact that it is prone to shattering, it is very strong structurally. Its impressive load bearing abilities are due to the dendritic microstructure, in which spherical particles of average size 2–5 nm are fused together into clusters.
Source: Wikipedia

If you have time, check this video about Aerogels by the University of California. This material has chemists, physicists, astronomers, and materials scientists utilizing its properties in a myriad of applications (ff to 3:49 to skip the introduction):

Aerogels are created by removing the liquid from gels. In 1931, Samuel Stephens Kistler discovered this material over a bet whether or not liquid can be replaced with gas on jellies without causing shrinkage. This is achieved by extracting the liquid component through supercritical drying. Although the first and popular aerogels were produced from silica gels, other elements can be used such as aluminum, chromium, tin oxide and carbon.

The main problem with other elements is that they may cause toxic reactions to people handling them. Even if silicon based aerogels are safe, it can still be an irritant to the eyes, skin, respiratory tract, and digestive system. It is recommended that protective handling gear such as goggles and gloves be worn whenever handling aerogels.

Students and researchers at Union college patented a process that can produce aerogels at a fraction of a time that the usual process take. Instead of using an autoclave to extract the liquid, the students used a hot press.

Much of their research is also conducted on the characterization of aerogels. Past projects have focused on their density, surface area, morphology and photolytic qualities.

Since over 90% of the material is made up of air, it is a very good insulator and is its most popular use. As stated in wikipedia, the first residential use of aerogel as an insulator is in the Georgia Institute of Technology's Solar Decathlon House where it is used as an insulator in the semi-transparent roof. Commercial companies have now introduced aerogel infused materials for building structures.

Aside from that, NASA uses the material to trap space dust particles aboard the Stardust spacecraft. Even clothing manufacturers have used aerogel in its products. Shiver Shield, a brand of cold weather garments that is insulated with encapsulated aerogel, was recently introduced to the market in 2011.