BORGZA'S Science & Technology UPDATES

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Sensitive giant probes atomic world
By Jonathan Fildes
Science and technology reporter, BBC News



City-dwelling scientists wanting to escape the cacophony of urban life could do worse than land a job at the home of the UK's most powerful microscope.
The vault in which the behemoth is housed is buried deep under the streets that flank the Albert Hall in London.

Once the double doors - designed to eliminate contamination of all kind, not just noise - suck shut, the room takes on the air of a mausoleum.

Even the technicians and scientists gathered at the base of Titan, as the microscope is known, talk in hushed, respectful tones.

But their silence is not just for the benefit of their fellow academics, it is an operational requirement of the machine.

"If the sample drifts, it kills the experiment," said Dr David McComb of Imperial College London, where the microscope is housed.

With a machine that is able to image individual atoms, even the vibrations caused by talking too loudly are enough to shunt a sample. When scientists are operating at such small scales, tiny shifts can appear huge.

"The drift rate has got to be better than one nanometre per minute," he explained.

One nanometre is a billionth of a metre.

"It's about how much your finger nail grows in one minute," said Dr James Perkins, one of the research scientists who use the sensitive giant to probe the atomic structure of the world.

Random scatter

Titan is a transmission electron microscope, the first of its kind in the UK and one of only a handful found in labs around the world.

Its maker, FEI Company, says it is the most powerful commercially available scope on the market.


When it is running at full power it will be used to probe everything from new materials for ultra fast computers to tissue samples that may shed light on diseases such as Alzheimer's.

The £2.4m ($4.8m) scope is capable of imaging objects just 0.14 nanometres in diameter, useful for probing the atomic structure and chemistry of materials.

It works by firing electrons through an incredibly thin sample, just microns (one millionth of a metre) thick, and observing the changes to the particles as they pass through and out the other side.

"What happens to the electrons tells us about how the atoms were arranged in the sample," said Dr McComb.

In essence, the trajectories of the electrons can be mapped, like snooker balls scattering on a table. Knowing their trajectory as they exit allows scientists to build up a picture of the internal structure of the sample.

In addition, measuring the energy lost by electrons gives scientists clues about the identity of the atoms in the sample and how they bond together.

"That is enormously powerful," said Dr McComb.

Research boost

The machine has been bought by the London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN) using money from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

It was installed in August 2006 and should soon be running at full power.


We're ramping up, we're starting to get results
David McComb

Already there is a raft of projects that could use the super-scope.

Medical researchers, for example, hope to use it to uncover the secrets of bone disease.

"Clearly, if we want to tackle diseases like osteoporosis, we need new drugs and clinical trials," said Dr McComb.

"But in order to develop those we also need to understand the process of osteoporosis. We need to understand how bone and tissue interact and why that process changes as we get older."

Teams have proposed to use Titan to examine the microscopic and chemical changes on the surfaces of bones in both healthy and diseased tissue.

Other teams want to understand the role of iron metabolism in the development of Alzheimer's disease.

"We are not quite sure what the state of the iron is or how it interacts with the tissues in the brain," said Dr McComb. "But if we can understand that then potentially we can feed that into research into something that can disrupt or modify that process."

Researchers from LCN are also queuing up to test new materials for efficient fuel cells and catalysts, as well as examining the atomic structure of semiconductors to optimise or boost their performance in future computers.

Eventually, the knowledge gained will also allow scientists to start building materials atom by atom.

"We're ramping up, we're starting to get results," said Dr McComb. "I expect over the summer we'll really start rocketing."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/6265774.stm

Published: 2007/07/04 06:47:09 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

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Gadgets 'threaten energy savings'
The growing popularity of hi-tech devices, such as flat-screen TVs and digital radios, threaten to undermine efforts to save energy, a report says.
UK consumers spend £12bn a year on electronics, much of which is less efficient than older technology, a study by the Energy Saving Trust found.

By 2020, the gadgets will account for about 45% of electricity used in UK households, the organisation projected.

It said flat-screen TVs and digital radios were among the worst offenders.



Paula Owen, author of the report called The Ampere Strikes Back, said household appliances currently consumed about a third of an average home's electricity.

But she warned this was likely to increase as a result of people buying more energy-intensive devices.


The simple message to people is switch things off when you have finished using them
Dr Paula Owen,
Report author

"Your old-fashioned, bulky cathode ray tube TV on average consumed about 100 watts of electricity when it was switched on," Dr Owen explained.

"What we are seeing now is a trend for much bigger flat-screened TVs. On average, we are seeing a three-fold increase in the energy needed to power these TVs.

"Pretty much in every other sector [such as fridges and washing machines], we find that as the technology moves on, the products get more and more efficient.

"Consumer electronics does not work like that."

'Radio ga-ga'

The equivalent of 14 power stations will be needed just to power consumer electronic devices by 2020, the report warned.

By that time televisions on standby will consume 1.4% of all domestic electricity, it predicted.

Digital radios were also singled out by the report as being energy intensive.

"Traditional analogue radios consume about two watts when they are switched on," Dr Owen said.

"We've looked at digital radios and the average consumption of these is eight watts."

She added that listening to the radio via digital TVs or set-top boxes had an average consumption of more than 100 watts.

Recent research by the communications watchdog Ofcom said that more than 80% of UK homes now had digital TV.

More people are buying digital TVs or set-top boxes because by the end of 2012 the analogue TV signal will no longer be available in the UK.

But not all new technology was criticised by the report.

"Mobile phones and their chargers are one area where we have seen an improvement," Dr Owen said.

A few years ago, she said, the current being drawn by chargers that were plugged in but not actually attached to a phone was about three to five watts.

"We have done some testing on the newest mobile phones and chargers you can buy today and reassuringly we could see that 'no-load' consumption had fallen below one watt."

But she added that the sheer volume of mobiles being used, about 63 million in the UK, meant that a huge amount of energy was still being wasted if people were not unplugging their chargers when they were not being used.

The report called for governments, manufacturers and retailers to do more to promote energy efficient devices, but also said consumers had a role to play.

"The simple message to people is switch things off when you have finished using them," urged Dr Owen.



Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/6266082.stm

Published: 2007/07/04 08:14:35 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

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Good vibes power tiny generator
A tiny generator powered by natural vibrations could soon be helping keep heart pacemakers working.
Created by scientists at the University of Southampton, the generator has been developed to power devices where replacing batteries is very difficult.

The device is expected initially to be used to power wireless sensors on equipment in manufacturing plants.

The generator's creators say the generator is up to 10 times more efficient than similar devices.

Power packed

The tiny device, which is less than one cubic centimetre in size, uses vibrations in the world around it to make magnets on a cantilever at the heart of the device wobble to generate power.

Although the generator produces only microwatts this was more than enough to power sensors attached to machines in manufacturing plants, said Dr Steve Beeby, from the University of Southampton, who led development of the device.

"The big advantage of wireless sensor systems is that by removing wires and batteries, there is the potential for embedding sensors in previously inaccessible locations," he said.

Using the tiny generator also made it possible to use larger numbers of sensors because there was no longer the need to visit them to replace or recharge batteries, said Dr Beeby.

The generator was developed to sit inside air compressors but, said Dr Beeby, it could find a future role in self-powered medical implants such as pacemakers.

In a pacemaker the beating of the human heart would be strong enough to keep the magnets inside the device wobbling.

It could also be used to power sensors attached to road and rail bridges to monitor the health of such structures.

Work on the project was funded by the EU as part of the 14.3m euros (£9.67m) Vibration Energy Scavenging (Vibes) project that is looking at how to use environmental vibrations to generate power.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/6272752.stm

Published: 2007/07/05 10:25:34 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

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Better ear implant hope for deaf
US scientists have unveiled what they say could be the next generation of implants designed to offer hearing to the profoundly deaf.
The new device described by the University of Michigan team fits directly to the auditory nerve.

The researchers claim it works better than cochlear implants, currently the leading technology.

But the device has been tested only in animals, the Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology reports.

'Exciting possibilities'

A UK researcher hailed the project as "potentially a brilliant idea".

Cochlear implants have been in use since the mid-1980s, and are placed near to the nerve that carries sound impulses to the brain.

However, they are still separated from the nerve by a bony wall and fluid, and users often find it hard to hear low-pitched sounds, which can make conversation difficult, especially in noisy environments.


It offers a solution to a lot of the problems with cochlear implants
Dr Carl Verschuur of Southampton University's Institute of Sound and Vibration

The Michigan team have managed to place their tiny device inside the nerve itself in cats.

Lead researcher Professor John Middlebrooks said testing showed the new device performed better over a wider range of frequencies, suggesting that users might be able to enjoy a far wider range of hearing.

They measured the cats' brain responses to sounds, and compared the results with those in cats given cochlear implants.

Professor Middlebrooks said: "The intimate contact of the array with the nerve fibres achieves more precise activation of fibres signalling specific frequencies, reduced electrical current requirements and dramatically reduced interference among electrodes when they are stimulated simultaneously."

Five years away

He said his team would monitor how the auditory nerve coped with the implant over the next two years.

"If our work continues to go very well, we might begin human trials in no less than five years," he said.

Dr Carl Verschuur, a lecturer in audiology at the University of Southampton's Institute of Sound and Vibration, said: "Potentially it's a brilliant idea.

"Although there could be some challenging technical issues with attaching the device to the nerve and keeping it there, it offers a solution to a lot of the problems with cochlear implants.

"There is a lot of distance between the cochlear implants and the nerve, so it is perfectly logical to do this. The fact they've managed to do this successfully in animals makes this an exciting study."

Brian Lamb, from RNID, said: "Cochlear implants themselves have provided a revolution, and these implants - if successfully transferred to people - could offer further, major benefits."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/6734139.stm

Published: 2007/06/10 23:44:16 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

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Warning of data ticking time bomb

The growing problem of accessing old digital file formats is a "ticking time bomb", the chief executive of the UK National Archives has warned.
Natalie Ceeney said society faced the possibility of "losing years of critical knowledge" because modern PCs could not always open old file formats.

She was speaking at the launch of a partnership with Microsoft to ensure the Archives could read old formats.

Microsoft's UK head Gordon Frazer warned of a looming "digital dark age".



National Archives welcome program to read legacy formats

Costly deal

He added: "Unless more work is done to ensure legacy file formats can be read and edited in the future, we face a digital dark hole."

Research by the British Library suggests Europe loses 3bn euros each year in business value because of issues around digital preservation.

The National Archives, which holds 900 years of written material, has more than 580 terabytes of data - the equivalent of 580,000 encyclopaedias - in older file formats that are no longer commercially available.

Ms Ceeney said: "If you put paper on shelves, it's pretty certain it is going to be there in a hundred years.

"If you stored something on a floppy disc just three or four years ago, you'd have a hard time finding a modern computer capable of opening it."

"Digital information is in fact inherently far more ephemeral than paper," warned Ms Ceeney.

She added: "The pace of software and hardware developments means we are living in the world of a ticking time bomb when it comes to digital preservation.


Historically within the IT industry the prevailing trend was for proprietary file formats
Gordon Frazer, Microsoft

"We cannot afford to let digital assets being created today disappear. We need to make information created in the digital age to be as resilient as paper."

But Ms Ceeney said some digital documents held by the National Archives had already been lost forever because the programs which could read them no longer existed.

"We are starting to find an awful lot of cases of what has been lost. What we have got to make sure is that it doesn't get any worse."

The root cause of the problem is the range of proprietorial file formats which proliferated during the early digital revolution.

Technology companies, such as Microsoft, used file formats which were not only incompatible with pieces of software from rival firms, but also between different iterations of the same program.

Mr Frazer said Microsoft had shifted its position on file formats.

"Historically within the IT industry, the prevailing trend was for proprietary file formats. We have worked very hard to embrace open standards, specifically in the area of file formats."



Microsoft's legacy pledge

Costly deal
Microsoft has developed a new document file format, called Open XML, which is used to save files from programs such Word, Excel and Powerpoint.

Mr Frazer said: "It's an open international standard under independent control. These are no longer under control of Microsoft and are free for access by all."

But some critics question Microsoft's approach and ask why the firm has created its own new standard, rather than adopting a rival system, called the Open Document Format.

Instead, Microsoft has released a tool which can translate between the two formats.

Ben Laurie, director of the Open Rights Group, said: "This is a well-known, standard Microsoft move.

"Microsoft likes lock-ins. Typically what happens is that you end up with two or three standards."

The agreement between the National Archives and Microsoft centres on the use of virtualisation.

The archive will be able to read older file formats in the format they were originally saved by running emulated versions of the older Windows operating systems on modern PCs.


For example, if a Word document was saved using Office 97 under Windows 95, then the National Archives will be able to open that document by emulating the older operating system and software on a modern machine.

Ms Ceeney said the issue of older file formats was a bigger problem than reading outdated forms of media, such as floppy discs of various sizes and punch cards.

"The media it is stored in is not relevant. Back-up is important, but back-up is not preservation."

Adam Farquhar, head of e-architecture at the British Library, praised Microsoft for its adoption of more open standards.

He said: "Microsoft has taken tremendous strides forward in addressing this problem. There has been a sea change in attitude."

He warned that the issue of digital preservation did not just affect National Archives and libraries.

"It's everybody - from small businesses to university research groups and authors and scientists.

"It's a huge challenge for anyone who keeps digital information for more than 15 years because you are talking about five different technology generations."

The British Library and National Archives are members of the Planets project which brings together European National Libraries and Archives and technology companies to address the issue of digital preservation.

He said that open file formats were an important step but there was still work to be done.

"Automation is a key area to work on. We need to be able to convert hundreds and even thousands of documents at a time," he said.




Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/6265976.stm

Published: 2007/07/03 23:50:19 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

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Video gaming world cup hits Paris
Thousands of gamers are in Paris over the next four days for the Electronic Sports World Cup grand final.
More than 750 players are competing for $200,000 (£99,200) in prize money, with about 5,000 spectators expected.

The games being played include CounterStrike, Quake 4, Warcraft 3 and Pro Evolution Soccer 4. There is also a women-only CounterStrike tournament.

David Heuze, communications manager for the event, said: "The best video game players in the world are here."

Mr Heuze said the atmosphere during games was similar to a football match.

"It's crazy. There is a lot of noise and cheering.

'Real sport'

"This is a real sport and we think this year it will be going mainstream. There are TV channels in the US and Korea showing live video game matches, a new channel in the UK and growing interest all the time."

There are about 50 full-time video game professionals in the western world, said Mr Heuze, who each earn about $200,000 a year in prizes.


Overall the skill level among female gamers isn't that great
Gamer Anne Rogers

"Little by little you can see more and more professionals. Brands are using these gamers to promote their products. I'd expect to see more well-known gamers emerge."

The finalists have been drawn from qualification events in more than 50 countries around the world.

UK gamer Anne Rogers, who is leading all-female team OS G-Stars at the event in Paris, said the skill levels among the professionals was "amazing".

"Some have been playing full-time for seven years. Their skill levels require dedication and training. This is not something you can just pick up and play."

More than 120 women are competing in the all-female CounterStrike event. CounterStrike is a tactical first person shooter in which virtual soldiers taken on terrorists. In the tournament two teams of five players each stalk environments in a last-man standing battle.

Encourage game-playing

Ms Rogers said the female-only tournament at the event was designed to help encourage game-playing among women.

She said: "It's more to do with promotion of the game to females than a skill difference - although there is a skills difference - to make it more normal for women to play.


"Overall the skill level among female gamers isn't that great. But hopefully these tournaments will fire up an interest and improve that level and one day hopefully girls will be competing with the boys."

In preparation for the event, the team has, over the last six months, been playing five nights a week for five hours at a time.

"We've had no lives. But we're really looking forward to it. Girls really enjoy the team-based atmosphere.

"You can see the spectators watching; hear their cheers."

Mr Heuze said female gamers did not have the same experience as the men.

"It's not easy for women to find a place in the world of male gamers. Five years ago we decided to create a tournament for women, to promote video games to them.

"It's been a huge, huge success because there are now a lot of female gamers around the world."

Veteran UK gaming squad, Team Dignitas, will be keeping a diary for the BBC News website from the E-Sports World Cup.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/6272546.stm

Published: 2007/07/05 11:09:47 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

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Wii outselling PS3 'six to one'
Nintendo's Wii console outsold Sony's PlayStation 3 in Japan last month by six to one, says research.
Nintendo sold 270,974 Wii consoles last month while Sony sold 41,628 PS3s, according to Enterbrain, a Japanese publisher that tracks console sales.

Nintendo has sold about 2.76m Wii consoles in Japan since the launch last December, while Sony has sold 970,270 PS3s since it debuted last November.

About 17,616 Xbox 360 consoles were sold in June.

Last week, Phil Harrison, PlayStation's head of worldwide studios, told US Game Informer magazine that pundits should not judge the success of the console based on the launch software line-up.

Struggled

He said: "You only have to go back to the games that launched PlayStation 1 and Playstation 2.

"If you took those few dozen titles and analysed them, you would never have imagined that either of those formats would have on to sell over 100m units each."

Globally, Sony has struggled so far to replicate the success it had with the first two PlayStation consoles.

The machine has also suffered from a lack of "killer" exclusive titles which showcase the power of the machine.

PlayStation fans are still awaiting some of the biggest franchises on the machine to emerge, such as Metal Gear Solid, Killzone 2 and Gran Turismo.




Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/6265368.stm

Published: 2007/07/03 12:05:06 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

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Zelda game named 'greatest ever'
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has topped a poll of readers of Edge magazine and industry experts to find the top 100 games of all time.
The 10-year-old videogame for the Nintendo 64 games console helped usher in a new era of 3D gaming.

It is also one of only five games ever to receive a 10 out of 10 review score from Edge magazine.

Five of the top 10 titles were made only for Nintendo machines, including Super Mario 64 in third spot.

The full list of 100 titles has been compiled for a special edition of Edge magazine.

Editor-in-chief, Tony Mott, said: "If you were new to video games and were going to go out and buy 100 games to make an instant collection, then these would be the games to buy."

He added: "Ocarina of Time is nearly 10 years old, but its position at the top slot in Edge's 100 Best Videogames shows that great game design does not age.

"In visual terms, it obviously cannot compete with today's Xbox 360 and PS3 productions, but, as with many classics, its appeal is about so much more than its appearance."


TOP 10 EDGE POLL
1. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina
2. Resident Evil 4
3. Super Mario 64
4. Half Life 2
5. Super Mario World
6. Zelda: A Link to the Past
7. Halo: Combat Evolved
8. Final Fantasy XII
9. Tetris
10. Super Metroid

Only one PC game makes the top 10 - classic first-person shooter Half Life 2. Microsoft's Xbox also has only one representative in the elite list - with Halo: Combat Evolved at number seven.

Only five games for the next generation of consoles have made the top 100 - Pro Evolution Soccer 6, at number 15, Oblivion, at number 19, Virtua Fighter 5, in 38th spot, Virtua Tennis 3 at number 80, and Crackdown at 100.

Tony Mott said: "Crackdown hasn't been around long but has proved itself to be a very good game. It will be interesting to see people's reaction to that.

"If we did this poll in five year's time, I would hope to see more PS3 and Xbox 360 games in the list. But I don't think anyone would argue we have seen that many classics in this new generation."

The list was drawn together in three stages - thousands of reader votes, combined with expert opinion in the games industry and finally input from Edge's own editorial team.

Mr Mott said Ocarina of Time was the reader favourite as well as the overall winner.

'Brilliantly well'

He said: "It appeared not long after games made the shift to 3D, everyone was wondering if it could make the transition.

"It was a very ambitious game. The way they were able to engineer it in a 3D context was a success, it worked brilliantly well."

But he said the intention behind the poll was not to create a "nostalgia festival".

"These games had to stand up today. People will be surprised by the small amount of very old games that have made it through.

"Often these types of lists are full of games like Space Invaders and Pong - which we recognise as classics, as important games - but they don't necessarily stand up to play today."

He added: "I love the fact that old games are being made available to audiences via Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and through compilations but I am not convinced that younger players will play them and appreciate them in the way we did the first time round.

"It's very hard for younger players who play something graphically-rich like Gears of War to then play something like Robotron.

"I think it will be for the greater good of the industry when more effort is put into the content of games than the way they are presented visually."

The five titles to have received a maximum review score from Edge are Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Half-Life 2, Gran Turismo, Super Mario 64 and Halo.

The full list of the top 100 games will be available in a collector's volume called Edge Presents: The 100 Best Videogames, on sale from Tuesday 3 July.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/6261546.stm

Published: 2007/07/02 14:41:26 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

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The Tech Lab: Niklas Zennstrom
In the first of a new series in which the world's leading thinkers outline their personal vision of where technology could be leading us, the co-founder of net telephony service Skype, Niklas Zennstrom explains how the collaborative aspect of the internet will shape the technologies of the future.
The internet communications industry is probably the most disruptive industry in terms of technology development today. The industry has grown, for the most part, in line with what people want to do online.

And its growth is driven by a combination of innovation from the companies that are creating the software, and from user experience.

Innovation tends to be the catalyst. However, what people like doing online tells us a lot about how they like communicating and accessing and sharing information with one another.

One of the common denominating factors behind usage is what the technology gives the individual in return for their endeavours.

A technology platform that is based on a solid, intellectual, R&D driven culture has the opportunity to thrive among a hungry community that wants life made easier.


For me, a disruptive technology is only worthwhile if it gives people something they didn't have or couldn't do before


I've spent most of my professional life working in the communications industry. I've seen many technologies come and go.

The ones that fail tend to be too hard to use and impenetrable to the average consumer.

And they fail because the benefit is often overshadowed by the hype. Many potentially great technologies disappear because, quite simply, they do not give people what they want.

Never-ending quest

That's the key to it really. I am passionate about technology but it is not the never-ending quest to make things smaller, faster, lighter or cheaper that gets me motivated. The sort of new technology that I think about isn't usually born in a boardroom, a technology campus, the back of a garage or as a result of thousands of marketing focus groups.

It tends to originate from a simple idea that can be easily explained to anyone who isn't interested in how you make the technology work but more importantly, interested in what it does.


What intrigues me in particular, are disruptive technologies. Disruption can come in many guises. It is at its most powerful when it comes in the form of a software platform that genuinely alters the status quo for the better.
Disruptive technologies are designed to change the way people interact, work and spend their leisure time.

And disruption - if it's working - makes it even easier and more valuable. So when you're using Skype to make a free or very cheap voice call, letting you see the person you are talking to is an additional benefit.

Simply put, a disruptive technology gives you what you want and at the same time, a better experience.

It sounds so straightforward. However, the exciting part is when you try and build a business on the back of this disruption. It's not always as easy as it sounds.

As an active entrepreneur in the internet communications industry, you might assume what I am most passionate about is the core technology itself.

I am sure that some people find it easy to picture me in a laboratory swapping lines of code with teams of developers or re-designing the Internet on the back of an envelope when sitting in the back of a cab.

But the truth is that I am incredibly attracted to disruptive technology as a whole, where the innovation behind it strips away social hierarchies or monopolies and helps to make the world a smaller place. You can't ignore it, you have to embrace it.

For me, a disruptive technology is only worthwhile if it gives people something they didn't have or couldn't do before. Take mobile phones, for example. The ability to make a phone call on the move, no matter where you happen to be, was a simple but revolutionary step forward in the way we keep in touch with one another.

Single out

If I was to single out where the next big idea is going to come from, from what I've seen so far, it will be driven by what consumers want.

And that's why the internet has been such a fantastic stimulus for many new and disruptive technologies. And those that have been the most successful are the ones which are fun and easy to use.


My instincts tell me that sharing knowledge is a catalyst behind adoption of a new technology


The internet is a great platform for collaboration. It lets people and businesses all over the world communicate and trade with one another.

It is a wholly liberating medium. The internet has been incredibly disruptive across many industries - from retail to manufacturing to finance to entertainment.

Today, for example, over one million people now make their living on eBay, which is astounding.

Real disruption ripples out across the market and spawns new businesses. For me, it's about taking a new leap forward. And a leap forward in technological and economic terms.

And this leap forward can achieve so many things when it reaches momentum.

However, it's important not to confuse disruption in an industry with destruction.

Average consumer

True disruption prompts an evolution in itself - and one which gives more choice to the average consumer.

For example, when Henry Ford invented the mass production car, it didn't mean that other ways of travelling would disappear. It simply meant that people could choose how they wished to travel.

And disruption is not about anarchy either. Setting up a business that gives people something for free is not enough to succeed in the long term. The free proposition is obviously compelling but it's actually all about doing something differently. And doing that 'something' to alter the status quo and take the industry to a new dimension.

Disruption brings forward the process of economic evolution. The technology platform has to develop alongside this. And this is what the Internet has done and continues to do.

It's easy to get carried away however. We need to keep what disruption is capable of in context.

People continue to get excited about new things such as Web 2.0 but to me, this is no more than a label.

It's almost impossible to predict how we will use the internet to communicate with one another in the next five to 10 years and I don't have a crystal ball.

But my instincts tell me that sharing knowledge is a catalyst behind adoption of a new technology.

The more we can do on the internet and the more it helps us to stay in touch or progress a business idea, the more attractive and useful it will be.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/6729509.stm

Published: 2007/06/08 10:14:55 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

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How is a controlled explosion carried out?
WHO, WHAT, WHY?
The Magazine answers...



Police have been carrying out "controlled explosions" on suspicious vehicles. What does that mean?


An explosion would seem, by nature, to be uncontrolled.
But in the last few days officers have carried out several "controlled explosions" in relation to the investigation into the failed car bombings in Glasgow and London.

It was also a method used two years ago on a car left by the 7 July bombers in Luton. The vehicle had a rucksack filled with explosives and the police subjected it to two controlled explosions.

So what happens?

After suspicions are raised that a vehicle may contain explosives, a cordon will be placed around the car and all members of the public moved outside it.


THE ANSWER
Clear the area
Safely gain access to the vehicle
Use a robot and a small charge to destroy the initiating circuit and detonator


On arrival, bomb squad officers will assess the situation. Uppermost in their minds will be how to recover the vehicle intact, says former Met Police commander Bob Milton, with 25 years of counter-terrorism experience
"The aim is to recover the explosives device intact and get as much [evidence] out of it."

First, the inside of the car must be accessed. Opening the boot by hand would be dangerous because of a potential booby trap, so a robot is used to minimise the risk to the bomb disposal officers, says Sidney Alford, an explosives expert.


WHO, WHAT, WHY?
A regular part of the BBC News Magazine, Who, What, Why? aims to answer some of the questions behind the headlines

The robot - for years a familiar sight on the streets of Northern Ireland - may be equipped with a small gun to fire at the vehicle, to open the boot or smash a window. Or it could place a small, preliminary explosive charge on to the boot, at the end of a detonation cord.
If the car has been parked for a few days and presented a very low risk, the explosives could be placed on the vehicle by hand.

Once the vehicle has been accessed, officers prepare for the main controlled explosion. The robot can use its camera to give experts standing at a distance a sight of what is inside.


If there is no device inside the vehicle then the matter has been successfully resolved. But if there is then the question is how to disable or "disrupt" it with a targeted controlled explosion.
"The British approach is almost always to try to get the initiating mechanism [eg a mobile phone] and disable it," says Mr Alford.

A policy used in Iraq is to block all mobile phone signals in the immediate area to prevent such devices being detonated remotely.

What the controlled explosion does is remove the initiating circuit and the detonator, says Hans Michels, a professor of safety engineering.


If the main charge goes off then the car would be destroyed
Dr Hans Michels

"If you have a device that is completely assembled and ready to go, it has an initiating circuit, either electrical or mechanical, which gives a high temperature or shock to set off the detonator and the detonator charge will set off the main charge."

A screen such as a heavy steel plate is placed between the initiator and the main charge, to minimise the damage, says Dr Michels.

A successful controlled explosion will leave the main charge intact and blow only the sensitive part of the device away.

The whole exercise can be carried out by the robot, which can also shoot the detonator and disrupt the device that way. That would still be classed as a controlled explosion.


1. A police cordon is placed around the area
2. The robot can take pictures, place charges or shoot
3. The car boot is targeted first and can be blown open
4. Windows are smashed to see inside. If there is a device seen then a small charge is used to destroy the detonator but keep the main charge intact


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6265598.stm

Published: 2007/07/04 00:00:55 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

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UK presses private Galileo role
The UK says it still believes the private sector should share the risk and the cost of developing Europe's satellite-navigation system, Galileo.
The multi-billion-euro project has been beset with delays and a budget overrun.

And in May, the European Commission abandoned negotiations with a private consortium to help it build the system.

But new UK transport minister Rosie Winterton said the commercial sector should still have a role in developing the new sat-nav service.

"Galileo is considered a key [European] Community project, but we are clear that it cannot be carried out at any price; it has to be affordable, and it has to be value for money," she told a House of Commons debate on the project on Monday.

"It needs better governance and risk management, open competition and a firm focus on the opportunities for getting the private sector to share the costs and risks."

The four-billion-euro (£2.7bn) system is supposed to be functional by the end of 2012.

Its 30 satellites will beam radio signals to receivers on the ground, helping users pinpoint their locations.

Detailed comparison

As originally envisaged, Galileo was supposed to be a public-private partnership (PPP), with European member states funding the early development phase and a private concession covering the cost of completing the infrastructure and then operating it.


GALILEO UNDER CONSTRUCTION
A European Commission and European Space Agency project
30 satellites to be launched in batches by end of 2011-12
Will work alongside US GPS and Russian Glonass systems
Promises real-time positioning down to less than a metre
Guaranteed under all but most extreme circumstances
Suitable for safety-critical roles where lives depend on service


But the negotiations to achieve this have floundered and the Commission is recommending the whole building phase be done with public funds, a proposal that will require Europe's ministers to release an extra one billion euros over and above the funds they were probably going to have to make available under the failed PPP.
Ms Winterton said the British government shared the belief that Galileo would help bring forward an array of new applications for sat-nav, and represented a real opportunity for UK companies to exploit.

However, she said the government - which has so far committed about 148m euros to Galileo - was still determined to see a strong private input into the project.

And she added that the UK had called for a detailed cost-benefit comparison between continuing with a PPP and opting for a public procurement programme. This should be fed into any final decision on the future direction of Galileo expected to be agreed by EU member states in October, she said.

Ms Winterton paid tribute Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, the small company that had built the first Galileo test spacecraft, which has been operating perfectly in orbit for more than 18 months.

Alternative's worth

"If Galileo is to work for the Community, we need more successes like that across Europe. Unfortunately, for a majority of our European partners, the failure of flawed negotiations has tainted the idea of a public-private partnership," the minister said.

"In that context, there is a risk that people tend to fall back on what they know - in this case, public procurement - as the safe option. By doing so, frankly, they ignore the facts."

A number of MPs in the debate expressed concern about the rising costs of the space project, and Tobias Ellwood doubted a commercial case for the project could ever be justified, especially since the American Global Positioning System (GPS) already delivered an excellent service.

"The biggest question that the House must answer is why on Earth we are devoting so much money to the project when there already exists a very decent system run by the Americans," the Conservative member for Bournemouth East said.

"Why are we going ahead with it when something that is free already exists?"

But Montgomeryshire Liberal Democrat Lembit Opik said increasing dependence on sat-nav demanded there be an alternative to GPS.

"The aviation business increasingly depends on global positioning system technology, but there is no redundancy," he explained.

"We have no alternative method of positioning, using satellites, so if the system goes down - and it can - it will create a grave danger to aviation. ...the principle of ensuring redundancy in such an essential navigation system must surely be right?"


Satellite navigation systems determine a position by measuring the distances to a number of known locations - the Galileo satellites
The distance to one satellite defines a sphere of possible solutions; the distances to four satellites defines a single, common area
The accuracy of the distance measurements determines how small the common area is and thus the accuracy of the final location
In practice, a receiver captures atomic-clock time signals sent from the satellites and converts them into the respective distances
The whole system is monitored from the ground to ensure satellite clocks do not drift and give out misleading timings


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/6266264.stm

Published: 2007/07/03 16:13:59 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

[genmirajborgza786]

Hopes for better vCJD diagnosis
Scientists are perfecting a test which they hope will confirm mad cow disease (vCJD) in humans.
At present doctors test for the presence of abnormal proteins called prions which are thought to cause the disease by killing off brain cells.

But this can only be definitively done at post mortem by examining the brain.

An Edinburgh University team has found a way to boost prion numbers to confirm a diagnosis. Their work features in the Journal of Pathology.

The technique, known as protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA), works by by mimicking and accelerating the replication of prions so they are more easily detected in test samples.

It has so far been tested mainly in animal models.

But the Edinburgh team has shown for the first time that it is possible to use the technique to amplify the number of vCJD prions in infected human brain tissue extracts by using normal blood cells (platelets) to drive the reaction.

The sample is incubated with platelets and exposed to repeated rounds of ultrasound, which break the prions up into more numerous smaller particles.

Further research is needed to establish whether the technique can be applied to other tissues, such as blood, that might be used in tests for vCJD.

Confirmatory test

Professor James Ironside, of Edinburgh University's National CJD Surveillance Unit, said the test took too long to carry out to be used to obtain a rapid diagnosis in a blood donation centre.

But he said it could well be suitable as a confirmatory test that could be conducted at a national centre on patients suspected of having the disease.

He said: "One of the issues common to screening tests for various conditions is that of 'false'positive results.

"Work is currently ongoing to develop a screening test for vCJD. By developing a reliable confirmatory test, such as this one, the impact of these false positives can be minimised."

Roger Tomkins, of the CDJ Network, which offers support and advice, said: "We all believe that the earlier the diagnosis the better.

"We know there is no cure but it would save an awful lot of unnecessary and regretful treatment.

"That, for me, would be the real breakthrough."

There have been 161 deaths from variant CJD since the disease emerged in early 1990.

The figure includes three people who received blood transfusions from donors who later developed the disease.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/6270572.stm

Published: 2007/07/05 09:06:27 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

[genmirajborgza786]

New e-waste recycling laws begin
A much-delayed law that makes British producers and importers of electronic goods responsible for the recycling of their products has come into force.
The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive requires 4kg of "e-waste" to be recycled per person.

Manufacturers have to fund recycling schemes, while retailers must offer take-back services to customers.

The legislation was supposed to be operational by August 2005 but was delayed by "major difficulties".

E-waste, which includes PCs, games consoles, microwaves and washing machines, is the fastest-growing form of rubbish in the European Union.

The UK produces an estimated 1.2m tonnes of e-waste each year, most of which has been ending up in landfill sites.

Beyond the shelf

"I think this is an absolutely great piece of legislation," said Jonathan Wright, a senior supply chain executive for Accenture, the management consultancy.





"In the past, all that companies focused on was getting products made and getting them out to customers," he explained.

"Now, organisations are having to think about what is going to happen after the product has been sold."

The WEEE directive entered the statute book at the beginning of the year, but full producer responsibility was delayed until 1 July.

Under the legislation, retailers selling electrical goods are obliged to offer customers a free in-store take-back service on a "like for like" basis, or help fund the expansion of a network of WEEE collection points.

Comet, one of the UK's largest electrical retailers, is among the companies funding the upgrading of local authority-run recycling facilities.

The company's managing director, Hugh Harvey, welcomed the belated introduction of the law.

"We believe this legislation is a really positive initiative which will make it much easier for consumers to recycle their electrical waste," he said.

Collective responsibility

The directive has also required manufacturers to join one of 37 "Producer Compliance Schemes" operating in the UK.

The schemes, which are monitored by the Environment Agency, collect and recycle the e-waste on behalf of the companies.

"The amount we are responsible for is calculated by looking at the amount we sell," explained HP's takeback compliance manager, Kirstie McIntyre.


"We report to our compliance scheme, who in turn reports to the Environment Agency on our behalf.

"We tell them how much IT we sold to consumers and business customers last year; the Environment Agency then adds up all the sales by the major manufacturers and works out percentage responsibility for each company."

However, Mrs McIntyre voiced concern that the EU directive did not offer the same incentives as WEEE legislation in Japan.

"What they have done in Japan is introduce a more individual producers' responsibility approach," she said.

"Instead of HP being responsible for any old IT and recycling it, we are only responsible for HP equipment."

This had a number of additional environmental benefits, she added.

"Most of the environmental impact in complex manufactured goods is decided at the design stage.

"If we design our products to be more recyclable at the end-of-life stage, we not only reap the economic benefits but also the design decisions that we have made.

"Why should we make [components] easier to remove when we are getting everybody else's laptop back.

"At the end of the day, we have shareholders and we have to make a very strong business case for any changes that we make.

"At the moment, we do have design changes that we can make, but we cannot make the business case stack up because we do not get enough of our own products back."

The WEEE Directive is scheduled to be reviewed in 2008, five years after the EU first agreed to implement legislation to tackle the growing problem of e-waste ending up in landfill sites.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/6250080.stm

Published: 2007/07/01 01:41:38 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

[genmirajborgza786]

CHECK THIS OUT FOLK'S !

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/07/sci_nat_enl_1183567896/html/1.stm

 

[genmirajborgza786]

Gene linked to childhood asthma
Scientists have identified a gene that is strongly associated with an increased risk of childhood asthma.
The team of international researchers hope their work, published in Nature, will lead to new treatments.

Studying more than 2,000 children, they pinpointed a gene called ORMDL3, which was found at higher levels in the blood cells of children with asthma.

Carrying a specific variant of this gene may increase the risk of developing asthma by up to 70%.


We suspect that ORMDL3 may be a component of quite ancient immune mechanisms
Professor William Cookson

The researchers also identified genetic markers on chromosome 17 which appeared to alter levels of ORMDL3.

The combination of genetic and environmental factors which cause asthma has been poorly understood.

Researcher Dr Miriam Moffatt, from Imperial College London, said "We are confident that we have discovered something new and exciting about childhood asthma.

"These novel findings do not explain completely how asthma is caused, but they do provide a further part of the gene-environment jigsaw that makes up the disease."

Her colleague, Professor William Cookson, said the results provided the strongest genetic effect on asthma so far discovered.

Yeast clue

However, he said it remained unclear how ORMDL3 increased the risk of asthma.

He said: "Similar genes are found in primitive organisms such as yeast, so we suspect that ORMDL3 may be a component of quite ancient immune mechanisms. It does not seem to be part of the allergic process."

Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood.

The scientists reached their conclusions after comparing the genetic makeup of 994 patients with childhood onset asthma and 1,243 non-asthmatics.

They looked at mutations in genetic building blocks, called nucleotides, which make up DNA.

There are mutations in around one in every 600 nucleotides and the scientists examined more than 317,000 of these mutations to find those specific to childhood asthma.

They also looked at how genes were being expressed within human blood cells.

Dr Victoria King, of the charity Asthma UK, said: "This is an exciting development in determining how genetics affects the chance of developing asthma in childhood, which currently affects one in 10 children in the UK.

"Through research like this, it will be possible to determine both the risks and protective factors associated with a person's genetic makeup, with the long-term aim of preventing and treating asthma in both childhood and later in adult life."


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/6261876.stm

Published: 2007/07/04 23:03:34 GMT

© BBC MMVII