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Thu Apr 17 14:22:29 UTC 2008

KURZWEILAI.NET NEWSLETTER

NEWS
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The Way We Will Be 50 Years From
Today
KurzweilAI.net April 17, 2008
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In the new book The Way We Will Be
50 Years From Today: 60 Of The
World's Greatest Minds Share Their
Vision Of The Next Half-Century
(Thomas Nelson, April 2008), Mike
Wallace asks a group of visionaries,
including 15 Nobel Prize winners, to
describe the next half-century.
Among the forecasts: - Our
grandchildren will live to be 140
years...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8454&m=40924

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Warning on Storage of Health
Records
New York Times April 17, 2008
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Two leading researchers warn that
the entry of big companies like
Microsoft and Google into the field
of personal health records could
drastically alter the practice of
clinical research and raise new
challenges to the privacy of patient
records. Microsoft and Google have
recently begun offering Web-based
personal health records, in a new...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8453&m=40924

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The $100 Genome
Technology Review April 17, 2008
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Complete Genomics and
BioNanomatrix, are collaborating to
create a novel approach that would
sequence your genome for $100 in a
single day. The most recent figures
for sequencing a human genome are
$60,000 in about six weeks. Each DNA
molecule will be threaded into a
nanofluidics device, made
BioNanomatrix, lined with rows of
tiny...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8452&m=40924

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Revealed: the Asian source of the
annual flu epidemic
New Scientist news service April 17, 2008
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In the biggest analysis of flu
strains ever, Cambridge University
researchers have shown the annual
flu epidemic comes from eastern and
southeast Asia, a product of the
connectedness of people and the
patchiness of the region's rainy
seasons. New viruses appeared in
eastern and southeast Asia 6 to 9
months before they showed up
anywhere else,...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8451&m=40924

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Vitamins 'may shorten your life'
BBC News April 16, 2008
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Copenhagen University research has
suggested that certain vitamin
supplements do not extend life and
could even lead to a premature
death. A review of 67 studies with
trials involving 233,000 people
found "no convincing evidence" that
antioxidant supplements cut the risk
of dying," and suggested that
vitamins A and E could interfere
with the...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8450&m=40924

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How to create precision 3D images
anywhere
KurzweilAI.net April 17, 2008
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The Fraunhofer Institute for
Applied Optics and Precision
Engineering has developed a
miniaturized, portable stereo camera
that can create 3D images anywhere.
The "Kolibri CORDLESS" device
includes a miniaturized LED-based
projector that casts a pattern of
stripes on the photographed objects.
The geometry of the measured object
can be...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8449&m=40924

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Computers that react to emotions
KurzweilAI.net April 17, 2008
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A computer system that can carry on
a discussion with a human being by
reacting to signals such as tone of
voice and facial expression is being
developed by an international team
led by German AI research center
DFKI. Known as SEMAINE, the project
will build a Sensitive Artificial
Listener (SAL) system, which will
perceive a human user's...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8448&m=40924

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Drake formula revisited
KurzweilAI.net April 17, 2008
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University of East Anglia scientist
Andrew Watson has developed a new
mathematical model of the
probability of intelligent life in
the universe. His model, published
in the journal Astrobiology,
suggests the odds of finding new
life on other Earth-like planets are
low, given the time it has taken for
beings such as humans to evolve, the...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8447&m=40924

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New Artificial Material Paves Way
To Improved Electronics
ScienceDaily April 16, 2008
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University of Liege and University
of Geneva scientists have developed
a new artificial material based on
interface engineering at the atomic
scale that promises to open up
radically new electronic
applications. (University of Liege)
The material is a superlattice, with
a multilayer structure composed of
alternating atomically thin layers...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8446&m=40924

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Wireless EEG System Self-powered By
Body Heat And Light
ScienceDaily Apr. 16, 2008
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The Interuniversity
Microelectronics Centre, affiliated
with the Holst Centre, has developed
a wireless 2-channel EEG system
powered only by body heat and
ambient light. The hybrid power
supply combines a thermoelectric
generator that uses the heat
dissipated from a person's temples
and silicon photovoltaic cells. It
could be used to...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8445&m=40924

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Faster, more sensitive AFM probes
extend nanoscale measurements
KurzweilAI.net April 17, 2008
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New Georgia Institute of Technology
research demonstrates that novel
probe technology based on flexible
membranes can replace conventional
atomic force microscopy (AFM)
cantilevers for applications such as
fast topographic imaging,
quantitative material
characterization and single-molecule
mechanics measurements. The force
sensing integrated...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8444&m=40924

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Of Circles and Solar Cells
Popular Science April 16, 2008
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University of Washington
researchers have created "popcorn
balls" out of nanometer-sized
kernels of light-absorbing material
to capture more light on solar
collectors by clumping hundreds of
minuscule grains into clusters of
large grains. (University of
Washington) The small grains provide
a large surface area for maximum
absorption, while...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8443&m=40924

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Digital Sound Separator
Technology Review April 16, 2008
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A new piece of software called
Direct Note Access from Celemony
Software will for the first time
allow computers to analyze the
digitized sounds of guitar or piano
chords, or even multi-instrument
recordings, and then extract and
modify individual notes. (Celemony
Software) Notes can be moved up or
down to change their pitch, or back
and...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8442&m=40924

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DreamWorks to make 'Ghost' in 3-D
Variety April 14, 2008
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DreamWorks has acquired rights to
the Japanese manga "Ghost in the
Shell" (a future in which people and
machines are starting to merge),
with plans to adapt the futuristic
police thriller as a 3-D live-action
feature....
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8441&m=40924

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Roasting Plant's Javabot Combines
Engineering and Coffee
Design News April 7, 2008
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The Roasting Plant Coffee Company
in New York takes automated coffee
production to a new level--its
"Javabot" functioning as much like a
small factory as a retail coffee
shop. (Tim Ireland) Coffee beans (a
choice of seven different beans,
customer-blended) travel overhead in
pneumatic tubes, whooshing between
storage bins, a roasting...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8440&m=40924

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How Social Networking Could Kill
Web Search as We Know It
Popular Mechanics April 16, 2008
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With the rise of social networking
sites such as Facebook, MySpace,
Twitter, Second Life, LinkedIn and
even Google's own Orkut, the next
generation of Web users may find
what they want by using their social
network rather than a search
algorithm. The logic of search may
also flip inside out. Since we are
essentially meta-tagging ourselves...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8439&m=40924

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Shape-shifting skin to reduce drag
on planes and subs
New Scientist news service April 16, 2008
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Aircraft or submarines covered with
an undulating skin able to change at
a flick of a button would experience
50% less drag than conventional
vehicles. This trick, which
naturally occurs in dolphins, is now
being tested by engineers at Texas
A&M...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8438&m=40924

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