[tt] KurzweilAI.net Daily Newsletter

Thu Apr 24 16:07:28 UTC 2008

KURZWEILAI.NET NEWSLETTER

NEWS
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Major Step Forward In Understanding
How Memory Works
ScienceDaily April 23, 2008
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Bristol University neuroscientists
were able to identify a key
molecular mechanism that controls
synaptic plasticity in the
perirhinal cortex. They then
demonstrated that blocking the same
molecular mechanism that controls
synaptic plasticity also prevented
visual recognition memory in rats.
This shows that such memory relies
on specific...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8522&m=40924

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New source for biofuels discovered
PhysOrg.com April 23, 2008
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A newly created microbe -- a
genetically altered cyanobacterium
-- produces cellulose that can be
turned into ethanol and other
biofuels, report scientists from the
University of Texas at Austin, who
say the microbe could provide a
significant portion of the nation's
transportation fuel if production
can be scaled up. Cyanobacteria
(left);...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8521&m=40924

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The State of the Global Telecosm
Technology Review May/June 2008
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The telecommunications technologies
of the "telecosm" that George Gilder
envisioned a decade ago--a global
network with infinite bandwidth and
instantaneous transmission--are
becoming available in 2008....
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8520&m=40924

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More-Accurate Radiation Therapy
Technology Review April 24, 2008
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Engineers at Purdue University are
developing a simple wireless device
that when implanted into tumors
could give clinicians a more
accurate indication of the amount of
radiation that the tumors receive
during treatment....
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8519&m=40924

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Science fiction inspires DARPA
weapon
New Scientist news service April 22, 2008
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DARPA is working on a weapon called
MAHEM (Magneto Hydrodynamic
Explosive Munition) that uses a
principle similar to Arthur C.
Clarke's fictional Stiletto, "a jet
of molten metal, hurled through
space at several hundred kilometers
per second by the most powerful
electromagnets ever built." MAHEM
uses magnetic fields to propel
either a...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8518&m=40924

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Making Money, the How-To Way
New York Times April 23, 2008
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Americans' fascination with
instructional videos has shifted to
the Internet, where a virtually
unlimited amount of shelf space
guarantees there is something for...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8517&m=40924

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Cheap Infrastructure
Technology Review April 23, 2008
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Google's recently launched App
Engine is one of several offering
cheap infrastructure to Web
businesses, allowing them to rent
storage and processing power and
avoid expensive hardware purchases.
Also see: Cloud Computing. Available
at Amazon.com Today...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8516&m=40924

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City road networks grow like
biological systems
New Scientist news service April 23, 2008
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French Atomic Energy Commission and
Indiana University scientists have
developed a simple mathematical
model that can recreate the
characteristic leaf-like patterns in
city roads. They say the patterns
evolve thanks to similar local
efforts, as people try to connect
houses, businesses and other
infrastructures to existing roads.
Likewise,...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8515&m=40924

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Aligned nanotube swarms may lead to
nanoprocessors
KurzweilAI.net April 24, 2008
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Duke University chemists have found
a way to grow swarms of long,
straight cylinders only a few atoms
thick in very large numbers by using
the crystal structure of a quartz
surface as a template. These
single-walled carbon nanotubes also
follow parallel paths as they grow,
so they don't cross each other to
potentially impede electronic...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8514&m=40924

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Beating heart tissue grown in lab
Nature News April 23, 2008
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An international team of cell
biologists, led by McEwen Centre for
Regenerative Medicine scientists,
used human embryonic stem cells to
create heart tissue--complete with
beat--in a test tube. The tissue
culture contains three distinct cell
types, each important in functioning
hearts, and is a step towards
lab-grown heart-tissue...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8513&m=40924

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Adult heart derived stem cells
develop into heart muscle
KurzweilAI.net April 24, 2008
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University Medical Center Utrecht
and Hubrecht Institute researchers
have succeeded in taking stem cells
from adult human hearts and growing
them into large numbers of new heart
muscle cells. The stem cells were
derived from material left over from
open-heart operations, and grew into
fully developed heart muscle cells
that contract...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8512&m=40924

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Maps Point the Way to Fighting the
Flu Virus
Scientific American April 23, 2008
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An international team of
researchers from Cambridge, Los
Alamos, and Erasmus Medical Center
has built influenza-tracking
"antigenic cartography" software
that tracks and maps influenza
strains and immune system responses
to them. By being able to integrate
data from around the world on immune
system responses to influenza
strains, researchers...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8511&m=40924

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Species loss 'bad for our health'
BBC News April 23, 2008
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Conservation scientists are warning
that a new generation of medical
treatments could be lost because
species go extinct before
researchers have had the chance to
examine and understand their
potential health benefits. They give
the example of the southern gastric
brooding frog, which raised its
young in the females' stomachs. It
went extinct...
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