[tt] KurzweilAI.net Daily Newsletter

Wed Apr 30 14:14:40 UTC 2008

KURZWEILAI.NET NEWSLETTER

NEWS
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Scientists make chemical cousin of
DNA for use as new nanotechnology
building block
PhysOrg.com April 29, 2008
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Arizona State University's
Biodesign Institute scientist John
Chaput and his research team have
made the first synthetic
self-assembled nanostructures,
composed entirely of glycerol
nucleic acid (GNA), a synthetic
analog of DNA. (Biodesign Institute
at Arizona State University) With
GNA, the five carbon sugar commonly
found in DNA...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8575&m=40924

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Scientists aim to boost world
energy supplies -- with microbes
PhysOrg.com April 29, 2008
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Newcastle University and University
of Calgary scientists expect to
begin trials ih May to find out if
microbes can unlock the vast amount
of energy trapped in the world's
unrecoverable heavy oil deposits. An
estimated six trillion barrels of
oil remain underground because the
oil has become either solid or too
thick to be brought to the...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8574&m=40924

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Scientists provide explanation for
how cancer spreads
PhysOrg.com April 29, 2008
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Metastasis, the spread of cancer
throughout the body, can be
explained by the fusion of a cancer
cell with a white blood cell in the
original tumor, according to Yale
School of Medicine...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8573&m=40924

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High-Flying Electrons May Provide
New Test of Quantum Theory
PhysOrg.com April 29, 2008
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Researchers at the National
Institute of Standards and
Technology and Max Planck Institute
for Physics in Germany believe they
can achieve a significant increase
in the accuracy of one of the
fundamental constants of nature, the
Rydberg constant (the quantity that
specifies the precise color of light
that is emitted when an electron
jumps from one...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8572&m=40924

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Race Is on to Advance Software for
Chips
New York Times April 30, 2008
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Three rival teams of computer
researchers are working on new types
of software needed for parallel
computing. Stanford University and
six computer and chip makers plan to
announce on Friday the creation of
the Pervasive Parallelism Lab,
joining the University of
California, Berkeley and the
University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign in this...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8571&m=40924

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An Electrifying Startup
Technology Review May/June 2008
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A novel lithium-ion battery
developed by A123 Systems stores
more than twice as much energy as
nickel-metal hydride batteries (used
in today's hybrid cars), while
delivering the bursts of power
necessary for high performance.
A123's batteries could finally make
lithium-ion technology practical for
the auto industry. Instead of cobalt
oxide,...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8570&m=40924

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Gene Sequencing for the Masses
Technology Review April 30, 2008
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The Polonator, an inexpensive
($150,000) sequencing machine
developed by George Church's lab at
Harvard Medical School and by
Danaher Motion, is due to hit the
market in May. Millions of beads
coated with small fragments of the
DNA to be sequenced are spread on a
glass slide. Next, a series of
fluorescently labeled DNA bases bind
to the...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8569&m=40924

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Mirrors on the Moon could catch
alien eyes
NewScientistSpace April 29, 2008
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Covering half of the Moon with
mirrors could allow for signalling
ET, using a prime-number series, say
Shawn Domagal-Goldman and Jacob
Haqq-Misra of Pennsylvania State
University. The underside of the
mirrors could also be covered with
photovoltaic cells, which when the
mirrors were flipped, could make
electricity, to be beamed by
microwaves...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8568&m=40924

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New approach might strike at the
core of Alzheimer's disease
Science News April 25, 2008
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Max Planck Institute and JADO
Technologies researchers have found
a novel way to fight Alzheimer's
disease by creating an
enzyme-inhibiting molecule that
sticks to cell membranes, keeping
the molecule concentrated in the
location where the damaging enzyme
is active. The enzyme beta-secretase
cuts up a larger molecule called
amyloid precursor...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8567&m=40924

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Tripping Up Avian Flu
Science News April 28, 2008
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Researchers at the Chinese National
Research Center for Wildlife Born
Diseases have made plasmids--small
rings of designer DNA--that they say
can block the bird flu virus from
reproducing in cells. Once inside
cells, the plasmids make short
interfering RNAs (siRNAs), sequences
that exactly match part of a gene in
the virus' genome. When the...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8566&m=40924

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Silver nanoparticles in wastewater
may be killing beneficial bacteria
KurzweilAI.net April 30, 2008
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University of Missouri researchers
have found that silver nanoparticles
in water may harm benign bacteria
used to remove ammonia from
wastewater treatment systems,
halting their reproduction. Products
containing silver nanoparticles
include socks (to inhibit
odor-causing bacteria), and
high-tech, energy-efficient washing
machines, where they...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8565&m=40924

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How to reverse fast-food Damage
KurzweilAI.net April 30, 2008
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Saint Louis University researchers
say that eating too much fast
food--a diet high in fat and
sugar--can cause serious damage to
the liver in as little as a week. In
mice, just one month on a diet that
mimicked fast food resulted in an
increase in liver enzymes--a key
indicator of liver damage--and the
beginnings of glucose intolerance,
they...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=8564&m=40924

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