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Thu Sep 4 14:23:17 UTC 2008

KURZWEILAI.NET NEWSLETTER

NEWS
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Microbes for Off-the-Grid
Electricity
Technology Review Sep. 4, 2008
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Lebone Solutions aims to use
microbial fuel cells to provide
power to Africans who are off the
grid. In some parts of Africa, only
a small amount of energy is enough
for a few hours of lamp light in the
evening, or for powering the
ubiquitous cell phones--something
that some residents will walk five
hours to a generator to do....
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=9340&m=40924

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Zen training speeds the mind's
return after distraction, brain
scans reveal
PhysOrg.com Sep. 3, 2008
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Experienced Zen meditators can
clear their minds of distractions
(being interrupted by a
word-recognition task) more quickly
than novices, according to a new
brain imaging study by Emory
University School of Medicine
researchers. "This suggests that the
regular practice of meditation may
enhance the capacity to limit the
influence of...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=9339&m=40924

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New nano device detects immune
system cell signaling
PhysOrg.com Sep. 3, 2008
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Vanderbilt University scientists
have detected previously unnoticed
chemical signals that individual
cells in the immune system use to
communicate with each other over
short distances. The signals
originated in dendritic cells -- the
sentinels of the immune system that
do the initial detection of
microscopic invaders. A new
technology, a...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=9338&m=40924

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Internet traffic grows 53 percent
from mid-2007
PhysOrg.com Sep. 3, 2008
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Internet traffic grew 53 percent
from mid-2007 to mid-2008, down from
a growth rate of 61 percent in the
previous 12 months, according to a
study by TeleGeography Research.
Growth on long-haul lines in the
U.S. was even slower, at 47 percent.
The big increase came in regions
where the Internet is less mature.
Traffic between the U.S. and Latin...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=9337&m=40924

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Fatal protein interactions may
explain neurological diseases
PhysOrg.com Sep. 4, 2008
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University of California, San
Diego, and San Diego Supercomputer
Center (SDSC) researchers have
investigated how proteins involved
in neurodegenerative diseases such
as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's
disease interact to form unique
complexes. Their findings explain
why Alzheimer's patients might
develop Parkinson's, and vice versa.
The new and...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=9336&m=40924

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New probe could aid quantum
computing
PhysOrg.com Sep. 3, 2008
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MIT researchers may have found a
way to overcome a key barrier to the
advent of super-fast quantum
computers: amplitude spectroscopy,
which provides a way to characterize
quantum entities over
extraordinarily broad frequency
ranges. Amplitude spectroscopy
gleans information about a
superconducting artificial atom by
probing its response to a...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=9335&m=40924

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Serious Potential in Google's
Browser
New York Times Sep. 2, 2008
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Google's minimalist Chrome browser
is built for a future that blurs the
lines of Web and desktop. oogle
argues that current Web browsers
were designed before so many of the
developments that characterize
today's Web: video everywhere, scams
and spyware, viruses that lurk even
on legitimate sites, Web-based games
and ambitious Web-based programs...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=9334&m=40924

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Massive $208 million petascale
computer gets green light
Network World Sep. 2, 2008
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NASA Ames, Intel and SGI will work
together on a project called
Pleiades to develop a system with a
capacity of one Petaflops peak
performance by 2009 and a system
with a peak performance of 10
Petaflops by 2012. And the 200,000
processor core system known as Blue
Waters got the green light recently
as the University of Illinois at...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=9333&m=40924

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'Knockout' rats could aid study of
psychiatric illness
New Scientist news service Sep. 3, 2008
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Techniques pioneered 20 years ago
to make "knockout" mice -- animals
genetically engineered so that they
lack a specific gene -- can at last
be applied to rats, which are more
socially sophisticated than mice,
and so could provide better models
for psychiatric disorders,
researchers at Stem Cell Sciences
say....
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=9332&m=40924

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