Monday, July 23, 2007
Saving Neurons and Memories
A compound that's known to extend life span in worms and fish could also stop neuron damage and cognitive decline.
Physicians can treat the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, but there is no way to prevent or reverse the underlying degeneration and death of neurons that characterize these diseases. Now research by scientists at Harvard and MIT suggests a potential new therapeutic approach.
The scientists have shown that a gene called SIRT1 and a plant compound found in red wine called resveratrol can protect against neuron degeneration in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The researchers demonstrated that activating SIRT1 and injecting resveratrol, which have both been previously associated with life-span extension in lower organisms, can also prevent cognitive problems in the mice.
http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/19080/
Profiting from mortality- Death Bonds
Death bond is shorthand for a gentler term the industry prefers: life settlement-backed security. Whatever the name, it's as macabre an investing concept as Wall Street has ever cooked up. Some 90 million Americans own life insurance, but many of them find the premiums too expensive; others would simply prefer to cash in early. "Life settlements" are arrangements that offer people the chance to sell their policies to investors, who keep paying the premiums until the sellers die and then collect the payout. For the investors it's a ghoulish actuarial gamble: The quicker the death, the more profit is reaped. Most of the transactions are done by small local firms called life settlement providers, which in the past have typically sold the policies to hedge funds. Now, Wall Street sees huge profits in buying policies, throwing them into a pool, dividing the pool into bonds, and selling the bonds to pension funds, college endowments, and other professional investors. If the market develops as Wall Street expects, ordinary mutual funds will soon be able to get in on the action, too.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_31/b4044001.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_top+story
Friday, July 20, 2007
Faster File transfer
Aria using FastTCP to speed up transfers
Aria, a new product from California-based startup FastSoft, speeds up the transfer of any large file over the Internet, without requiring hardware or software on the receiving end. According to Dan Henderson, FastSoft's vice president of product and market development, a 700-megabyte movie file that takes 50 minutes to download regionally via a cable-modem connection can be downloaded in 34 minutes if the sender uses Aria. Overseas transfers show a bigger difference, with the same 700-megabyte movie taking nearly eight hours to download from Asia via a cable modem, and about 45 minutes with Aria.
Caltech researchers designed FastTCP, the algorithm behind Aria, to improve on Reno(Normal TCP protocol). In academic trials, Henderson says, FastTCP has set data-transfer records, transferring data at a sustained rate of 101 gigabits per second. That's equivalent to transmitting the contents of the Library of Congress in 15 minutes.
http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19073/
Higher Capacity Flash memory.
Metal nanocrystals can more than double memory capacity
Flash memory is in nearly every handheld gadget, from digital cameras to iPhones. Now Nanosys, a startup based in Palo Alto, CA, says it has found a material that can double the capacity of flash memory found in conventional chips by adding self-assembled metal nanocrystals to the flash manufacturing process. Nanosys, which has shown that the tiny particles of metal are compatible with today's manufacturing processes, has deals with flash makers Intel and Micron Technologies and expects that metal nanocrystals will be in products as early as 2009.
The new technology could be a boon to the rapidly growing flash industry. The capacity of electronic memory has steadily increased over the years, tracking with Moore's Law, which predicts that the number of transistors on a chip will double every two years. However, the dimensions of individual memory cells in flash chips are only shrinking in the horizontal direction, and not the vertical direction, due to material and physical constraints.
The new technology could be a boon to the rapidly growing flash industry. The capacity of electronic memory has steadily increased over the years, tracking with Moore's Law, which predicts that the number of transistors on a chip will double every two years. However, the dimensions of individual memory cells in flash chips are only shrinking in the horizontal direction, and not the vertical direction, due to material and physical constraints.
Shanghai Maglev train 267 mph- solid
http://www.windingroad.com/videos/
Go to June videos and choose Chinese Maglev train
Chismillionare is amazed at why we can't get this built stateside?
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Robotic Insect Takes Off for the First Time
Researchers at Harvard have created a robotic fly that could one day be used for covert surveillance and detecting toxic chemicals.
A life-size, robotic fly has taken flight at Harvard University. Weighing only 60 grams, with a wingspan of three centimeters, the tiny robot's movements are modeled on those of a real fly. While much work remains to be done on the mechanical insect, the researchers say that such small flying machines could one day be used as spies, or for detecting harmful chemicals.
"Nature makes the world's best fliers," says Robert Wood, leader of Harvard's robotic-fly project and a professor at the university's school of engineering and applied sciences.
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is funding Wood's research in the hope that it will lead to stealth surveillance robots for the battlefield and urban environments. The robot's small size and fly-like appearance are critical to such missions. "You probably wouldn't notice a fly in the room, but you certainly would notice a hawk," Wood says
http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19068/
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