18/12/2011

Johny James

Bletchley Park is an estate located in the town of Bletchley, inBuckinghamshire, England, which currently houses the National Museum of Computing. During World War II, Bletchley Park was the site of the United Kingdom's main decryption establishment, the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS), where ciphers and codes of several Axis countries were decrypted, most importantly the ciphers generated by the German Enigma andLorenz machines. It also housed Station X, a secret radio intercept station.

The high-level intelligence produced at Bletchley Park, codenamed Ultra, provided crucial assistance to the Allied war effort. Sir Harry Hinsley, a Bletchley veteran and the official historian of British Intelligence in World War II, said that Ultra shortened the war by two to four years and that the outcome of the war would have been uncertain without it.^[1]

^{http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/content/machines.rhtm}

reeshma ramesan

The biofuel cell, uses glucose and oxygen at concentrations found in the body to generate electricity.


Plugging gadgets into a socket in the wall, or loading them with batteries - or maybe even unfurling a solar panel - is how most of us think of getting electricity. But what about plugging them into your body?It may sound far fetched, but under the shadow of the Alps, Dr Serge Cosnier and his team at the Joseph Fourier University of Grenoble have built a device to do just that. Their gadget, called a biofuel cell, uses glucose and oxygen at concentrations found in the body to generate electricity.

They are the first group in the world to demonstrate their device working while implanted in a living animal. If all goes to plan, within a decade or two, biofuel cells may be used to power a range of medical implants, from sensors and drug delivery devices to entire artificial organs. 

Biofuel cells could kick-start a revolution in artificial organs and prosthetics that would transform tens of thousands of lives every year.

A new range of artificial, electrically-powered organs are now under development, including hearts, kidneys, and bladder sphincter, and work has begun on fully-functioning artificial limbs such as hands, fingers, and even eyes. But they all have one Achilles heel: they need electricity to run.

Batteries are good enough for implants that don't need much power, but they run out fast, and when it comes to implants, that is more than just an inconvenience, it is a fundamental limitation.

Even devices that do not use much power, such as pacemakers, have a fixed lifespan because they rely on batteries.

They usually need their power packs replaced 5 years after implantation. One study in the US found that one in five 70 year-olds implanted with a pacemaker, survived for another 20 years - meaning this group needed around 3 additional operations after the initial implant, just to replace the battery.

Each operation is accompanied by the risk of the complications of surgery, not something anybody should have to face if it is avoidable.

Other devices such as artificial kidneys, limbs or eyes, would have such high energy demands that users would have to change their power source every few weeks to keep them working. It is simply impractical to use batteries in these devices.

That is where biofuel cells come in. Dr Cosnier and his team are one of a growing number of researchers around the world developing the technology in an attempt to side-step this inherent limitation.

Bodily fluids

At heart, biofuel cells are incredibly simple. They are made of two special electrodes - one is endowed with the ability to remove electrons from glucose, the other with the ability to donate electrons to molecules of oxygen and hydrogen, producing water.

Pop these electrodes into a solution containing glucose and oxygen, and one will start to rip electrons off the glucose and the other will start dumping electrons onto oxygen. Connect the electrodes to a circuit and they produce a net flow of electrons from one electrode to the other via the circuit - resulting in an electrical current.

Glucose and oxygen are both freely available in the human body, so hypothetically, a biofuel cell could keep working indefinitely. "A battery consumes the energy stored in it, and when it's finished, it's finished. A biofuel cell in theory can work without limits because it consumes substances that come from physiological fluids, and are constantly being replenished," said Dr Cosnier.

The idea of powering fuel cells using glucose and oxygen found in physiological fluids was first suggested in the 1970s, but fell by the wayside because the amount of energy early prototypes produced was too little to be of practical use.

However, in the 2002, advances in biotechnology spurred Itamar Willner, a researcher at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, to dust down the idea and give it a fresh look.

Nano technology

The key to the recent breakthroughs has been our understanding of rather special biological molecules called enzymes. Enzymes are naturally occurring molecules that speed up chemical reactions. Researchers studying bio fuel cells have discovered that one particular enzyme, called glucose oxidase, is extremely good at removing electrons from glucose. "It is very efficient at generating electrons," said Prof Willner.

Spurred by new developments in enzyme manipulation, and the growth in availability of carbon nanotubes - which are highly efficient electrical conductors - many groups around the world have developed bio fuel cells capable of producing electricity.

Dr Cosnier and his team decided to take things one step further. "In the last 10 years there has been an exponential increase in research, and some important breakthroughs in enzyme research," he said.

He decided it was time to make the first attempt to take the cumulative knowledge of the last decade of research and engineer it into a device the size of a grain of rice that could generate electricity while implanted inside a rat.

  In 2010, they tested their fuel cell in a rat for 40 days and reported that it worked flawlessly, producing a steady electrical current throughout, with no noticeable side effects on the rat's behaviour or physiology.

Their system is surprisingly straightforward. The electrodes are made by compressing a paste of carbon nanotubes mixed with glucose oxidase for one electrode, and glucose and polyphenol oxidase for the other.

The electrodes have a platinum wire inserted in them to carry the current to the circuit. Then the electrodes are wrapped in a special material that prevents any nanotubes or enzymes from escaping into the body.

Finally, the whole package is wrapped in a mesh that protects the electrodes from the body's immune system, while still allowing the free flow of glucose and oxygen to the electrodes. The whole package is then implanted in the rat.

"It is an important step towards demonstrating the translation of basic research into a practical device," said Willner. "It shows the feasibility of making an implantable package."

Implantation in a rat was a good proof of concept, said Dr Cosnier, but it had drawbacks. "Rats are so small that the production of energy is insufficient to power a conventional device."

Next he plans to scale up his fuel cell and implant it in a cow. "There is more space, so a larger fuel cell can be implanted, meaning a greater current will be generated."

Dr Cosnier hopes it will be enough to power a transmitter that will be able to beam out of the cow information about the device and control sensors inside the animal.

There is still a long way to go. Prof Willner explains that, while the enzyme glucose oxidase has performed optimally, the efficiency of the electron-donating enzymes could still be dramatically improved. He is optimistic that breakthroughs will be made.

"Based on the current rate of progress, I am confident we will see exciting developments in the next decade," said Prof Willner.

Dr Cosnier agrees that there is a lot of room for improvement. "Today we can generate enough power to supply an artificial urinary sphincter, or pacemaker. We are already working on a system that can produce 50 times that amount of power, then we will have enough to supply much more demanding devices," he said.

Implants aren't the only place you may find bio fuel cells in the future. The electronics giant Sony recently announced that it had created a biofuel cell fuelled with glucose and water that was capable of powering an MP3 player. "In 10 years time you may see bio fuel cells in laptops and mobile phones," said Prof Willner.

Dr Cosnier points out that bio fuel cells would be especially useful in places where there is no electricity supply to recharge your batteries. "If you were in a country without electricity, and needed to re-charge a bio fuel cell, all you would have to do is add sugar and water."

ANTO VARGHES

The element 112, discovered at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung (Centre for Heavy Ion Research) in Darmstadt, has been officially recognized as a new element by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). IUPAC confirmed the recognition of element 112 in an official letter to the head of the discovering team, Professor Sigurd Hofmann. The letter furthermore asks the discoverers to propose a name for the new element.
  
      

Already in 1996, Professor Sigurd Hofmann’s international team created the first atom of element 112 with the accelerator at GSI. In 2002, they were able to produce another atom. Subsequent accelerator experiments at the Japanese RIKEN accelerator facility produced more atoms of element 112, unequivocally confirming GSI’s discovery.
To produce element 112 atoms, scientists accelerate charged zinc atoms – zinc ions for short – with the help of the 120 m long particle accelerator at GSI and “fire” them onto a lead target. The zinc and lead nuclei merge in a nuclear fusion to form the nucleus of the new element. Its so-called atomic number 112, hence the provisional name “element 112”, is the sum of the atomic numbers of the two initial elements: zinc has the atomic number 30 and lead the atomic number 82. An element’s atomic number indicates the number of protons in its nucleus. The neutrons that are also located in the nucleus have no effect on the classification of the element. It is the 112 electrons, which orbit the nucleus, that determine the new element’s chemical properties.
Since 1981, GSI accelerator experiments have yielded the discovery of six chemical elements, which carry the atomic numbers 107 to 112. GSI has already named their officially recognized elements 107 to 111: element 107 is called Bohrium, element 108 Hassium, element 109 Meitnerium, element 110 Darmstadtium, and element 111 is named Roentgenium.


AJAY PAUL

Introducing Android 4.0

Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) is the latest version of the Android platform for phones, tablets, and more. It builds on the things people love most about Android — easy multitasking, rich notifications, customizable home screens, resizable widgets, and deep interactivity — and adds powerful new ways of communicating and sharing.

Refined, evolved UI

Focused on bringing the power of Android to the surface, Android 4.0 makes common actions more visible and lets you navigate with simple, intuitive gestures. Refined animations and feedback throughout the system make interactions engaging and interesting. An entirely new typeface optimized for high-resolution screens improves readability and brings a polished, modern feel to the user interface.

Virtual buttons in the System Bar let you navigate instantly to Back, Home, and Recent Apps. The System Bar and virtual buttons are present across all apps, but can be dimmed by applications for full-screen viewing. You can access each application's contextual options in the Action Bar, displayed at the top (and sometimes also at the bottom) of the screen.

Multitasking is a key strength of Android and it's made even easier and more visual on Android 4.0. The Recent Apps button lets you jump instantly from one task to another using the list in the System Bar. The list pops up to show thumbnail images of apps used recently — tapping a thumbnail switches to the app.

http://www.android.com/about/ice-cream-sandwich/
 

Mithun Mathew

University of Bristol scientists claim to have developed software that
can spot whether a song has hit potential.

The program looks at 23 separate characteristics including loudness,
danceability and harmonic simplicity.

Trained using hit songs from the Top 40 over the last 50 years, the
software can predict chart positions with about 60% accuracy, the
scientists say.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16218284

athira

Solar storms can wreak havoc on Earth, but if we can predict them, vital infrastructure could be saved

JUST before noon on 1 September 1859, an English solar astronomer named Richard Carrington witnessed the biggest solar flare ever recorded. About 18 hours later, an intense magnetic storm hit Earth. Currents induced in telegraph wires in Europe and North America sparked fires.

If the 1859 event were to occur today, it could devastate our modern technological infrastructure. So researchers are now turning to automated image-processing and artificial intelligence to better forecast the sun's behaviour and give us time to prepare for a solar onslaught.

Over the past two decades, several solar flares and magnetic storms of varying intensity have hit Earth. Solar flares are surges of X-rays, gamma rays and extreme ultraviolet radiation, and they can damage electric grids, fry satellite electronics and endanger astronauts in space. Even passengers and pilots on aircraft flying over the poles are at risk. Coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which cause magnetic storms, can strike even closer to home (see "Shock wave blackout").

With advance warning, satellite operators can switch off sensitive high-voltage electronics on their craft, astronauts can avoid space walks and even hide behind radiation shields, and planes can avoid polar routes. Solar observatories that study the sun continuously should be able to give us some warning before an impending storm. But the copious data streaming from these telescopes is extremely difficult to analyse.

That is why Piet Martens of Montana State University in Bozeman and his team are automating the process of studying the sun. The team is focusing its efforts on data from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which was launched on 11 February 2010 and is now orbiting 36,000 kilometres above the Earth, in an orbit synchronised with the sun.

The craft takes images of the sun's surface and atmosphere in 10 different wavelengths. It sends back one set of images every 12 seconds. "You need to be able to identify everything you need to inside those 12 seconds," says astronomer James McAteer at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. "Otherwise you get backlogged and you are never going to catch up." This mountain of data adds up to a staggering 1.5 terabytes a day.

Besides the challenge of keeping up with the data stream, identifying features on the sun's surface is extremely difficult. "The sun is a challenging subject for automated image analysis," says Erwin Verwichte of the University of Warwick in Coventry, UK. "The solar atmosphere is transparent so that various features appear superimposed within the line of sight, confusing the picture."

So Martens, McAteer and their colleagues have developed 15 programs that use image-processing techniques such as contour or edge recognition to automatically identify features on the sun's surface (arxiv.org/abs/1109.6922). Each program is looking for a different aspect of solar activity. This include flares and CMEs, as well as other features that might indicate that flares or eruptions are imminent, such as filaments, which are bundles of plasma held down by magnetic field lines, coronal loops and sunspots.

The results could give insights into aspects of solar physics, such as the solar cycle. This periodic change in the amount of radiation reaching Earth lasts roughly 11 years, but is highly erratic. The research will also allow astronomers to study the solar surface in detail and note the features that precede each event.

For now, the researchers have created dedicated programs for each feature they want to study. "This is not the way to go in the long run," says Martens.

To make the process generic, his team is using techniques developed to identify breast tumours. This involves splitting a 1.6-million-pixel image into 1024 blocks. For each block, the software calculates the values for various mathematical parameters, such as the entropy (a measure of the chaos in the image). This turns the image into a series of numbers. In breast imaging, this technique highlights regions of breast tissue with specific values that are known to be characteristic of tumours. Martens's team is doing this with SDO images, training the software to learn the defining characteristics of sunspots, filaments and other solar features.

This software can also be used on as-yet-undiscovered features. A new "signature" can be checked against archive images to see if it has ever shown up before, then used as a reference point for future events. With such data, McAteer thinks that solar physicists will finally be able to do high-calibre empirical science.

The techniques will become more important as bigger solar observatories come online, such as the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope to be built in Hawaii later this decade, and the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter, due to be launched in 2017.

And for us on the ground using GPS devices and living under electricity cables, accurate forecasts of the sun's fiery outbursts cannot come too soon.

Shock wave blackout

Solar flares are not the only danger from the sun. They are often accompanied by eruptions of the sun's plasma, known as coronal mass ejections. CMEs, which can take a few days to reach Earth, are magnetic shock waves that can disrupt Earth's magnetic field and induce currents in electricity transmission lines and oil pipelines, causing blackouts and fires. In March 1989, a CME-induced magnetic storm took out Hydro-Quebec's electricity grid, causing major power outages in Canada. "Companies didn't want to believe that [the cause] could be something as far away as the sun," says Piet Martens of Montana State University in Bozeman. "It took quite a while to convince them."

ref:http://www.newscientist.com

Vivek Kanissery

just imagine>>what ever be the infection that you have..just take a
single drug to cure it..life would be simpler that way..you might just
discard it off as fantasy..but wait..the scientists at MIT have come
up with a drug that will identify the cells which are infected and
just terminate them..this would terminate the infection..

have a look:http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/antiviral-0810.html