About two years ago we reported on the concept of a biological nanofactory that comprises multiple functional modules: a targeting module specifically targets cells; a sensing module senses and transports raw materials that are present in their vicinity; a biosynthesis module converts raw materials to useful molecules, transport them back to the cell surface, and self-destructs upon completion of this sequence (self-destruct module).
Scientists at the University of Maryland have now demonstrated what was conceptualized in this earlier vision. Moreover they have added a quality that was not originally conceived - the nanofactory needs to have modalities that enable its own assembly. The scientists used the principles of synthetic biology to create the enzyme pathway that has as a part of it an assembly domain. Then, they used 'biofabrication' to assemble antibodies on to the synthesis domain, which enables targeting.
Monthly Archives: January 2010
Coated carbon nanotubes could hold key to high-capacity batteries
Nano-sized cables made with titanium dioxide (TiO2)-coated carbon nanotubes could hold the key to developing new high-capacity batteries, report chemists in Germany and China.
Picosun Introduces Revolutionary Sealed Precursor Cartridge
Picosun Oy, Finland-based global manufacturer of state-of-the-art Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) systems today introduced a novel sealed precursor cartridge which will revolutionize precursor handling and lower the running costs of ALD systems significantly.
Law, science center commemorates 25th anniversary with new name, programs
A quarter-century of academic study at the intersection of law and science was commemorated on Wednesday, Jan. 27, as the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law unveiled its new Center for Law, Science and Innovation and announced programs that will reinvent the law school's role in solving global technological challenges.
A*STAR, EDB partner with Stanford University to nurture next-generation Asian leaders in medical device innovation
The Stanford University Biodesign Program is partnering with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) to establish a new training program called Singapore-Stanford Biodesign. This program seeks to train the next generation of Asian leaders who can develop innovative medical devices to address Asia's growing healthcare needs.
Bayer MaterialScience Opens World’s Largest Carbon Nanotube Pilot Facility
Bayer MaterialScience has opened a new pilot facility for the manufacture of carbon nanotubes at CHEMPARK Leverkusen. The company has invested some EUR 22 million in the planning, development and construction of the facility, which is the largest of its kind in the world and has an annual capacity of 200 metric tons.
New knowledge about the deformation of nanocrystals offers new tools for nanotechnology
With new, advanced equipment, scientists at Riso DTU have shown that materials to produce micro-and nanocomponents react very differently depending on whether crystals are large or small.
The Fast Track to Superresolution – The New Leica TCS STED CW
The Leica TCS STED CW combines the high-end confocal Leica TCS SP5 with purely optical and patented superresolution technology and is characterized by its capability of high speed scanning on the nanoscale - in real time.
Neuronal microchip helps identify neurotoxins
Scientists from Dortmund/Germany have invented an analytical method for the rapid neurotoxicity screening. They grow neurons on a microchip and check for substances that inhibit the formation of a network between the cells.
Hitachi High-Technologies Announces Next Generation Tabletop Microscope TM3000
Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation today announced the development of the Tabletop Microscope TM3000. Shipments of the compact, affordably priced, and exceptionally user-friendly TM3000 are scheduled to start on April 1, 2010.
Dolomite and Emerald BioSystems Collaborate to Produce Award Winning Novel Protein Crystallography Instrument
Dolomite, a world leader in microfluidic design and manufacture, is delighted to announce its collaboration with Emerald BioSystems in the development of the Microcapillary Protein Crystallization System (MPCS) Plug Maker.
14 challenges the world must address to ensure the planet’s survival
Engineers from around the world will hold discussions at The University of Texas at El Paso to address critical problems affecting the planet.
Geert Wilder’s trial begins
American libertarians rally to support Dutch libertarian hero
World's leading libertarian, Dutch Member of Parliament Geert Wilders, on trial for supposed free speech violations for criticisms of Islam.
Editor's Note - We will highlight Wilders and his Party of Freedom here at Libertarian Republican this weekend.
The Great Toyota Recall (from a horse' mouth)
"The throttle mechanism is an electronic system. If the sensor is a thick film version, outside magnetic forces have little effects on it but, if it is a non-contacting hall effect, then a stong pulse would change the signal but all of these are EMC tested to prevent such occurances. Other factors c
Arc Flash Study with ETAP 6.0
I am trying to do an arc flash study using ETAP v 6.0.00. I have a one-line diagram but I am confused on what to represent as loads..basically how to change that one-line into a one-line on etap to do the simulation. Not all the ends of the lines have motor loads.. Many of them are panels or hvac sy
HQ Staff Gets Budget Numbers
Keith's note: Word has it that HQ organizations finally got their FY 2011 budget numbers around 3 p.m. EST today.
Is VASIMR Part Of NASA’s New Architecture?
NASA JSC Solicitation: Variable Specific Impulse Magento-Plasma Rocket - VASIMR
"NASA/JSC has a requirement for the acquisition of services to update a magnet fixture with an additional cryocooler for conduction cooling and to eliminate the liquid cyrogen cooling system in preparation for crycooler testing in vacuum and magnetic field combined environments. In addition, Studies will be conducted to evaluate a Lunar Tug concept utilizing Variable Specific Impulse Magneto-plasma Rocket (VASIMR) engine capabilities from Low Earth Orbit to Lunar Orbit and libration points. NASA/JSC intends to purchase these services from Ad Astra Rocket Company."
Video below
Climate News Highlights
Photo by Eduard Korniyenko--People Seen Through Window Of Public Bus In Stavropol, Russia
Could All the Freezing Weather Lately be Caused by Climate Change? [Yes]
January 29, 2010–Anthropogenic warming has thrown what was once a stable climate into disarray, and may be leading as much to ruinous droughts as to record-breaking freezes.
Climate change is an issue of literal and figurative polar extremes. As the planet inexorably warms, deniers mix in assertions of global cooling with their usual Al Gore insults and political assaults. . . No wonder, then, that people around the globe are dizzy with confusion. Careening between these extremes, they are easily manipulated by seeming opposites, environmental, political and otherwise. All of this, in the end, is complicated by the lack of consensus from gun-shy scientists, who are lately more busy fending off (or feeding off of, depending on the scientist) ludicrous sideshows like Climategate than they are confidently extrapolating the destabilizing scenarios to come, a move that might give all their number-crunching some real-world meaning.
News From The United States of Ostriches
The Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies released the results of a new national survey on public responses to climate change. This report finds that public concern about global warming has dropped sharply since the fall of 2008.
Obama To Propose Tripling Of Nuclear Loan Guarantees
Barack Obama will propose a tripling of government funding for new nuclear reactors to more than $54bn. Barack Obama used his presidential authority to help advance his climate change agenda today, announcing that the US federal government and agencies would cut their giant carbon footprints by 28% by 2020.
The announcement was [shown] by administration officials as evidence of Obama’s commitment to his climate and energy agenda, which has run into opposition in Congress and from coal, oil and manufacturing groups.
The White House said the targets – which are set against 2008 emissions levels – would reduce America’s greenhouse gas emissions by 80m metric tons by 2020, and save the government between $8bn (£5bn) and $11bn in energy costs.
Obama will also propose a tripling of government loan guarantees for new nuclear reactors to more than $54bn, an administration official said, a move sure to win over some Republican lawmakers who want more nuclear power to be part of climate change legislation.
The loan guarantees, which follow Obama’s pledge in his State of the Union address to work to expand nuclear power production, will be announced as part of his budget proposal on Monday, the official said.
Poorly-Placed US Weather Stations Produce Cool Bias in Temperature Record – Not Warm as Claimed
A new study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research – Atmospheres shows that Anthony Watts and SurfaceStations.org was indeed correct. There are indeed a good deal of poorly-placed weather monitoring stations in the United States. And these have caused a bias in the record of temperature changes: [...]
With $4.5M of Pocket Change, Bill Gates Funds Geoengineering Research | 80beats
If climate-watchers found no solutions in December’s failed Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen, then they might be heartened by the fact that billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates thinks there needs to be a greater focus on researching technologies that can slow global warming.
ScienceInsider reports that the Microsoft founder had provided at least $4.5 million of his own money to be distributed over 3 years for the study of methods that could alter the stratosphere to reflect solar energy, techniques to filter carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere, and brighten ocean clouds [ScienceInsider]. These and other geoengineering techniques have been hotly debated in the scientific world, with some critics arguing that tinkering with Earth’s natural systems could do more harm than good.
Methods that divert some incoming solar energy, like spraying reflective aerosols into the stratosphere or making clouds more reflective, have been deemed potentially effective but also risky; the abrupt halt of a large-scale project would result in sudden, extreme warming. On the other hand, techniques that reduce the amount of carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere are considered less risky, but they’re currently too expensive to implement widely.
Some of Gates’ money has been granted to Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Palo Alto, California and physicist David Keith of the University of Calgary in Canada–two of Gates’ informal energy and climate advisers for many years. They have also advised Gates on dispensing the money, some of which has already been granted to Armand Neukermans, an inventor based in Silicon Valley who is working with colleagues to design spray systems for the marine clouds, and students and scientists working for Keith and Caldeira. Funding has also helped support scientific meetings in geoengineering in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Edinburgh, Scotland, and aeronautics research related to altering the stratosphere [ScienceInsider]. Caldeira clarified that Gates’ money had not funded any field experiments; he also noted that some of the funding goes to more general research on climate change.
Gates’ funding is in line with his recent essay on climate policy in which he called for radical innovations in electricity generation and transportation. “If the goal is to get the transportation and electrical sectors down to zero emissions you clearly need innovation that leads to entirely new approaches to generating power,” Gates wrote. “While it is all well and good to insulate houses and turn off lights, to really solve this problem we need to spend more time on accelerating innovation” [Wired.com].
This is not the first time that Gates has shown an interest in geoengineering research. He is an investor in a Seattle, Washington-area firm called Intellectual Ventures that is investigating techniques to geoengineer the stratosphere. Gates worked with them to apply for a patent in 2008 to sap hurricanes of their strength by mixing warm surface water and with cold, deep ocean water.
While Gates’ $4.5 million contribution to climate change research is significant, it does pale in comparison to his other philanthropic efforts. Endorsing vaccines as the world’s most cost-effective public health measure, Bill and Melinda Gates said Friday that their foundation would more than double its spending on them over the next decade, to at least $10 billion [The New York Times].
Related Content:
80beats: Bill Gates Patents a Device Aimed at Halting Hurricanes
80beats: If We Can’t Stop Emitting CO2, What’s Our Plan B?
80beats: Fighting Global Warming: Artificial Trees and Slime-Covered Buildings
80beats: Obama’s Science Adviser Kicks Up a Fuss Over Geoengineering
80beats: Carbon Capture and Storage Gets First Try-Outs Around the World
80beats: Ancient Agriculture Trick, Not Hi-Tech Engineering, Is Best Climate Defense
80beats: Iron-Dumping Experiment Is a Bust: It Feeds Crustaceans, Doesn’t Trap Carbon
DISCOVER: 5 Most Radical Ways to Squelch a Climate Crisis (photo gallery)
Image: iStockphoto
NASA FY2010 Budget Press Conference
NASA Announces Innovation Initiatives With Fiscal Year 2010 Budget
"NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will brief reporters about the agency's fiscal year 2011 budget at 3 p.m. EST on Monday, Feb. 1. The news conference will take place in the James E. Webb Memorial Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, located at 300 E St. S.W., in Washington. NASA Chief Financial Officer Beth Robinson will join Bolden. The news conference will be broadcast live on NASA Television and the agency's Web site. Questions will be taken from media representatives at headquarters and participating field centers."
