Month: June 2000

from the next-step:-IP-routing-through-Alpha-Centauri dept.
WillWare writes "There is a story in the Sunday Times in London about an NEC physicist in Princeton NJ planning to publish the result that light pulses have moved faster than the speed of light." [The scientist's home page which announced the results now simply carries a statement that the research is awaiting peer review. — Dave] "The big question, of course, is whether superluminal light can be modulated with information, essentially carrying that information into the past if you can correctly juggle inertial frames of reference. Investing opportunities aplenty here. " Doubtful; as the New York Times article states, most physicists agree that such a pulse can't be used to transmit information.

from the but-what-if-the-viruses-unionize? dept.
Bryan Bruns writes "Researchers have found viruses with protein strands on their surfaces which bind to semiconductors. A Washington Post article, with supporting quotes from some leading researchers, suggests this approach might create templates for nanofabrication, self-assembled like seashells. This reports on an article by Belcher et al. in Nature." It looks like the researchers used artificial selection to enhance the viruses' ability to bond to specific semiconductor materials.

from the yet-another-actuator dept.
Jeffrey Soreff writes "Richard Terra and Christine Peterson originally pointed me towards an article on a chirality-switching molecule from NYU described at link

Quoth the press release web page:

A New York University team led by chemist James W. Canary has developed a molecule with switchable chirality*. (FOOTNOTE: Nearly all biomolecules are chiral compounds. That is, they exist in two forms (enantiomers) which are non-superimposable mirror images of each other. …) …The investigators were then able to switch the molecule's chirality by the addition or removal of an electron.

For more analysis by Jeffrey Soreff, click "Read More" below.

from the AIs-will-even-be-better-at-emoting dept.
ChrisP writes "James Matthews interviews Marvin Minsky on machine emotion and consciousness. Sample: 'Future machines will be capable of all sorts of emotions, and eventually they will invent new ones whenever this is found useful for solving different kinds of problems.' "