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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Month: July 2001

VR systems help envision large data sets

from the visionary dept.
A team of researchers at the Center for Image Processing and Integrated Computing (CIPIC) at the University of California, Davis are applying virtual reality to help scientists to see and handle large, complex sets of data. According to the press release on their work, the researchers say the simplest way to handle this data is to make it visible, so that scientists can "see" what is happening in an experiment. Virtual reality allows researchers to interact with the data while they are looking at it, making changes and seeing what happens.

The center is also offering a graduate-level class in which students learn how to build and work with virtual reality environments.

Commentary from Reason on RAFI report

from the View-from-another-shore dept.
Reason Magazine science correspondent Ronald Bailey makes a rather vituperative commentary ("Nanotech Negativism", 4 July 2001) on a what he terms is a " neo-Luddite report" from the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI) in February ("The ETC Century"). In particular, Bailey expresses concern that the concerns raised by groups such as RAFI, especially gray-goo scenarios, will create a "fear of nanotech will inspire authoritarian repression to monitor or prevent the research from proceeding." After noting ongoing efforts to envision effective countermeasures to abuse and misuse of replicating nanobots, Bailey takes particular exception to a suggestion for an international technology regulatory body: "It doesnít take much of an imagination to realize what such a cumbersome and highly politicized process would do to the pace of technological progress. Not even rampaging nanobots would be able to outgrow an expanding U.N. bureaucracy."

Bailey had similar comments on what he terms "a global anti-technology movement" in February.

UN commission sets guidelines for GMOs

from the political-science dept.
An article from United Press International ("World guidelines set up for genetically modified food", by J. Zarocostas, 6 July 2001) reports officials from 165 countries agreed during a meeting in Geneva of the international food standards organization on the first formal set of global guidelines for risk assessment of foods derived from genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The commission concluded that GMOs foods should be tested and approved before they enter the market and stressed in particular should be tested for their potential to cause allergic reactions. However, the meeting failed to reach an accord on the contentious issue of GMO labeling because of continued differences between major members such as the European Union and the United States.

Article in LA Times on nanotech

from the putting-things-in-perspective dept.
In the wake of an announcement on 6 July 2001 by researchers in the Netherlands that they had created a nanotube based single-electron transistor, Los Angeles Times science writer Charles Pillar offers this commentary that puts the discovery in context ("Tiny Transistors a Big Leap for Technology", 6 July 2001):

ìNanotechnology is being researched by scientists in many parts of the world. The most optimistic researchers project the creation of super-intelligent, microscopic devices that will push computing into futuristic realms. A multitude of micro devices might solve the toxic waste problem by disassembling poisonous molecules, such as dioxin, into the innocuous atoms that compose them, for example. Other scientists remain skeptical, saying that the absence of enabling technologies–such as wireless communications and power supplies–make such advances unfeasible any time soon.î

Piller concludes: "Skeptics contend that practical applications of nanotechnology are still a long way off. But a rush of incremental nanotech advances–such as the Delft University team's transistor–make it clear that nanotechnology is moving out of the realm of science fiction."

Idea furtures claim "Germ15" not satisfied — yet

from the not-quite dept.
ChrisHibbert writes "There was a recent scientific announcement closely enough related to the Foresight Idea Futures claim Germ15 that the organizers of the market called in an expert to determine whether the claim should be judged true at this point. The claim simply says:

      By 2015, the NY Times will report the live birth of a
      germline-modified human, who lived more than one year
      after. (This birth can happen anywhere in the world.)"

Read more for the results . . .

ASME establishes nanotech "virtual institute"

from the engineering-the-future dept.
The July 2001 issue of ASME News, a newsletter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, reports that the ASME Board of Governors has approved development funding for a virtual institute — a clearinghouse for ASME's nanotechnology-related activities.
The purpose of the institute will be to provide international forums for technology transfer in the design, synthesis, manipulation and control of nanoscale systems. A goal for the Institute is support for nanotechnology design and development and the commercialization of the products and processes that use nanotechnology. It will also promote ASME as a leading engineering society for the practical application of nanotechnology as well as for the interdisciplinary engineers and scientists who will serve as the systems integrators.

Internet facilitates virtual collaborations, pack science

from the good-news,-bad-news dept.
Two recent items indicate some of the effects the Internet is having on scientific research:
A study by University of Michigan researcher Stephanie Teasley describes the use of technology that allows distributed collaboration via a "collaboratory" — a virtual center where people in different locations work together as easily as if they were all in the same place — is gaining appeal in science and education, as well as business and industry. Teasley and her co-workers report on some of the benefits and opportunities collaboratories offer, as well as the stumbling blocks associated with a distributed problem solving environment, in the 29 June 2001 issue of Science. An article in the New York Times ("Inside the Virtual Laboratory, Ideas Percolate Faster Than Rivalries", by I. Austen, 5 July 2001) provides additional coverage.
Another item in the the NY Times ("The Web as Dictator of Scientific Fashion", by J. Glanz, 19 June 2001) indicates the Web and cheap satellite communications may be fostering a sort of "pack science." The article notes that "instead of fostering many independent approaches to cracking problems, the Web, by offering scientists a place to post their new results immediately, can create a global bandwagon in which once-isolated scientists rush to become part of the latest trend . . . In the resulting stampede, all but a few promising avenues are quickly abandoned.î

Note: Access to the NYT website is free, but may require registration.

Research shows genetic abnormalities in clones

from the gene-blues dept.
A study by researchers at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and University of Hawaii that one method used for cloning animals can produce seemingly normal-looking clones that harbor serious abnormalities affecting gene expression that may not manifest themselves as outward characteristics. The research was reported in the July 6 issue of Science.
In addition, their work found that mice cloned from embryonic stem cells exhibited a wide variety in gene expression, as well as extremely unstable gene expression in the stem cells themselves. This may shed light on why current cloning methods produce few live births and abnormally large survivors.
However, many of the cloned mice in the study survived to adulthood, however, meaning that mammals may be more tolerant of this type of widespread gene dysregulation during development than previously suspected.

Dutch researchers create nanotube-based single-electron transistor

from the molectronics dept.
Researchers in the Netherlands have created a single-electron transistor (SET) made from a single carbon nanotube, whose minute size and low-energy requirements should make it an ideal device for molecular computers. The Dutch nanotube single electron transistor, the first to operate efficiently at room temperature, was described in the 6 July 2001 issue of Science.
"We've added yet another important piece to the toolbox for molecular electronics," said author Cees Dekker of Delft University of Technology, in the Netherlands. Dekker and his colleagues started with a single carbon nanotube, and used the tip of an atomic force microscope to create sharp bends, or buckles, in the tube. These buckles worked as the barriers, only allowing single electrons through under the right voltages. The whole device was only 1 nm wide and 20 nanometers long.

Research provides better understanding of protein dynamics

from the nanoslosh dept.
Proteins are far more active and dynamic than scientists have imagined, say researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Their study, published in the 23 May 2001 issue of Nature, affords the first comprehensive view scientists have had of a proteinís internal motion. "The interior of a protein is much more liquid-like than scientists originally anticipated. Everything is moving, and it's moving all the time, very fast," said A. Joshua Wand, PhD, Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at Penn and principal author of the study. "The really exciting thing is they move so much that, potentially, it dramatically influences how they work," Wand said.

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