'Memory' how to fight Flu

In short order every few years a new flu strain evolves that many say threatens to disrupt civilization as we know it.  With super bug fears rising every year, some say the next superbug could be the one that finally mimics the Spanish flu and kills millions.  Of course these diseases are often seen as nothing more than an inconvenience.  But fear them or merely dislike them, a new vaccine may soon be available that removes the flu from our lives forever.

The logic of the vaccine is as follows: there are two largely recognizable parts of a flu virus, the head and the stem.  In using an analogy comparing the flu virus to an ice-cream cone we can discover how the vaccine works.  The head of the virus is similar to the ice cream contained in the cone.  The flavors or genetic variations of the virus change from one generation to the next, making it difficult to predict what will be coming next.  Meanwhile, despite the flavors of virus being different the cone is always the same, and rarely changes.  This new vaccine will target the thing that makes all flu viruses similar by making the body produce antibodies that fight specifically against it.

Scientists for years have had difficulty combating the rapidly mutating flus partially because of how different they can be from year to year and even from month to month.  When H1N1 first hit the US, 24 hour news coverage soon decreed that it could be a disaster of national proportions.  In retrospect, many have come forward saying these reports were hasty while others contend that H1N1 was never more than a few mutations away from becoming a serious problem.  And a mere five years earlier the Bird flu H5N1 was seen as a potential killer that could mutate into something quite deadly and cause the same level of devastation.  If every five years a flu is going to come around that threatens civilization as we know it, then a universal flu vaccine is certainly a worthy endeavor.

And that vaccine may soon be developed thanks to the efforts of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and its director, Anthony S. Fauci.  Fauci has found a way to create antibodies in animals that neutralize several different strains of the disease and provide protection that could last for ten years.  Given that somewhere around 36,000 people in the US die annually of the common flu, this would be a milestone achievement.  A single vaccine is expected to last for ten years, meaning up to 360,000 lives could be saved right away.  And that's only taking into account deaths in the United States.  Globally the disease claims up to 500,000 lives annually, meaning up to five million could be saved over one ten year period if the vaccine works.  And this is just taking into consideration the standard flu.  A super flu that could cause widespread devastation in a pandemic scenario could soon become a thing of the past.

Design unveiled for world's fastest car

Farnborough:

A British team aiming to smash the current land speed record has unveiled the design of a pencil-shaped car that it hopes will travel at more than 1,000 miles (1,609 kms) an hour.

After three years of aerodynamic research, construction is about to begin on the Bloodhound Supersonic Car which will be powered by a jet engine and a rocket with the record attempt slated for 2012 in South Africa.

"We have fixed the shape," said Andy Green, the Royal Air Force fighter pilot who will drive the Bloodhound as it attempts to speed into the record books.

"Because of the modelling we have done, we know this shape will go to 1,000 miles an hour. Now we are actually going to get on and build it."

The same team, led by Briton Richard Noble, hold the current record of 763 mph set in 1997. At that stage Green became the first man to travel at supersonic speed on land, breaking the sound barrier.

Powered by a combination of a Typhoon fighter's jet engine and a Falcon rocket, the car unveiled at the Farnborough International Air Show will develop 135,000 horse power or 180 times the power of a Formula 1 car.

The record attempt, on a dry lake bed, will see it accelerate from stationary to 1,000 mph (1,609 kmph) in 4.5 miles (7.25 km) in 45 seconds.

But the team say their mission is not just to break the land speed record - they want to inspire the next generation of engineers and technologists.

Since the project was announced in October 2008 at the Science Museum in London, more than 1.5 million British school children have become involved in the Bloodhound Education programme.

Paralyzed Man Bionic Legs Invention

 

 Every year the field of medical science closes the gap between humans and robots just a tiny step more in the name of providing patients with better lives.  The miracles of science have now provided one paralyzed man a news lease on life, and may even save the lives of others as well.  With bionic technology the patient is not only enjoying a new set of bionic legs, but a whole new way of living.

Five years ago New Zealander Hayden Allen found himself wondering if he would ever walk again as doctors informed him that the motorcycle accident he had just been involved in had severed his spinal cord.  Doctors were certain he wouldn't, but Hayden knew there were always ways of proving even doctors wrong.  And it was with the help of a team of researchers that he discovered his days of walking were far from over.

The new device will allow Hayden to not only walk, but to sit down and even use stairs – a significant advantage over the wheelchair Hayden had become used to.  The biotech company developing the legs calls it simply 'Rex,' which is Latin for King but also stands for Robotic EXoskeleton.  And there's no doubt with his new lease on life Hayden Allen is feeling as fortunate as a King as he is able to see his legs walking for the first time in years.

The device does not require any special neural interface to work.  There was no surgery involved, and Allen can just strap himself in and walk to his heart's content even if his spinal column is not functioning.  With sufficient practice Hayden Allen's new pair of bionic legs will seem as though they were a natural extension of his own body.

The legs are controlled by a remote control that juts out from the hip.  Hayden inputs what he wants them to do and they perform the duties themselves.  As Hayden selects an action (such as sitting) the legs begin that process while servos perform the actual work.  The legs were what allowed Hayden to walk on stage during a meeting with the Prime Minister John Key and shake his hand.

The legs provide a medical benefit as well as a practical one.  With movement in the legs circulation will be helped unlike when Hayden was simply sitting in a wheelchair, making blood clots less of a threat to his wellbeing than they once were.  Additionally, he has had greater success with work now than before, and can perform much more practical duties as a mechanic than he once was able to do.  Even simple tasks, such as locking the doors of his house are more easily performed than they once were.

And who knows what the future of bionics may bring.  With technology that reads brainwaves and allows humans to control objects simply by thinking about them, perhaps a more futuristic and dexterous system will be in the works in the future, allowing those suffering from life changing paralysis an opportunity to walk hands free and walk or even run.  The future indeed looks bright for medical technology in this field.

Lenovo plans Android tablet PC

Hong kong: Lenovo Group, the world's No 4 PC brand, said it will roll out its own tablet PC, becoming the latest technology company to jump on the bandwagon for computers styled after Apple Inc's popular iPad.

Lenovo was developing a tablet PC, known internally as LePad, that would run on Google Inc's Android operating system, Lenovo spokeswoman Wu Hwa said on Wednesday, adding that no launch date had been set and the name of the product may change.

"We want the tablet PC to be compatible with our LePhone smartphone, which is why we're using Android," Wu said.

LePhone is Lenovo's smartphone offering in China, sold by China Unicom, which also runs on Android.

Tablet PC shipments are expected to grow by an average 57.4 percent per year between 2010 and 2014, research firm IDC said, making the sector a lucrative growth area for companies selling heavily commoditised laptops.

The tablet PC has already caught the attention of major PC companies such as Hewlett-Packard Co, Dell Inc and now Lenovo, as they look to diversify beyond laptop PCs that typically offer low profit margins.

Apple's iPad, launched in April, sold 3.27 million units in the second quarter, prompting research firm iSuppli to revise upwards its full-year shipment forecast for the product to 13 million units from 7.1 million units.

"iSuppli believe that the only limitation on iPad sales now is production and not demand," iSuppli analyst Rhoda Alexander said.

Arts funding cuts 'to threaten more theatres

The Futurist Theatre in Scarborough is considered at risk due to its prime seafront location

The number of theatres at risk of demolition could grow in the next year due to funding cuts, a report warns.

The Theatres Trust latest "at risk" register highlights 55 buildings facing an uncertain future, with cuts seen as a major area of concern.

Buildings in Wallsend, Derby and Workington are under immediate threat from demolition.

The trust's Rob Dickins said: "We cannot lose our theatre heritage in this way."

Saved

"Our report this year really highlights theatres under threat from imminent demolition and funding cuts," he added.

Mr Dickins expressed concerns that some currently active theatres could end up abandoned and empty, while previously closed buildings are prime targets for demolition and redevelopment.

The latest report also points out how local people are harnessing the power of social networking sites, including Facebook, to save theatres in their areas.

Other arts institutions singled out by the Theatre Buildings At Risk report include the Acorn Arts Centre in Penzance and Crewe's Lyceum.

Bedford's Civic Theatre, meanwhile, is earmarked for closure to be replaced by a council services centre.

The Theatres Trust has also removed some buildings which appeared on last year's list, including Blackpool's Opera House, saved from demolition by extra funding.

But the organisation said it was keeping a close eye on "saved" theatres after reviews of public sector funding were announced.

Phantom Eye hydrogen-powered spy plane unveiled

Boeing has unveiled its unmanned hydrogen-powered spy plane which can fly non-stop for up to four days.

The high-altitude plane, called Phantom Eye, will remain aloft at 20,000m (65,000ft), according to the company.

The demonstrator will be shipped to Nasa's Dryden Flight Research Center in California later this summer to prepare for its first flight in early 2011.

Boeing says the aircraft could eventually carry out "persistent intelligence and surveillance".

It is a product of the company's secretive Phantom Works research and development arm.

Boeing says the aircraft is capable of long endurance flights because of its "lighter" and "more powerful" hydrogen fuel system.

"We flew Condor [the company's previous reconnaissance drone] for 60 hours in 1989 on regular jet fuel, and that was the maximum," said Chris Haddox from Boeing Phantom Works. "Now we're talking 96 hours."

The company explained in a statement that Phantom Eye was "powered by two 2.3 litre, four-cylinder engines that provide 150 horsepower each".

It is also very large, with a 46m (150ft) wingspan.

"It isn't built for stealth - it's built for endurance," Mr Haddox told BBC News.

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has an ongoing interest in long-endurance high-altitude planes for surveillance and is considering a several different technologies, including solar power, to meet the requirements of what it refers to as its "Scavenger project".

The aerospace and defence company Qinetiq are carrying out trials in conjunction with the MoD to develop a solar powered plane called Zephyr.

A spokesperson for the MoD said: "Four days is very good but we are considering a range of options for our deep and persistent reconnaissance requirements.

Building an Electronic Human Brain

Of the myriad conceptions of robots in the future who are able to experience emotions, many of them share one trait in common: robots and synthetic people are smart, but not quite human.  Professor Henry Markram of Oxford University is setting out to set that myth to rest forever by creating the first fully functional human synthetic brain by the year 2018.

The announcement comes shortly after the SyNAPSE project had been announced to have created a computer as intelligent as a cat’s brain.  The SyNAPSE computer project first developed a computer with the mental capacity of an insect, then a rat, and finally a cat.  Thus far it is considered to be the most “intelligent” computer in existence.  Of course it is still only a fraction of what Professor Markram is proposing to build.

The project of course has created quite a stir, and no small amount of contention between SyNAPSE and Markram’s own endeavor as Markram says the claims made by SyNAPSE are entirely too ambitious and unrealistic.  He says that to create a brain will require a massive amount of work in every aspect of the computer creation process, and that the SyNAPSE computer is merely a computer simulation of a brain rather than an actual thinking electronic collection of grey matter.  What Markram proposes is far more extreme, from the looks of it, than any computer creation process we have ever seen before.

His lab is one of the most dazzlingly advanced places anyone has ever seen.  There are machines that one could only imagine do complex calculations and intricate manipulations unbelievably complex.  There is also a sort of “wet-works” where an elaborate machine is connected to a rat brain by a dozen or so microscopically thin glass spokes which peel away strands of the brain so they can be analyzed by the computer and replicated.  The analyzed model is then translated into a computer simulation which can then be saved and turned into a computer simulation later.  Of course Markram’s ultimate goal isn’t to create a rat brain, but rather a human brain which will prove to be far more complex and time consuming.  There are dozens, if not hundreds, of logistical problems to make this project possible, but Markram is very confident that he will succeed.

If life is created artificially, it means many philosophical questions will arise in the future.  What does it mean to be human?  What rights do artificial brains have?  What part of the artificial mind makes it simply a highly functional machine and not quite human?  And they’re questions that are going to sneak up on us.  The real question becomes, would a computer simulation of human consciousness that was perfect in every way truly be able to hold up to the most intense scrutiny?  Or would a facsimile of a human brain in an almost human body prove to be an unnerving “not quite human” example of the uncanny valley?  Will science perfect human computers eventually?  Will they be small enough to fit into robotic bodies?  If so, a world of humanoid cyborgs may await us in the near future.  And it may begin around 2018.

Turning Wood into Bones

A team of brilliant scientists from Italy have discovered a solution to the problem of bone replacement.  Their solution?  Simply turn wood into bone.  It sounds far fetched, but the first transplants have already taken place using a new technique that calcifies and hardens the wood into something entirely indistinguishable from bone.

For years those wishing to get a replacement hip or other bones had to resort to a combination of steel and ceramics.  Often these objects can interact with the replacement limbs in ways that can cause serious complications.  One 97 year old man who had received a hip replacement only had it for less than a year before he found it very difficult to move his hip due to a series of complications.  Despite the fact that the implant was made of highly durable titanium, it had been damaged during his daytime movements, and in addition the area around the bone where the screws had been put in had also been damaged.  The doctors who had implanted the hip were sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars and a new replacement had to be surgically implanted.  Most of the problems arising from this incident were due to the fact that the hip replacement had been made of an unnatural material that didn't mimic bone.

Finally it seems a new technique will let us quite literally grow replacement bones that can be implanted when we need them.  The Istec laboratory of bioceramics in Faenza has been developing the technique's manufacturing process as well as a method for implanting the bones in sheep.  And the project has met with huge success.

Today the sheep who have had their bones replaced by the new wooden bones have virtually no differences in them.  Months after the manufactured bones were implanted in the sheep, they were examined and a marked fusion had taken place between the bones that had been put there and the bones that were already present.  Cells from one had migrated to the other, and there was no joint showing where one ended and the other began.  Only under close scrutiny and analysis would it even be possible to discover which was the original bone and which was the replacement.  It seems this new technology is blazing a whole new field in medical technology.

And the process to create the bones isn't terribly complex either.  Wood is taken from the rattan tree and put into a furnace to harden it.  Pieces are then chopped up into smaller pieces and calcium and carbon are added.  It's all a matter of ratios as the bones eventually harden into a form that will eventually even be able to heal within the body.  The porous surface will allow blood vessels and nerve endings to cling to and through the material.  As of now the technology is a mere five years from being fully approved for human use.  After five years, however, bone replacement will be much cheaper, more convenient, and much easier to recover from.

A Mind Control Device

The Robotic Fish known as Robofish has been seen by scientists as the first step toward understanding and controlling fish schools in a laboratory.  Robofish is a sort of mind control device, though it only influences behavior rather than the minds of the fish who follow it.  It's essentially a fish designed to be lifelike enough to be mistaken as a stickleback fish by other fish.

The fish was demonstrated in a video found on the BBC's website where the gates to a tank are opened and the school remains crowded in a small area before suddenly the robotic fish shoots out of the tank followed with exact precision by others who suddenly share Robofish's interest for the outside world.  But to an outside observer, this first move would look more or less like a simple decision by the school as a whole.  This is because the fish are running on an instinct to follow the movements of others and act as a single entity.  When the most assured and confident of them is suddenly calling the shots the others naturally assume it is working on information it has gathered of the outside world.  This information can be the discovery of food, a predator, or some other need which ultimately results in the rest assuming they share a common goal.

Robofish is an interesting example of a group mentality being hijacked by an outsider.  Through use of Robofish scientists at Leeds University are actually able to control the movements of a school of fish.  It's unknown if the use of more Robofish in a single tank would actually increase the effectiveness of the followers, but it's eerie to watch as the device makes 90 degree turns and is quickly followed by the rest of the fish.  It's only when Robofish suddenly makes a turn away from the rest of the group that only a few investigate by observing, but ultimately decide it is making a choice to leave the group.

There are obvious application for robotic fish that could have far reaching advantages for those controlling fish schools to drive them away from ecological disasters.  An endangered species of any sort of pack animal may be able to be guided by a sufficiently convincing robot to move away from a dangerous area or toward more bounteous hunting grounds.  Unfortunately, this would have an understandable effect on the natural evolution of the creatures themselves, as any environmental factor can have, but it may be worth the cost if it allows the species to navigate this harsh period of mankind's quest to ensure the survival of biologically diverse ecosystems.

But it also raises an interesting analogy.  If Robofish were able to control schools of fish by manipulating the trends and pack mentality of the whole, how difficult would it be really to effectively manipulate human social trends as well?  Of course no one is suggesting that there are robotic people walking around guiding traffic, but in the years to come with the advancement of human understanding of group dynamics is it not possible that subtle movements could manipulate the vast reaches of mankind's progress through history by social engineering?  As tangential as it sounds, the difference is nothing more than a matter of how advanced the device is (such as television), and its purpose.