Clipmarks | arifsali's clips

Researchers Make Human Flu Antibodies at Record Speed

Thu, 01 May 2008 04:58:36 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Fast treatment manufactured from flu survivors' antibodies could pave the way to more effectively thwarting pandemics

A new method for swiftly producing proteins to fight infections could mean the difference between life and death during future pandemics. Researchers report in Nature today that they have perfected a way to manufacture monoclonal antibodies capable of destroying diseases such the avian flu, which have the ability to swap genes with human flu varieties and jump from birds to people.

THE HOLY GRAIL: Researchers say they may soon be able make B cells expressing antibodies specific to several illnesses in less than a month.

Their research is a dramatic advance, because it marks the first time that scientists were able to rapidly generate the disease-killing proteins, according to study co-author Patrick Wilson, an immunologist at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) in Oklahoma City.

Tags: science, antibodies, infection, life, death, pandemics, research, disease

Karen Armstrong: Charter for Compassion

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 23:11:06 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: 2008 TED Prize wish

Clip Source: www.ted.com

As she accepts her 2008 TED Prize, author and scholar Karen Armstrong talks about how the Abrahamic religions -- Islam, Judaism, Christianity -- have been diverted from the moral purpose they share to foster compassion. But Armstrong has seen a yearning to change this fact. People want to be religious, she says; we should act to help make religion a force for harmony. She asks the TED community to help her build a Charter for Compassion -- to help restore the Golden Rule as the central global religious doctrine.

Karen Armstrong is a provocative, original thinker on the role of religion in the modern world. Read full bio »

Tags: religion, karen armstrong, video

Everything equals E=mc2

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:43:51 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: For in 1904, everyone in science believed that the universe was divided into two great realms. On the one hand there was the realm of energy, where winds blew, coal burned and lightning crackled. On the other hand, there was the realm of mass, where trees and mountains and paperweights, and perhaps even irritating patent supervisors, existed.

Those two realms were thought to be entirely separate. There was no link between the two.

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

What is energy? It all comes down to the work of a patent clerk in Switzerland at the turn of the last century

To understand E=mc2 it helps to go back to the year 1904. Albert Einstein was then an unknown 25-year-old, who had offended his professors at university so much because of his lack of obedience that they had refused to write him letters of recommendation to get a good job. He had ended up as a patent clerk in Bern, Switzerland, where the town's one science library was closed on his day off, so he couldn't keep up with the latest research.

When he did try to work on his own ideas at the office, he had to stop whenever his supervisor got close, and slam his notes into a drawer - which he jokingly called his "department of theoretical physics" - so no one would see. And that was the ideal preparation for what he was about to achieve.

Tags: einstein, energy

H.P. Unveils New Memory Technology

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:35:20 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: This makes them function like biological synapses, which would be ideal for many artificial intelligence applications ranging from machine vision to understanding speech.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

A team of Hewlett-Packard scientists reported Wednesday in the science journal Nature that they have designed a simple circuit element they believe will enable tiny powerful computers that could imitate biological functions.

The device, called a memristor, could make it possible to build extremely dense computer memory chips that use far less power than today’s DRAM memory chips, which are rapidly reaching the limit in how much smaller they can be made.

The memristor, an electrical resistor with memory properties, may also make it possible to fashion advanced logic circuits, like a class of reprogrammable chips known as field programmable gate arrays, that are today widely used for rapid prototyping of new circuits and for custom-made chips that need to be manufactured quickly.

Potentially even more tantalizing is the memristors’ ability to store and retrieve a vast array of intermediate values, not just the binary 1s and 0s as conventional chips do.

Tags: memory, chips, hp, science

Birds can tell if you are watching them – because they are watching you

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:30:47 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.bristol.ac.uk

In humans, the eyes are said to be the ‘window to the soul’, conveying much about a person’s emotions and intentions. New research demonstrates for the first time that starlings also respond to a human’s gaze.

Predators tend to look at their prey when they attack, so direct eye-gaze can predict imminent danger. Julia Carter, a PhD student at the University of Bristol, and her colleagues, set up experiments that showed starlings will keep away from their food dish if a human is looking at it. However, if the person is just as close, but their eyes are turned away, the birds resumed feeding earlier and consumed more food overall.

Carter said “This is a great example of how animals can pick up on very subtle signals and use them to their own advantage”. Her results are published online today (30 April) in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Tags: birds, humans, research

Fantastic new illusion blog by Arthur Shapiro

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:27:25 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

The man behind the amazing Contrast Asynchrony illusion has started a blog! Arthur Shapiro tells me he has a backlog of literally thousands of illusions. He promises to offer a new illusion every week, along with an explanation of the science behind it. Here's a preview of this week's illusion:

For an explanation of how it works, you'll have to visit Shapiro's blog, Illusion Sciences. There are already three illusions posted, with plenty more to come.

Arthur Shapiro is a world-class illusion designer and psychologist whose illusions have won the most prestigious awards in the field. Two illusions from his lab are among this year's top ten illusions.

Tags: illusion, blog, mind

Genetics bill cruises through Senate

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:22:40 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.nature.com

Unanimous vote welcomed by personal genomics companies.

The unanimous vote last week by the US Senate to outlaw discrimination against people on the basis of their genetic information is being celebrated by civil-rights groups, which have long campaigned for the safeguards. Personal-genomics companies are also cracking open the champagne — they have a lot to gain from the bill becoming law.

Once enacted, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) will forbid employers and health insurers from using people's genetic information against them in decisions on hiring, firing, promotion and insurance coverage and pricing. The House of Representatives should pass the legislation this week, after which it is expected to be signed into law by President George W. Bush.

The bill bans US employers from collecting genetic information from their employees, and ensures that insurers can't request or require people to take genetic tests.

Tags: genetics, law, united states, privacy

A Robotic Suit That Magnifies Human Strength

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:19:29 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

An exoskeleton robotic suit may help workers lift heavy loads and patients move damaged and prosthetic limbs

The prospect of slipping into a robotic exoskeleton that could enhance strength, keep the body active while recovering from an injury or even serve as a prosthetic limb has great appeal. Unlike the svelt body armor donned by Iron Man, however, most exoskeletons to date have looked more like clunky spare parts cobbled together.

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Tags: science, discovery, robotics

‘OCCAM’s razor’ to transform real-world mathematics

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:17:30 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.ox.ac.uk

The new Oxford Centre for Collaborative Applied Mathematics (OCCAM) will apply mathematics to gain quantitative insights into some of the 21st Century’s most pressing problems.

OCCAM will address problems including plant growth in hostile environments and optimal solar energy collection in deserts.

OCCAM, a $25m collaboration between Oxford University and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), will give mathematical scientists from around the world an unprecedented opportunity to address challenges across the physical and biological sciences.

OCCAM’s initial research programme will investigate problems such as optimising the collection of solar energy in deserts, plant growth in hostile environments and engineering replacement tissues for our bodies.

Mathematical research has revolutionised areas ranging from Internet search engines to oil recovery, yet problem-solving talent around the world is under-used...

Dr John Ockendon

Tags: science, mathematics