Swimming Robot Tests Theories About Locomotion in Existing and Extinct Animals
Don’t miss the video of the robot swimming and an informative interview with professor, John H. Long, Jr., Ph.D., who is researching with the robot.
GUS is widely credited for enabling many breakthroughs in plant biotech, including the development of one of Monsanto’s first and most profitable agricultural products, Roundup Ready soybeans. Mr. Jefferson first provided GUS and all the know-how to use it for free to hundreds of labs around the world.
When he secured his patents, he charged only what people could afford: Monsanto, he says, paid a substantial amount; academics and companies in the developing world, including those who wanted to use his work for commercial purposes, received it free of charge.
Good news, the Royal Society tries open access by Stephen Pincock:
It seems to me most grants for scientific research should require open publication. I can imagine exceptions, but it seems to me that the expectation should be for open publication, in this day and age, and only allow non-open publication with a good reason.
For public funded research this open access expectation seems obvious. For private foundations in most cases I would think open access publication makes sense also. What business model is used to allow open access is not important, in my opinion. The important factor is open access, how that is accomplished is something that can be experimented with.
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In addition to the World Cup another international football event is taking place in Germany this month: RoboCup 2006
Researcher Founds a Robot Soccer Dynasty (including video webcast):
Two Butterfly Species Evolved Into Third, Study Finds by James Owen, National Geographic News:
The study suggests hybridization may be more important to the evolution of new animals than had previously been thought.
Hybrids such as the mule, a cross between a donkey and a horse, are sterile. But the team says the butterfly hybrid brought together a combination of genes that allowed it to breed and there be considered a new species.
Image: The biomolecular portal motor of bacteriophage PHI-29 (yellow) compresses the coiled DNA into the viral capsid at 6,000 times its normal pressure. (courtesy the Bustamante group)
Start Your Protein Engines by David Pescovitz:
In the closing paragraph Dr. Oster is quoted on the use of models, which reminds me a the quote from Dr. George Box: All models are wrong, some are useful.
Other articles from from the most recent ScienceMatters@Berkeley: The New New Math of String Theory and Molecular Rules Of Engagement. Also see previous article: The Cellular Mechanic.
MIT researchers are working on battery technology based on capacitor technology and nanotechnology.
Super Battery (video also available):
But capacitors contain energy as an electric field of charged particles created by two metal electrodes. Capacitors charge faster and last longer than normal batteries. The problem is that storage capacity is proportional to the surface area of the battery’s electrodes, so even today’s most powerful capacitors hold 25 times less energy than similarly sized standard chemical batteries.
The researchers solved this by covering the electrodes with millions of tiny filaments called nanotubes.
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This technology has broad practical possibilities, affecting any device that requires a battery. Schindall says, “Small devices such as hearing aids that could be more quickly recharged where the batteries wouldn’t wear out; up to larger devices such as automobiles where you could regeneratively re-use the energy of motion and therefore improve the energy efficiency and fuel economy.”
Previous post: MIT Energy Storage Using Carbon Nanotubes
Excellent summary from the European Union.
National Basic Research Program of China
America’s economy is losing its competitive edge and Washington hasn’t noticed by Benjamin Wallace-Wells
The Emergence of China as a Leading Nation in Science by Ping Zhoua and Loet Leydesdorff:
Related:
Photo: Steven Freilich examines a thermal color filter.
DuPont’s new path: research with results by Gary Haber:
“To be effective, you start with the marketplace,” said Kwaku Temeng, a DuPont marketer who works with Central Research scientists to help them focus on commercial targets. “You find a problem and then bring the science to bear on it.”
It seems companies are less willing to do basic research. Still successful companies also see an oportunity in taking advantage of their competitors limited research: Microsoft Research, Honda Research, NTT.
But overall companies do not fund huge investments in basic research. Governments are funding basic research. China and Japan have been increasing funding recently. Foundations are also taking the lead in some cases: Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
The MIT Media Lab is developing a $100 laptop to provide affordable and appropriate technology to all parts of the world. One Laptop per Child is a non-profit created to pursue this project (which is independent of MIT).
This is another wonderful example of engineering a better world. The challenges are still large. Making such an audacious plan work will not be easy but if they pull it off the potential benefits are enormous.
UN debut for $100 laptop for poor by Jo Twist, BBC News