Nanogirl News~

Gina Miller (nanogirl@halcyon.com)
Wed, 11 Aug 1999 18:31:23 -0700

*"Visions of 21st century include longer lives, designer genes."(article)
Starting today and continuing in the coming weeks, the Press & Sun-Bulletin will examine how future technological and scientific progress could change our lives.
http://www.binghamtonpress.com/binghamtonnews/local/Monews2.html

*San Francisco Examiner ( Aug 9, 99) article called "The puzzling presence
of matter."
(Anti matter-bigbang-and other comments about the physics conference "International Symposium on Lepton and Photon Interactions.") http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/hotnews/stories/10/ matter.dtl

*New imaging method detects abnormalities in the brain's tiny blood vessels.
http://medicine.wustl.edu/~wumpa/news/lee.html

*A graduate student in the University of Massachusetts computer science
department has built what is believed to be the world's smallest Web-server. It is about the size of a match-head and cost less than $1 to construct. The previous title for the world's smallest Web-server was held by a researcher at Stanford University. (To see pictures of it, go to this link) http://www-ccs.cs.umass.edu/~shri/iPic.html Or go to the newsrelease at:
http://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/press/99/0810shri.html

*(NANOTECH) Foresight Weekend Fall 1999 Foresight/IMM Senior Associates
Gathering
Sept 17-19, 1999Hotel Sofitel San Francisco Bay (register early to save 100 dollars)
http://www.foresight.org/SrAssoc/1999_Fall_Gathering Email inform@foresight.org

*BBC News Online presents a slideshow gallery of images from the day the
world looked at the Sun.(Eclipse)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/special_report/1999/08/99/eclipse/de fault.stm

*Decoding the Dead Sea Scrolls Scientists use digital methods to rediscover
missing text.
Using a digital camera and computer-driven analysis, Johnston’s team did what is becoming increasingly commonplace. They made the ancient document speak.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/299206.asp

*The "intelligent testbench," a relatively new idea in design automation
that seeks to make life easier for chip designers, is quietly taking root. The concept proposes a design environment that links different kinds of functional verification tools that are controlled by a single, high-level testbench.
http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG19990810S0018

*Scientists will report today that the amount of vegetation that has been
lost to logging, burning and agriculture throughout human history is the equivalent of about 180 billion tons of carbon -- carbon transferred to the atmosphere as the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. http://unisci.com/stories/19993/0811991.htm

*(Nanotech) Nanobiotechnology Consortium At Cornell Funded
An agreement by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to fund a Cornell University-based consortium of institutions will help to establish the new Nanobiotechnology Center (NBTC) in Ithaca, NY. NSF funding over a five-year period could reach $19 million.
Nanobiotechnology Consortium At Cornell Funded http://unisci.com/stories/19993/0811995.htm

*AN AUSTRALIAN COMPANY is so confident that its new SecurePage software can
thwart attempts to change the content of websites that it is set to challenge hackers to crack it. Launching the package at the Internet World Australia exhibition last week, Bahram Boutorabi, chief executive of Creative Digital Technology of Sydney, said that none of the company's skilled software developers had yet been able to alter sites that used the system.
The "cracking" of Web pages, in which pages are replaced by adulterated copies designed to embarrass or annoy the host, is an increasing problem. A number of prominent sites, including those of the US Army and Air Force, have recently fallen victim to electronic pranksters. SecurePage works by encrypting a copy of every page on a site. This master version is continually compared with the pages available on the Internet. If any of the content changes without authorisation, the software kicks in and restores the original using the master as the source. Because the master is encrypted using a triple-strength version of the US government's DES algorithm, breaking the code would require an inordinate amount of time and computer power.
Bruce Schneier of Counterpane Systems, a computer security consultancy in Minneapolis, says SecurePage sounds like a good idea, but he already sees where hackers might break in. "They would try to break the page-checking mechanism," he says. "I don't know how hard it is to do, but if they can change an equals sign to a 'does not equals' sign, they could break the system."
>From New Scientist, 14 August 1999
Go to the Creative Digital Technology web site at: http://www.creative.com.au/

*SCOTTISH scientists have made a vital breakthrough in the race to develop
the world's first artificial liver. Now a team from Strathclyde University and Edinburgh Royal Infirmary has successfully frozen the liver cells of rats and sheep and then brought them back to life. This could lead to banks of human frozen liver cells.
Publication: Scotland on Sunday

*Researchers Believe Light May Be Key to Body Clock
LONDON — Well-timed exposure to light could help solve the problem of jet lag, according to research published Tuesday.A report in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine said people could minimize jet lag by understanding how their bodies responded to light at different times of the day. The report's author Dr James Waterhouse told Reuters: "The most effective way to avoid jet lag without taking any drugs to induce sleep is to understand the way light affects the body clock. "It's all about exposure to and avoidance of bright light at the right times. The method has been tested successfully on astronauts and night workers. "He said receptors in the brain regulate the human body clock, which controls when to wake up and when to go to bed. Travelling to different time zones or doing shift work can put the clock out of rhythm. Waterhouse said a person's body clock could be manipulated by exposure to light or by avoiding it. The key time for fooling the normal body clock is around 5 a.m. he said, so that exposing it to light before then would delay sleep and exposure after would advance it. "If you travel to the west you are lucky because the natural light-dark cycle in the new time zone will help delay the body clock and sleep. Travelling to the east the body clock and sleep can be advanced by light in the afternoon and avoidance of it in the morning," he said. Waterhouse recommended people travelling eastwards to stay indoors before noon or wear strong sunglasses if they go outside. Scientists believe that it is the retina at the back of the eye or possibly the skin that senses light and sends information to the brain.

*GROW YOUR OWN OFFICE TOWER

If you thought Dolly the sheep was enough playing with genetics for you - get ready for the next advance in bioengineering: genetic buildings! Believe it or not, DNA is becoming a practical choice to use as a construction material. Why? Well, given the appropriate molecular machinery, it can make more copies of itself. Plus, a self-replicating "biobrick" can be as strong as any plastic. Experts say in the future we might be using these new building materials to speed up the entire manufacturing process, even for such bulky ordinary objects as houses. Taken to its plausible extreme, it could be argued we're at the threshold of a new age in construction: we may soon grow houses right from the root, customized down to the doorsills and window sizes.
(Clip From Tod Maffin)

*WORCESTER - With the Massachusetts Biotechnology Research Park as a
backdrop, about 75 people gathered at Plantation and Belmont streets yesterday afternoon to oppose cloning experiments being done by Advanced Cell Technology. Advanced Cell Technology is at the forefront of embryonic stem cell research to develop human cells and tissues through cloning techniques. The company has stressed that the privately funded work is not aimed at creating human clones, but at growing human tissues that could be transplanted into patients. The technique could prevent organ rejection because the tissue would be grown from cells taken directly from the patient. Researchers also believe it holds promise for treating diseases such as Parkinson's, Huntington's, Alzheimer's and diabetes. But protesters at the rally said the potential benefits do not outweigh the potential hazards, many of which, they believe, researchers are unable to forecast. Advanced Cell Technology officials have previously said the human embryos used in the experiments were not developed beyond 10 to 12 days, and were considered "pre-embryonic." They were donated by adults who had given consent for the cells to be used in research. The demonstrators, however, many of whom belong to anti-abortion groups in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, don't buy the argument advanced in scientific circles that an embryo does not become a person until at least after 14 days, when the first evidence of a nervous system appears. The group plans a second demonstration at the intersection today and will rally at the Statehouse at the end of next month.

*The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has had its web page defaced by
someone known as 'Sarin' FERC is a government agency that regulates the transmission and sale of oil, natural gas, electricity and regulates hydroelectric projects. The web page defacement called for the replacement of the administrator of the site.
Also recently defaced was the U.S. Department of Commerce Institute for Telecommunication Sciences. This site was defaced by 'Pakistan Hackerz Club' the page they left behind claimed to own America and threatend additional nuclear tests unless Pakistan's internal affairs are not messed with.

Gina "Nanogirl" Miller
Nanotechnology Industries Web:
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