R & D articles from October 2006

R & D archives from October 2006

The wrong kind of research.(EDITORIAL)
October 1, 2006... As FY2007 appropriations for the U.S. Dept. of Defense go through their various approval processes in the U.S. Congress, it appears that DOD R&D and total defense R&D will reach record high spending levels for the fifth consecutive year. As of...

Intel and UCSB mark laser first.(LASERS)
October 1, 2006... A collaboration between researchers at Intel Corp., Santa Clara, Calif., and the Univ. of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), has yielded a first within laser and semiconductor circles by producing the world's first electrically powered hybrid...

Laser breeds new NMR performance.(ANALYTICAL INSTRUMENTS)
October 1, 2006... At the heart of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is the ability to measure frequency shifts that atomic nuclei undergo in the presence of a magnetic field. This phenomenon has been the backbone of NMR routines for more than 60 years. But a new...

Applied materials eyes solar industry.(VACUUM/THIN FILMS)
October 1, 2006... Semiconductor tool giant Applied Materials, Santa Clara, Calif., announced its plans to enter into the photovoltaic equipment arena. "The solar industry has reached the inflection point that Applied Materials has been waiting for, as solar...

The power of PALM.(IMAGING)
October 1, 2006... "It knocks the socks off of standard fluorescence microscopy from a resolution perspective," notes Eric Betzig, a researcher at the Janelia Farm Research Campus, Ashburn, Va., and co-developer of the PALM platform. With traditional optical...

Under the sea.(LIFE SCIENCE)
October 1, 2006... An ocean microbe census conducted by researchers from the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), Woods Hole, Mass., has yielded important new information about the diversity of bacteria in the oceans. Using sequencing from 454 Life Sciences,...

Small World winners announced.(MICROSCOPY)
October 1, 2006... Since 1974, Nikon's Small World competition has provided researchers with a venue to display the brilliance and yes, beauty, of the natural world through photomicrographs/digital images. "Nikon's Small World gives us a glimpse into a world that...

The new genius crop.(BULLETIN)
October 1, 2006... The new genius crop The MacArthur Foundation, Pittsburgh, Pa., has announced the 25 recipients of this year's MacArthur Fellowships, also known as the "Genius Grants". This accolade bestows to its recipients a $500,000 no...

Wisconsin discovery moves forward.(LABORATORY DESIGN)
October 1, 2006... In late Sept., officials at the Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison announced the appointment of Uihlein Wilson Architects, Milwaukee, along with Ballinger, Philadelphia, Pa., as lead designers for the future Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery (WlD) and...

GE offloads Advanced Materials division.(MATERIALS)
October 1, 2006... As part of a restructuring plan, General Electric Corp., Fairfield, Conn., has sold its Advanced Materials (Silicones & Quartz) division, Wilton, Conn., to Apollo Management, L.P., a private investment firm, in a deal valued at $3.8 billion....

Malaysia pins future on space.(R&D ASIA)
October 1, 2006... Malaysia made another step in its long-term strategic plans to become a leader in space research when it recently opened southeast Asia's first space. The Malaysia Space Center is located just outside of Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur. on a...

China pushing Internet 2.(R&D ASIA)
October 1, 2006... China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) recently gave an acceptance certificate to an academic network called CERNET2 that connects 25 Chinese universities in 20 cities across the country. CERNET2 is at the leading edge of the...

Japan HD R&D.(R&D ASIA)
October 1, 2006... One of Japan's leading magnetic storage companies, Showa Denko KK (SDK) has opened a new R&D facility in Ichihara City, Chiba Prefecture to promote the next-generation of computer hard disk media with increased storage capacities. In 2005, SDK...

New CAS Institutes.(R&D ASIA)
October 1, 2006... The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has worked with local Chinese governments to create five new CAS institutes--the Yantai Institute of Coastal Research for Sustainable Development; the Qingdao Institute for Biomass Energy and Bioprocess...

India outsources to Singapore.(R&D ASIA)
October 1, 2006... India's fourth largest software services exporter, Satyam Computer Services, Ltd., Bangalore, has announced that it has set up a R&D hub in Singapore to focus on new applications. This Global Innovation Hub is expected to leverage Singapore's...

Virtual surgery comes alive.(R&D INFORMATICS)
October 1, 2006... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Combining the sense of touch with 3-D computer models of organs, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy, N.Y., led by Suvranu De, director of the Advanced Computational Research Lab, are looking...

Grid receives funding.(R&D INFORMATICS)
October 1, 2006... The National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Science have awarded $30 million in funding to the Open Science Grid (OSG) Consortium. The award will operate and expand the OSG, a computing environment used...

New coalition lobbies for patent lawsuit reform.(REGULATORY UPDATE)
October 1, 2006... Due to an increase in patent litigation and jury awards reaching into the millions, a new coalition is urging federal lawmakers to support legislation that would change the way the courts handle patent lawsuits. Led by lobbyist Mark...

U.S.--Chinese standards portal is launched.(REGULATORY UPDATE)
October 1, 2006... The American National Standards Institute (ANSI), Washington, D.C., and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, Md., in cooperation with the Standardization Administration of China (SAC), Beijing, have announced...

EU mulls tax on emissions.(REGULATORY UPDATE)
October 1, 2006... The European Parliament has approved plans to impose taxes on motorists based on their vehicle's C[O.sub.2] emissions. This means drivers in the EU could be taxed based on their vehicle's usage, as opposed to car ownership. This change is...

Database has manufacturers seeing green.(REGULATORY UPDATE)
October 1, 2006... A new online database of institutional and industrial cleaning ingredients, CleanGredients, has been created as a one-stop-shop for "green" formulation. The new database, developed in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency...

Universal chemical labels.(REGULATORY UPDATE)
October 1, 2006... The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Washington, D.C., has begun plans to implement a global standard for labeling and classifying chemicals. OSHA Administrator Edwin Foulke, Jr., says "Diverse and sometimes...

Real-world protection against pathogens: engineers heed the call of anti-terrorism efforts with the development of the APDS.(HOMELAND SECURITY TECHNOLOGY: EXCLUSIVE)
October 1, 2006... The terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, have made a definitive impact on U.S-based technology efforts, and for that matter daily life. Indeed, since those events, the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) has received nearly $5 billion for R&D...

Chem/bio tools growing for Homeland Security: being prepared has been the watchword for the past five years as governments work to create a network of sensors and analytical instruments.(HOMELAND SECURITY TECHNOLOGY: EXCLUSIVE)
October 1, 2006... A chemical/biological attack is defined as the intentional release of a pathogen (disease-causing agent), toxin, or biotoxin (poisonous substance produced by a living agent) against humans, plants, or animals. These attacks can be used to cause...

Mega grid for mega science: grid computing unites scientists around the world and uses their collective computing power to investigate science's unanswered questions.(Cover story)
October 1, 2006... The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), being built by CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, near Geneva, Switzerland, is the largest scientific instrument on the planet. It is designed to accelerate and collide protons moving at...

Embracing innovation in wireless sensing: an inside look at the explicit relationship between wireless sensor technology users and suppliers.(TEST & MEASUREMENT)
October 1, 2006... Why do consumers fail to buy new, innovative products when they often clearly offer significant value compared to the existing solution? This question perplexes me. As a business manager who manages more than 2,000 products in different stages...

Cell searching: high content screening helps elicit more information out of more cells.(MICROSCOPY)
October 1, 2006... Analysis of massive quantities of data is beginning to be the watchword in cellular science, and screening is the essence of the process. High content screening (HCS) is the most recent generation of automated cellular evaluation methods being...

Single molecule switching.(EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES: industrial)
October 1, 2006... Scientists at the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory, Switzerland, have demonstrated how a single molecule can be switched between two distinct conductive states, allowing the molecule to store data. Switching states In order to switch the...

Titanium powder process.(EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES: industrial)
October 1, 2006... A new process for making high-purity titanium metal powder can reduce cost and substantially boost efficiency in parts manufacturing. Developed by DuPont, Wilmington, Del., and Honeywell Electronic Materials, Tempe, Ariz., the process makes...

Portable computing.(EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES: industrial)
October 1, 2006... MojoPac, created by RingCube Technologies, Inc., Mountain View, Calif., allows any mass storage device to mirror the capabilities and functionality of a private and secure PC. Once MojoPac is installed on a portable storage device, users can...

Analyzing genes in vivo.(EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES: industrial)
October 1, 2006... Researchers at Mirus Bio Corp., Madison, Wisc., have developed a new method to analyze gene function in vivo. The technique utilizes hydrodynamic injection technology to efficiently introduce a small interfering RNA (siRNA) to the liver of...

Innovation in materials.(Calendar)
October 1, 2006... The Materials Research Society (MRS) is set to hold its 2006 MRS Fall Meeting on Nov. 27-Dec. 1, at the Hynes Convention Center, Boston, Mass. The technical program for this year's meeting will encompass a variety of symposia in areas such as...

Accelerating PE market.
October 1, 2006... [GRAPHIC OMITTED] The market for printable electronics (PE) is forecast to grow from $354 million in revenues in 2007 to $12.1 billion in 2011 due to larger companies with substantial resources entering the market. Materials used in PE...

Mathematical tool use.
October 1, 2006... [GRAPHIC OMITTED] According to an international survey, mathematical calculations in engineering and academia are still most often performed with pencil and paper. When asked about how frequently respondents used a range of tools and...