March 14, 2012
Good Morning,
I feel like I have been recently finding tons of articles on some innovative smartphone application, and this week is no exception. It makes you wonder how far these phones will take us, whichever direction. Check out the fourth article for details on a new program that is designed to track the prevalence of particular diseases.
Until Next Time,
Erin
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Molecule could help in nuclear cleanupEDINBURGH, Scotland - Discovery of a previously unseen form of uranium molecule could help improve cleanup processes for nuclear waste, researchers in Scotland say. The distinctive butterfly-shaped compound is similar to radioactive molecules scientists had said they believed to be key components of nuclear waste but were thought too unstable to exist for long. However, scientists at the University of Edinburgh have shown the compound to be robust and long-lasting, suggesting molecules with a similar structure may be present in radioactive waste. Such molecules may have a part in forming clusters of radioactive material in waste that are difficult to separate during cleanup, they said. Targeting this type of molecule could help the nuclear industry move toward cleaner power generation, in which all the radioactive material from spent fuel could be recovered and made safe or used again, a university release said Monday. "We have made a molecule that, in theory, should not exist, because its bridge-shaped structure suggests it would quickly react with other chemicals," Polly Arnold of the university's school of chemistry said. "This discovery that this particular form of uranium is so stable could help optimize processes to recycle valuable radioactive materials and so help manage the United Kingdom's nuclear legacy."
'See Me' satellites may help ground forcesWASHINGTON - The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency says it will research a system to let soldiers over-seas access near-live satellite images of their location. Current satellites cannot provide such information as they are in the wrong orbits and are difficult for troops on the ground to access, experts said. DARPA's SeeMe program (Space Enabled Effects for Military Engagements) would create a swarm of inexpensive disposable satellites to allow soldiers on the ground to hit a "see me" button on a hand-held device such as a smartphone or tablet and receive a satellite image back in less than 90 minutes, NewScientist.com reported Tuesday. The system would use two dozen small satellites at a cost of $500,000 each that would be in a very low-Earth orbit, covering a band of the planet every 90 minutes and lasting two or three months before burning up on re-entry. The idea behind the satellites' medium-term lifespan and range is to fill a gap between traditional high-orbit imaging satellites and UAVs, unmanned reconnaissance drones, researchers said. "SeeMe is a logical adjunct to UAV technology, which will continue to provide local or regional very high-resolution coverage, but which can't cover extended areas without frequent refueling," DARPA program manager Dave Barnhart said.
Extinct woolly mammoth to be clonedSEOUL - A South Korean research laboratory says it plans to work with a Russian university to clone a woolly mammoth, a species extinct for 4,500 years. The Sooam Biotech Research Foundation has signed a research agreement with Russia's North-Eastern Federal University to clone the creature from frozen remains found in Siberia, Fox News reported Tuesday. The researchers said they would replace the nuclei of egg cells from a modern Indian elephant with those taken from the mammoth's cells, which could produce embryos with mammoth DNA. If successful, the embryos would be implanted into the elephant for a 22-month pregnancy intended to produce a live mammoth, they said. The leader of the Sooam lab, Hwang Woo-suk, is a deeply controversial figure in South Korean science, gaining fame in 2004 when he claimed to have created human stem cells from a cloned embryo. Accused of violating medical ethics by using eggs from his own researchers and falsifying data, he was given a two-year suspended sentence for misuse of research funds and ethical lapses, Fox News reported.
Smartphones can help track diseasesNAIROBI, Kenya - Smartphones can improve disease surveillance in the developing world with more accurate, faster, cheaper gathering of disease information, U.S. researchers say. A study presented Monday at the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases in Atlanta reported smartphone use was cheaper than traditional paper survey methods in tracking disease spreads in Kenya. The Kenya Ministry of Health along with researchers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed survey data collection methods at four influenza sites in Kenya where surveillance officers identified patients with respiratory illness and administered a brief questionnaire that included demographic and clinical information. Some of the questionnaires were collected using traditional paper methods while others were collected using smartphones using a proprietary software program called the Field Adapted Survey Toolkit, a CDC release reported. "Collecting data using smartphones has improved the quality of our data and given us a faster turnaround time to work with it," Henry Njuguna, surveillance coordinator at CDC Kenya, said. "It also helped us save on the use of paper and other limited resources." The cost of collecting data by smartphones was lower in the long run than paper-based methods, the study found. For two years, the cost of establishing and running a paper-based data collection system was approximately $61,830 compared to approximately $45,546 for a smartphone data collection system, researchers said.
Hydrogen-powered plane completes taxi testNORTH EDWARDS, Calif. - Boeing says its Phantom Eye unmanned aircraft, burning liquid hydrogen as a fuel, has successfully completed its initial taxi test in California. While it will someday soar to 65,000 feet, it took a modest, ground-level spin at Edwards Air Force Base in its first medium-speed taxi test this month, Boeing said Tuesday. It covered about 4,000 feet at speeds of up to 34.5 mph. Additional taxi tests are scheduled, culminating with one at 46 mph, before the drone's first flight. Boeing has not announced a date for when it will go airborne, CNET.com reported. "It's huge to capture the data that we did today," Drew Mallow, Phantom Eye program manager, said of the drone's taxi test, "to allow the team to evaluate it so we can fine-tune the models, understand if the software is correct and understand how the propulsion system is going to react as it moves forward." Carrying 1,900 pounds of liquid hydrogen in its two tanks, the Phantom Eye is powered by 150-horsepower engines turning 16-foot-diameter propellers. With a wingspan of 150 feet, the high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle, with a 450-pound payload, is intended to stay aloft for four days on "persistent" intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and communications missions, Boeing said.
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