SPOTLIGHT
1,000 Genomes Project: Expanding the Map of Human Genetics
The number of sequenced human genomes will soon swell to more than 1,000 as part of a new international research consortium’s effort to trace the potential genetic origins of disease.
Virgin Galactic Unveils Spaceship
A select group of rich tourists may be blasting into space within a few years in a craft that looks like a cross between a corporate jet and something out of science fiction.
World’s Best Microscope Can Produce Images Less Than Diameter Of Single Hydrogen Atom
TEAM 0.5 – The world’s most powerful transmission electron microscope capable of producing images less than the diameter of a single hydrogen atom.
Future of Top U.S. Particle Physics Lab in Jeopardy
The 2008 high-energy physics budget passed by Congress in December took away funds to pursue research into the proposed International Linear Collider, shown here in a cut-away schematic
Nanotubes Go With the Flow
Carbon nanotubes are attractive candidates for use as the active elements in the next generation of electronic devices. However, it has proven incredibly difficult to align nanotubes within device architectures.
Optical Fiber: Secure In All The Chaos
Secure messages hidden in chaotic waveforms, transmitted at up to 10 gigabits per second, is the vision behind a group of dedicated European researchers. Now they are prototyping the equipment that could make the vision a reality.
Mathematicians solve flakey problem
Two mathematicians have for the first time created a computer simulation that generates realistic three-dimensional snowflakes, although even they are not sure how it works.
Your Guide to the Year in Science: 2008
Jellyfish invasions, Internet auctions, god particles: Read about the year’s biggest science stories before they happen. Bonus: How to decipher geeky jargon and when to buy a DeLorean
Scientists use nanomaterials to localize and control drug delivery
Using nanotechnology, scientists from UCLA and Northwestern University have developed a localized and controlled drug delivery method that is invisible to the immune system.
Sun?s Magnetic Secret Revealed
Powerful magnetic waves have been confirmed for the first time as major players in the process that makes the sun’s atmosphere strangely hundreds of times hotter than its already superhot surface.
Intelligent inks – now you see them, now you don’t
Photographs of oxygen indicator ink printed on a MAPed food package. Left: Before UV activation. Middle: After UV activation. Right: On opening the package.
Nanotechnology guru Eric Drexler turns back on goo
The scientist many regard as the father of nanotechnology has backed away from his famous claim that nanomachines could turn the planet into “grey goo”. Eric Drexler now says nanomachines that self-replicate exponentially are unlikely ever to enter widespread use.
Next Space Tourist Begins Training for Spaceflight
Computer game developer Richard Garriott is spending six weeks in Russia to undergo initial medical checks and the first round of training for flight aboard a Soyuz spacecraft.
First Look At Mercury’s Previously Unseen Side
In addition to images of the previously unseen portion of the planet’s surface, measurements were made that will contribute to the characterization of all aspects of Mercury and its environment.
Big Brain Theory: Have Cosmologists Lost Theirs?
It could be the weirdest and most embarrassing prediction in the history of cosmology, if not science.
Google to Host Terabytes of Open-Source Science Data
Sources at Google have disclosed that the humble domain, http://research.google.com, will soon provide a home for terabytes of open-source scientific datasets.
