Technology

I got this notification from the NSF so I thought I would pass it along - obviously I didn't write it but it's not something we would put in an article and it's too long for a corkboard message.   *** You have until January 15, 2009 to apply for allocations of high-performance computer time and storage resources that are available through the TeraGrid for the allocation period of April 1, 2009, through March 31, 2010. Awards are no longer separated into medium and large-sized allocations (formerly MRAC and LRAC). Awards of any size can now be submitted to any of the four quarterly…

Nanotechnology exploits the properties of materials on a nanometric scale, (a nanometer is one millionth of a millimeter). The ultimate limit for such miniaturization is the development of devices formed by atomic structures created artificially to fulfil a determined purpose.  The tools that permit the visualization and manipulation of atoms are called proximity microscopes. This includes the Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM), whose development in 1986 earned G. Binning and H. Rohrer the Novel prize for physics, and more recently the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM).  In a study…

Two posts in one weekend?  I am such a science blogger. But this one doesn't count because it is just an update on some new features we have added in.  Slowly, but surely, we are creating the greatest science community on the planet.   Last time I talked about adding in our Corkboard, which is kind of like Facebook's Wall and Twitter combined into one easy interface anyone can grasp.   Since only your friends see it, it's a way to share links or short commentaries that don't merit a full blog or article, or to leave a comment that doesn't go on an article.  If you…

Researchers in Great Britain and the United States have imaged the first high definition imprints that dolphin sounds make in water.   They consider it a real breakthrough in deciphering dolphin language. Certain sounds made by dolphins have long been suspected to represent language but the complexity of the sounds has made their analysis difficult. Previous techniques, using the spectrograph, display cetacean (dolphins, whales and porpoises) sounds only as graphs of frequency and amplitude. Using high definition audio recordings of dolphins, the research team, headed by English…

Artificial bone marrow that can continuously make red and white blood cells has been created in a University of Michigan lab.   This development could lead to simpler pharmaceutical drug testing, closer study of immune system defects and a continuous supply of blood for transfusions. The substance grows on a 3-D scaffold that mimics the tissues supporting bone marrow in the body, said Nicholas Kotov, a professor in the U-M departments of Chemical Engineering; Materials Science and Engineering; and Biomedical Engineering. The marrow is not made to be implanted in the body, like most 3-D…

JetBrains, creators of intelligent and innovative productivity-enhancing tools for software developers, have announced the Beta version of their new product - Meta Programming System, or MPS. Meta Programming System is a brand new concept of software development environment implementing the Language Oriented Programming paradigm. After several years of research and development, JetBrains has released its Beta version now, targeting 1.0 for early 2009. Meta Programming System is an environment for professional software developers to create new custom languages, extend existing languages, and…

Beware: green chemistry is soon to serve you green wines. And in boxes, too. Once I read in Chemical and Engineering News a list of the chemicals in either red or white wines. I remember thinking "generic wines" to start with: Let's see the difference in the young and the old wines! Next was 'Electronic Tongue' Can Tell Old Brandy From New but not about wines. Reminding that white wines are drunk very early in Austria, I still thought someone should look into the ageing chemistry for wines. Meanwhile "Scientist Tom" conducted scientific wine tasting with his scientist friends somewhere in USA…

Over the last 60 years, ever-smaller generations of transistors have driven exponential growth in computing power. Could molecules, each turned into miniscule computer components, trigger even greater growth in computing over the next 60? Atomic-scale computing, in which computer processes are carried out in a single molecule or using a surface atomic-scale circuit, holds vast promise for the microelectronics industry. It allows computers to continue to increase in processing power through the development of components in the nano- and pico scale. In theory, atomic-scale computing could put…

ESA’s global land cover map, which is ten times sharper than any previous global satellite map, is now available to the public online from the GlobCover website. It is the highest resolution land cover map that has been completely validated ever released. Sixteen experts validated the map using more than 3 000 reference land cover points and showed it had an overall accuracy of 73% weighted by area for its 22 land cover classes. The map’s legend was developed using the United Nation Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) Land Cover Classification System (LCCS).   The map was…

Probably tomorrow I am going to do an advanced 'primer' on all the features we have here because I know most people don't even read the FAQ - and that's okay, you shouldn't have to read a FAQ to read an article or leave a comment, but for more exotic stuff and experienced users/contributors, it wouldn't hurt to have a short document that highlights the big stuff that goes beyond the FAQ. For now, I will just highlight the big (non bug-related) things we did this week. Corkboard Social media is big, of course, with sites like Facebook and Twitter having many millions of users, but yet another…