Nano World Invisibility through nano: "'There are probably quite a number of useful things you could do with stealth for the military,' said researcher John Pendry, a physicist at Imperial College London.

More mundane applications also include hiding obstacles -- 'for example, one may wish to put a cloak over the refinery that is blocking your view of the bay,' said researcher David Schurig, a physicist at Duke University in Durham, N.C. Moreover, objects invisible to electromagnetic fields are isolated from them as well. 'You may want to protect something from electromagnetic interference,' he added. "

Scientists Predict How to Detect a Fourth Dimension of Space: "Charles R. Keeton of Rutgers and Arlie O. Petters of Duke base their work on a recent theory called the type II Randall-Sundrum braneworld gravity model. The theory holds that the visible universe is a membrane (hence 'braneworld') embedded within a larger universe, much like a strand of filmy seaweed floating in the ocean. The 'braneworld universe' has five dimensions -- four spatial dimensions plus time -- compared with the four dimensions -- three spatial, plus time -- laid out in the General Theory of Relativity. "

LiveScience.com - Anti-Aging Competitions Go Head-to-Head: "Anyone debating the scientific feasibility of extending the human life span will find that it's only a matter of time before the name 'Aubrey de Grey' comes up.

The controversial Cambridge University researcher has been making news in recent years by claiming that humans could soon enjoy thousand-year lifetimes and by helping to establish two contests: one to spur anti-aging research and another to debunk his own audacious claims."

Samsung Debuts Hybrid Hard Drive - Hardware - NewsFactor Network: "Imagine a Windows laptop that could boot up as much as 25 seconds more quickly than usual, last up to 30 minutes longer on battery power, and be as much as five times more reliable than existing PCs. That is Samsung's vision for the value of its new Hybrid Hard Drive (HHD), a next-generation drive that combines flash memory with traditional rotating magnetic storage.

Costa Rica Govt Wants FTA - Prensa Latina: "San Jose, May 19 (Prensa Latina) Despite the opposition of numerous national organizations, Costa Rican Foreign Trade Minister Marco Ruiz reiterated Friday he is willing to approve the free trade agreement with the US.

Those opposing the deal said CAFTA will destroy national sovereignty; privatize health, communications, electricity, water and internet services and further impoverish farmers, as well as small and medium producers.

Nevertheless, Minister Ruiz noted the treaty should be ratified before beginning similar pacts with the European Union.

With that aim and to appease the US, he explained that it will be necessary to pass additional laws, which could be sent to Congress in June, such the strengthening of the national Electricity Institute, Social Security Fund and the telecommunications monopoly included in the agreement. "

trend: massive movement of business to Costa Rica over the next 5 years

Researchers use bacteria to reduce uranium to safe levels: "'Toxic uranium is often found in groundwater at places where uranium was either mined or enriched to make weapons,' said Craig Criddle, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford. 'This uranium-contaminated water can migrate into surface waters, where it becomes a threat to organisms and water supplies. Excavation of contaminated soil or pumping and treating the water are prohibitively expensive and lead to additional disposal issues. An alternative is to stimulate naturally occurring subsurface microorganisms that can convert the dissolved uranium into a solid form that is not susceptible to transport by water.'

For the past six years, a research team at Stanford headed by Criddle has worked with a research team at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee headed by Phil Jardine, a soil chemist and distinguished research staff scientist there, to develop a possible solution to the problem. The group's strategy took groundwater that originally contained more than 1,000 times the drinking-water regulatory limit for uranium and brought concentrations down to the limit. The technique and its early results are described in a pair of papers to appear June 15 in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, a publication of the American Chemical Society. The papers were published online on May 13."

Gold nanoparticles could improve antisense cancer drugs: "In the fight against cancer, antisense drugs, which prevent genes from producing harmful proteins such as those that cause cancer, have the promise to be more effective than conventional drugs, but the pace of development of these new drugs has been slow. "

Nano World Fast flow through nanotube membranes Update: "'This is like having a garden hose that can deliver as much water in the same amount of time as a fire hose that is 10 times larger,' said researcher Olgica Bakajin, a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif.

These findings could lead to more efficient filters. 'The two biggest applications we see are the separation of industrial gases and water purification, demineralization and desalination,' said Jason Holt, a materials scientist postdoctoral researcher also at Livermore. "

Last chromosome in human genome sequenced - Yahoo! News: "Scientists have reached a landmark point in one of the world's most important scientific projects by sequencing the last chromosome in the Human Genome, the so-called 'book of life.'

Chromosome 1 contains nearly twice as many genes as the average chromosome and makes up eight percent of the human genetic code."

atheNew 'metal sandwich' may break superconductor record: "The new lithium monoboride (LiB) compound is a 'binary alloy' consisting of two layers of boron -- the 'bread' of the atomic sandwich -- with lithium metal 'filling' in between, the researchers said. Once the material is synthesized, it should be superconductive at a higher temperature than other superconductors in its class, according to their results.

The researchers reported their findings in the May 5 online edition of the journal Physical Review B, Rapid Communications.

'To the best of our knowledge, this alloy structure had not been considered before,' said Stefano Curtarolo, professor of mechanical engineering and materials sciences at Duke's Pratt School. 'We have been able to identify synthesis conditions under which the LiB compound should form. And we believe that if the material can be synthesized, it should superconduct at a higher temperature, perhaps more than 10 percent greater, than any other binary alloy superconductor.' "

Breakthrough Scientists used nanotubes to send signals to nerve cells: "Nanotubes, tiny hollow carbon filaments about one ten-thousandth the diameter of a human hair, are already famed as one of the most versatile materials ever discovered. A hundred times as strong as steel and one-sixth as dense, able to conduct electricity better than copper or to substitute for silicon in semiconductor chips, carbon nanotubes have been proposed as the basis for everything from elevator cables that could lift payloads into Earth orbit to computers smaller than human cells.

Thin films of carbon nanotubes deposited on transparent plastic can also serve as a surface on which cells can grow. And as researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) and Rice University suggest in a paper published in the May issue of the Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, these nanotube films could potentially serve as an electrical interface between living tissue and prosthetic devices or biomedical instruments. "

Experts see computers getting bigger and smaller at the same time: "When pioneering professors Herbert Simon and Allen Newell began working with the first computer at what is now Carnegie Mellon University in 1956, they had no clear vision of how their research would reshape the world 50 years later.

So it's no surprise that the experts visiting the campus last week to celebrate the 50th anniversary of computing at Carnegie Mellon shied away from predicting what the digital universe will look like in 2056."

USATODAY.com - Drug helps alcoholics without intensive counseling: "Primary-care doctors can treat alcoholism effectively, a finding that could greatly expand access to treatment, research out Wednesday suggests.

The study, which is published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, found that alcoholics who took the drug naltrexone and met occasionally with a doctor or nurse fared as well as alcoholics who did both and had up to 20 psychotherapy sessions."

Polymer Nanotubes as Molecular Probes and DNA Carriers: "By growing polymers on a porous aluminum oxide template, researchers at the Seoul National University in Korea have fabricated polymer nanotubes to which they can attach two different types of molecules. These new nanoscale structures could be used to deliver imaging and therapeutic agents to targeted cells. "

New and Improved Antimatter Spaceship for Mars Missions: "Most self-respecting starships in science fiction stories use antimatter as fuel for a good reason – it’s the most potent fuel known. While tons of chemical fuel are needed to propel a human mission to Mars, just tens of milligrams of antimatter will do (a milligram is about one-thousandth the weight of a piece of the original M&M candy). "

Towards the magnetic fridge: "Researchers at the University of Cambridge have discovered a material that gives a whole new complexion to the term 'fridge magnet'. When this alloy is placed in a magnetic field, it gets colder. Karl Sandeman and his co-workers think that their material - a blend of cobalt, manganese, silicon and germanium - could help to usher in a new type of refrigerator that is up to 40 percent more energy-efficient than conventional models. "

Producing Dark Matter: "“[It’s] mostly made of dark matter and energy, which we don’t really know about,” he tells PhysOrg.com. “The thing about this collider is that it can help us understand dark matter.”

Along with two colleagues, Shufang Su at the University of Arizona, and Fumihiro Takayama at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, Feng proposes a way to use the massive LHC to produce dark matter in order to study its characteristics. “What we do know is by looking through telescopes,” he says, “and we can tell that galaxies are spinning too fast if all you had is what you saw. They would fall apart without something else. So this is what we know is dark matter. All we know is that it is holding stuff together.” "

IBM Researchers Demonstrate New Method for Rapid Molecule Sorting and Delivery: "IBM researchers have demonstrated a new nanoscale method that both rapidly separates very small numbers of molecules and also delivers them precisely onto surfaces with unprecedented control. When fully developed, the new technique has the potential to improve such diverse applications as medical lab tests and future nanoelectronic circuit manufacturing. "

Black Hole Pair Sets Proximity Record - Yahoo! News: "Scientists think that when black holes collide, they generate enormous amounts of energy—more than all the stars in the universe combined according to one recent model—and send out gravitational waves rippling through space-time in every direction.
Such gravitational waves could be detected with the ground based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) or the proposed Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) space mission."

Iogen Corporation: "Cellulose ethanol and conventional (grain based) ethanol have identical molecules and can be easily integrated into the existing fuel distribution system. Grain ethanol has forged a path and created market acceptance that cellulose ethanol can follow and benefit from.

The difference between the two types of ethanol products is that conventional fuel ethanol is derived from grains such as corn and wheat. Cellulose ethanol is made from the non-food portion of renewable feedstocks such as cereal straws and corn stover.

Cellulose ethanol is a fully renewable, advanced biofuel that can be used in today's cars. It is one of the most cost effective ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and gasoline consumption use in road transport, and can deliver CO2 reduction benefits similar to improved vehicle efficiency."

Ethanol's Promise - New York Times: "The political scramble to find quick answers to rising oil prices has produced one useful result, which is to get people talking about substitute fuels that could make us less vulnerable to market forces, less dependent on volatile Persian Gulf oil producers and less culpable on global warming.

That, in turn, has focused attention on the fuel that seems to have the best chance of replacing gasoline — ethanol. President Bush mentioned ethanol in his State of the Union address. Entrepreneurs like Bill Gates have begun investing in it. And every blue-ribbon commission studying energy has embraced ethanol as a fuel of the future. One leading environmental group, the Natural Resources Defense Council, predicts that ethanol, combined with other strategies, could replace all of the gasoline Americans would otherwise use by mid-century. "