With last week's announcement of the "chemical synthesis of a living organism," what Craig Venter and his colleagues have achieved is not so much a "synthesis of life" as a semi-synthetic recreation of what we currently deem life to be, says Phillip Ball, consultant editor for Nature. "'Life' in biology, rather like 'force' in physics, is a term carried over from a time when scientists thought quite differently, when it served as a makeshift bridge over the inexplicable," he said. "In the post-genomics era, our ideas of where the real business of life resides are shifting again. We are moving away from a linear "code" and towards something altogether more abstract, emergent and entangled. "So in marking yet another deepening appreciation of how life operates, the latest 'synthesis of life' seems likely to repeat the historical template." (Source: http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100524/full/news.2010.261.html)

Paper transistors and paper displays that scientists have been designing can now be powered by an onboard power source, thanks to the development of a new paper supercapacitor designed by researchers at Stanford University, A paper supercapacitor is made by simply printing carbon nanotubes onto a treated piece of paper. It could lead to the development of low-cost, disposable paper electronics. All the necessary components are integrated onto a single sheet of paper in the form of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). High-speed printing could be used to print the SWNTs directly onto a piece of paper. (Liangbing Hu, et al. ©2010 AIP) (Source: http://www.physorg.com/news193635596.html)

Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation's YeZ, a concept car, behaves like a plant, converting carbon dioxide from the air via photosynthesis into oxygen that is sent back into the atmosphere. YeZ uses photoelectric conversion from solar panels on the roof, wind power conversion via small wind turbines in the wheels, and carbon dioxide absorption and conversion through the bodywork. (Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation) (Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20005538-1.html)

Wikitude Drive from Mobilizy transforms an Android smartphone into a mobile navigation system. GPS driving directions from Navteq appear on screen, overlaid on a live video (from the phone camera) of the street you are driving on. More info: Mobilizy news (Source: )

Packaging anti-cancer antibodies into particles of chemically modified silica prevent tumor growth and prolong the lives of mice, according to new research by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and University of Washington scientists. Small chemical ornaments (cones) slow the release of anti-cancer antibodies (blue) from this functionalized mesoporous silica (orange) (artist's rendering, not to scale) The effect is based on silica's mesoporous honeycomb-like structures. The researchers first chemically modified mesoporous silica particles of about six to 12 micrometers containing pores of about 30 nanometers in diameter. They found that the extent and choice of chemical modification -- amine, carboxylic acid or sulfonic acid groups -- determined how fast the antibodies leaked out, a property that can be exploited to fine tune particles to different drugs More info: DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory news (Source: )

Low-cost computing devices, digital sensors, and the Web promise to shift early detection of health problems, prevention and management of chronic disease from hospitals and specialized clinics to primary care physicians and patients themselves -- at far less cost. (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/business/23unboxed.html)

Using just a multicolored glove and webcam, MIT researchers are making Minority Report-style interfaces more accessible. (Jason Dorfman/CSAIL) The system can translate gestures made with a gloved hand into the corresponding gestures of a 3-D model of the hand on screen. Applications include video games, VR, and manipulating 3-D models of commercial products or large civic structures. More info: MIT news (Source: )

Google has made its VP8 video compression codec available free to anyone. The objective: create a new free video format called WebM, designed to allow anyone to embed open video into Web pages. (Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/web/25361/?a=f)

Google CEO Eric Schmidt showed up at the Google IO developer conference on Thursday with the CEOs of six other major companies to emphasize the seriousness of Google's effort to integrate the Web and television. Google TV provides a search box that returns search data from Web and television sources. It allows users to find relevant content wherever it resides and promises to make content suited to the user's tastes more discoverable and manageable through personalization features. It will offer picture-in-picture layout to support viewing multiple shows and/or Web sites simultaneously. Also see: How to Sign Up for GoogleTV Beta (Source: http://www.informationweek.com/news/infrastructure/ethernet/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224900595&subSection=News)

Microsoft has announced that its Robotics Developer Studio (RDS), a big package of programming and simulation tools, is now available to anyone for free. The robotics group is also making the source code of selected program samples and other modules available online, hoping to improve collaboration among users. In particular, Microsoft wants to entice the growing community of hobbyists, do-it-yourselfers, and weekend robot builders. RDS is a comprehensive set of development tools, samples, and tutorials. It includes a visual programming interface, a popular 3-D simulator, and also Microsoft's CCR and DSS runtime toolkit. But despite its broad range of tools, RDS works best with the specific robot platforms it supports, including iRobot's Create, LEGO Mindstorms, CoroWare, Parallax, and others. (Source: http://spectrum.ieee.org/blog/robotics/robotics-software/automaton)

Researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), a not-for-profit genomic research organization, published results today describing the successful construction of the first self-replicating, synthetic bacterial cell. The team synthesized the 1.08 million base pair chromosome of a modified Mycoplasma mycoides genome. The synthetic cell is called Mycoplasma mycoides JCVI-syn1.0 and is the proof of principle that genomes can be designed in the computer, chemically made in the laboratory and transplanted into a recipient cell to produce a new self-replicating cell controlled only by the synthetic genome. "Its genome was designed in the computer and brought to life through chemical synthesis, without using any pieces of natural DNA," said JCVI Distinguished Investigator Clyde Hutchison. The JCVI scientists envision that the knowledge gained by constructing this first self-replicating synthetic cell, coupled with decreasing costs for DNA synthesis, will give rise to wider use of this powerful technology. This will undoubtedly lead to the development of many important applications and products including biofuels, vaccines, pharmaceuticals, clean water and food products. "This will essentially enable us to design new life forms at a computer screen," said Ray Kurzweil. "This will be a fabulous creative tool for creating inexpensive clean fuels and other breakthroughs for agriculture, health, and the environment. It's also enabling for a bioterrorist, so we urgently need a rapid response system (like we do have for software viruses) that can protect us from new biological viruses and other life forms. The technologies to do this are in place -- we can now sequence a biological virus in about a day, a bacterium in a few days (HIV took five years), and we have a range of tools to deactivate these pathogens (such as RNA interference or antigen based vaccines). I've advised the Army on how to set up such a system and I know that it is underway, but we need to substantially increase its priority." The team designed and inserted "watermarks" into the genome --specifically designed segments of DNA that use the "alphabet" of genes and proteins that enable the researcher to spell out words and phrases. Encoded in the watermarks is a new DNA code for writing words, sentences and numbers. In addition, there is a web address to send emails to if you can successfully decode the new code, the names of 46 authors and other key contributors and three quotations: "TO LIVE, TO ERR, TO FALL, TO TRIUMPH, TO RECREATE LIFE OUT OF LIFE." - JAMES JOYCE; "SEE THINGS NOT AS THEY ARE, BUT AS THEY MIGHT BE."-A quote from the book, "American Prometheus"; "WHAT I CANNOT BUILD, I CANNOT UNDERSTAND." - RICHARD FEYNMAN. The assembly of a synthetic M. mycoides genome in yeast (Figure from Gibson, D. G., J. I. Glass, et al. 2010. Creation of a bacterial cell controlled by a chemically synthesized genome. Science, Published online May 20 2010) More info: J. Craig Venter Institute news (Source: )

Ray Kurzweil will keynote the H+ Summit, to be held June 12-13 at Harvard University, with a talk on "The Power of Hierarchical Thinking." The talk will focus on understanding the brain: Where are we on the roadmap to this goal? What are the effective routes to progress -- detailed modeling, theoretical effort, improvement of imaging and computational technologies? What predictions can we make? What are the consequences of materialization of such predictions - - social, ethical? "According to my models, we are only two decades from fully modeling and simulating the human brain," said Kurzweil. "By the time we finish this reverse-engineering project, we will have computers that are thousands of times more powerful than the human brain. These computers will be further amplified by being networked into a vast worldwide cloud of computing. The algorithms of intelligence will begin to self-iterate towards ever smarter algorithms. "This is how we will address the grand challenges of humanity, such as maintaining a healthy environment, providing for the resources for a growing population including energy, food, and water, overcoming disease, vastly extending human longevity, and overcoming poverty. It is only by extending our intelligence with our intelligent technology that we can handle the scale of complexity to address these challenges." Kurzweil will also discuss his upcoming book, How the Mind Works and How to Build One, and examine some of the most common criticisms of the exponential growth of information technology. The H+ Summit is a two day event that explores how humanity will be radically changed by technology in the near future. Visionary speakers will explore the potential of technology to modify your body, mind, life, and world. (Source: )

Scientists in China have succeeded in teleporting information between entangled photons further than ever before -- 16 km (10 miles), much further than the few hundred meters previously achieved -- bringing us closer to transmitting information over long distances without the need for a traditional signal. (Nature Photonics) (Source: http://www.physorg.com/news193551675.html)

Google's vision of the future is starkly different from those laid out by its rivals Apple and Microsoft, and calls for rich multimedia applications that operate within the browser -- without the separate applications that people now download to their PC desktops or mobile phones. For example, the forthcoming MugTug, a full-featured photo editing tool that operates within the browser, no software download necessary. (Source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/google-pitches-a-web-centric-future/?partner=rss&emc=rss)

KarDo, new software designed by MIT researchers to watch and learn as IT support staff carry out common tasks, could automatically perform the same jobs across different computers. (Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/25351/?a=f)

Support cells in the brain called astroglia can be turned into functioning neurons, a research team lead by the Helmholtz Center and Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich has found. The finding suggests that scientists could someday recruit existing cells in the brain to repair the brain and spinal cord after a stroke, injury, or neurodegenerative disease. (Christophe Heinrich) (Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/25353/?a=f)

An MIT-led team has designed a green airplane that is estimated to use 70 percent less fuel than current planes while also reducing noise and emission of nitrogen oxides. The design was presented to NASA last month as part of a $2.1 million research contract to develop environmental and performance concepts that will help guide the agency's aeronautics research over the next 25 years. MIT's D "double bubble" series design concept is based on a modified "tube-and-wing" structure that has a very wide fuselage to provide extra lift. The aircraft would be used for domestic flights to carry 180 passengers in a coach cabin roomier than that of a Boeing 737-800.(MIT/Aurora Flight Sciences) More info: MIT news (Source: )

EcoMotors is currently developing an engine prototype that could improve fossil-fuel economies by up to 60 percent (achieving 100 miles per gallon), while halving the weight and size of standard gas and diesel-powered engines. (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/external/venturebeat/2010/05/18/18venturebeat-khosla-company-ecomotors-snags-18m-to-develo-62900.html)

In a secret bunker known as the Swiss Fort Knox deep in the Swiss Alps, European researchers on Tuesday deposited a "digital genome" that will provide the blueprint for future generations to read data stored using defunct technology. The project hopes to preserve "data DNA," the information and tools to access and read historical digital material and prevent digital memory loss into the next century. (Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2363904,00.asp)

Anybots' QB, a $15,000 "remote presence robot," allows a telecommuting worker to remotely attend meetings, drop into the offices of colleagues, and otherwise collaborate with people in an office. Cameras in its eyes capture video; speakers and microphones let it relay sound back and forth; an LCD in its forehead can display a still image or video of the remote colleague; and a laser pointer gives it the equivalent of a virtual finger. You control QB in a Web-based application that shows you what it sees and lets you direct it around simply by pressing your computer's arrow keys. (Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/196633/meet_qb_your_new_robotic_coworker.html)