“Previously, we were able to synthesize long-chain alcohols containing five carbon atoms,” said James Liao, UCLA professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering. “We stopped at five carbons at the time because that was what could be naturally achieved. Alcohols were never synthesized beyond five carbons. Now, we’ve figured out a way to engineer proteins for a whole new pathway in E. coli to produce longer-chain alcohols with up to eight carbon atoms.”

The new protein and metabolic engineering method developed by Liao and his research team is detailed in the Dec. 30 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The paper is currently available online.

Longer-chain alcohols, with five or more carbon atoms, pack more energy into a smaller space and are easier to separate from water, making them less volatile and corrosive than the commercially available biofuel ethanol. The greater the number of carbon atoms, the higher the density of the biofuel. Ethanol, most commonly made from corn or sugarcane, contains only two carbon atoms.

Organisms typically produce a large number of amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins. In their research, Liao’s team examined the metabolism of amino acids in E. coli and changed the metabolic pathway of the bacterium by inserting two specially coded genes. One gene, from a cheese-making bacterium, and another, from a type of yeast often used in baking and brewing, were altered to enable E. coli’s amino acid precursor, keto acid, to continue the chain-elongation process that ultimately resulted in longer-chain alcohols.

via Researchers push nature beyond its limits to create higher-density biofuels.

Also good for making plastic:

Turning Bacteria into Plastic Factories
A new company has found a way to produce polymers from genetically engineered microbes that feed on sugars, replacing fossil-fuel based processes

Dr. Jerry Burger has replicated some aspects of Stanley Milgram‘s famous experiment and found that people are just as inclined to obey authority, even if it means inflicting pain on others. Milgram had found that 79% of subjects were willing to administer what they thought were 450 volt shocks to participants in a scientific experiment; the real experiment was studying people’s obedience to authority. The experiment led to a new ethics code for scientific researchers that involved disclosure to particpants, which has made it impossible to directly replicate Milgram’s findings. Burger has done a limited replication which found that 70% of partcipants “had to be stopped” from continuing past the 150 volt mark, which was the point where Milgram had found most particpants that expressed misgivings refused to continue, if they did refuse. Burger’s research has replicated Milgram’s finding that men and women are equally likely to obey and inflict pain.

So, next time you’re at some protest that turns violent thanks to police provocateurs, don’t expect the men or women at the trigger of the microwave simulated flesh burning weapons to have any mercy- or the soldiers, CIA ops and private contractors torturing innocent detainees at Abu Ghraib- or executing air strikes on Afghan wedding parties- they’re just following orders. Possibly all the way to a new Nuremburg. Are we really responsible for our own actions? Or is our “free will” mostly genes, imprinting and socialization? 

What about the decades of research that shows IQ scores are governed more by nutrition and neighborhood than genes, culture or education? Are kids subjected to poverty by the Walmartization of America that grow up to be criminals really responsible for their actions? Can the boards and executives of criminal Wall Street corporations (like the White House, Federal Reserve and the Treasury Dept) really be held responsible for the global economic meltdown that they were warned about? They were under pressure from their stockholders and competitors, right? 

The playing field needs to be leveled for kids and corporate criminals. If kids are being condemned and held responsible for things they have no control over, then it seems at least logical and fair to hold corporate criminals and treasonous public officials responsible for knowingly risking other people’s lives, health and welfare in order to perpetuate inequalities in the economy and political process. If the case can be made that the people behind the Republocrats actually “merit”, let it be made; however the 1% “elite” won’t talk about how they “merit”; they just use their wealth and power to shut out the real public debate from the private corporation-controlled political debates, policy making and “news” media. 

It’s obviously simple for the power “elite” to administer economic shocks to “the little people” from an ivory tower- they’re insulated from consequences and responsibility for their actions.

Each of our Individual Voices Is More Important Than We’ve Realized  by George Washington – A study found that “even one dissenting voice can give people permission to think for themselves.”

The False Logic of Hopelessness (Why the Elephant Should Stand Up to the Mouse)  by George Washington

My picks for 2008: Top 11 People and lists reporting on and/or predicting breakthroughs in Science and Technology. You’ll notice I cheated a lot; but, I still left a LOT of stuff out: 

1) Jan-Dec 2008 Popular Mechanics

Jan 2008 10 Tech Concepts You Need to Know for 2008

Nov 2008 Awards Top 10 New World-Changing Innovations of the Year (With Videos!)

Dec 2008 10 Tech Concepts You Need to Know for 2009

Apr 16 2008 Glenn Derene How Social Networking Could Kill Web Search as We Know It 

Related:

Mumbai Terror: Twitter, Flickr & YouTube = Cutting-Edge News Media 

2) Jan 9 2008 IDC MarketResearch.com U.S. Life Science 2008 Top 10 Predictions 

3) Mar 2008 MIT Special Reports 10 Emerging Technologies 2008: “Technology Review presents 10 technologies that we think are most likely to change the way we live.” 

Also in Technology Review in 2008:         

Dec 16 2008 Semantic Sense for the Desktop ”A project brings Semantic Web technology to personal documents.”

Dec 11 2008 What’s Next for Computer Interfaces? ”Touch tricks for small and large displays could be the next big thing.”

Dec 2, 2008 First Light-Driven Nanomachine: “A silicon nanobeam uses optical force to do mechanical work in an integrated circuit.”

Nov 14 2008 The Coming [White Space] Wireless Revolution: “Gadgets that operate over television frequencies promise to transform the wireless landscape.”

 Sep 17 2008 Detecting Pollution with Living Biosensors: “Color-coded bacteria light the way to oil spills at sea.“ 

4) Aug 7 2008  James Pethokoukis US News & World Report 10 Wild Predictions for 2009

“My pal John “the Brain” Tamny over at RealClearMarkets writes a fascinating post on an investment firm that does a “wisdom of crowds” thing with its clients in order to make market forecasts. Here are some of their 2009 predictions, as paraphrased a bit by me.” 

5) Oct 14 2008 Gartner.com Gartner Identifies the Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2009

“Gartner, Inc. analysts today highlighted the top 10 technologies and trends that will be strategic for most organizations. The analysts presented their findings during [the Orlando 2008] Gartner Symposium/ITxpo”

6) Oct 15, 2008 Eric Drexler The Data Explosion and the Scientific Method

“Tradition demands that science always be hypothesis-driven: First, try to guess the truth, and only afterward collect experimental data to test whether the guess predicts the results. Indeed, this has been termed “The Scientific Method”. The new data-driven approach suggests that we collect data first, then see what it tells us. This becomes practical when experimental methods can amass enormous amounts of data, enough data to test more hypotheses than any mortal scientist could conceivably imagine.” 

Related:

Ray Kurzweil March 7 2001 The Law of Accelerating Returns

Ray Kurzweil 2005 The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology 

7) Nov 25 2008 IBM IBM Reveals Five Innovations That Will Change Our Lives in the Next Five Years

Ubiquitous solar, omniscient health, “talking web”, digital shopping assistants and permanent records of everything you do. 

Related:

NY Times: You’re Leaving a Digital Trail. What About Privacy? and Google Is Taking Questions (Spoken, via iPhone) 

Wired: Future Phones to Read Your Voice, Gestures and Brainy Robots To Lead To Longer Unemployment Lines? 

Pew Research: Mobile phones to be primary Internet device by 2020, experts predict
“The Web will not increase social tolerance, despite increased exposure to different cultures”

CNN: Scientist: Holographic television to become reality 

Nov 28 2008 Zack Lynch, NIO founder NIO Unveils Top 10 Neuroscience Trends for 2009

“Here are ten emerging areas of neuroscience that will impact the future of treatments for brain and nervous system which were published as a result of the cutting edge research being presented at the Society for Neuroscience Conference held in Washington DC last week.” 

9) Dec 2008 TIME Guardian.co.uk reports on Time Magazine’s picks: “Top 10 scientific discoveries: TIME magazine has reviewed the year with a comprehensive collection of lists – titled the “Top 10 Everything of 2008″ – which range from the serious to the not-so-serious”. #1 Hadron “Big Bang” Supercollider. 

10) Dec 5 2008 NewScientist.com Your amazing brain: Top 10 articles from 2008

Also in New Scientist:

Dec 12 2008 ‘Mind-reading’ software could record your dreams

Nov 25 2008 Cyborg leaf makes working solar power plant

Nov 21 2008 Light opens up a world of sound for the deaf

Oct 27 2008 Virtual touchpad lets you scroll in thin air

Oct 22 2008 Packs of robots will hunt down uncooperative humans 

“These go to Eleven” Spinal Tap Bonus: 

11) 2008 Ray Kurzweil

Solar Power to Rule in 20 Years, Futurists Say – February 2008 Ray Kurzweil made predictions while presenting as part of the National Association of Engineers panel addressing “Grand Challenges for Engineering in the 21st Century”. As reported by Robin Lloyd, Sr. Editor LiveScience.com:

Irrespective of any particular solar technology, members of the panel are “confident that we are not that far away from a tipping point where energy from solar will be [economically] competitive with fossil fuels,” Kurzweil said, adding that it could happen within five years. 

The reason why solar energy technologies will advance exponentially, Kurzweil said, is because it is an “information technology” (one for which we can measure the information content), and thereby subject to the Law of Accelerating Returns. 

“We also see an exponential progression in the use of solar energy,” he said. “It is doubling now every two years. Doubling every two years means multiplying by 1,000 in 20 years. At that rate we’ll meet 100 percent of our energy needs in 20 years.” 

NOTE: Search solar, wind, wave, tidal, geothermal- renewable, clean or green energy; amazing breakthroughs are happening in all these fields. 

In addition to the predictions about solar energy, the New York Times reports in the articleThe Future Is Now? Pretty Soon, at Least, based on what Kurzweil said:

Within 15 years, “your life expectancy will keep rising every year faster than you’re aging”

Within 10 years “there will be a drug that lets you eat whatever you want without gaining weight.”

“By the 2020s we’ll be adding computers to our brains and building machines as smart as ourselves.”

“By 2029, Dr. Kurzweil wagers, a computer will pass the Turing Test by carrying on a conversation that is indistinguishable from a human’s.” 

NOTE: the “Turing Test” was almost passed this year; 3 out 10 judges were fooled into not being able to tell a program from a human being. 

A quarter of planet to be online by 2012, and able to understand each’s other’s language – July 21, 2008 Ray Kurzweil publishes this prediction on his website, based on a report fromJupiter research that “by 2012, one quarter of the worldwide population will access the Internet on a regular basis” and citing “current developments in the speed and accuracy of statistical translation systems, which have improved exponentially in the past 10 years” 

Related and Not: 

Access, Openness, Choice, Innovation: InternetForEveryone.org 

Harris Poll Nov 17, 2008: Four Out of Five Adults Now Use the Internet “184 Million adults are online from their homes, offices, schools or other locations” 

Pew Poll Oct 31 2008 Internet Use Triples since 2004 for Campaign News: Pew Research Study 

Gary Small Oct 2008 Is surfing the Internet altering your brain? 

Andrew Lahde Oct 17 2008 Multi-Millionaire Hedge Fund Manager Retires- Slams Capitalism, Advocates Hemp 

Associated Press Oct 17 2008 Future planes, cars may be made of `buckypaper’ 

Slate Sep 17 2008 Nowhere To Hide: Killer drones that can see through walls 

MSNBC Oct 2 2008- Mayors’ report sees 4.2 million new ‘green’ jobs 

Guardian Sep 3 2008- Environment: Solar plant yields water and crops from the desert:

  · Green energy glasshouses may transform arid areas

  · Fresh water will end need to dig wells, say architects

Scientific American Sep 16 2008- Turning Bacteria into Plastic Factories: “A new company has found a way to produce polymers from genetically engineered microbes that feed on sugars, replacing fossil-fuel based processes”

By 2020, mobile phones will be the primary Internet devices for most people in the world, according to a panel of experts, who also predict that Web technologies will probably not lead to increased social tolerance.

“The mobile phone – now with significant computing power – [will be] the primary Internet connection and the only one for a majority of the people across the world,” the Pew Internet & American Life Project writes in a new “Future of the Internet” report. “Telephony [will be] offered under a set of universal standards and protocols accepted by most operators internationally, making for reasonably effortless movement from one part of the world to another.”

via Mobile phones to be primary Internet device by 2020, experts predict – Network World.

ABHAY ASHTEKAR remembers his reaction the first time he saw the universe bounce. “I was taken aback,” he says. He was watching a simulation of the universe rewind towards the big bang. Mostly the universe behaved as expected, becoming smaller and denser as the galaxies converged. But then, instead of reaching the big bang “singularity”, the universe bounced and started expanding again. What on earth was happening?

Ashtekar wanted to be sure of what he was seeing, so he asked his colleagues to sit on the result for six months before publishing it in 2006. And no wonder. The theory that the recycled universe was based on, called loop quantum cosmology (LQC), had managed to illuminate the very birth of the universe – something even Einstein’s general theory of relativity fails to do.

via Did our cosmos exist before the big bang? – space – 10 December 2008 – New Scientist.

Cross-posted:

InternetForEveryone.org InternetForEveryone.org – LA Town Hall Recap

OpEdNews.com InternetForEveryone.org – LA Town Hall Recap

InternetForEveryone.org is a U.S. “national initiative of public interest, civic and industry groups” organized by Free Press. This coalition is hosting a series of “town halls” across the U.S. to raise awareness about internet-related issues, and to solicit feedback and involvement from people and communities on ways to improve the Web. I participated in the first town hall, held December 6, 2008 in Los Angeles, CA, and I highly recommend that you attend when it comes to your area, if you’re concerned about the future of the internet in the U.S. Sign up to be notified at InternetForEveryone.org 

InternetForEveryone.org outlines four main principles at stake, which most attendees and myself are in favor of: 

1) Access: “Every home, business and civic institution in America must have access to a high-speed, world-class communications infrastructure.”

2) Openness: “Every internet user should have the right to freedom of speech and commerce online in an open market without gatekeepers or discrimination.”

3) Choice: “Every internet user must enjoy real choice in online content as well as among high-speed internet providers to achieve lower prices and faster speeds.”

4) Innovation: “The internet should continue to create good jobs, foster entrepreneurship, spread new ideas and serve as a leading engine of economic growth.” 

Well over 100 people attended- we were divided up into groups of 6-8 and sat at round tables. Most of us were strangers to each other, but almost all of us shared a passion for keeping the internet free from the corrupting influence of corporations and governments, and for supporting the internet’s continued growth and development. The event organizers asked us to consider and discuss a series of questions related to the four principles outlined above. Volunteer “facilitators” at each table led the discussion and took notes on the main points made and issues raised by people. Internet For Everyone will be using the feedback received to inform both coalition direction and action, and local, state and federal policy makers. In between the discussions, speakers gave short presentations, and short videos were screened. Poll questions about audience member demographics, backgrounds, interests and experiences (mostly related to the internet) were displayed on a screen, and audience members answered using wireless keypads. The demographics in the room reflected the internet’s user base more than the general population, but it seemed all races, genders and socio-economic groups were represented. Everyone has a stake in the continued protection and improvement of internet freedom, speed, quality and access. 

The speakers, videos and poll question results were all interesting and informative, but I found the group discussions to be the most valuable part. I appreciated the chance to express my views on issues and get feedback from the group members, and I learned a lot from the other participants at my table, who ranged from network experts to online gaming entrepreneurs to ordinary web consumers like myself. I was lucky enough to sit at the same table as Robb Topolski, the guy who exposed Comcast’s blocking of P2P file sharing. I got his autograph; he doesn’t consider himself an “American hero”, though his research prompted FCC hearings and a landmark ruling against Comcast’s abusive practice. Comcast’s action by itself is a great example of why a law enforcing Net Neutrality is needed. 

Topolski shared with us his thoughts on what may be the best solution for solving future issues with internet traffic loads and defeating corporate monopolization of service. My interpretation of his remarks; “broadband” is viewed by an increasing number of people as a necessary utility, like electricity, clean water, sewer, etc. Broadband access even benefits people who don’t use the internet, due to increased economic growth, job creation and productivity. The “last mile” of broadband “pipes” to residences and business could be funded and owned by publicly-controlled local municipalities, instead of by either the phone company or the cable TV company (if you’re currently lucky enough to live in an area with Broadband access). This will open up the market to entry by new service providers, resulting in increased competition, lower prices and improved service. This is a major reason such plans are fought by Big Telcos in every community that attempts to adopt some version of the idea. Topolski also believes fiber optic is the way to go, as opposed to wireless or coaxial cable; laying the infrastructure is more expensive up front than wireless, but is far faster and more reliable, and has more technological potential for handling projected increases in traffic than wireless or cable. 

The town hall lasted about four hours; I left with more knowledge than I had arrived with, and excited about the future prospects of the internet. It is reassuring and encouraging, knowing so many people are concerned and actively working to protect what we’ve already gained through the internet, and to continue the internet’s revolutionary improvement of our society; increased opportunity, knowledge, creativity, productivity, liberty and equality for all. 

InternetForEveryone.org  

Cell phones, the internet, blogs and web streaming technology have created an almost seamless interaction between any event you witness and the world wide web. 

Source, September 13, 2008: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/technology/14novel.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

 

    STILL keeping in touch with friends by texting? [Still waiting until you get home to upload those videos of human rights violations and political faux pas?] How old-fashioned. Some early adopters of technology are now using their mobile phones to send not typed words or photographs, but live video broadcasts. They’re streaming scenes from their daily lives — like trips to the mall, weddings, a new puppy’s antics or even a breaking news story that they happen upon. 

 

    ——- 

 

    “You can record whatever’s happening around you and send it back to wherever you’ve embedded your channel,” Ms. Thompson said. “You don’t have to set up a camera — it’s really instant.” 

 

    Viewers can respond immediately to videos, typing messages on their keyboards, for instance, and sending them along to a live session. The typed chat appears instantly at the bottom of viewers’ screens. 

 

    The relatively simple technology, which requires no television cameras or satellite links, has much potential, Ms. Thompson said, although the quality will vary when users stream live video, depending on the available bandwidth from the provider. 

 

At present, there’s no guaranteed protection in federal courtrooms for journalists who accept confidential information from such sources. Federal prosecutors and judges have shown an increased willingness to pursue whistleblowers’ identities, particularly in cases involving terrorism or claims of national security.

Such high-profile cases dominate headlines. But we also should be concerned about the potential to encourage or chill those who come forward on less-than-national-survival matters — issues such as drinking water or food safety, public-health statistics, fraud or abuse in road-building or errant law enforcement policies or practices, to name but a few.

The Senate proposal — like most compromises — offers something for many and likely completely satisfies none. The legislation does not shield spies, terrorists, crooks or eyewitnesses to criminal acts. Nor does the protection from subpoena apply in cases where officials can show there is imminent danger of death, kidnapping or serious injury.

Arbiter: 
1.    a person empowered to decide matters at issue; judge; umpire.
2.    a person who has the sole or absolute power of judging or determining.

This is an oped about how human nature and the Network Age are forcing the corporate media to bend to our will, and our demand for choice in news, information and content. The web and related networking technologies, as this article points out, can be a powerful positive influence on their news gathering and dissemination; trying to interfere with it may be their downfall. 

COMPUTER users frustrated by slow internet connections could soon be surfing the web 100 times faster, all thanks to new Australian technology.

University of Sydney scientists say they have developed a new technology that could speed up the internet – and not cost users an extra cent.

Described as “a small scratch on a piece of glass”, the university’s photonic integrated circuit boosts the performance of traditional optic fibres, Professor Ben Eggleton said.

“This circuit uses the ‘scratch’ as a guide or a switching a path for information – kind of like when trains are switched from one track to another – except this switch takes one picosecond to change tracks,” Prof Eggleton said of the technology developed over the past four years.