The world's biggest problem? Dirty water, say some

What's the biggest hazard for the future? Global warming? Oil shortages?

A small, but growing number of people think that a looming shortage of drinking water constitutes a much larger crisis. Water consumption is doubling every twenty years, but the supply isn't growing at the same rate, according to Kevin McGovern, chairman of venture firm McGovern Capital, quoting U.N. statistics.

"We have a crisis," he said at the Foresight Nanotechnology Conference taking place in Burlingame, Calif. this week.

Many of the world's health problems are already apparent. "About half of the world's … Read more

Half a million in U.S. lose power a day

If you're sitting in the dark at the moment and running on laptop battery, you're not alone.

Roughly 500,000 people a day in the U.S. don't have electric power, according to Clark Gellings, vice president of innovation at the Electric Powe Research Institute. The power infrastructure is old and weak-that's one of the main problems.

Worldwide, of course, the picture is worse. Nearly 2/3 of the people in the world don't have access to electricity.

Gellings spoke at the Foresight Nanotech Institute's conference on Nanotechnology taking place in Burlingame, California this … Read more

Are college nuclear reactors safe?

ABC News has published a story that questions the safety of nuclear reactors on campuses, and it's one that some universities are disputing.

The media giant sent journalism student interns on tours of twenty university research reactors last summer. The students did not identify themselves as working for ABC or state the intent of their visits. According to ABC News, none of the college reactors had metal detectors, and only two appear to have armed guards.

At MIT, an ABC News producer drove a rental truck and got fifty feet away from an MIT reactor and obtained an operating … Read more

U. of Colorado wins solar decathlon

Engineering students from the University of Colorado won the Solar Decathlon, which pitted 18 teams in tasks designed to show off solar power prowess.

The teams built solar cars and built houses and were judged in ten areas, including architecture, dwelling, documentation, comfort zone, appliances, an ability to deliver hot water, lighting, energy balance, communications and documentation.

Cornell, Cal Poly, and Virginia Tech came in second, third and fourth respectively. The contest was sponsored by the Department of Energy. Earlier in the year, the University of Michigan won a race across America with solar race cars.

Go into orbit-lose most of your immune system

It's easier to get sick in a zero-gravity environment, and it seems that the cause is genetic.

Researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center have identified a set of immune-response genes that do not turn on in a weightless environment. SFVAMC biochemist and former astronaut Millie Hughes-Fulford, has found that a signaling pathway called PKA will stimulate 99 genes to produce T-cells, essentially for human immune functions, when in a regular, Earth-bound gravity field.

In the absence of gravity, 91 of those genes remain domant and the remaining eight, although functional, are significantly inhibited.

The study helps solve … Read more

World's oldest noodles unearthed in China

China's claim that the noodle came from there got a big boost this week when academics from the Chinese Academy of Sciences revealed that they discovered a sealed bowl containing 4,000-year old noodles in an archeological site near the Yellow river in northwestern China. These are the oldest noodles ever discovered.

Italian scientists have claimed that the noodle came from the Middle East and migrated to Europe, like many modern day foodstuffs.

Unlike modern noodles, which are made mostly of wheat, the 4,000-year-old ones consisted of millet.

Sharp, Nanosys enter mystery display pact

Japanese screen giant Sharp and Nanosys, the PhD-heavy nanotech outfit that functions almost like a lab for hire, have inked a pact to develop nanotechnology displays. Some companies, such as Samsung and Applied Nanotech , have been working on monitors in which carbon nanotubes deliver electrons to the screen.

What Nanosys and Sharp are working on, however, is anyone's guess. No other details were disclosed. Nanosys has worked with Sharp on other projects. The company is also working with Mitsubishi on solar cells.

Tests for nano toxicity coming later this month

A framework for assessing the potential health effects from inhaling or otherwise being exposed to nanoparticles will be released in Washington October 24.

The framework--prepared by the Nanomaterial Toxicity Screening Working Group of the International Life Sciences Institute Research Foundation/Risk Science Institute (ILSI RF/RSI)--outlines methods for testing for possible toxicity caused by nanomaterials, which are particles measuring 100 nanometers or less. (a nanometer is a billionth of a meter.).

While nanoparticles present potential health risks to the general public wearing pants or other products containing nanoparticles, the more likely health risk will be to factory workers who … Read more

Military concept vehicle looks to Nascar

Concept cars don't just come out of Detroit and off the drawing boards at Toyota. The U.S. military also dabbles in automotive design, of a rather chunky sort.

The newest look to come down the pike is the Ultra Armored Patrol Vehicle, which originated with a little help from the automotive industry itself. The project is led by the Georgia Technology Research Institute, and funded by the Office of Naval Research, but its inspiration comes in part from the racecar circuit.

To come up with the prototype--Ultra is a proving ground for concepts, rather than a production vehicle … Read more