scientific research

From a Science Park To An Integrated R&D, Manufacturing, and Training Center

Cesar Castro — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 10:47:40 -0700

Description

DuBiotech is a science park in Dubai and part of TECOM investments, a subsidiary of Dubai Holding. The importance of this signal is the desire to incorporate not merely a knowledge-based infrastructure, but a full-on manufacturing based infrastructure as well. This approach will result in demand for employment at all levels of education, not just post-graduate. Perhaps this is a signal of an U.A.E. strategy to integrate manufacturing in order to attract the local workforce as well.

A brief excerpt from the announcement:

"Spread across an area of 47,232 sq ft., the BioMedix facility at DuBiotech will manufacture ELISA kits, as well as PCR, Run Controls and Proficiency Panels. IVD equipment is used to conduct medical tests that protect blood supply, monitor the administration of drugs and offer pertinent data that assist in the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases. The local manufacture of IVD equipment will offer considerable cost advantages, while encouraging patients to seek voluntary tests. The company’s professional team will include laboratory technicians, quality managers and a laboratory director. In addition, BioMedix will offer training for medical and related healthcare professionals."

The announcement also clearly states their long term objective:

"Participation in this year’s edition of the Bio International Convention proved highly valuable for its focus on biotechnology trends, policy issues and technological innovations. Concurrently, the BIO Exhibition provided rich industry insights that will help us establish a world-class research centre, one of DuBiotech’s key objectives."

Biomedical Sciences and Biotechnology

Source

http://www.dubiotech.ae/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&Itemid=38&id=136

'Tiny Radio Antennas' Under Skin Could Act As Remote Sensors Of Humans' Emotional, Physiological State

Bartlett Bulkley — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:06:27 -0700

NOTE: This content was aggregated from RSS feed. Original source is http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/279691576/080428155737.htm

From Science Daily, April 28th, 2008.
Scientists have discovered a method for remote sensing of the physiological and emotional state of human beings. The researchers believe the discovery could theoretically help remotely monitor medical patients, evaluate athletic performance, diagnose disease and remotely sense the level of excitation -- which could have significant implications for technology in the biomedical engineering, anti-terror and security technology fields.

Virtual-reality Video Game To Help Burn Patients Play Their Way To Pain Relief

Bartlett Bulkley — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 18:02:33 -0700

NOTE: This content was aggregated from RSS feed. Original source is http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/255903858/080319152744.htm

To a patient recovering from severe burns, no place would be more soothing than a polar landscape of gently falling snowflakes, snowmen, penguins, igloos and icy rivers. That's the thinking behind SnowWorld, an interactive, virtual-reality video game being used to manage pain felt by burn patients during wound care and physical therapy.

Handheld DNA Detector

Bartlett Bulkley — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:40:12 -0700

NOTE: This content was aggregated from RSS feed. Original source is http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/250910745/080310173246.htm

A scientists has taken a mathematical approach to a biological problem -- how to design a portable DNA detector. A mathematical simulation shows how a new type of nanoscale transistor might be coupled to a DNA sensor system.

Does Globalization of the Scientific/Engineering Workforce Threaten U.S. Economic Leadership?

Jess Hemerly — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 13:12:02 -0800

Description

Abstract:

This paper develops four propositions that show that changes in the global job market for science and engineering (S&E) workers are eroding US dominance in S&E, which diminishes comparative advantage in high tech production and creates problems for American industry and workers:

(1) The U.S. share of the world's science and engineering graduates is declining rapidly as European and Asian universities, particularly from China, have increased S&E degrees while US degree production has stagnated.

(2) The job market has worsened for young workers in S&E fields relative to many other high-level occupations, which discourages US students from going on in S&E, but which still has sufficient rewards to attract large immigrant flows, particularly from developing countries.

(3) Populous low income countries such as China and India can compete with the US in high tech by having many S&E specialists although those workers are a small proportion of their work forces. This threatens to undo the North-South pattern of trade in which advanced countries dominate high tech while developing countries specialize in less skilled manufacturing.

(4) Diminished comparative advantage in high-tech will create a long period of adjustment for US workers, of which the off-shoring of IT jobs to India, growth of high-tech production in China, and multinational R&D facilities in developing countries, are harbingers.

To ease the adjustment to a less dominant position in science and engineering, the US will have to develop new labor market and R&D policies that build on existing strengths and develop new ways of benefiting from scientific and technological advances in other countries.

Science in the United States

Source

Freeman, Richard B. "Does Globalization of the Scientific/Engineering Workforce Threaten U.S. Economic Leadership?." NBER Working Paper No. W11457, 2005.

Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future

Jess Hemerly — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 13:09:23 -0800

Description

Book description:

In a world where advanced knowledge is widespread and low-cost labor is readily available, U.S. advantages in the marketplace and in science and technology have begun to erode. A comprehensive and coordinated federal effort is urgently needed to bolster U.S. competitiveness and pre-eminence in these areas. This congressionally requested report by a pre-eminent committee makes four recommendations along with 20 implementation actions that federal policy-makers should take to create high-quality jobs and focus new science and technology efforts on meeting the nation's needs, especially in the area of clean, affordable energy:

1) Increase America's talent pool by vastly improving K-12 mathematics and science education;
2) Sustain and strengthen the nation's commitment to long-term basic research;
3) Develop, recruit, and retain top students, scientists, and engineers from both the U.S. and abroad; and
4) Ensure that the United States is the premier place in the world for innovation.

Some actions will involve changing existing laws, while others will require financial support that would come from reallocating existing budgets or increasing them. Rising Above the Gathering Storm will be of great interest to federal and state government agencies, educators and schools, public decision makers, research sponsors, regulatory analysts, and scholars.

Science in the United States

Source

"
Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future." Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy (COSEPUP) and Policy and Global Affairs (PGA). National Academies Press, 2007,

EPA takes first step in filling nanotech information gaps

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 21:00:00 -0800

NOTE: This content was aggregated from RSS feed. Original source is http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-01/poen-etf012808.php

The US Environmental Protection Agency published today in the Federal Register its plan for the Nanoscale Materials Stewardship Program under the Toxic Substances Control Act. The plan takes a positive first step by offering industry, non-governmental organizations and other groups the opportunity to voluntarily submit safety data on engineered nanoscale materials.

Growing infrastructures for "citizen science" will help shape 21st century science

Hyungsub Choi — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 11:32:34 -0800

Description

We have thought a bit about the trend leading from the 20th century "science cities" to the 21st century "city science." This is the turn from the "Big" science and technology toward more distributed research activities. What would be the necessary infrastructure for this transition?

Jeff Johannes, medicinal chemist at a large pharmaceutical company, wrote an interesting posting on the blog Sceptical Chymist (http://blogs.nature.com/thescepticalchymist/features/10_miles_from_academia/):

Independence is a really good thing. Some amazing discoveries have come from qualified people or groups that were allowed to truly explore their own ideas, free of external bias or constraints. One clear example of the power of this concept exists in the context of popular music. During the 20th century there was an explosion of diverse musical genres that continues today. Many factors contributed to this process, but one of the most important was the fact that musical instruments and recording equipment gradually became cheaper while at the same time becoming more widely available. This made music accessible to anyone who had a desire to pick up an instrument and create music. Moreover, they could use their own recording equipment to communicate their ideas to interested parties. Today, with the advent of computers and digital recording, musicians can make home recordings of a rather high quality and easily share their songs on the internet. It is truly an exciting time to be a musician.

In terms of accessibility and expense, chemistry, and most modern sciences in general, are way behind music. A budding rock star can buy a $200 guitar at a local retailer and record songs at home, but when I think of chemistry, I think of $600,000 NMRs and $100,000 LCMS stacks installed in the hallowed halls of the worlds great schools. I consider myself extremely lucky to have access to such amazing equipment. But many scientists don’t.

While modern science is more technologically complex than music, I see no fundamental limitation to increasing the accessibility and reducing the cost of doing research. I think this is one of the great challenges facing science. Inexpensive scientific instruments would empower new scientists, give more independence to existing researchers, and lead to an increase in creativity in scientific research.

The indicator to watch to see whether scientific research is indeed following the trajectory of popular music is the availability of the scientific analogue of the "$200 guitar at a local retailer." Are there efforts to lower the cost of spectrometers, DNA analyzers, and NMR machines? Why don't scientific instruments follow the path of PCs, in a way that exponentially improves size and performance?

This has implications for the Brazilian case as well, about which Alex Pang has posted a few signals. In order to have a more diffuse model of scientific activity, one would need more readily available instruments. Perhaps science version of "One Laptop Per Child"?

Signals

The Amateur New York Subway Riding Committee - Collaborative Adventure Science

Citizens as sensors: the world of volunteered geography

Amateur cancer researcher (and patient) partners with academia and VC to prototype a cure

Move over US -- China to be new driver of world's economy and innovation?

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:00:00 -0800

NOTE: This content was aggregated from RSS feed. Original source is http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-01/giot-mou012408.php

EurkeAlert reports on a Georgia Tech "study of worldwide technological competitiveness suggests China may soon rival the United States as the principal driver of the world's economy -- a position the US has held since the end of World War II."

The study’s indicators predict that China will soon pass the United States in the critical ability to develop basic science and technology, turn those developments into products and services – and then market them to the world. Though China is often seen as just a low-cost producer of manufactured goods, the new “High Tech Indicators” study done by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology clearly shows that the Asian powerhouse has much bigger aspirations.

“For the first time in nearly a century, we see leadership in basic research and the economic ability to pursue the benefits of that research – to create and market products based on research – in more than one place on the planet,” said Nils Newman, co-author of the National Science Foundation-supported study. “Since World War II, the United States has been the main driver of the global economy. Now we have a situation in which technology products are going to be appearing in the marketplace that were not developed or commercialized here. We won’t have had any involvement with them and may not even know they are coming.”

Georgia Tech’s “High Tech Indicators” study ranks 33 nations relative to one another on “technological standing,” an output factor that indicates each nation’s recent success in exporting high technology products. Four major input factors help build future technological standing: national orientation toward technological competitiveness, socioeconomic infrastructure, technological infrastructure and productive capacity. Each of the indicators is based on a combination of statistical data and expert opinions.

A chart showing change in the technological standing of the 33 nations is dominated by one feature – a long and continuous upward line that shows China moving from “in the weeds” to world technological leadership over the past 15 years.

The 2007 statistics show China with a technological standing of 82.8, compared to 76.1 for the United States, 66.8 for Germany and 66.0 for Japan. Just 11 years ago, China’s score was only 22.5. The United States peaked in 1999 with a score of 95.4.

Changes in Competitiveness, 1993-2007: Chart shows the change in technological standing for several nations from 1993 to 2007.

China: Science & Technology

"Made in USA" scientific innovation on the decline

Jerry Sheehan — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 14:55:14 -0800

Description

The last three years have seen increasing concern over the scientific and technological competitiveness of the United States vis a vis other industrialized and developing nations. These concern reached a zenith in 2006 with the publication of “Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future” by the National Academies of Science.[1]

Examining any number of objective metrics shows that the “times are a changing” when it comes to scientific discovery: A) PhDs in Science and Engineering: By 2010 the European Union will grant roughly 2 PhDs in Science and Engineering for every one American PhD [2]. B) Scientific Publications: Since 1998 there has been an increase in scientific publications with international co-authorship with the EU, Japan, China, and Asia becoming increasingly prolific. C) Patents: American inventors in 2002 accounted for 52% of all patents granted in the United States. However, foreign patent applicants grew from 44% (1996) to 48% (2003) [3].

While there are numerous reasons for these changes (increasing population size and focus on science and engineering in China and India, more supportive basic research agenda, tax credits, etc) the conclusion that scientific and technological innovation will become more globally distributed seems certain.

The decentralization of technological and scientific innovation poses clear economic challenges for the United States. As Adam Segal noted in his 2004 article “Is America Losing its Edge” in Foreign Affairs: “For 50 years, the United States has maintained its economic edge by being better and faster than any other country at inventing and exploiting new technologies.”

One of the primary reasons this competitive edge existed was because basic research conducted in American Universities was transferred quickly to from the lab bench to the marketplace by industry. There exists a unique synergy between public research and private sector markets in the United States that can perhaps best be demonstrated by looking at the interaction and leveraged public and private sector investment that occurred from 1965 to 2000 in the area of information technology (see attached graph from National Academy of Sciences, 2003).

So, what are the likely impacts of growing decentralization of scientific and technological innovation?

First, in the short term that there will be an almost xenophobic reaction to the loss of primary production of scientific discovery in the United States that will manifest itself in concern for national security. As the Task Force on American Innovation led by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich noted “A robust research portfolio is a necessary part of a national security strategy that relies on knowledge and technology to keep the United States safe in a dangerous world.” These concerns will lead to short-term increases in research funding domestically but these will be tempered by the Iraq war, record budget deficits, and the entitlement crisis.

Second, American Universities will become increasingly involved in international scientific projects and global research partnerships. This trend will become increasingly dynamic as global problems such as climate change become crisis on the research agenda at the same time that new research talent is being produced in Asia and India.

Third, and most importantly, the American marketplace will need to develop new mechanisms for benefiting from technological innovations that are not produced in the American marketplace [5]. In these regards, the United States still appears to have a competitive edge in understanding how basic academic research can lead to applied research with industry. Increasingly, as seen in the recent King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST) recruitment efforts, American universities will be targeted not just for their academic skills but also for insight into how to build sustainable models for technology transfer.

[1]NAS Gathering Storm Report, http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11463
[2] Richard Freeman, National Bureau of Economic Research, July 2005.
[3]+ [4] National Science Board, National Science Indicators, 2006
[5] Richard Freeman, Does Globalization of the Scientific/Engineering Workforce Threaten U.S. Economic Leadership, July 2005, http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=755693

Signals

Move over US -- China to be new driver of world's economy and innovation?

Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future

Does Globalization of the Scientific/Engineering Workforce Threaten U.S. Economic Leadership?