One of the potential uses of stem cells is in creating organs for transplant. In principle, stem cells taken from a patient should be recognized by the body, thus avoiding problems with organ rejection. However, creating those organs-- particularly anything with a complex, three-dimensional structure-- has been difficult. The New Scientist reports that

For several years scientists have been studying how geckos manage to climb up and remain on very sheer surfaces. The fine hairs on geckos' feet adhere to surfaces using Van der Waals force. Among proponents of biomimicry, this work has looked promising, as it opens the possibility of creating new forms of very strong adhesives. Recently scientists at the University of Dayton have created such an adhesive.

Since 2004, Evergreen State College ecologist Nalini Nadkarni has used prisoners at Cedar Creek Corrections Center as assistants in a project "to identify the best ways to cultivate slow-growing mosses."

As an NSF report explains,

Nanopore sequencing is considered to be a next generation sequencing candidate enabling 'single molecule' sequencing using individual DNA fragments without amplification and the risk of introducing errors.

The biggest player in the field is Oxford Nanopore Technologies based in Oxford, UK, lead by Hagan Bayley, closest to making a working nanopore sequencer.

The principle is that DNA could be detected "as it passed through a pore by the interruption in the flow of ions through the aperture".

Candidate Obama is widely recognized as having perfected the use of the Internet for the modern political campaign.  From the use of the Web for fund-raising to marketing tax plans, Obama relied on the use of new media to help increase the breadth of his message.  

UPI reports

Scientists have found a tree fungus "in the Patagonian rainforest, [which] naturally produces a mixture of chemicals that is remarkably similar to diesel." According to the Guardian,

An artificial pancreas is being developed in treating Type 1 juvenile diabetes when the body does not produce insulin: 

Complete Genomics, a Mountain View, California based biotech company will sequence entire human genomes (circa 6 billion base pairs/somatic cell) for $5,000 for companies starting 2009.

Complete Genomics will not offer a service to consumers. But it will provide sequencing for consumer-oriented companies like Knome.

Abstract: 

Complete Genomics, a Mountain View, California based biotech company will sequence entire human genomes (circa 6 billion base pairs/somatic cell) for $5,000 for companies starting 2009.

Tags:

• Biotechnology & genetics
• personal genomics
• sequencing

Source: 

Dawn of Low-Price Mapping Could Broaden DNA Uses http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/business/06gene.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
The Cheapest Genome Sequence Ever: For Real? http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/10/the-cheapest-ge.html

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The last month has seen a fundamental economic downturn in the United States with a lengthy recession or economic depression likely.    All agree that the primary cause for the economic calamity is the over-extension of credit and related sub-prime mortgage crisis.  However, what few people are talking about is the extent to which information technology shares a burden of the blame.

Yahoo's announcement of a 64 percent drop in third-quarter profits is a source of major concern for all Web 2.0 companies relying on online ad spending as their major source of revenue. Advertisers have already cut back in anticipation of the slowing economy, and in Yahoo's case this impact will cause 1500 employees to be laid off.[1]

India plans to launch a lunar satellite in late October 2008. According to New Scientist,

ISRO is set to launch an uncrewed spacecraft to map the Moon in more detail than ever before – a far cry from ISRO's beginnings in the 1960s, with a church in Kerala as their first office.

Tags:

• India
• lunar landing
• moon
• space

Source: 

http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn15004-india-set-to-launch-its-first-moon-probe.html

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Researchers working on microelectronics have long sought to capture the property that some molecules have of assembling themselves without human intervention — a feat that would allow the manufacture of key device structures. This week’s Nature (www.nature.com) reports the successful application of such a 'bottom-up' approach in creating an organic integrated circuit.

In 2002, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency established the Information Awareness Office (IAO) to unify projects using data mining technologies to counter threats to national security, in particular terrorism.  One of the largest of these efforts initially named the Total Information Awareness (TIA) Program, later changed to the Terrorism Information Awareness Program, was focused on integrating various public and private database.  Public awareness and concern over the program was raised by William Safire who wrote that TIA had a $200 million dollar budget to create com