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Thursday, 3 September 2009
1. 'NanoPen' to write a new chapter in nanotech manufacturing
ZDNet blogs
September 3, 2009
Among the top challenges facing the commercialization of nanotechnology is to produce a high volume of nano-scale components cheaply and efficiently. To help meet the challenge, UC BERKELEY RESEARCHERS are reporting the development of a “NanoPen” that could provide a quick, convenient way of laying down patterns of nanoparticles — from wires to circuits — for making tiny electronic devices, medical diagnostic tests, and other nanotech applications.
In a report published in ACS’ Nano Letters, MING WU AND HIS COLLEAGUES point out that there are already several different methods for producing patterns of nanoparticles (1/50,000th the width of a human hair), but those techniques tend to be too complex and slow. One such printing technique is called optical lithography, but it is already reaching its physical limits.
The researchers say that such techniques require bulky instrumentation and take minutes or even hours to complete. And they require the use of very high temperatures to apply the nanostructures to their target surfaces. These limitations prevent widespread application of such techniques, says Wu.... Full Story
2. CellScope: Your Cell Phone Just Got a Microscope
Singularity Hub
September 3, 2009
I think we need to stop calling them cell phones, because our hand held devices are starting to have more capabilities than Batman’s utility belt. Controlling robots, projecting images, depositing checks, augmented reality, not to mention internet, GPS, and cameras… and now we can add microscopes to the list. PROF. DAN FLECTCHER AND HIS TEAM OUT OF UC BERKELEY are developing the CellScope, a microscope assembly that will easily attach to a standard cell phone and allow you to take up close images of skin and blood samples. While that sounds like just another cool iPhone trick, it has huge implications for fighting diseases in the Third World. Check out Fletcher’s explanation video from Popular Science after the break.
Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria kill millions each year and infect hundreds of millions more. Most of those infected are miles from a doctor and even farther from reliable medical equipment. This means that many go untreated, and many more may be misdiagnosed. A portable method for sampling blood in the field could literally save millions of lives. CellScope has the potential to do just that. Field personnel with little experience can take a blood sample, image it, then send the photo to a qualified medical professional miles away. Diagnosis by phone might be just what the doctor ordered.
The idea and first prototype for the CellScope came out of a class that Fletcher taught. He challenged his students to create a microscope that could be attached to a cell phone. Now, many of those same students are helping CellScope through the development phase. The current incarnation of the device is still a little bulky (as you can see in the video) but the ultimate goal is a few inches of length and less than one pound in weight.... Full Story
3. Health care reform: Shared risk, responsibility
San Francisco Chronicle
September 2, 2009
When Congress resumes work after Labor Day, the members must act swiftly to pass the Affordable Health Choices Act. Contrary to the misleading attacks, this uniquely American plan represents our best hope for expanding access to affordable coverage. Why? Because the House bill upholds the twin principles of shared risk and shared responsibility. As the legislation moves forward, any changes made should not abandon these two crucial ideals.
Shared risk means distributing the cost of health care services across large numbers of participants - including people of various ages and health conditions. In today's market, individuals are denied coverage based on pre-existing conditions, how old they are or where they live. If everyone is insured and private insurers are barred from weeding out the sick, risk can be spread more evenly, so no one is denied coverage or priced out of the market.
Under the reform bill, a health insurance "exchange" will offer individuals and small businesses a variety of private plans and the information they need to select the best fit for their family. (Larger firms may be allowed to join later.) The exchange will also offer a public plan option, which is present in all the bills passed out of committees in the House and Senate but remains a major subject of debate, is essential for keeping costs down.
A Medicare-like public plan, offered as a choice to those in the exchange, will lower administrative costs and bring competition into markets where there are few health plans to choose from. A public plan option will not drive private insurers out of business: It will keep them honest.... Full Story
4. Quantum-mechanical peculiarities? Sign me up!
Extra.Credit, a Santa Rosa Press-Democrat blog
September 3, 2009
Ok, I got to this one late, so blog readers will have missed “Imaging a Planet Around Fomalhaut Using the Hubble Space Telescope” but not to worry, there is more from Sonoma State University’s free public lecture series “What Physicists Do.”
Every Monday at 4 p.m. (barring Labor Day) a working physicist will give a talk on a variety of heretofore incomprehensible (to me) topics:
GIBOR BASRI, PROFESSOR OF ASTRONOMY AND VICE CHANCELLOR FOR EQUITY AND INCLUSION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY will present the latest results from NASA’s new Kepler space telescope on Oct. 12 and Jonathan Fortney of UC Santa Cruz will discuss super-heated, Jupiter-like planets that orbit close to their parent stars on Nov. 9.... Full Story
5. Fighting fire: What government does right, and where it goes wrong
Point/Counterpoint: William Stewart says individual communities should take more responsibility for protecting themselves. Adam B. Summers says the federal government does a poor job of reducing the fire danger on land.
Los Angeles Times
September 3, 2009
Today's topic: What does government (local and state) do right about preventing and fighting wildfires? What does it do wrong?
'Stay and defend,' and other changes we should consider
With news coverage of the fires, we continuously see the logistical prowess of California's firefighting agencies. After poor responses to big fires in Southern California in the 1970s, all of the state's fire agencies worked together to create a mutual aid system. This established a strict command system to make sure beforehand that the people in every dispatched fire engine -- even ones from hundreds of miles away -- knew exactly what job they were to do and had the best information and equipment. This model has been copied across the United States and is one of the best examples of what government does right about fighting wildfires.
In terms of prevention, several recently passed state laws require new homes built in fire-prone areas to be resilient enough to withstand all but the most intense wildfires. The development of these regulations took years to develop because all of the stakeholders were involved in developing a package each of them could support. Like many new building codes, these laws only apply to new homes, not existing homes.
There are several areas where state and local government has room for improvement. One issue is that local communities have to pay for additional fire-prevention measures, while the costs of actually fighting wildfires are essentially 100% covered with state and federal funds. This can significantly reduce local interest in supporting increased expenditures in prevention even if most voters could be convinced they had a 2-1 or 3-1 return on their investments. Nobody wants to pay more for services they do not know the value of or can get for free in some other way.... Full Story
6. 12 Worthy Causes Seek Your Spare PC Cycles
You can contribute to a variety of scientific research and charities by donating your system's idle processing power to operate an on-the-fly supercomputer.
PC World
September 1, 2009
So you'd like to do more volunteering but can't find the time? Here's an easy way to do it: Donate the spare processing power on your computer via one of the dozens of ongoing volunteer computing projects, many based on open source software called BOINC. You know, like SETI@home, the well-documented project that uses otherwise idle computing cycles to help "search for extraterrestrial intelligence."
Here's a look at 12 cool projects, with thanks to volunteer computing enthusiast Jonathan Brier and UC BERKELEY'S DAVID ANDERSON for their insights. The Web sites for the various projects typically include stats on how much processing power they're using, who is volunteering their processors, and so on....
7. Tom Campbell Outlines Platform for Governor at ICC
Indiawest.com
September 3, 2009
MILPITAS, Calif. – Despite the death of his mother two days earlier, Republican gubernatorial candidate and former congressman and California state Senator TOM CAMPBELL spoke to an audience at the India Community Center here Aug. 30, detailing reasons why they should vote for him for governor in 2010....
The former finance director under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, currently on leave as DEAN AT THE HAAS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AT U.C.-BERKELEY, is currently living in Southern California and teaching law and economics at Chapman University School of Law in Orange County.
He received a major boost over the weekend when conservative columnist George Will wrote a favorable column about his candidacy in the Washington Post. He also told the ICC audience of about 50 people that he has good polling numbers, either in first or second place in the GOP field, and expects the upcoming Field poll to give him a further boost.
Campbell addressed a wide range of issues, but avoided one topic. He refused to address perceived defects of any of his opponents, either Democrat or Republican, choosing instead to mention his experience when audience members listed deficiencies of other candidates. “I don’t want to spend any time running down my opponents,” he said.... Full Story
8. Torture Memo's John Yoo Welcomed Back to Berkeley by Protesters
Politics Daily, an AOL News blog
September 2, 2009
UC BERKELEY and its hometown are defined in many ways by activism and lively debate: The Free Speech Movement, the People's Park protest, and the Vietnam War protests all happened here, and recent demonstrations include the contentious debate over the $500 million BP / UC Berkeley partnership, the "showdown" over a Marine Corps recruiting station in downtown Berkeley, and the 21-month stand-off between tree-sitters and university officials over the contested construction of a new athletic complex.
So it's no surprise that the tenured professorship of John Yoo, the main drafter of the infamous Office of Legal Council's torture memos, has stirred controversy and protest, too. The controversial memos he composed – the more infamous of which dealt with the curtailing of Geneva Conventions as applied to suspected Al-Qaida and Taliban leaders, narrowing the definition of torture, and justifications for warrantless wiretapping – were written during the time he served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice, where, according to his university profile, "he worked on issues involving foreign affairs, national security and the separation of powers."
YOO, WHO HAS BEEN A FACULTY MEMBER AT UC BERKELEY'S BOALT HALL SCHOOL OF LAW SINCE 1993, has returned to the campus this fall after a spring semester stint at Orange County's Chapman University School of Law. According to the Associated Press, four people who were part of a larger protest calling for the dismissal of John Yoo were recently arrested on the UC Berkeley campus. The protesters also staged a mock arrest of Yoo and wore uniforms (black hoods and an orange jumpsuit) similar to those worn by Abu Ghraib prisioners....
In response to the demands for Yoo's firing -- and some also think he should be disbarred -- Edley released a statement in April of 2008. EDLEY CITED YOO'S FIRST AMENDMENT AND DUE PROCESS PROTECTIONS, saying further, "My sense is that the vast majority of legal academics with a view of the matter disagree with substantial portions of Professor Yoo's analyses, including a great many of his colleagues at Berkeley. If, however, this strong consensus were enough to fire or sanction someone, then academic freedom would be meaningless."...
ELIZABETH POPHAM, A JUNIOR PEACE AND CONFLICT STUDIES AND ART MAJOR AT UC BERKELEY, sympathizes with the notion that the school should endorse and embrace diverse perspectives and philosophies. "We certainly shouldn't be excluding anyone just because they're unpopular," says Popham, "but this man threw the Geneva Conventions out the window, and what he was ultimately responsible for really crosses the line. I worry that his presence could potentially lead to students adopting that perspective. Any potential student could think to themselves, 'Undermining human rights is ok.'"
DOUG WADE, A SENIOR AT UC BERKELEY DOUBLE-MAJORING IN ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN, takes a different view. "Part of attending a liberal university is being truly liberal -- not in the sense of those who are opposed to the conservatives, but in an earlier sense, as in accepting of other viewpoints. Although I may not entirely agree with Yoo's legal position, I hardly think that it affects his ability to teach or his right to hold a position on faculty." He continued in an email: "I think it is kind of ridiculous, considering the fact that John Yoo only wrote legal opinions in memos, and didn't enforce or propose any of the techniques ... [I] hope to see him continue to teach."... Full Story
9. College Football Kickoffs: Maryland, U-Va., Va. Tech and the National Scene
Washington Post
September 3, 2009
Good afternoon, everyone. It‘s good to be back after a very long off-season, and on the brink of another season. Can‘t tell you how excited I am to get to some games tonight. I am also 17 hours away from boarding a plane for ONE OF MY FAVORITE COLLEGE FOOTBALL DESTINATIONS: BERKELEY, CALIF. It has been a while since I have been there, so if anyone knows of the best restaurants, etc., to visit on campus, please chime in during this chat or email me at prisbelle@washpost.com. All college football-related questions are encouraged here, and if you can‘t help but asking a college basketball question, well, I certainly won‘t protest. Fire away! Full Story