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A News.com report on the latest scientific breakthroughs

March 19, 2006 5:41 PM PST

Mars rover loses use of wheel

One of the wheels on the Mars rover Spirit has stopped working, according to NASA's Web site. The right-front wheel had been in trouble before, in June of 2004, when it began drawing abnormally high current. That problem was fixed by temporarily running the rover backward, but now the wheel has stopped working entirely, according to the space agency. The rover is able to use its five other wheels and drag the broken one along, but with the Martian winter approaching, NASA workers are in a race against time to get Spirit to a location where it will be able to get enough solar power to continue operating.

Loss of the vehicle would be a disappointment, but the two rovers have already exceeded their expected 90-day longevity by almost nine times and continue to collect information as they explore the Martian surface.

In the same announcement, NASA said the rover program is getting a new manager. John Callas, currently a scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will take over as project manager of the Mars Exploration Rover missions. As the rovers continue to age--and especially with the latest snafu--Callas has his work cut out for him. But, "it continues to be an exciting adventure with each day like a whole new mission," he said in a statement. "Even though the rovers are well past their original design life, they still have plenty of capability to conduct outstanding science on Mars."

Posted by Jennifer Guevin
March 17, 2006 3:00 PM PST

Gadgets shmadgets. All hail the fish hook!

In this day and age, it's easy to get caught up in the flood of flashy, new products that seems almost never-ending. And for the gadget lover, it's almost impossible to imagine life without the cell phone, PSP or Treo. But sometimes it's nice to take a step back and look at the technologies that really matter. In that vein, Forbes.com has compiled a report celebrating the "20 most important tools of all time."

The list includes the knife, rifle, eyeglasses, candle and other technological breakthroughs that changed civilization forever but often go overlooked. As an addendum, Forbes also wrote up an ode to the "other greatest tool ever": the almighty duct tape.

It's a nice look at how critical to our lives some seemingly commonplace tools really are. Getting this larger perspective is always nice, but that doesn't mean we'd want to live without our iPods.

Posted by Jennifer Guevin
March 15, 2006 5:03 PM PST

When robot pigs dry

Before robots take over the world like some science-fiction books predict, artificially intelligent bots are taking a first step by vaccuuming the carpets and washing the floors for American consumers.

Robots in Germany are similarly doing the dirty work.

Pig robots made by German company Thermo-System plough through the mud 24 hours a day drying sewer sludge in an environmentally friendly way, according to a report this week from UPI.

The stainless steel pigs look like child-sized Volkswagen Beetle convertibles, according to the article, and they're made with Thermo-System's patented drying system that draws on energy from the sun to suck water from heavy, wet sewage in plants operating in Germany and other countries.

The pigs work inside greenhouse-like sheds, where the sludge is spread around and a unique ventilation system based on microprocessors and sensors regulates the air to be warm and dry. The robot has mixing tools that aerate the sewage and prevent rotting. And the automatic system uses little energy unlike typical drying processes.

Thermo-System has built some 100 electrical pigs, which cost about $180,000. Countries including France, Brazil, Australia and Austria now run the energy-saving bots and plants.

Dry away.

Posted by Stefanie Olsen
March 14, 2006 5:14 PM PST

Is Kate Bush having a happy Pi Day?

March 14 is Pi Day. The event, though rarely observed outside math class, is so named because the U.S. date abbreviation of 3/14 resembles the first digits of the famed transcendental number.

For those of you who neglected your studies, pi is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter and has an infinite number of digits. One person who didn't forget is pop singer Kate Bush, whose latest album includes a song about a man obsessed with the number.

Bush sings dozens of pi's digits in the album. But according to one math fan, Bush slipped up after the 53rd digit.

The song lyrics indicate that Bush goofed. But one fan defended her honor in a posting on the Web site: "Kate Bush was absolutely correct. When she sings the song, she sings 'zero' and not 'three one.' This is merely an error in the printed lyrics. I have listened to the song over and over again, and I assure you, it is correctly sung and incorrectly listed in the lyrics."

However, that doesn't explain why Bush omitted the 79th digit and the 21 that come after it, before resuming with digit 100.

Posted by Stephen Shankland
March 10, 2006 5:14 PM PST

A closer look at an S.F. earthquake zone

The U.S. Geological Survey put up this week a virtual helicopter tour of Northern California's deadliest trigger point for earthquakes, the Hayward fault, via an extension to Google Earth.

The online tour resembles an aerial overflight from an altitude of a few hundred feet, according to a report in San Francisco Chronicle. People can see how close their home, work or favorite pizza joint is to the fault. Of course, it's better than the real thing.

Posted by Stefanie Olsen
March 8, 2006 5:38 PM PST

Snuppy's a real clone, after all

The dog that grabbed headlines last fall for being the world's first cloned canine is the real thing, according to several reports made public Wednesday. News that the Afghan hound, dubbed Snuppy, was the result of cloning experiments was considered a breakthrough in the field. But the veracity of these claims came into question after the project's head researcher, South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk, admitted that he falsified much of the data he previously reported on his widely publicized stem-cell research.

But a team of scientists at the Seoul National University and in the United States have confirmed the nature of Snuppy's existence. He is, in fact, a clone. Genetic testing was performed on preserved blood samples from Snuppy's now deceased father, Tai.

Posted by Jennifer Guevin
March 6, 2006 12:58 PM PST

IBM: Supercomputing becoming interactive

Supercomputing is on the verge of a new era of interactivity, and an IBM thinker forecasts that the change will have wide repercussions among those accustomed to submitting processing jobs and returning days or even months later for results.

"A petroleum engineer might accelerate the discovery process by quickly trying different kinds of analysis and visualization to pinpoint a potential oil field. Automotive engineers could continuously refine their designs to achieve a balance of aesthetics, safety and economics, much the way we keep formatting and reformatting documents until satisfied with the result," said Irving Wladawsky-Berger, who has led efforts at IBM to retool for e-commerce, Linux and other significant transformations, in his blog.

The change is significant because it puts supercomputing into a realm of technology that is better adapted to how humans think and tackle problems, he said.

"This goes to the essence of how humans prefer to deal with the world and solve problems. We do something, get a response, and then adjust and build on that response. It feels natural to break a problem into a series of steps and keep adjusting to the feedback, whether it is driving a car, talking to a person or interacting with a computer application," he said.

Technology is of course at the root of the change. "Continuous improvements in microprocessors, storage and other technologies are a major factor in this transition. Equally important are the advanced architectures that permit supercomputers to be built from the inexpensive components of the PC and consumer electronics worlds, so that the considerable computing capacity generally required to support interactive applications can be delivered at affordable prices," Wladawsky-Berger said, unsurprisingly pointing to Blue Gene and other IBM products to illustrate his point.

Posted by Stephen Shankland
February 22, 2006 4:16 PM PST

Oceans are 70 percent shark free, says new research

Scientists at the University of Aberdeen have published a paper stating that 70 percent of the world's oceans are shark free. Sharks don't live below 3000 meters, like many bony fishes, and congregate primarily in areas where humans fish.

That is a problem. "Sharks may be more vulnerable to over exploration than previously thought," the scientists concluded.

The study was conducted by taking samples with a trawler over a three year period in the North Atlantic. The group also looked at the records of commercial fishermen over several years.

Posted by Michael Kanellos
February 16, 2006 4:24 PM PST

A 'collaboratory' against disease

IBM and Scripps Research Institute announced a partnership Thursday that's designed to combat the spread of infectious disease like Avian flu by combining their respective specialties in supercomputing and biomedical research.

The initiative, called Project Checkmate, gels IBM's Blue Gene supercomputer and techniques for bio-informatics with Scripps research in biochemical modeling and drug discovery. Scientists from both companies will team up to study genetic variations in viruses, as well as responses in people who contract the virus, in order to create ways of thwarting or containing the disease before it verges on pandemic, hence the name "checkmate."

The initiative will create what the two organizations call a "collaboratory" in South Florida, near Scripps' biomedical facility in Palm Beach County, Fla., and IBM's campus in Boca Raton. Scripps President Dr. Richard Lerner announced the project at IBM's campus with Florida Governor Jeb Bush in attendance.

"This will be an enormous arena for advanced research?(and) makes possible the concept of modeling and simulating a virus with the ultimate goal of containment," said Lerner.

Ajay Royyuru, senior manager at IBM's Computational Biology Center, will head up the IBM side and Nicholas Tsinoremas, director of informatics for Scripps Florida, will lead the Scripps team.

Posted by Stefanie Olsen
February 14, 2006 8:15 AM PST

Tech medals for IBM, Motorola and George Lucas

What do Jedi knights, the West Nile virus and semi-dwarf, disease-resistant high-yield wheat have in common?

They all helped a new batch of individuals and businesses win National Medals of Science and Technology. President Bush handed out the awards in a ceremony at the White House on Monday.

The president took the opportunity to reflect on how much the country has changed since the first National Medals of Technology were given out in 1980. "Twenty-five years ago," reads the press release, "most Americans used typewriters instead of computers. Most of us used payphones instead of cell phones. Most of us used carbon paper instead of laser printers. Most of us had rolodexes -- you might remember those -- (laughter) -- and on the long family trip we'd play the license plate game -- (laughter) -- and now we're watching DVDs."

The science medals date back to 1959. Including this year, there have been 425 science recipients and 166 technology recipients.

The National Science & Technology Medals Foundation apparently takes its time in determining who's earned the awards. Monday's honorees are listed as the 2004 laureates. Here are some of them:

• George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic, the company behind the "Star Wars" movie technology, for 30 years of innovation in visual effects.

• IBM's microelectronics division, for innovation in semiconductor technology.

• Motorola, for work in mobile communications.

• Engineering consultant Ralph H. Baer, of Manchester, N.H., for his work in developing and commercializing interactive video games.

• Gen-Probe, of San Diego, Calif., for its blood-testing technologies and systems for detecting viral infections, including West Nile virus and Hepatitis C.

• Norman Borlaug, of Texas A&M University, for breeding semi-dwarf, disease-resistant high-yield wheat and instructing farmers in its cultivation.

Posted by Jonathan Skillings
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