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Wednesday July 14, 2010 Daily edition News and Blog Headlines Exercise reduces anxiety and depression Hydrogen-powered unmanned plane debuts Wilderness communication without cell towers An invisible computer mouse Crunching cancer with numbers Latest News Exercise reduces anxiety and depression July 14, 2010      Exercise can ameliorate anxiety and depression-like behaviors induced by an adverse early-life environment by altering the chemistry of the hippocampus, the part of the brain that regulates stress responses, researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have found. In the study, rats were divided into groups and either isolated from their mothers for controlled periods of time to induce stress or given normal maternal contact. Half were given access to a running wheel. In addition to being more anxious, animals that were subjected to stress early in life had higher levels of stress hormones and fewer steroid receptors in the part of the brain controlling behaviour. "Both the anxious behaviour and the levels of hormones in these rats were reversed with access to the exercise wheel," said UNSW… more Hydrogen-powered unmanned plane debuts July 14, 2010      The Boeing Company has unveiled the hydrogen-powered Phantom Eye unmanned airborne system for collecting data and communications, a demonstrator that will stay aloft at 65,000 feet for up to four days. Phantom Eye is powered by two 2.3-liter, four-cylinder engines that provide 150 horsepower each. It has a 150-foot wingspan, will cruise at approximately 150 knots, and can carry up to a 450-pound payload. Later this summer, Phantom Eye will be shipped to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., to begin a series of ground and taxi tests in preparation for its first flight in early 2011. That debut flight is expected to last between four and eight hours. More info: Boeing Phantom Works Wilderness communication without cell towers July 14, 2010      Australian scientists have invented software that enables mobile phones to work in remote areas where there is no conventional coverage and in locations where the infrastructure has been destroyed through disaster, or is not economically viable. The "Serval Project" technology enables ordinary mobile phones to make and receive calls without the need for phone towers or satellites. Converting a cell phone into a cell tower The project includes two systems that can operate separately or be combined. One is specifically for disaster areas, and consists of a temporary, self-organizing and self-powered mobile phone network that operates via small phone towers dropped into the area by aircraft. The second system consists of a permanent mesh-based phone network between Wi-Fi enabled mobile phones, with no tower… more An invisible computer mouse July 14, 2010      MIT Media Lab researchers have developed Mouseless, an invisible computer mouse that costs about $20 to build. It uses an infrared (IR) laser beam and an infrared camera. The laser beam module creates a plane of IR laser just above the surface the computer sits on. The user cups their hand, and the laser beam lights up the hand that is in contact with the surface. The IR camera detects those bright IR blobs using computer vision. The change in the position and arrangements of these blobs are interpreted as mouse cursor movement and mouse clicks. More info: Fluid Interfaces Group | MIT Media Lab Crunching cancer with numbers July 14, 2010      Source Link: New Scientist Health Computer scientist Danny Hillis and associates at the new National Cancer Institute-funded Physical Sciences Oncology Center at USC are testing a set of interlocking computational models they have developed to describe and predict different aspects of lymphoma: from protein interactions and modifications within cells, through a tumor's growth and genetic evolution, to the host's response to the disease and various therapies. Within five years, the team hopes to have a single, all-embracing model of mouse lymphoma that, by plugging in key parameters — sex, blood pressure, genetic sequences and the like — could predict an individual's response to various combinations of cancer therapies. Other physical scientists developing new models include cosmologist Paul Davies of Arizona State University and Paul Newton, a project leader at the new physical sciences… more New Books Experimental Man: What One Man's Body Reveals about His Future, Your Health, and Our Toxic World author David Ewing Duncan Bestselling author David Ewing Duncan takes the ultimate high-tech medical exam, investigating the future impact of what's hidden deep inside all of us David Ewing Duncan takes "guinea pig" journalism to the cutting edge of science, building on award-winning articles he wrote for Wired and National Geographic, in which he was tested for hundreds of chemicals and genes associated with disease, emotions, and other traits. Expanding on these tests, he examines his genes, environment, brain, and body, exploring what they reveal about his and his family's future health, traits, and ancestry, as well as the profound impact of this new self-knowledge on what it means to be human. David Ewing Duncan (San Francisco, CA) is the Chief Correspondent of public radio's Biotech Nation and a… more The Fourth Paradigm: Data-Intensive Scientific Discovery author Tony Hey, Stewart Tansley, Kristin Tolle Amazon | This book presents the first broad look at the rapidly emerging field of data-intensive science, with the goal of influencing the worldwide scientific and computing research communities and inspiring the next generation of scientists. Increasingly, scientific breakthroughs will be powered by advanced computing capabilities that help researchers manipulate and explore massive datasets. The speed at which any given scientific discipline advances will depend on how well its researchers collaborate with one another, and with technologists, in areas of eScience such as databases, workflow management, visualization, and cloud-computing technologies. This collection of essays expands on the vision of pioneering computer scientist Jim Gray for a new, fourth paradigm of discovery based on data-intensive science and offers insights into how it can be fully realized. Counterspace: The Next Hours of World War III author William B. Scott, Michael J. Coumatos, William J. Birnes Amazon | In Space Wars, Scott, Coumatos, and Birnes created a fascinating war gaming scenario of how World War III might unfold in above the Earth's surface.  Now this thrilling team of writers reunites with Counterspace, an even more chilling fictionalized look at America's most catastrophic fears. What if North Korea detonated a nuclear weapon in space and silenced dozens of satellites? What if an Iranian missile threatened to destroy Israel, while a Venezuelan "research" satellite endangered one of the US's most promising space initiatives? What if tech-savvy terrorist cells unleashed back-to-back horrors in California, creating an avalanche of crises overnight, as national leaders robbed of spy satellite imagery were forced to make decisions in the "blind"? These are the … more You Are Not A Gadget: A Manifesto author Jaron Lanier Amazon | Computer scientist and Internet guru Lanier's fascinating and provocative full-length exploration of the Internet's problems and potential is destined to become a must-read for both critics and advocates of online-based technology and culture. Lanier is best known for creating and pioneering the use of the revolutionary computer technology that he named virtual reality. Yet in his first book, Lanier takes a step back and critiques the current digital technology, more deeply exploring the ideas from his famous 2000 Wired magazine article, One-Half of a Manifesto, which argued against more wildly optimistic views of what computers and the Internet could accomplish. His main target here is Web 2.0, the current dominant digital design concept commonly referred to as open culture. Lanier forcefully argues that Web… more