As We May Live, by W. Wayt Gibbs, Scientific American, November 2000, pg. 36

Computer scientists build a dream house to test their vision of our future.

http://www.sciam.com/2000/1100issue/1100techbus1.html

Back to the Future From 1888, by Howard P. Segal, Nature, February 1, 2001, pg. 563

"One writer's vision of a technological utopia has stood the test of time."

An interesting essay about Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward: 2000-1887. Scenario writers will perhaps find it particularly interesting.

http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v409/n6820/full/409563a0_fs.html (subscription required - see note)

Complex Systems, the Introduction to a Nature Insight, March 8, 2001, pg. 241

"As should be clear from these articles, the science of complexity is in its infancy, and some research directions that today seem fruitful might eventually prove to be academic cul-de-sacs. Nevertheless, it seems reasonable to suppose that the general principles emerging from these studies will help us to better understand the complex world around us."

http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v410/n6825/full/410241a0_fs.html (subscription required - see note)

An article of particular interest from the Insight section, Exploring Complex Networks, by Steven H. Strogatz.

"The study of networks pervades all of science, from neurobiology to statistical physics. The most basic issues are structural: how does one characterize the wiring diagram of a food web or the Internet or the metabolic network of the bacterium Escherichia coli? Are there any unifying principles underlying their topology? From the perspective of nonlinear dynamics, we would also like to understand how an enormous network of interacting dynamical systems - be they neurons, power stations or lasers - will behave collectively, given their individual dynamics and coupling architecture. Researchers are only now beginning to unravel the structure and dynamics of complex networks."

http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v410/n6825/full/410268a0_fs.html (subscription required - see note)

Emerging Technology: Energy Consumption and the New Economy, by Jonathan Angel, Network Magazine, January 5, 2001

"Authorities hotly debate the Internet's effect on U.S. energy consumption, but everyone agrees data centers pose serious problems for the local grid."

http://www.networkmagazine.com/article/NMG20010103S0005/1

Also see Information Technology and Resource Use on the Lawrence Berkeley Lab website, information about their ongoing project that explores the effects of computers and other information technology on resource use.

http://enduse.lbl.gov/Projects/InfoTech.html

Entering the Next Dimension, by Celia M. Henry, C&E News, March 5, 2001, pg. 36

"Microfabrication techniques, including printing patterns on cylinders, construct 3-D objects ."

http://cen.acs.org/isubscribe/journals/cen/79/i10/html/7910sci1.html (subscription required - see note)

A Generator in Every Backyard?, by United Press International, March 15, 2001

Not-in-my-backyard could become one-in-every-backyard if technology for distributed generation - micropower - is perfected.

http://www.enn.com/extras/printer-friendly.asp?storyid=42531

How a Cat Saved Sweden's Farm Industry, by Carol J. Williams (LA Times), San Jose Mercury News, March 17, 2001

"Bits, the late companion of journalist Erik Fichtelius, is now celebrated across the Swedish countryside for saving this country from the evils of industrialized farming and the livestock diseases wreaking havoc elsewhere in Europe."

http://www0.mercurycenter.com/resources/search/center/search_newslibrary.html (article not available for free)

The Law or the Lives of Millions, by Art Jahnke, Darwin, February 12, 2001

Until last week, it looked like most of the 25 million Africans who are infected with the AIDS virus were doomed. The cost of treating African AIDS victims with the three-drug cocktail that has proven to be most effective was far beyond the budgets of African countries and health agencies.

Then came Cipla Ltd., a manufacturer of generic drugs based in Bombay, India, offering to sell the treatment for $600 a year to African governments and for $350 a year to Doctors Without Borders, an international non-profit organization that two years ago won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Suddenly, there is hope.

http://www.darwinmag.com/connect/opinion/column.html?ArticleID=76

New Coke subsidiary formed as incubator for startups, by Justin Bachman (Associated Press), Nando Times, March 20, 2001

Coca-Cola is forming a new subsidiary to nurture the work of new companies in the hopes they will contribute products to help its business. The company, Fizzion, will provide up to $250,000 for new ventures that work on ideas or products Coke foresees applying to any part of its worldwide business operations.

http://www.nandotimes.com/business/story/0,1032,500465864-500711743-503923510-0,00.html

New Power for the Web, by Kristi Heim and Jon Fortt, San Jose Mercury News, March 9, 2001

"When Bill Fishburn logs onto the Internet, it's not to check his stocks or his e-mail anymore. He uses a new Web-based metering system to monitor the daily cost of his home energy use, a tool that Seattle area utilities say will eventually help consumers cut their electricity bills."

http://www0.mercurycenter.com/resources/search/center/search_newslibrary.html (article not available for free)

Patents in a genetic age, by Martin Bobrow and Sandy Thomas, Nature, February 15, 2001, pg. 763

The present patent system risks becoming a barrier to medical progress.

http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v409/n6822/full/409763a0_fs.html (subscription required - see note)

Resolutions for a More Livable Planet, Commentary by Thomas E. Graedel, The Scientist, March 5, 2001

One of the most pressing challenges that the United States--and indeed, the world--will face in the next few decades is how to alleviate the growing stress that human activities are placing on the environment. The consequences are just too great to ignore. Wildlife habitats are being degraded or disappearing altogether as new developments take up more land. Plant and animal species are becoming extinct at a greater rate now than at any time in Earth's history. As many as 30 percent of the world's fish stocks are overexploited. And the list goes on.

Yet, there is reason to have hope for the future. Advances in computing power and molecular biology are among the tremendous increases in scientific capability that are helping researchers gain a better understanding of these problems. And scientific studies strongly suggest that measures such as establishing marine reserves and protecting endangered species are making a difference.

http://www.the-scientist.com/yr2001/mar/comm_010305.html (registration required)

Robots Can Learn Much From High-Tech Playthings, by Michel Marriott, New York Times, March 22, 2001

"Robotic toys, experts say, may help usher in the day, in the not too distant future, when more practical, utilitarian robots are common around the house. The clever use in toys of microprocessors, memory chips, sensors, servo motors and advanced software, like the sort that makes voice recognition possible, is pointing the way to vastly more advanced robots that can work with humans without intimidating them."

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/22/technology/22ROBO.html

Room for doubt, by Roger A. Pielke Jr., Nature, March 8, 2001, pg. 151

A "Concepts" essay on the notion of uncertainty. "Conventional wisdom holds that uncertainty is best understood or reduced by advancing knowledge, an apparent restatement of the traditional definition of uncertainty as "incomplete knowledge". But in reality, advances in knowledge can add significant uncertainty."

http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v410/n6825/full/410151a0_fs.html (subscription required - see note)

The Science of Smart Growth, by Donald D. T. Chen, Scientific American, December 2000, pg. 84

"Are there any alternatives to urban sprawl? Pundits and pols may endlessly debate that question, but the only way to get an answer is to go out and see what works in the real world."

http://www.sciamarchive.com/ (article not available for free)

Techie Crusader Brings Computer Skills to the Masses, by Tony Smith, San Jose Mercury News, March 18, 2001

"Enrolling for a computer course at her local community center gave Josefa Detinha more than just food for thought. It allowed her to give a bit more thought to her food or -- more to the point -- to the catering business she runs from home.

When she started learning the basics, the 42 year old baker of cakes and salty cocktail snacks could hardly read or write. Now, Detinha checks recipes and prints off business cards and fliers for her customers on a weezy 386 PC she bought from her sister-in-law for $200."

An article discussing "an ambitious techie-turned-digital-do-gooder named Rodrigo Baggio."

http://www0.mercurycenter.com/resources/search/center/search_newslibrary.html (article not available for free)

Nanotechnology: Thin solid films roll up into nanotubes, by Oliver G. Schmidt and Karl Eberl, Nature, March 8, 2001, pg. 168

"The rigorous size miniaturization of nanotechnology is continually generating new applications and new physical effects. We show here that nanotubes can be formed from thin solid films of almost any material at almost any position, once these films are released from their substrate. This exceptional design flexibility has useful implications, including for fluid transportation and capillarity on the nanometre scale, as well as offering the opportunity to extend fundamental investigations to a new diversity of materials, material systems and geometries."

http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v410/n6825/full/410168a0_fs.html (subscription required - see note)

Toward Sustainable Chemistry, by Terry Collins, Science, January 5, 2001, pg. 48

Essays on Science and Society -" Chemistry has an important role to play in achieving a sustainable civilization on Earth. The present economy remains utterly dependent on a massive inward flow of natural resources that includes vast amounts of nonrenewables. This is followed by a reverse flow of economically spent matter back to the ecosphere. Chemical sustainability problems are determined largely by these economy-ecosphere material flows (see the figure, below), which current chemistry education essentially ignores. It has become an imperative that chemists lead in developing the technological dimension of a sustainable civilization."

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/291/5501/48 (subscription required - see note)

Also see a letter to the editor prompted by the above essay that discusses the advantages of nuclear power, and Collins' response.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/291/5510/1899b (subscription required - see note)

Treehuggers With Style, by Penny Bonda, ISdesigNET, January - February 2001

"The mission of the Greenpeace organization drove the design decisions for its new headquarters, which also happen to be inarguably brilliant in the aesthetic."

"The Greenpeace USA headquarter office in Washington, DC, is a case study in how excellence results from a committed client, a motivated design team and their collective resolve to do the right thing."

http://www.isdesignet.com/Magazine/J_F'01/tree.html

Annotation of the Celera Human Genome Assembly, by Craig Venter et al., Science, 16 February, 2001

A beach towl size representation of the Human Genome

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol291/issue5507/

Back to the Garden: A Suburban Dream, by David S. Jackson, Time.com, February 22, 1999

As developer Michael Corbett strolls around the gardens of Village Homes, his pioneering experiment in ecological living in Davis, Calif., life looks pretty good. Solar panels help keep the houses warm, shared backyards bring neighbors together, and natural drainage irrigates fruit trees.

http://www.time.com/time/reports/environment/heroes/heroesgallery/0,2967,corbett,00.html

Beyond the Bar Code, by Charlie Schmidt, Technology Review, March 1, 2001

Within a few years, unobtrusive tags on retail products will send radio signals to their manufacturers, collecting a wealth of information about consumer habitsÑand also raising privacy concerns.

http://www.technologyreview.com/magazine/mar01/schmidt.asp

The birth of scientific reading, by Adrian Johns, Nature, January 18, 2001

The social structures of science were invented to cope with an explosion of printed information.

http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v409/n6818/full/409287a0_fs.html (subscription required - see note)

By living free of the power grid, families light night with sun, by Dana Hull, San Jose Mercury News, February 21, 2001

Serge Rutman lives the quintessential Silicon Valley life. He's an electrical engineer at Intel's main campus, his commute is an hour and he lives in a large house equipped with modern conveniences.

But he never receives a PG&E bill.

http://www0.mercurycenter.com/resources/search/center/search_newslibrary.html

In Dawn of Society, Dance Was Center Stage, by John Noble Wilford, New York Times, February 27, 2001

The birds and bees, those exhibitionists, were doing it their way long before. Some mammals were already courting through an unspoken poetry of motion. Humans may have been newcomers, but dancing as self-expression probably developed early in their cultural evolution, perhaps as early as speech and language and almost certainly by the time people were painting on cave walls, making clay figurines and decorating their bodies with ornaments.

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/27/science/27DANC.html

Digital Renaissance: The Director Next Door, by Henry Jenkins, Technology Review, March 2001

Amateur films have always been home movies. We make them in our houses, we make them in our neighborhoods, and we show them in our living rooms. Digital cinema may change all of this, at last providing a means of distribution and exhibition so that home movies can become public movies. Today, kids and adults are making their own Star Wars films, using desktop computers to create special effects that would have cost Industrial Light & Magic a fortune just a decade ago. And even more remarkably, we can all watch them on the Web.

http://www.technologyreview.com/magazine/mar01/jenkins.asp

From Buckyballs to Nanotubes, by Ricki Lewis, The Scientist, February 19, 2001

Carbon nanotube atomic force microscopy probes Alzheimer's disease.

http://www.the-scientist.com/yr2001/feb/lewis_p8_010219.html

IPCC WGI Third Assessment Report, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, January 2001

An increasing body of observations gives a collective picture of a warming world and other changes in the climate system.

This Summary for Policymakers (SPM) describes the current state of understanding of the climate system and provides estimates of its projected future evolution and their uncertainties.

Click here to download the pdf document.

If Humans Were Built To Last, by S. Jay Olshansky, Bruce A. Carnes, and Robert N. Butler, Scientific American, March 2001, page 50.

We would look a lot different - inside and out - if evolution had designed the human body to function smoothly not only in youth but for a century or more.

http://www.sciam.com/ (this article doesn't seem to be available on the web yet)

Fuel Cells: A Lot of Hot Air?, by Jules Crittenden, Technology Review, March 1, 2001

Automotive: Under growing pressure to improve energy efficiency, automakers around the world have already spent approximately $2 billion to develop electric cars powered by fuel cells. The technology involved, which uses hydrogen to generate electricity, has been heralded as the key to tomorrow's cleaner-running car. But is it really environmentally friendlier?

http://www.technologyreview.com/magazine/mar01/innovation3.asp

Gained in the translation, Scott L. Montgomery, Nature, February 8, 2001

Scientific knowledge is enriched as it moves between languages.

http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v409/n6821/full/409667a0_fs.html (subscription required - see note)

The Key Vanishes: Scientist Outlines Unbreakable Code, by Gina Kolata, New York Times, February 28, 2001

A computer science professor at Harvard says he has found a way to send coded messages that cannot be deciphered, even by an all-powerful adversary with unlimited computing power. And, he says, he can prove it. If he is right, and he does have some supporters, his code may be the first that is both practical and provably secure. While there are commercially available coding systems that seem very hard to break, no one can prove that they cannot be cracked, mathematicians say.

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/20/science/20CODE.html

This Little Piggy Goes to Steve, by Kristen Philipkoski, WIRED News, February 27, 2001

It may be a while before pigs can fly, but it may take only three years before researchers convince the FDA to approve the transplantation of pig organs into humans.

http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,42010,00.html

Machine Head, by David Cohen, New Scientist, February 21, 2001

TYPICAL. You program a computer, teach it everything you know about drug design, and then it beats you to the Nobel Prize. But Ashwin Srinivasan is hoping that, if this does happen, he might at least get an invitation to the presentation ceremony. After all, he and his computer do their science together.

http://www.newscientist.com/features/features.jsp?id=ns22791

Morphing technology brings your face to e-mail, by Justin Pope, San Jose Mercury News, February 20, 2001

A wink, a nod, a grimace -- all can turn the meaning of a conversation on its head. And all could add a lot to an e-mail. Ever wish you see a sender's face to see what he's REALLY saying? Ever wish you could punctuate your own messages with something more powerful than :)?

It's starting to happen. LifeFX is using image-morphing computer technology to bring faces to life on screen.

http://www0.mercurycenter.com/resources/search/center/search_newslibrary.html

Muscling in, by Eugenie Samuel, New Scientist, February 21, 2001

The first robot to be powered by real muscles has taken its first swim. It waggled off looking surprisingly lifelike, but a few minutes later, it flagged and came to a complete stop. It was not faulty - it just needed a break.

http://www.newscientist.com/news/newsletter.jsp?id=ns9999450

Researchers Focus on Sea Otter Deaths, by A.J.S. Rayl, The Scientist, February 19, 2001

Could sewage, cat litter, and other terrestrial animal waste be killing some marine animals?

http://www.the-scientist.com/yr2001/feb/research_010219.html

Ssh! Don't use that trademark, by Robert Lemos, CNET News.com, February 26, 2001

An interesting story about the tangles of trademark in the world of software, with comments from Mike Bednarek.

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-201-4933417-0.html?tag=tp_pr

Things That Matter: A Picture of Health, by Michael Hawley, Technology Review, March 2001

As I stepped on the bathroom scale, my life flashed before my eyes. I looked into the mirror and saw a graph, magically overlaid on my reflection. The red line plotting my weight over the last year looked like the Dow Jones average, with little bumps during the Thanksgiving and Christmas eatathons. It was a sobering image.

That system, called NetWeight, is the invention of MIT Media Lab researcher Brad Geilfuss. With it, Brad argued a fundamental thesis: the way to revolutionize medical practice is by connecting our bodies more directly to the medical system. Since most of us are a captive audience for a few minutes a day in the bathroom, he started there. The scale was a networked sensor. The mirror gave you an "inner view": it contained a Silicon Graphics computer and a video projector that overlaid live graphics on your reflection. The weight graph could appear on your beer belly.

http://www.technologyreview.com/magazine/mar01/hawley.asp

Transcendental Destination Where Will the Information Revolution Lead?, A RAND Report, December 2000

With regard to overall technological trends, on the other hand, efforts to anticipate the future are more than exercises in futility. While it is risky to predict the future in detail, it may be even more foolish not to prepare for it at all, especially when the future promises to bring changes as swift and pervasive as those made possible by the information revolution.

Consequently, several U.S. government agencies have asked RAND to take the lead in broadly outlining what may lie ahead and boldly deducing the implications for government and society. The work has proceeded on three fronts: (1) to chart the future course of the information revolution throughout the world over the next 10-20 years, (2) to identify potential forms of global governance that might become necessary as a result, and (3) to suggest a national "information strategy" appropriate for a global information age. The research sponsors include the National Intelligence Council, a small center of strategic thinking within the U.S. intelligence community; the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which created the original Arpanet in 1969; the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Although the three strands of research have proceeded independently of one another, they build on each other in compelling ways.

http://www.rand.org/publications/randreview/issues/rr.12.00/transcendental.html

Turning a Page on Conventional Web Browsing Technology, by Bill Kaczor, LA Times, February 19, 2001

Using a 25-year-old idea called concept mapping, new software aims to make Internet sites more user-friendly.

http://www.latimes.com/business/cutting/20010219/t000014996.html

Upstream: Biology in Silico, by Rebecca Zacks, Technology Review, March 2001

Computer models could revolutionize drug development.

http://www.technologyreview.com/magazine/mar01/upstream.asp

The Babbage of the web, The Economist.com, December 7, 2000

Ted Nelson imagined hypertext in 1960 - but his vision failed to become a reality. Now the web has eaten his lunch. But Mr Nelson hopes that his innovative ideas will yet prevail.

http://www.economist.com/science/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Story_ID=442985

The big picture, The Economist.com, January 4, 2001

The rivers of electronic information gushing around the worldÕs companies ought to reveal a lot about how people communicate within these organisations. But until now the very volume of data involved has defeated attempts to analyse it. A group of Finnish academic physicists has, however, developed some nifty software to help with the task. And, judging by the startled reactions of some of the managers who have seen the results, it could be of much more than purely academic interest.

http://www.economist.com/science/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Story_ID=463720

The coming backlash in privacy, The Economist.com, December 7, 2000

New privacy services will soon allow consumers to buy goods anonymously online - forcing web-based retailers to change the way they do business.

http://www.economist.com/science/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Story_ID=442790

Cracking up, by Ian Sample, New Scientist, February 14, 2001

A material that heals its own cracks could benefit anything from mobile phones to space shuttles.

http://www.newscientist.com/dailynews/news.jsp?id=ns9999428

Custom - Made Biomaterials, Mitch Jacoby, C&E News, February 5, 2001

Applying engineering, materials, and chemistry principles, researchers produce safe, smart, and effective implantable devices.

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/7906/7906sci2.html (subscription required)

Digital ink meets electronic paper, The Economist.com, December 7, 2000

Printed with digital ink, electronic paper promises an era of reprogrammable newspapers, books, billboards, garments and even wallpaper.

http://www.economist.com/science/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Story_ID=442911

"EON" -- The Eye of the Needle Foundation, by David Brin, Futurist.com, 2000

A new look at Philanthropy in an age of satiability.

http://www.futurist.com/FuturistNews_EON_Brin.htm

Earths' Breathing Lessons, by Richard A. Kerr, Science, January 26, 2001

Earth is never still. Any large earthquake sets it ringing like a bell for hours and days. The wind, apparently, causes it to "hum" continually at a high pitch. Now, some suspect that Earth is also "breathing," compressing its crust and extending it once each year. This cycle is most evident in Japan, geophysicists told the meeting, where it may be responsible for that country's "earthquake season." Elsewhere, it may lead some volcanoes to erupt almost solely between September and December.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/291/5504/584 (subscription required)

Fast Foundation, by Jennifer Reingold, Fast Company, February 2001

Zoe Baird and her colleagues at the Markle Foundation have embraced a daring approach to the risk-averse world of philanthropy. The results have been remarkable -- and controversial.

http://www.fastcompany.com/online/43/markle.html

Fat fish, by Claire Ainsworth, New Scientist, February 14, 2001

Traditional domestication of livestock appears more effective than genetic modification Trying to grow bigger farm animals by genetically engineering them to produce more growth hormone may be harder than we thought, say researchers in Canada.

http://www.newscientist.com/dailynews/news.jsp?id=ns9999419

Feast and Famine, by Nicola Jones, New Scientist, February 14, 2001

Agricultural practices are undermining our ability to feed ourselves in the future, according to a two year study of satellite data.

http://www.newscientist.com/dailynews/news.jsp?id=ns9999427

Global Environment Reaches Dangerous Crossroads, Worldwatch Institute, January 13, 2001

Global environmental trends have reached a dangerous crossroads as the new century begins, according to State of the World 2001, which was released today by the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington-based research organization. Signs of accelerated ecological decline have coincided with a loss of political momentum on environmental issues, as evidenced by the recent breakdown of global climate talks. This failure calls into question whether the world will be able to turn these trends around before the economy suffers irreversible damage.

http://www.worldwatch.org/alerts/010113.html

Less Is More, by Phillip Cohen and Andy Coghlan, New Scientist, February 17, 2001

It's not how many genes you've got, it's what you do with them that counts. That's one of the key revelations about the human genome announced this week.

"It's the first time we've stood back to look at the landscape of our own human biology," says Francis Collins, head of genome research at the National Institutes of Health near Washington DC. "It's a milestone of the highest order."

http://www.newscientist.com/news/newsletter.jsp?id=ns227841

Micropower: The Next Electrical Era, by Seth Dunn, Worldwatch Institute, Paper 151, July 2000

Electricity is returning to its origins: generating power on a relatively small scale, close to where it is actually used. Technological, economic, and environmental trends are turning a family of "micropower" devices into increasingly viable choices for meeting electrical needs. Use of these generators can avoid expensive investments in large central power stations and transmission and distribution systems, provide greater reliability, and leave a lighter ecological footprint.

http://www.worldwatch.org/pubs/paper151.html

Napster is just one battle in the war for control of digital content, by Dan Gillmor, San Jose Mercury News, February 13, 2000

http://www0.mercurycenter.com/svtech/columns/gillmor/docs/dg021301.htm

New U.S. Innovation System Evolving, by William Schultz, C&E News, February 5, 2001

Data on patent trends reveal shifts in patent activity from East Coast to West Coast.

http://cen.acs.org/isubscribe/journals/cen/79/i06/html/7906gov2.html (subscription required)

Internet going to 'next level', by Joshua Kwan, San Jose Mercury News, February 12, 2001

Napster could be just the beginning. The technology that undergirds the music file-swapping phenomenon is the first generation of what's being heralded as a revolution on the Internet: peer-to-peer, or P-to-P, networking.

http://www0.mercurycenter.com/

Planetary Visions,by Colleen O'Connor, Business 2.0, December 12, 2000

A high-tech volunteer movement helps map life on Earth.

http://www.business20.com/content/magazine/getalife/2000/12/04/22951

Scientists say we already know how to construct safe, inexpensive buildings, by Glenda Chui, San Jose Mercury News, February 7, 2001

Against a backdrop of unspeakable devastation and loss from recent earthquakes in India, El Salvador and Turkey, some scientists and engineers are saying, "Enough."

They know how to design structures, from high-rises to humble huts, that are safe in an earthquake. And they know how to do it cheaply, with the materials and skills local people have at hand. There is no reason, they say, why people in developing countries should continue to die by the tens of thousands.

http://www0.mercurycenter.com/

Suite of Shape-Memory Polymers, Mairin Brennan, C&E News, February 5, 2001

Forgoing metal component means new materials are programmed in seconds.

Picture this: You've just been involved in a fender bender. You grab your heat gun, apply it to the dent, and the dent disappears. The fender has "remembered" its original shape.

http://cen.acs.org/isubscribe/journals/cen/79/i06/html/7906notw1.html (subscription required)

Bronze Age Secrets Power the Hi-Tech Economy, by Sharman Esarey, Yahoo Technology News, February 3, 2001

They gave us the Bronze Age, the Industrial Revolution, and now, the "new" economy. Without metals, personal computers and mobile phones would cease to function and car, rail and train transport would grind to a halt. And, despite mining's poor reputation, metals are also at work softening mankind's impact on the environment.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010203/tc/metals_secrets_dc_1.html

Cyborg Plug-In, by Eugenie Samuel, New Scientist, January 31, 2001

The first people with completely artificial hearts could exist by July, after the US regulator gives the go-ahead.

http://www.newscientist.com/dailynews/news.jsp?id=ns9999377

Mir Mystery, by Rob Edwards, New Scientist, January 31, 2001

The Mir space station has thrown up a last puzzle, just a month before it is due to crash into the Pacific Ocean - how did tiny radioactive specks of decay products of uranium end up on one of its instrument covers?

http://www.newscientist.com/dailynews/news.jsp?id=ns9999369

Silicon and Cells, by Ian Sample, New Scientist, February 1, 2000

Living tissue has been hooked up to electronic circuitry by scientists in Germany. The technique could lead to implants that communicate with the body and hybrid sensors made from biological material and silicon.

http://www.newscientist.com/dailynews/news.jsp?id=ns9999380

Space Babies, by Anil Ananthaswamy, New Scientist, Februrary 3, 2001

Electronics engineers are giving birth to a new species of space probes that will adapt to harsh environments, heal themselves and even evolve into better, smarter machines.

http://www.newscientist.com/features/features.jsp?id=ns22762

Utilities fought attempts to boost power supply, monitoring in '90s, by Chris O'Brien, San Jose Mercury News, February 4, 2001, pg A1

The state's three largest utilities blocked attempts to build more power plants six years ago despite a key state commission's prediction that they were needed because California's demand for electricity would begin to soar. At the time, the utilities called those forecasts of increased demand -- since proven frighteningly accurate -- outrageous. They appealed to the federal government, which overruled the state's efforts to increase the supply of electricity. To settle their dispute with the state, the utilities then chose to pay energy companies more than $100 million not to build new plants.

Global Climate Change and BP Amoco, by Forest Reinhardt, Harvard Business Review, April 7, 2000

"BP Amoco is the world's third largest oil firm. Its CEO, Sir John Browne, broke with his industry colleagues in 1997 when he publicly declared that global climate change was a serious problem and pledged BP to play a significant role in the search for solutions. The company has committed itself to voluntary cutbacks of carbon dioxide, the main gas held responsible for global climate change. Browne and his fellow executives believe that their approach makes sense not just from the perspective of social responsibility but from a hard-headed business standpoint. This case provides the information necessary to evaluate this belief. Teaching Purpose: To understand the effects of a significant public good issue on corporate strategy and operations."

http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbsp/prod_detail.asp?700106

Study shows dreams of rats are surprisingly complex, by Jay Lindsay (Associated Press), Nandotimes, January 24, 2001

"Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say they have entered the dreams of rats and found them busily working their way through the same lab mazes they negotiate during the day. It is evidence not just that animals dream - most pet owners know that already - but that they have complex dreams, replaying events much the way humans do, researchers said. And they may use their dreams to learn or memorize."

http://www.nandotimes.com/noframes/story/0,2107,500303172-500485126-503345926-0,00.html

The Music of Nature and the Nature of Music, by Patricia M. Gray et al., Science, January 5, 2001

"It is said that every known human culture has music. Music has been defined as patterns of sound varying in pitch and time produced for emotional, social, cultural, and cognitive purposes. Is music-making in humans defined by our genes? Do other species show musical language and expression? If they do, what kinds of behavior invoke music-making in these animals? Is there evidence in the animal kingdom for the ability to create and recreate a musical language with established musical sounds? How are musical sounds used to communicate within and between species? Do musical sounds in nature reveal a profound bond between all living things?"

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/291/5501/52 (subscription required - see note)

Complexity's Business Model, by Julie Wakefield, Scientific American, January 2001

"Part physics, part poetry - the fledgling un-discipline finds commercial opportunity."

http://www.sciam.com/2001/0101issue/0101techbus1.html

The Cultures of Chimpanzees, by Andrew Whiten and Christophe Boesch, Scientific American, January 2001

"Humankind's nearrest relative is even closer than we thought: chimpanzees display remarkable behaviors that can only be described as social customs passed on from generation to generation."

Unfortunately, this article is not available on the Scientific American web site.

Cultural Revolution in Whale Songs, by Michael J. Noad et al., Nature, 30 November 2000

A brief communication discussing the observation that "Humpbacks have picked up a catchy tune sung by immigrants from a distant ocean."

http://www.nature.com/nature (subscription required - see note)

Earth Songs, NASA Science News, January 19, 2001

"Our planet is a natural source of radio waves at audio frequencies. An online receiver at the Marshall Space Flight Center is playing these songs of Earth so anyone can listen."

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast19jan_1.htm

How Do You Love ALL the Children, Sarah van Gelder interviews Bill McDonough, Yes! - A Journal of Positive Futures

"We can make and enjoy the things we need without destroying the natural world, says Bill McDonough. This is the task of the next industrial revolution, and McDonough is one of its designers. "

http://www.futurenet.org/11powerofone/mcdonough.html

Pink Slip in Your Genes, by Diane Martindale, Scientific American, January 2001

"Evidence builds that employers hire and fire based on genetic tests; meanwhile protective legislation languishes."

Is this the kind of transparency we want?

http://www.sciam.com/2001/0101issue/0101scicit2.html

Nanotech Goes to Work, by David Rotman, Technology Review, January/February 2001

"Don't expect microscopic robots anytime soon. But advances in making actual nanotech devices are proving the value of working small - really small. The payoffs will come in everything from tiny computer memories to faster DNA chips."

http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/jan01/rotman.html

Produce Politics, by Michael Pollan, New York Times Magazine, January 14, 2000

"To get some idea of the potential power of that challenge to an industry that has fought to nullify the word "organic" and now campaigns against proposals to label food made with genetically modified ingredients, consider a technology now in some supermarkets in Denmark. Packages of meat and poultry carry a bar code that, when scanned by a machine in the store, calls up pictures of the farm where the animal was raised, as well as information about its diet, living conditions, the date of its slaughter and so on. Imagine how quickly this sort of transparency would force a revolution in our food chain."

Technology Drives Evolution in the Workplace, Transforming the Office, and The Modern Office, by Gail Repsher Emery, Washington Technology Online, January 8, 2001

Three short articles providing a bit of history on the evolution of the "modern office."

http://www.wtonline.com/vol15_no19/workplace/15072-1.html

Urban Planning in Curitiba, by Jonas Rabinovitch and Josef Leitman, Scientific American, March 1996

"A Brazilian city challenges conventional wisdom and relies on low technology to improve the quality of urban life."

Unfortunately, this article is not available on the Scientific American web site.

Wires for a Nanoworld, by Mitch Jacoby, C&E News, January 1, 2001.

"Driven by the principle that smaller is better, researchers around the globe in recent years have come up with ways to further shrink already small circuit elements. Tiny transistors, microscopic diodes, and other electronic components have debuted as parts of miniature data-storage instruments, logic devices, and chemical sensors. Scientists have now devised new procedures for preparing arrays of nanowires that may serve as interconnects for the components of even smaller circuits."

http://cen.acs.org/isubscribe/journals/cen/79/i01/html/7901scit3.html (subscription required - see note)