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Next Big Future

"Next Big Future" - 7 new articles

  1. Researchers have developed a form of ultra-low-power digital memory that is faster and uses 100 times less energy
  2. Ultrafast ten to 200 picosecond switching of photonic entanglement
  3. Biomaterials for the Feeder-Free Culture of Human Embryonic Stem Cells and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
  4. Nanodiamond-drug combo significantly improves treatment of chemotherapy-resistant cancers
  5. Algeria will start tapping 1000 trillion cf of natural gas and Korea starts up the Shin Kori nuclear reactor
  6. Researchers discover drug that stops progression of Parkinson's disease in mice
  7. US Decline - some interesting points by Zakaria
  8. More Recent Articles
  9. Search Next Big Future
  10. Prior Mailing Archive

Researchers have developed a form of ultra-low-power digital memory that is faster and uses 100 times less energy

Three parallel memory bits with carbon nanotube electrodes (false color image based on topographic profile from atomic force microscopy). The middle bit is in the “off” state, the other two are “on”. The silicon dioxide substrate is shown in blue. | Image courtesy Eric Pop





A team of researchers have developed a form of ultra-low-power digital memory that is faster and uses 100 times less energy than similar available memory.

Science Express - Low-Power Switching of Phase-Change Materials with Carbon Nanotube Electrodes



Phase-change materials (PCMs) are promising candidates for nonvolatile data storage and reconfigurable electronics, but high programming currents have presented a challenge to realize low power operation. We controlled PCM bits with single-wall and small-diameter multi-wall carbon nanotubes. This configuration achieves programming currents as low as 0.5 μA (SET) and 5 μA (RESET), two orders of magnitude lower than state-of-the-art devices. Pulsed measurements enable memory switching with very low energy consumption. Analysis of over 100 devices finds that the programming voltage and energy are highly scalable, and could be below 1 V and single femtojoules per bit, respectively.

The flash memory used in mobile devices today stores bits as charge, which requires high programming voltages and is relatively slow. Industry has been exploring faster, but higher power phase-change materials (PCM) as an alternative. In PCM memory a bit is stored in the resistance of the material, which is switchable.

Pop’s group lowered the power per bit to 100 times less than existing PCM memory by focusing on one simple, yet key factor: size.

Rather than the metal wires standard in industry, the group used carbon nanotubes, tiny tubes only a few nanometers in diameter – 10,000 times smaller than a human hair.

“The energy consumption is essentially scaled with the volume of the memory bit,” said graduate student Feng Xiong, the first author of the paper. “By using nanoscale contacts, we are able to achieve much smaller power consumption.”

To create a bit, the researchers place a small amount of PCM in a nanoscale gap formed in the middle of a carbon nanotube. They can switch the bit “on” and “off” by passing small currents through the nanotube.

“Carbon nanotubes are the smallest known electronic conductors,” Pop said. “They are better than any metal at delivering a little jolt of electricity to zap the PCM bit.”

Nanotubes also boast an extraordinary stability, as they are not susceptible to the degradation that can plague metal wires. In addition, the PCM that functions as the actual bit is immune to accidental erasure from a passing scanner or magnet.

The low-power PCM bits could be used in existing devices with a significant increase in battery life. Right now, a smart phone uses about a watt of energy and a laptop runs on more than 25 watts. Some of that energy goes to the display, but an increasing percentage is dedicated to memory.

“Anytime you’re running an app, or storing MP3s, or streaming videos, it’s draining the battery,” said Albert Liao, a graduate student and co-author. “The memory and the processor are working hard retrieving data. As people use their phones to place calls less and use them for computing more, improving the data storage and retrieval operations is important.”

Pop believes that, along with improvements in display technology, the nanotube PCM memory could increase an iPhone’s energy efficiency so it could run for a longer time on a smaller battery, or even to the point where it could run simply by harvesting its own thermal, mechanical or solar energy – no battery required.

And device junkies will not be the only beneficiaries.

“We’re not just talking about lightening our pockets or purses,” Pop said. “This is also important for anything that has to operate on a battery, such as satellites, telecommunications equipment in remote locations, or any number of scientific and military applications.”

In addition, ultra-low-power memory could cut the energy consumption – and thus the expense – of data storage or supercomputing centers by a large percentage. The low-power memory could also enable three-dimensional integration, a stacking of chips that has eluded researchers because of fabrication and heat problems.

The team has made and tested a few hundred bits so far, and they want to scale up production to create arrays of memory bits that operate together. They also hope to achieve greater data density through clever programming such that each physical PCM bit can program two data bits, called multibit memory.

The team is continuing to work to reduce power consumption and increase energy efficiency even beyond the groundbreaking savings they’ve already demonstrated.

“Even though we’ve taken one technology and shown that it can be improved by a factor of 100, we have not yet reached what is physically possible. We have not even tested the limits yet. I think we could lower power by at least another factor of 10,” Pop said.

11 pages of supplemental material

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Ultrafast ten to 200 picosecond switching of photonic entanglement

(a) Entangled photon-pair source and test apparatus for ultrafast switching.
(b) The single-photon switch.






Arxiv - Ultrafast switching of photonic entanglement at 200 picoseconds with the potential for 10 picosecond switching.

To deploy and operate a quantum network which utilizes existing telecommunications infrastructure, it is necessary to be able to route entangled photons at high speeds, with minimal loss and signal-band noise, and—most importantly—without disturbing the photons’ quantum state. Here we present a switch which fulfills these requirements and characterize its performance at the single photon level; it exhibits a 200-ps switching window, a 120:1 contrast ratio, 1.5 dB loss, and induces no measurable degradation in the switched photons’ entangled-state fidelity (less than 0.002). Furthermore, because this type of switch couples the temporal and spatial degrees of freedom, it provides an important new tool with which to encode multiple-qubit states in a single photon. As a proof-of-principle demonstration of this capability, we demultiplex a single quantum channel from a dual-channel, time-division-multiplexed entangled photon stream, effectively performing a controlled-bit-flip on a two-qubit subspace of a five-qubit, two-photon state.



In conclusion, we have demonstrated the first all-optical switch suitable for single-photon quantum communications. It achieves low-loss (< 1 dB when used to switch between transmitted and reflected modes, less than 1.7 dB when combined with a circulator), high-isolation (greater than 20 dB), and high-speed (less than 200 ps) performance without a measureable disturbance to the quantum state of the routed single photons. We demonstrate its ultrafast capability by demultiplexing a single quantum channel from a time-division-multiplexed stream of entangled photons. Very few fundamental limitations apply to this type of switch design. With carefully designed fiber components, one has the potential to dramatically reduce the switch’s loss. In principle the only unavoidable switching losses are fiber transmission losses (0.15–0.2 dB/km) and circulator insertion losses (waveguide-based circulators with a 0.05 dB insertion loss have been designed and simulated). Additionally, decreasing L to a few meters will reduce the switch’s speed to about 10 ps while simultaneously decreasing the background by an order of magnitude. Even without these improvements, however, this switch represents an important new tool for manipulating spatianlly- and temporally-encoded quantum information. Physics Review Letter abstract is here

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Biomaterials for the Feeder-Free Culture of Human Embryonic Stem Cells and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Scientists at a Taiwan university have achieved a breakthrough in cell rejuvenation by injecting four genes into a mature cell, which resets the cell's bio-clock to a state similar to fertilization They managed to induce fibroblast cells to split into pluripotent stem cells, which are similar to embryonic cells.





Chemical Review - Biomaterials for the Feeder-Free Culture of Human Embryonic Stem Cells and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells



The technique involves opening up the membrane of a mature cell so that it accepts four genes -- Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and c-Myc -- which work like "a key to the source of life, " explained Ling Qingdong, director of the Cathay Medical Research Institute.

Once the mature cell's bio-clock has been reset by the genes, the cell becomes rejuvenated, reverting to the state of newly fertilized cell, Ling said.

The beauty of this technique is that there is an infinite supply of cells and the four genes do not have to be carried by viruses in order to alter the mature cells, he said.

"We are calling it a breakthrough because there is no danger of contamination by viruses, " Ling said. "Furthermore, we don't have to use embryonic cells and therefore will not invite ethics debates."

However, Higuchi said his team has only been able to achieve a 0.3 percent to 1 percent success rate. This means that only three to 10 of every 1,000 mature cells were successfully converted into multi-purpose stem cells, he said, adding that improvement would be needed.

In spite of the low success rate, the authoritative Chemical Review published the research report in its current online issue, saying the technique had good prospects.

The research team also reported that it has designed a method to quickly collect stem cells, a technique that it said may some day be used to help treat leukemia.

The method uses a cubic-structured, nano-meter cell membrane that can filter and collect stem cells in 1/10 of the usual time, Higuchi said.

This technique also helps speed the growth of cultured stem cells by at least six times the normal rate, he said.

Stem cells from umbilical cord blood are not in high supply and the faster they are collected the more slowly they age, according to Cathay General Hospital Vice President Hung Kun-lung.

Therefore, Higuchi's quick collection technique means the cells could multiply faster in culture and may one day help develop a cure for people suffering from leukemia and other diseases, he said.

Higuchi said he was working on another project to extract stem cells from fat tissues, a technique that he said would mature in about five years time.

By that time, "we might be able to induce stem cells to grow as myocardium or heart muscle cells, which would be beneficial to people with ischemic heart disease," he said.

Journal of Clinical Gerontology and Geriatrics - Induced pluripotent stem cells and regenerative medicine

Stem cells, a special subset of cells derived from embryo or adult tissues, are known to present the characteristics of self-renewal, multiple lineages of differentiation, high plastic capability, and long-term maintenance. Recent reports have further suggested that neural stem cells (NSCs) derived from the adult hippocampal and subventricular regions possess the utilizing potential to develop the transplantation strategies and to screen the candidate agents for neurogenesis, neuroprotection, and neuroplasticity in neurodegenerative diseases. In this article, we review the roles of NSCs and other stem cells in neuroprotective and neurorestorative therapies for neurological and psychiatric diseases. We show the evidences that NSCs play the key roles involved in the pathogenesis of several neurodegenerative disorders, including depression, stroke, and Parkinson’s disease. Moreover, the potential and possible utilities of induced pluripotent stem cells, reprogramming from adult fibroblasts with ectopic expression of four embryonic genes, are also reviewed and further discussed. An understanding of the biophysiology of stem cells could help us elucidate the pathogenicity and develop new treatments for neurodegenerative disorders. In contrast to cell transplantation therapies, the application of stem cells can further provide a platform for drug discovery and small molecular testing, including Chinese herbal medicines. In addition, the high-throughput stem cell-based systems can be used to elucidate the mechanisms of neuroprotective candidates in translation medical research for neurodegenerative diseases.

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Nanodiamond-drug combo significantly improves treatment of chemotherapy-resistant cancers


Cancers can become resistant to standard chemotherapeutic drug. Nanodiamonds have been used deliver the chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin to cancer cells, a route that bypasses the pumps and inhibits the growth of chemoresistant tumors. [CREDIT: C. BICKEL/SCIENCE TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE]

Northwestern University - Chemotherapy drug resistance contributes to treatment failure in more than 90 percent of metastatic cancers. Overcoming this hurdle would significantly improve cancer survival rates.

In studies of liver and breast cancer models in vivo, Ho and a multidisciplinary team of scientists, engineers and clinicians found that a normally lethal amount of a chemotherapy drug when bound to nanodiamonds significantly reduced the size of tumors in mice. Survival rates also increased and no toxic effects on tissues and organs were observed.

Journal Science Translational Medicine - Nanodiamond Therapeutic Delivery Agents Mediate Enhanced Chemoresistant Tumor Treatment



Enhancing chemotherapeutic efficiency through improved drug delivery would facilitate treatment of chemoresistant cancers, such as recurrent mammary tumors and liver cancer. One way to improve drug delivery is through the use of nanodiamond (ND) therapies, which are both scalable and biocompatible. Here, we examined the efficacy of an ND-conjugated chemotherapeutic in mouse models of liver and mammary cancer. A complex (NDX) of ND and doxorubicin (Dox) overcame drug efflux and significantly increased apoptosis and tumor growth inhibition beyond conventional Dox treatment in both murine liver tumor and mammary carcinoma models. Unmodified Dox treatment represents the clinical standard for most cancer treatment regimens, and NDX had significantly decreased toxicity in vivo compared to standard Dox treatment. Thus, ND-conjugated chemotherapy represents a promising, biocompatible strategy for overcoming chemoresistance and enhancing chemotherapy efficacy and safety.

Nanodiamonds are carbon-based materials approximately 2 to 8 nanometers in diameter. Each nanodiamond’s surface possesses functional groups that allow a wide spectrum of compounds to be attached to it, including chemotherapy agents.

The researchers took these nanodiamonds and reversibly bound the common chemotherapy drug doxorubicin to them using a scalable synthesis process, which enhances sustained drug release.

Ho and his colleagues studied mouse models with liver and breast cancers. In these resistant cancers, drugs are able to get inside the tumors but are kicked right back out because of an innate response in the liver and breast to expel these drugs.

They treated one group of animals with the doxorubicin-nanodiamond complexes and another group with the drug alone. In those treated with the nanodiamond complexes, the chemotherapeutic remained in circulation longer -- up to 10 times longer -- than those treated with the drug alone. In addition, the drug itself was retained within both types of tumors for a significantly longer period of time. Such a high retention rate means a smaller amount of the very toxic drug would need to be administered, thus reducing side effects.

The researchers also found that the drug-nanodiamond complexes had no negative effect on the white blood cell count. This is especially important for cancer treatment: if the white blood cell count drops below a certain level, treatment is stopped due to the risk of major complications.

“Nanodiamonds have excellent biocompatibility, and the process of formulating nanodiamond-drug complexes is very inexpensive,” said Edward K. Chow, a postdoctoral fellow with the G.W. Hooper Foundation and the University of California, San Francisco, and first author of the paper. “Nanodiamonds possess numerous hallmarks of an ideal drug delivery system and are promising platforms for advancing cancer therapy.”

Supplemental material

Materials and Methods
* Fig. S1. 100× H&E histopathological analysis.
* Fig. S2. NDX adsorption spectrophotometry analysis.
* Fig. S3. NDX adsorption comparison.
* Fig. S4. Dox loading analysis.
* Fig. S5. Cancer cell line Dox resistance.
* Fig. S6. Dox efflux analysis in human tumor cells.
* Fig. S7. Dox desorption from ND agglomerates.
* Fig. S8. Dox release spectrophotometry analysis.
* Fig. S9. NDX and Dox tissue retention.
* Table S1. Size and ζ potential of functionalized NDs.
* Table S2. Dox loading efficiency.


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Algeria will start tapping 1000 trillion cf of natural gas and Korea starts up the Shin Kori nuclear reactor

1. Algeria, already a major exporter of oil and natural gas, could become an even bigger exporter in the coming years as it develops up to 1,000 trillion cubic feet of natural gas trapped in shale rock more than 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) below the surface.

The EIA list of countries based on proven reserves of natural gas in 2010 If the Algeria reserves were proven then that would move them up to third or fourth in the world for natural gas reserves.




A previous discussion of unconventional natural gas reserves in 2009

Wikipedia list of the largest natural gas fields based on estimated recoverable gas

2. Shin Kori unit 1 entered commercial operation on 28 February, according to the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS). The indigenously designed OPR-1000 is South Korea's seventh such unit and 21st nuclear power reactor overall. The unit took just over four years to build, with the first concrete being poured in July 2006 and grid connection taking place in August 2010. Boasting a net capacity of 1000 MWe, the reactor is owned and operated by the state-run utility Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP). The total installed nuclear generating capacity in South Korea now stands at some 18,700 MWe. In 2010, nuclear electricity accounted for 32% of the country's total production.

3. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has told Dominion and Luminant that their licence applications to build at North Anna and Comanche Peak will be delayed by some 18 months after changes in the design of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' (MHI's) Advanced Pressurized Water Reactor (APWR).

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Researchers discover drug that stops progression of Parkinson's disease in mice

Researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine have discovered a drug that stops the progression of the degenerative illness in mice and is now being tested on humans.

“Drugs currently used to treat Parkinson’s disease just treat symptoms; they do not stop the disease from getting worse,” said senior author Curt Freed, MD, who heads the division of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology at the CU School of Medicine. “We’ve now discovered that we can prevent the progression of the disease by turning on a protective gene in the brain.


Lead author Wenbo Zhou, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, (pictured above) and Freed, a national pioneer in Parkinson’s research, have found that the drug phenylbutyrate turns on a gene that can protect dopamine neurons in Parkinson’s disease. The gene, called DJ-1, can increase production of antioxidants like glutathione to reduce the debilitating effects of excess oxygen in brain cells. At the same time, activating DJ-1 helps eliminate abnormal proteins that otherwise accumulate and kill brain cells. Dopamine neurons are particularly susceptible to too much oxygen and abnormal protein deposits. Parkinson’s disease is caused by dying midbrain dopamine neurons.

Zhou and Freed have studied the DJ-1 gene since 2003 when European researchers discovered that mutations in DJ-1 could cause Parkinson’s disease. The Colorado scientists immediately started work to see why the gene was so important and have published a series of papers on the subject since 2005. But to convert their findings into a practical treatment for Parkinson’s disease, they needed to find a drug to turn on the DJ-1 gene.

“We know some drugs can turn on genes. For example, steroids like testosterone act on genes in muscle cells to create muscle bulk,” said Freed. After testing numerous drugs, the team found that phenylbutyrate could activate DJ-1 and keep dopamine neurons from dying. Next, they put the drug in the drinking water of mice genetically programmed to get Parkinson’s disease as they aged.

Aging mice receiving the drug were able to move normally, had no decline in mental function, and their brains did not accumulate the protein that causes Parkinson’s. By contrast, older animals that did not get the drug saw a steady decline in their ability to move as their brains were damaged by mutant proteins.

The researchers began giving phenylbutyrate to people in 2009, to test the safety of the drug in Parkinson patients. Zhou and Freed will publish the human results in the coming months.

“We look forward to a future when Parkinson patients will be able to take a pill that will turn on the DJ-1 gene and stop the progressive disability associated with the illness,” Freed said. “Right now, when you get the diagnosis of Parkinson’s, you can expect to have a steady decline in the ability to move. While drugs like L-DOPA are very important for generating dopamine in the brain and making movement possible, these drugs have little impact on the ongoing deterioration of the patients’ own brain cells.”

Over one million people in the United State have the disease which usually strikes those in their 50s and 60s. Patients have a decline in their ability to walk, talk, and write because of slow movement and rigid muscles. They develop tremors and reflexes slow. The current treatment of Parkinson’s is based on drugs that increase dopamine production in the brain.

Freed is a national leader in transplanting dopamine cells into the human brain to relieve symptoms. He and his neurosurgical colleague Robert Breeze, MD, have done the operation in 61 patients, more than any other group in the world. The procedure can replace the need for drugs but even cell transplants do not prevent the progression of the disease.

Zhou and Freed believe the discovery offers new hope for those suffering from Parkinson’s disease.

“If we can say to someone that as of today we can stop your disease from getting worse, that would be a truly significant achievement,” Freed said.



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US Decline - some interesting points by Zakaria

Time - It's not that America's democracy doesn't work; it's that it works only too well. American politics is now hyperresponsive to constituents' interests. And all those interests are dedicated to preserving the past rather than investing for the future. There are no lobbying groups for the next generation of industries, only for those companies that are here now with cash to spend. There are no special-interest groups for our children's economic well-being, only for people who get government benefits right now. The whole system is geared to preserve current subsidies, tax breaks and loopholes. That is why the federal government spends $4 on elderly people for every $1 it spends on those under 18. And when the time comes to make cuts, guess whose programs are first on the chopping board. That is a terrible sign of a society's priorities and outlook.

The US is too efficient in doing the wrong things. The future has no money for lobbying.


Why have our priorities become so mangled? Several decades ago, economist Mancur Olson wrote a book called The Rise and Decline of Nations.

Olson concluded that, paradoxically, it was success that hurt Britain, while failure helped Germany. British society grew comfortable, complacent and rigid, and its economic and political arrangements became ever more elaborate and costly, focused on distribution rather than growth. Labor unions, the welfare state, protectionist policies and massive borrowing all shielded Britain from the new international competition. The system became sclerotic, and over time, the economic engine of the world turned creaky and sluggish.

Germany, by contrast, was almost entirely destroyed by World War II. That gave it a chance not just to rebuild its physical infrastructure but also to revise its antiquated arrangements and institutions — the political system, the guilds, the economy — with a more modern frame of mind. Defeat made it possible to question everything and rebuild from scratch.

America's success has made it sclerotic

We have some advantages. Size matters: when crises come, they do not overwhelm a country as big as the U.S. When the financial crisis hit nations such as Greece and Ireland, it dwarfed them. In the U.S., the problems occurred within the context of a $15 trillion economy and in a country that still has the trust of the world. Over the past three years, in the wake of the financial crisis, U.S. borrowing costs have gone down, not up.

This is a powerful affirmation of America's strengths, but the problem is that they ensure that the U.S. will not really face up to its challenges. We adjust to the crisis of the moment and move on, but the underlying cancer continues to grow, eating away at the system.

A crucial aspect of beginning to turn things around would be for the U.S. to make an honest accounting of where it stands and what it can learn from other countries. This kind of benchmarking is common among businesses but is sacrilege for the country as a whole. Any politician who dares suggest that the U.S. can learn from — let alone copy — other countries is likely to be denounced instantly

We spend vast amounts of money on subsidies for housing, agriculture and health, many of which distort the economy and do little for long-term growth. We spend too little on science, technology, innovation and infrastructure, which will produce growth and jobs in the future. For the past few decades, we have been able to be wasteful and get by. But we will not be able to do it much longer. The money is running out, and we will have to marshal funds and target spending far more strategically. This is not a question of too much or too little government, too much or too little spending. We need more government and more spending in some places and less in others.


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