Two hundred biologists and computer scientists gathered at the first-ever Sage Congress have proposed creating an open source model that standardizes and links together thousands of scientific databases worldwide. In the future, such a system could give researchers and scientists access to thousands of raw genetic data samples that could then be connected and used to explain how a disease functions. Sage Bionetworks, a new nonprofit that organized the conference, also plans to build systems that can mimic the human body and help researchers analyze complex interactions among networks of genes. Merck has agreed to pass on some technology from the disbanded Rosetta project, which resulted in one of the fastest supercomputers in the drug industry. Open source technology will likely be used, and projects such as Science Commons are working to overcome the legal, financial, and infrastructural barriers to sharing studies and data.
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Microsoft’s annual TechFair visited Silicon Valley so that Microsoft product teams and local research labs could see the latest developments. One spotlighted TechFair project seeks to supply more data to researchers studying strategies for protecting fish in San Francisco Bay Area waterways by using computers to mash up various data sources and present the results to scientists in an Excel spreadsheet. Microsoft tools are making it possible to more deeply analyze the numerous variables that are weighed in deciding the optimum underlying conditions for migratory salmon. Microsoft research lab director Rick Rashid says the same core system is being used to monitor weather data in Southeast Asia and seismic data in the Swiss Alps. Ensuring that researchers maintain individual privacy when they offer aggregate data was the focus of work by TechFair presenter Cynthia Dwork, who demonstrated a mathematical formula for determining whether a particular data set is likely private or not. Also on display at TechFair was a project investigating the possibility of a smartphone choosing on the fly whether to run parts of a program on the phone itself or transmit the computational work to a remote server or PC.
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A new system for identifying potential Internet threats has been developed by researchers at the University of Texas (UT) at Dallas. Designed to analyze behavioral data, the system monitors network traffic and provides an alert when it notices worrisome deviations in normal activity. “We proposed a novel platform that thoroughly analyzes network traffic behavior to identify potential Internet threats,” says UT Dallas professor Mehrdad Nourani. The technology uses two subsystems that work in parallel to reach a high speed and use memory efficiently, which allows for faster results and optimal use of resources. A bell-shaped curve of normal activity is built, and it can achieve nearly zero false positives and negatives when identifying abnormalities outside the curve. Nourani says the technology also could be used to analyze health data and detect abnormal health issues such as heart arrhythmia, sleep apnea, or epileptic seizure.
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Kavli Institute of Nanoscience researchers have developed a way to use water to quickly transfer layers from one surface to another by exploiting the fact that different materials have different hydrophilicity, a discovery that could lead to lower manufacturing costs for nanoelectronics. The researchers, led by Kavli’s Gregory Schneider and Cees Dekker, developed a solid hydrophobic layer on top of a silicon wafer by dipping it in a solution containing a hydrophobic polymer. They then submerged the wafer in water, which wedged the layers off the silicon base. Intermolecular forces between the graphene and silicon provide a stable attachment and eliminate the need for glue, Dekker says. Repeating the technique several times would allow graphene layers to be built up into a complex nanoelectronic structure. “A [three-dimensional] microelectrode can be designed, layer by layer, using our ‘wedging’ transfer technique,” Schneider says.
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D.E. Shaw Research will house its new Anton supercomputer at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center beginning next fall. Anton is a massively parallel, 512-node supercomputer that reportedly offers ground-breaking performance capabilities. “This computer does work that really wasn’t even possible until now,” says Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center biomedical scientist Markus Dittrich. Anton features a series of algorithms that can project how all the thousands of parts of a protein interact. “This computer has the potential to be a great accelerator in the development of drugs, how drugs work, and how systems work,” says Jeremy Berg, director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, which provided a $2.7 million grant to pay for Anton’s use at the supercomputing center. Anton took more than 10 years to create at D.E. Shaw Research, a private laboratory founded by David E. Shaw. “It’s a pretty amazing machine [and] now people would like to get their hands on a machine to see if it can do what he says,” notes University of Utah professor Thomas Cheatham.
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German researchers have developed a prototype safety system that would reduce the injuries of humans working alongside robots using household tools. The collision detection system uses torque sensors to determine when a kitchen knife, screwdriver, or scissors hits a different substance, and halts the movements of the sharp tool. The team from the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics conducted strike tests on a silicon lump, a leg from a dead pig, and the arm of a human volunteer, using a robot arm. When the safety system was turned off, the robot produced deep cuts that could prove to be lethal to a living subject.
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Peruvian and Belgian researchers have developed an open source mobile learning application that enables health-care workers to connect to the free learning platform Moodle with their iPhone or iPod. The application was tested by health-care workers engaged in 20 clinics throughout Peru. The three-month pilot program used multimedia, three-dimensional animations, group discussions, policy documents, and peer-reviewed literature. The researchers are now finalizing the code before making it available under a Create Commons GNU license. Once the application is completed, the researchers say that institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and companies will be able to use the code to develop their own mobile learning environments.
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IBM China Research Lab scientists have developed Wireless Network Cloud (WNC), a new architecture that shifts the signal-processing requirements of wireless networks from base stations into the cloud. The researchers say moving to the cloud will make it easier and less expensive to upgrade networks, and could lead to wireless networks that can provide better coverage by rapidly adapting to user demand. General-purpose data centers are used to carry out the signal processing entirely in software, which enables the network to be managed in a more centralized way, with the raw signals being relayed to and from multiple antennas, says IBM’s Yonghua Lin. The centralized approach also means operators can manage their networks more efficiently. “IBM’s concept is not totally new but rather a combination of familiar themes, such as software-defined radio, network equipment virtualization, and networks as software,” says Rutgers University professor Dipankar Raychaudhuri.
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Researchers from academia and industry have until April 11, 2010, to submit applications for an opportunity to test prototypes of potential future high-performance computing (HPC) petascale systems. The Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE) is making nine different prototypes available, including three prototypes of hybrid clusters. The prototypes are not intended for production work. PRACE, which will give priority to teams focusing on research in areas that are different from the partnership’s research, will publicly release a summary of the applicants’ project purpose and the results achieved during prototype testing. Researchers will be able to use the prototype systems for three months per application. The project will allow PRACE to research petascale prototypes, as well as the scaling and optimization of applications on petascale machines. Selections will be made on May 1.
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Silicon Valley is losing more foreign-born executives, engineers, and scientists due to better opportunities in their native countries, tough U.S. immigration laws, and the high cost of living in California. Meanwhile, the Silicon Valley Index shows that fewer foreign students are pursuing engineering and science degrees in the region. The annual study found that foreign students received 16.6 percent of all degrees awarded in science and engineering programs from local colleges and universities in 2007, down from 18.4 percent in 2003. Harvard Law School senior research associate Vivek Wadhwa says the region is experiencing a massive brain drain. “For the first time, immigrants have better opportunities outside the U.S.,” he says. A lack of work visas also can push foreign talent to leave the United States. Legislation pending in the U.S. Congress would give immigrant entrepreneurs with investment funding a two-year visa.
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