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Discover 2 new Expos!

Photo Exposition – euREKA 48 researchers under the microscope

Research in Brussels will be present through the photo exhibition ‘Eureka, 48 researchers under the microscope’: 40 specialists who are active in all kinds of research domains, a mix of qualification degrees, from lab assistant, Egyptologist, to paediatrician and economist (no, no, research doesn’t exclusively take place in sterile laboratories!).

At last: sophisticated, pure, funny at times but ever monochrome portraits that reveal photographer Denia Zerouali’s mastery of the portrait.

http://www.brussels-innova.com/expo-60th.aspx

Please note that our SIDA forum at http://sida.org.sg/forum/ will be closing on 19 Oct 2011.

Article taken from MyPaper (http://mypaper.sg/) on 5 Oct 2011, Page A3

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/mindreading-technology-reconstructs-videos-from-brain-20110923-1ko5s.html

• It sounds like science fiction: while volunteers watched movie clips, a scanner watched their brains. And from their brain activity, a computer made rough reconstructions of what they viewed.
• In the future, it might help stroke victims or others who have no other way to communicate, said Jack Gallant, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Berkeley, and co-author of the paper

The following was extracted from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14976893

• Until now, they explained, an external source of electricity was required in order to power the process.
• However, the team added, the current cost of operating the new technology is too high to be used commercially.
• Prof Logan said that the technology to utilise this process to produce hydrogen was called microbial electrolysis cell (MEC).
• “The breakthrough here is that we do not need to use an electrical power source anymore to provide a little energy into the system.
• “All we need to do is add some fresh water and some salt water and some membranes, and the electrical potential that is there can provide that power.”

Read the rest of this entry →

http://www.inventorsdigest.com/archives/7262

• Now that passage of the America Invents Act (patent reform) is all but certain – it’s only awaiting the President’s signature
• It is clear that the current first-to-invent system almost never benefits the independent inventor.
• Further, the cost of proving who was first to invent, under the current system, is prohibitive to small businesses and independent inventors. It costs an average of $400,000 to $500,000 in legal fees to engage in interference proceedings to determine who invented first.
• So the facts demonstrate that the current system of first-to-invent actually favors those with deep pockets and works to the disadvantage of small companies and independent inventors with limited resources.

Taken from Today(http://www.todayonline.com) on 2 Sep 2011, Page 54

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14494972

• Scientists have shown how an enzyme from a microbe can produce hydrogen from water more quickly and cheaply.
• Hydrogen is seen as vital to future energy systems, but a major problem has been making this reaction fast and cheap enough to be viable.
• Hydrogen can be split from water wherever electricity is available, even at home. And with a fuel cell it can be turned back into electricity, with water as the benign by-product.
• These natural enzymes are unfortunately difficult to obtain and do not survive well outside the microbe.
• But their new synthetic enzyme is performing surprisingly well; it is 10 times faster than the natural one, making 100,000 molecules of hydrogen gas every second.