This week in European sciences -- week 26|2004
 

Eric Drexler Revokes, Partly

As early as in the 1980s Eric Drexler coined the word 'nanotechnology', but also discussed possible worries related to it: Self-replicating nanobots that gain intelligence by evolutionary processes and later go on the rule the world. Since those times every nano-scientist had to assure to the public and at any dinner party that he or she is not working on those items, writes Christian Schwägerl in FAZ (June 26, 2004). Now, Drexler seems to revoke parts of his provocative thesis: self-replicating nanobot are ineffective, unneccessary and of no use to unfold the high potential of nanotechnology. (Nevertheless, he still thinks they are feasible. Thus, "the construction of anything resembling a dangerous self-replicating nanomachine can and should be prohibited.") Drexler and a colleague give an opinion piece on the issue in the upcoming August issue of the journal Nanotechnology. Drexler is now worried on the military research in nanotech which is not as controllable as public funded science. Schwägerl thinks it's quite the right time, for nanotech proceeds to become the "next industrial revolution", as Schwägerl's colleague Manfred Lindinger writes in FAZ (June 25, 2004). Many studies indicate that nanotech could make a market several billion euros worth. The technology can provide tailor-made structures and particles of less than 100 nanometers (1nm = 1 billionth meter). The products range from faster computers, modified bacteria, efficiant drug transport, better materials and surface coatings.
 

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
June 25/26, 2004

Successfully Banning CFCs

Karl Hübner remembers in Süddeutsche Zeitung (June 25, 2004) that 30 years ago scientists figured out the ozone depletion potential of CFCs (chlorfluorocarbons). In 1974 a first Nature paper appeared on their harmful potential. In 1975 US states started to ban CFCs. 1976 U.S.-wide ban. In 1985 public worried about the ozone hole above Antarctica, what fuelled global activities against CFCs: The Montreal protocol of 1987 to ban the CFCs. At present, it will take further decades until the CFCs will vanish from the upper atmosphere. Also, CFC-atmospheric chemistry is rather complex and might give some more suprises.
 

Süddeutsche Zeitung
June 25, 2004

Tooth Growing Experiments

James Randerson writes in New Scientist (June 24, 2004) about advances in tooth growing experiments. The vision is to implant the seeds of new-growing teeth in the human jaw, or to implant the full in-vitro-grown tooth. At present, researchers investigate what cell types you need to start growing in animal experiments. The big obstacles are to obtain the appropriate cell sources from humans, also how to regulate the shaping of the growing tooth, such that it will fit into the jaw.
Fundamental physics constants don't change with time, summarizes Justin Mullins his brief overview on the latest experiments on the issue (June 24, 2004). However, the case is open to the next round of even more precise experiments by astrophysicists and particle physicists.
Wi-Fi, or WLAN, can be used as a local positioning system where GPS fails, writes Celeste Biever (June 24, 2004). GPS receivers often fail because high building blocks shield the signals on the road. Same inside buildings. Now a new gadget may evaluate the Wi-Fi signalling received from several hotspots nearby. At least three are needed to determine position via triangulation.
 

New Scientist
June 24, 2004

A Drug to Remember

Stefan Klein profiles in FAZ (June 24, 2004) the Austrian-born, then American scientist Eric Kandel (Nobel Prize 2000 in medicine) who investigates the biochemistry of the brain. By studying the genetics and protein activity in neuronal signalling cascades, he tries to develop "memory pharmaceuticals" (that's also the name of his company). What does it mean for an individual and for society when you may enhance you memory, erase it, or boost your attention during exams?
 

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
June 24, 2004

Plenty of Life at the Nano Scale?

Turning physicist Richard Feynman's dictum "there is plenty of room at the bottom" to biology, we can speculate that there could also be some space for (overlooked) life. In fact, scientists discuss what's the minimum seize of a bacterium. As a report in Neue Zürcher Zeitung points out (June 24, 2004) a bacterium may not be smaller than 0.2 micrometer (the typical seize is between 0.5 and 10 µm). But debate is ahead whether there might exist nano-scale bacteria, in seize of 0.03 to 0.2 nanometers. The issue was first picked up by geologists to explain some regular crystallized nano-structures in rock. (Also remember the explanation of clues of life in Martian meteorite ALH 84001.) Anyway, most scientists argued against that option. Now, medical scientists enter the scene: They claimed of having found clues of nano-bacteria that cause fatty deposits in the blood vessels. Also DNA attributed to the nano-bugs could be marked. Thus, by turning a second physical metaphor into biology: Is the nano-bacterium the cold fusion in microbiology?
 

Neue Zürcher Zeitung
June 24, 2004

Drug Trials for Kids

Martin Lindner writes in Süddeutsche Zeitung (June 23, 2004) that most drugs that are given to children or adolescents haven't been approved in clinical trials for the young. Now the EU Commission has scheduled legislation to give pharma companies incentives to extend their trials to kids: If they do so they may also extend patent protection of their drug by 6 months. Whether it works is questionable? According to Lindner many drug trials on kids are performed without any value for proper treatment.
 

Süddeutsche Zeitung
June 23, 2004

Mastermind of Spam

According to Wolfgang Grüner und Uwe Kauss in Der Spiegel (June 21, 2004) about 70 percent (on average) of the e-mail in your inbox is spam. The authors profile Alan Ralsky, U.S. citizen and presumably the king of spam: About 70 million e-mails are sent out each day by his servers. Per ad campaign several thousand buys are registered. He receives a 40 percent stake of things sold. Ralsky claimed to act straight according to existing law, but he might get problems after many countries have prohibited unsolicited mails, even the U.S. now approved stricter legislation. In the spam business so-called harverster are set-up, tiny web crawlers, that scan thousands of websites, chat rooms and discussion forums for e-mail addresses. Other programmes try to combine words, for instance, from phone books to 'guess' possible e-mail accounts. Next step is to cheat the spam filters of the ISPs. Here it's a strong competition between spam filter architects and people who try to override them. The former install e-mail accounts, called honeypots, to attract as much span as possible to analyse the newest trends in spamming technology. The latter register with the ISPs as normal users to analyze their anti-spam advances.
 

Der Spiegel
June 21, 2004

Placebo's Efficacy Revisited

In clinical trials it's a must to approve a new drug's efficacy against a so-called placebo, for instance a sugar pill with no medical active substance at all. Thus, using a placebo is a well-known instrument in medicine. Some other side is pointed out by Kathrin Zinkant and Julia Gross in FAZ on Sunday (June 20, 2004): Giving a placebo to a patient may have some efficacy on its own, for instance for a patient recovering from a surgery, reducing pain or neurological deficiencies. It's the patient's belief in the drug's potential and the doctor's words. (Anyway, how placebos excactly work is mostly unknown). But one major problem occurs for the doctors: They would have to lie to the patients. So, medics investigate how to combine a drug therapy with giving a placebo pill - what may result in a smaller dosis of the drug, while the patients nevertheless recovers and feels better.
Ulf von Rauchhaupt guides us with great pictures through the planetary system of Saturn which is now under investigation by the Cassini spacecraft (only in print). Scientists now hold their breath whether a difficult manoeuver will succeed (on 1. July) when Cassini is decelerated to enter orbital position between F and G ring.
 

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
June 20, 2004

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