Is Your Blog iPad Worthy?This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
Is Your Blog iPad Worthy?This content from: Duct Tape Marketing Lots of folks these days are consuming things like blog content on their still shiny new iPads. App developers like Flipboard and big time publishers like Slate and Wired are taking advantage of the wide HD screen to create stunning visual displays and interaction. This [...]
Monday, August 23, 2010
DNA Molecules Can Be Used to Make A Much More Powerful Electronic Nose
Fluorescent DNA Florent Samain displays a fluorescence microscope image showing how the fluorescent sensors change color in the presence of organic vapors. Linda Cicero, Stanford University News Service
A new generation of e-nose uses a DNA scaffolding and molecular fluorescence to distinguish among various vapors, in a breakthrough that could make electronic sniffers more powerful and simpler to produce, according to researchers at Stanford University.
The method could conceivably detect anything from spoiled milk to explosives, the researchers say -- a major advancement over existing e-noses, which search for only a couple of specific molecules.
The e-nose involves attaching fluorescent compounds onto strands of DNA molecules, which then change color in the presence of certain substances. Stanford chemistry professor Eric Kool says one sensor could tell the difference between four organic vapors, because it would change colors with each one.
To make the sensors, the team took one side of a DNA double helix and replaced its four bases with fluorescent base-pair substitutes, according to a Stanford news release. Unhindered by the second helix backbone, the stacked bases protrude from the DNA strand like whiskers, ready to sense organic vapors.
The team could choose among seven replacement bases, so they used DNA synthesis technology to come up with a library of all the 2,401 ways they could combine into a string of four units. Then they tested all those combinations to see how they responded to various substances, including industrial solvent, aquatic herbicide and explosive-preparation materials.
Multiple sensor arrangements demonstrated a marked fluorescent response when exposed to the test substances, Kool says. DNA base pairs communicate electronically, so rearranging the synthetic bases resulted in different responses to the same stimuli, he added.
Next up is making a sensor array that can detect a wide range of substances, according to Kool. "Because we get such a diversity of responses -- even one molecule can tell the difference among four different things -- we could have a set of 10 or 20, or 100 sensors, which would give a vast array of responses to many different kinds of molecules."
The study was published online this week in the German journal�Angewandte Chemie�(Applied Chemistry).
[Eurekalert via MedicalDaily]
A new generation of e-nose uses a DNA scaffolding and molecular fluorescence to distinguish among various vapors, in a breakthrough that could make electronic sniffers more powerful and simpler to produce, according to researchers at Stanford University.
The method could conceivably detect anything from spoiled milk to explosives, the researchers say -- a major advancement over existing e-noses, which search for only a couple of specific molecules.
The e-nose involves attaching fluorescent compounds onto strands of DNA molecules, which then change color in the presence of certain substances. Stanford chemistry professor Eric Kool says one sensor could tell the difference between four organic vapors, because it would change colors with each one.
To make the sensors, the team took one side of a DNA double helix and replaced its four bases with fluorescent base-pair substitutes, according to a Stanford news release. Unhindered by the second helix backbone, the stacked bases protrude from the DNA strand like whiskers, ready to sense organic vapors.
The team could choose among seven replacement bases, so they used DNA synthesis technology to come up with a library of all the 2,401 ways they could combine into a string of four units. Then they tested all those combinations to see how they responded to various substances, including industrial solvent, aquatic herbicide and explosive-preparation materials.
Multiple sensor arrangements demonstrated a marked fluorescent response when exposed to the test substances, Kool says. DNA base pairs communicate electronically, so rearranging the synthetic bases resulted in different responses to the same stimuli, he added.
Next up is making a sensor array that can detect a wide range of substances, according to Kool. "Because we get such a diversity of responses -- even one molecule can tell the difference among four different things -- we could have a set of 10 or 20, or 100 sensors, which would give a vast array of responses to many different kinds of molecules."
The study was published online this week in the German journal�Angewandte Chemie�(Applied Chemistry).
[Eurekalert via MedicalDaily]
What They Don?t Tell You About Successful Product Launches
Many times we see successful product launches being talked about and are so dazzled by the huge sales numbers and income generated but fail to see all the hard groundwork that has been done behind the scenes for months and years before the launch.
Sometimes this is because those talking about their product launches don’t want [...]This Post is from: ProBlogger Blog Tips.
What They Don’t Tell You About Successful Product Launches
Sometimes this is because those talking about their product launches don’t want [...]This Post is from: ProBlogger Blog Tips.
What They Don’t Tell You About Successful Product Launches
Status Tagging Your Facebook Updates
Status Tagging Your Facebook UpdatesThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing
Status Tagging Your Facebook UpdatesThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing As Facebook continues to grow and provide more and more search functionality so does the need to think strategically about optimizing some of your status updates. About six months ago Facebook introduced status tagging, a feature that allows you to tag and link to pages [...]
Status Tagging Your Facebook UpdatesThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing As Facebook continues to grow and provide more and more search functionality so does the need to think strategically about optimizing some of your status updates. About six months ago Facebook introduced status tagging, a feature that allows you to tag and link to pages [...]
Newsletter Readers Do Click Ads
I recently attended an event where a presenter talked about the reasons that they didn’t use email marketing as part of their online business. One of the main reasons that he presented was that he didn’t think that people coming from a newsletter would click the ads on his site.
His reasoning was that people coming [...]This Post is from: ProBlogger Blog Tips.
Newsletter Readers Do Click Ads
His reasoning was that people coming [...]This Post is from: ProBlogger Blog Tips.
Newsletter Readers Do Click Ads
Sunday, August 22, 2010
AMPERE, The First System for Tracking Space Weather in Real Time, Goes Live
The Earth's Magnetic Weather AMPERE
The solar flare that slammed into Earth's atmosphere earlier this month was a prescient reminder that solar weather -- though sometimes beautiful -- can have serious impacts on the Earth. So perhaps the timing is right for something like AMPERE, the first space-based system capable of monitoring the Earth's immediate space environment in real-time. The system is the first step in a process that will enable around-the-clock monitoring and eventual prediction of solar and space weather and its effects on Earth.
AMPERE -- short for Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment -- is a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), Iridium Communications, and Boeing, funded by a $4 million grant from the National Science Foundation. It functions via Iridium's vast constellation of commercial satellites (66 total), from which Boeing collects the atmospheric data for delivery to APL where it's crunched in real-time into a map of the magnetic field around Earth.
Because Iridium's constellation covers the entire globe, AMPERE can keep an eye on the planet form all angles at all times. That's reassuring; severe solar activity could potentially knock out satellites, cripple electricity grids and electronic devices on the ground, and even down, and even put high-altitude aircraft in danger. Moreover, solar weather occurs in cycles, sort of like hurricane season here on Earth. As it happens, we just entered a particularly stormy part of that cycle, and the next 3-5 years will likely be tempestuous.
The next step for APL and company involves developing the tools to actually forecast geomagnetic storms in space before they hit Earth's magnetic field. That development should begin before the end of this year. In the meantime, you can learn more about AMPERE via the video below.
[Iridium via Smartplanet]
The solar flare that slammed into Earth's atmosphere earlier this month was a prescient reminder that solar weather -- though sometimes beautiful -- can have serious impacts on the Earth. So perhaps the timing is right for something like AMPERE, the first space-based system capable of monitoring the Earth's immediate space environment in real-time. The system is the first step in a process that will enable around-the-clock monitoring and eventual prediction of solar and space weather and its effects on Earth.
AMPERE -- short for Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment -- is a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), Iridium Communications, and Boeing, funded by a $4 million grant from the National Science Foundation. It functions via Iridium's vast constellation of commercial satellites (66 total), from which Boeing collects the atmospheric data for delivery to APL where it's crunched in real-time into a map of the magnetic field around Earth.
Because Iridium's constellation covers the entire globe, AMPERE can keep an eye on the planet form all angles at all times. That's reassuring; severe solar activity could potentially knock out satellites, cripple electricity grids and electronic devices on the ground, and even down, and even put high-altitude aircraft in danger. Moreover, solar weather occurs in cycles, sort of like hurricane season here on Earth. As it happens, we just entered a particularly stormy part of that cycle, and the next 3-5 years will likely be tempestuous.
The next step for APL and company involves developing the tools to actually forecast geomagnetic storms in space before they hit Earth's magnetic field. That development should begin before the end of this year. In the meantime, you can learn more about AMPERE via the video below.
[Iridium via Smartplanet]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)