Recognizing that manned deep-space missions are going to happen and that
astronauts will need to conserve food, oxygen, and other supplies during
journeys that could last for decades, American scientists are looking to the
“supercooling” process that Arctic ground squirrels use to hibernate without
freezing. Specifically, they are looking for chemical messengers in the brain
that direct the process. They then hope to synthesize the chemicals and inject
them into humans.

The fact that serious scientific resources are being expended on
long-distance space travel research is evidence of vision and the acceleration
of human progress. We suspect, however, that better ways than hibernation will
be needed — and will be devised — for space travel; most importantly, by
changing human biology through bionics to survive without oxygen and organic
food.

Reference: Knapp, Louise (2003). “These Squirrels
Are Super Cool.” Wired News, December 10.

Stop Light

Physicists have again brought light to a complete halt for a fraction of a
second; this time, without taking all the energy away from it, which
differentiates this latest method from one demonstrated in 2001. Stopping light
has potential applications in quantum and optical computers, cryptography, and
fiber-optic communications. (Last
month we mentioned a new technique for variably slowing light down.)

Reference: Callahan, Rick (2003). “Physicists
Briefly Freeze Pulse of Light.” Associated Press/Yahoo News, December 10.

Insurer Faces Up to Med Tech
Acceleration

US health insurer Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is responding to the
acceleration of innovations in medicine by holding regular forums of medical
experts brought in from outside the company, and forming advisory panels for a
range of medical issues. The first forum discussed bone marrow transplantation;
the recent (second) forum discussed the rising demand for and cost of obesity
surgery. Findings from the forums influence Anthem’s medical policies.

Reference: Swiatek, Jeff (2003). “Anthem initiative
lets experts shape its care: Firm huddles with med specialists as it ponders
coverage for new treatments.” Indianapolis Star, December 14.

Five Years Out of Date

The mother of a Down syndrome baby wished she had known of modern tests that
could have given her advanced notice of the baby’s syndrome without the risk of
miscarriage attendant upon older tests (amniocentesis or chorionic villus
sampling.) Such anecdotes add to the pressure on patients to make it their
business to find out about the latest diagnostics for their actual or suspected
condition.

But, as Rebecca Adams suggests in the Washington Post, they should
also find out about the tests’ limitations, reliability, and cost. New tests are
often very expensive and may not be covered by insurance. They should also
consider the added stress that foreknowledge can bring if reveals problems known
to be intractable.

Reference: Adams, Rebecca (2003). “Baby’s
First Pictures: Three Less-Invasive Prenatal Tests Offer Parents New Early
Diagnostic Options — and Some Tough Choices.” Washington Post, December 9.

New Diseases

Donald McNeil, writing in the New York Times, reminds us of why
devices to detect disease pathogens are more than just a handy tool to warn
soldiers on the battlefield of the presence of a chemical or biological hazard
— they may be imperative to protecting civilization from global epidemics of
virulent diseases such as Ebola, SARS, AIDS, and the flu.

The problem is that because of jet travel, doctors now have far less time to
react to an epidemic outbreak. “Now, as SARS showed, illnesses race abroad by
jet, arriving in people who clear customs before they even feel feverish.
[Infected passengers] often land far away before news of [the infection] does,
making the global village a small and infectious place,” writes McNeil. The
development of a pathogen detector, perhaps built into airport metal detector
gates, could have as broad and important an impact on healthcare as the
discovery of penicillin.

The message is that acceleration in one area (transportation) begets or
demands acceleration in others (syndromic surveillance.)

* See here,
for example; and see the Devices section of this issue for more about devices
under development that show promise of detecting disease pathogens.

Reference: McNeil, Donald G. (2003). “The Next
Generation of Diseases Are in Hiding, Somewhere.” New York Times, December
28.

C-Science

A group of science superstars is backing a new cable TV channel under
development called the Cable Science Network (CSN), modeled “in the
public-interest spirit of C-SPAN” (the Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network
that broadcasts US government meetings and other public affairs events.)

If and when it gets enough financial support and acceptance by the cable
companies, CSN will broadcast talks given at scientific meetings, features on
the best science teachers in the US, interviews with scientists, and other
programming to keep it from being too boring. It seems the concept has drawn
enthusiastic public support and encouragement.

CSN is significant first, because the more people become involved in science
— including more scientists having more access to conferences — the faster
will discoveries be made and innovation occur.

Second, information technologies, including TV, have already led to a shift
away from decision-making processes shaped by the historical need — in the
absence of timely and accurate information — to make decisions on the basis of
intuition and “commonsense,” and instead towards decisions based on objective
analysis of abundant information available instantly. Technology helps and
enables us to build conceptual models of our individual decision processes and
construct personalized, virtual information systems based on those conceptual
models, using the personalization tools available though Internet portals and
online media. We have become, without realizing it, systems analysts.

Technology also empowers us to become our own doctors, accountants,
publishers, builders, engineers, lawyers, and so on – and today’s
individualistic and openly antisocial economic model forces us to it. The
emergence of CSN suggests we are also destined to become scientists. Given the
increase in space activity of late, including President Bush’s proposal to build
a manned Moon base and the research noted above into hibernation technologies
for deep space travel, it is not far-fetched to see a broader trend to
technologically enhanced “superhumans” equipped physically and cognitively to
explore the new frontier of space and deal with the exigencies they will
encounter far from home and help.

Reference: Philipkoski, Kristen (2003). “Are You Ready for
Some Science?” Wired News, December 18.

Fuel Cells Advance

Catalyzing the various processes used to separate hydrogen out of other
substances for use in fuel cells is expensive, often requiring the use of
precious metals and much heat energy. New catalysts derived from nickel,
aluminum, and tin — and one with iron — promise greatly to reduce the cost of
hydrogen production, making fuel cells as attractive economically as they are
environmentally.

A way to double the efficiency of a solar-powered process to generate
hydrogen could eliminate the use of steam reformation, a process that mixes
steam with natural gas. The recent breakthrough “confirms that we can create
tremendous amounts of hydrogen simply by using solar energy and water,”
according to the leader of the research team that made it.

The process is 30 percent efficient, versus a maximum 18 percent efficiency
of previous processes. The developers say it will take from two to five more
years to ready the process for industrial production, but some others think that
is far too optimistic. One expert thinks 20 years is more likely. But all agree
that solar energy could one day meet US electricity and hydrogen needs.
Breakthroughs such as that reported here suggest that “one day” may be a soon as
tomorrow.

Reference: Asaravala, Amit (2003). “Shedding New
Light on Fuel Cells.” Wired News, December 2.

Reference: Dizikes, Peter (2003). “Making
Cheaper Hydrogen.” Innovation News, December 2003/January 2004.

Click here
for more HFD references to fuel cells.

Open Source Movement Expands

The Freedom Technology Center in California has built a functional
system-on-chip microprocessor called OpenCores entirely from open-source
(patent-free) blueprints. They hope to do for hardware what open-source programs
such as Linux, Apache, and Sendmail have done for software — i.e., lower costs
and stimulate innovation, security, scalability, and stability. Furthermore,
open-source hardware and software together will synergistically magnify each
other’s effects, since the reluctance of some makers of proprietary hardware to
support Linux can be bypassed or overcome given a hardware alternative.

OpenCores is not powerful enough to threaten Intel’s high-power chips,
and Intel feels safe given that “there are something like 100,000 patents on
today’s CPUs,” according to one of its executives, implying that the commercial
world has locked out the non-commercial world from ever producing an alternative
CPU like the Pentium. The open-sourcers counter that the process of working
around patents is a driver of innovation.

Reference: Asaravala, Amit (2003). “Open Source Takes
on Hardware Biz.” Wired News, December 17.