Wiki World

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Australian Blog★
ALL BLOG ARTICLES· ──► (BLOG HOME PAGE)

A New Discovery on Immunity by Australian Scientists

Acclaim is given to two Australian scientists, Walter and Eliza Hall, who have changed ideas about the memory of the immune system. B cells make antibodies to fight infection. These cells do not die after doing their job and this is not the normal run of things.

A pro-survival proteins is responsible for the cells' continuing existence. It has been proven that the Mcl-1 protein does this, not the Bcl-xL protein as was accepted in the past. Tests blocked the activity of Bcl-xL which showed that Mcl-1 stopped apoptosis - death.

Cancer cells survive due to Mcl-1, so there are new possibilities for cancer research. It could also have repercussion for future treatment of the resistance response in organ transplant patients.

Health by Ty Buchanan

Funny Animal Photos by Ty Buchanan

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Australian Blog★
ALL BLOG ARTICLES· ──► (BLOG HOME PAGE)

Scramjet Launch

Though Australia is the world's leader in development of the scramjet, it needs partners to meet the objective of successful launch. The Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) led by the University of Queensland has put together a group of 13 to test the rocket. The launch will take place above the Arctic Circle in September.

Preparation of the rocket has begun in Norway. There is a learning curve. A lot is expected to be learned from the project. Hypersonic physics and combustion is a relatively new area of research. The aim is to be able to launch satellites cheaper. The overall cost of the launch is $14 million, believed to be money well spent.

There is no doubt that participating scientists will be nervous on day zero. The two-stage rocket will leave Andoya Rocket Range and soar to 320 kilometers. When the thrusters cease it will gently fall back to earth in a swan dive. Unfortunately, the scramjet will not be salvaged. It is set to self-destruct over the ocean.

There is an air of optimism about the flight. However, it would be wise to err on the side of caution. The European Space Agency had many failures before perfecting its technology. We can only wait and see.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Technology by Ty Buchanan

Australian Blog★
ALL BLOG ARTICLES· ──► (BLOG HOME PAGE)

Is Cloning of Extinct Animals Possible?

It seems researchers are close to cloning the woolly mammoth and perhaps a species of frog that gives birth to offspring with its mouth - swallowing fertile eggs then incubating them in its mouth. The frog died out in 1983. We have heard claims like this before. Personally, I believe we are a long way from being able to do this.

Repairing the damage that pushed them to extinction is not sufficient to bring them back. Finding specimens with suitable preserved material is near impossible. Even the few frozen southern gastric-brooding frogs were not initially preserved with the intention of "cloning". Special techniques were not applied.

It is thought improved systems like somatic cell nuclear transfer will enable creation of a living frog. Some presume this can be used on viable mammoth cells. The issue will be producing a healthy living creature. Previous research has resulted in incomplete clones: many do not live long. Most scientists are pessimistic about the possibility of "perfect" cloning.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Conservation

Australian Blog★
ALL BLOG ARTICLES· ──► (BLOG HOME PAGE)

New Finds of Early Humans Do Not Change the Basic Theory

Darwin got it right. Well actually he may not have. Fossils of early humans do not alter basic scientific thought in relation to evolution, Finds do not show a linear development toward advanced Man. Evolution though does tend to predict what new discoveries show. Claims that a particular fossil find is a breakthrough are just not true.

New dinosaur fossils, however, tend to be groundbreaking with regular identification of new type of dinosaurs. Indeed, they seem to have roamed on every continent. The whole book on dinosaur evolution has not yet been written. Time will tell how clear an understanding of it we can get. It seems evolution of dinosaurs is clearer than that of humans.

New research teams need to be formed to go to all parts of the world and seek answers to evolution of mammals and reptiles, if indeed dinosaurs were reptiles. Some specialists today even question this view.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Conservation

Australian Blog★
ALL BLOG ARTICLES· ──► (BLOG HOME PAGE)

Power Generation Via Hydrogen Is Not Taking Off

It is amazing how people will see something new, then run with it to the extreme saying this will change the world. This is true for virtually all non-fossil energy producing systems, but all of them have drawbacks and none have revolutionized the power sector. The two major problems have been high cost and non constant energy production during the 24 hour period.

Scientists have worked on hydrogen systems for decades and success seems very distant. It is not being accepted for widespread use. Actually, hydrogen is a "byproduct" of energy production. When electricity is generated by any method the excess not used at a point in time is passed through water. It splits into oxygen and hydrogen via electrolysis with the fuel stored to be used in the future. When hydrogen is recombined with oxygen, electricity is generate. Heat from the process can also be used directly for heating purposes.

As with other environmentally friendly electricity producing methods time will tell if hydrogen is accepted for general use. Perhaps hydrogen can be made in significant quantities from solar and wind generation. It could potentially make for a hybrid system producing electricity 24 hours a day. Until now, governments have been the main source of funding for hydrogen experiments. Apparently, the private sector sees little future in it. For non-fossil energy systems to flourish it is necessary for the community to work together. Unfortunately, individualism is the norm. Perhaps this is why there is very little progress.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Technology

Australian Blog★

Breakthrough in Artifical Intelligence

For a century now people have been assuming that robots will arrive and become commonplace in the home. Manufacturing has its industrial robots but helping robots in the home have not become reality. The problem is not so much being able to construct the physical aspects of a robot, it is the intelligence, the "brain", that is the big issue.

By doing 25,000 runs on a computer to build up experience, it was found that biological intelligence was structure into a network of modules. This is a breakthrough finding for artificial intelligence. Modules means alternatives can be chosen to meet a problem. This is what makes humans and animals so difficult to understand.

Apparently, all things evolve via modules. Such networks have not solely appeared out of intellectual necessity. Modules can be joined together with shorter network connections, using less to make more. Evolution is not wasteful.

In the computer simulation, once a cost for network connections was added modules were formed. Without the cost variable, there was no order to the simulation. In animals modules are seen in the brain, metabolic networks, gene regulation, protein-protein interaction and the vascular system. Even the Internet is modular.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Society

Bird Know What You Are Thinking - They Understand Behavior

Be careful the next time you quietly curse a magpie attacking you during breeding season. It may know what you are thinking. Why is it that the birds seem to know the personalities of individuals walking by? If you have fed them in the past they appear to remember you and let you go on by unhindered while swooping down onto the heads of other people.

Crows have been observed hiding food from other crows. This is not due to stress as was once believed. There is still contention between the two opposing groups of scientists. Tests on scrub jays it was claimed proved that they were hiding food from more dominant Jays. This was really a hypothesis, not real proof.

The other group claims that birds are conscious of others and what other may be seeing, like humans. In their tests bird were allowed to hide peanuts in a litter of corn cobs. If another bird was watching they later came back and re-hid the peanuts. When they buried peanuts on their own they rarely re-hid them.

This was the key finding - stress from stealing hidden peanuts should change behavior. It didn't! Birds were given a tray of ground cobs but an empty bowl with no peanuts. They were then given cobs and peanuts which they hid. Researchers stole all the peanuts from this tray.

The birds were split into two teams for study. One had peanuts, a new cob tray with the "sham" empty tray. The other had peanuts, a new cob tray with the "pilfered" tray. Stress from knowing that peanuts had been stolen earlier did not change behavior. Both teams of jays hid peanuts in the same way.

The "contra" group of scientists claimed that the sham tray with no peanuts stressed the birds just as much as the pilfered tray. Obviously, the scientific test for testing new scientific claims is not set on concrete. It can be bent for one's own purpose.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Science