Volume II Issue 5
May 2006 |
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 Supercomputer
Maps One Million Atoms of a Complete Virus in First Simulation of a Life
Form
 For
the first time, researchers have visualized the changing atomic
structure of a virus by calculating how each of the virus' one million
atoms interacted with each other every femtosecond -- or
one-millionth-of-a-billionth of a second. A better understanding of
viral structures and mechanisms may one day allow researchers to design
improved strategies to combat viral infections in plants, animals, and
even humans.
Led by Klaus Schulten at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
the team tapped the high-performance power of the National Center for
Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) processors to accomplish the task.
Still, it took about 100 days to generate just 50 nanoseconds of virus
activity. Schulten says it would have taken the average desktop computer
35 years to come up with the results.
The simulation revealed key physical properties of satellite tobacco
mosaic virus, a very simple, plant-infecting virus. Ultimately,
scientists will generate longer simulations from bigger biological
entities, but to do so, they need the next generation of supercomputers,
the so-called "petascale high-performance computing systems."
Find out more...
Stanford
University Launches Online High School
 This
fall, Stanford University is launching a three-year, fully-accredited
online high school, diploma-granting, online, independent high school.
Formally a part of Stanford University's Education Program for Gifted
Youth, courses will be academically rigorous, featuring enhanced
mathematical content in natural science and social science courses and
an emphasis on discussion and argumentation in the humanities courses.
University-level courses will be available to students in many subject
areas. In addition to online work during the academic year, students
will also have the option of coming to Stanford University for up to
eight weeks during the summer.
Find out more...
L'Oreal-UNESCO
Recognizes Eminent Women Scientists
Considered by many recipients to be the "Nobel Prize" for female
scientists, the 2006 L'Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science awards were
recently presented in Paris. Five awards are bestowed each year, and
each of the honorees receives $100,000 to be used to further her
research efforts in the life sciences. L'Oréal and UNESCO believe that
scientific inquiry supports economic competitiveness. Candidates for the
awards are nominated by nearly a thousand eminent members of the
international scientific community. The jury ultimately chooses one
winner from each of the continents of Africa, Asia, Europe, South
America, and North America.
 Among
the women recognized for their work this year was Pamela Bjorkman,
professor of biology at the California Institute of Technology, and a
Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. She has dedicated her
career to studying the structures and interactions of proteins that
mediate immune recognition, making discoveries that have significantly
impacted autoimmune disease, HIV, cancer, and most recently, iron
"overload" disease. A self-confessed science-hating student in high
school until she enrolled in a life-changing chemistry class, Bjorkman
is now working on "directing" cells to make their own antibodies to
combat diseases. She believes that people are making more of an effort
to recruit and retain women in positions of authority in academic and
industrial scientific laboratories these days.
Find out more...
Degree
Profile: Computer Science
 Computer
scientists impact society through their work in many areas. Because
computer technology is embedded in so many products, services, and
systems, computer scientists can be found in almost every industry.
Design of next generation computer systems, computer networking,
biomedical information systems, gaming systems, search engines, web
browsers, and computerized package distribution systems are all examples
of projects a computer scientist might work on. Computer scientists
might also focus on improving software reliability, network security,
information retrieval systems, or may even work as a consultant to a
financial services company.
 According
to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, computer
scientists are expected to be among the fastest growing occupations
through 2014. Employment of these computer specialists is expected to
grow much faster than the average for all occupations as organizations
continue to adopt and integrate increasingly sophisticated technologies.
Job increases will be driven by very rapid growth in computer systems
design and related services, which is projected to be one of the fastest
growing industries in the U.S. economy. Job growth will not be as rapid
as during the previous decade, however, as the information technology
sector begins to mature and as routine work is increasingly outsourced
overseas.
Find out more about careers in
computer science.
Industry
Brief: Boeing Delivers Satellite to DIRECTV Following On-Orbit Testing
 Boeing
recently announced the handover of the Spaceway F2 satellite to DIRECTV,
Inc., the second of four Boeing satellites that will provide DIRECTV
with the capacity to broadcast hundreds of local and national high
definition (HD) channels. The Spaceway F2 satellite began broadcasting
local HD programming to DIRECTV customers in eight new markets in April
and will begin broadcasting to an additional 16 markets by mid-year.
Launched by Arianespace in November, 2005, from the Guiana Space Center
in Kourou, French Guiana, Spaceway F2 is the seventh Boeing-built
satellite for DIRECTV. Boeing designed and manufactured the 702 model
geostationary satellite at its Satellite Development Center (SDC) in El
Segundo, CA. Encompassing approximately 1 million square feet, the
state-of-the-art facility is the largest dedicated satellite factory in
the world.
A unit of The Boeing
Company, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is one of the world's largest
space and defense businesses, and a large employer of those with degrees
in science, mathematics, and engineering. Headquartered in St. Louis,
Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a $30.8 billion business. It is a
leading provider of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance
systems; the world's largest military aircraft manufacturer; the world's
largest satellite manufacturer, and a leading provider of space-based
communications; the primary systems integrator for U.S. missile defense;
and NASA's largest contractor. Boeing employs many engineers and others
with science and mathematics degrees.
Find out more about Boeing, or explore more information about a
wide range of career fields.
X-rays
in the Digital Age at Siemens AG
 X-ray
technology is the oldest medical imaging process, and little had changed
about the process over the course of a hundred years. Images of the
skeleton and lungs were shot onto film and analyzed on a viewing screen.
Photography had long since entered the digital age when digital imaging
using flat-panel detectors finally began to be used in medical practices
and clinics for radiography with real-time image processing in the
1990s. At Siemens AG, Dr. Martin Spahn was recently honored as an
"Inventor of the Year" because he played a key role in the successful
advent of this technology. Spahn is responsible for the field of
flat-panel detectors at Siemens MED. In flat-panel detector technology,
x-rays are converted into digital image data through direct and indirect
conversion processes.
The technology is similar to the photo chip in a digital camera in that
it employs semiconducting amorphous silicon. However, in the x-ray
system, the materials are arranged on a much larger scale. "For indirect
conversion, the x-rays are first converted into light in a scintillator
layer. In the layer below, an active amorphous silicon photodiode
(pixel) array, this light is then converted into electrical signals,"
explains the inventor. The indirect process has become commonplace in
nearly every area of application in radiology and cardiology while
direct conversion is most suitable for mammography.
Find out more about other Siemens
"Inventors of the Year."
Engineers
Devise Mathematics For New Age Structures
 Engineers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) have
devised two mathematical tools considered to be a major contribution to
the optimal design of a new generation of deformable bridges, buildings,
shape-controllable airplane wings, radio antennas, and other
alternatives to current structural technologies. The deformable
characteristic is made possible with strong, ultra-light truss-like
arrangements of rods suspended by strings or wires. The resulting
structure incorporates tensegrity, a combination of "tension" and
"integrity." "Although tensegrity structures are not yet part of
mainstream design engineering, we think their amazing properties explain
why you find this arrangement in spider webs, the protein cytoskeleton
of cells, and many other biological structures," said Robert E. Skelton,
a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in UCSD's Jacobs
School of Engineering. Skelton and his students have pioneered the
development of rigorous scientific tools to analyze the balance of
forces and movement in many types of tensegrity systems. The
optimization algorithm relies on mathematical parameters that define the
pitch (upward tilt), yaw (left or right swings), and separation distance
of each of a series of identical rods.
Find out more...
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