MIT.edu has a story on cell inspired electronics.

Rahul Sarpeshkar a young professor,scientist innovator has done outstanding work in bridging the gap between highly efficient organic mechanism. and linear Computing

MIT's Rahul Sarpeshkar is now applying architectural principles from these ultra-energy-efficient cells to the design of low-power, highly parallel, hybrid analog-digital electronic circuits. These cells are highly energy efficient machines to magnitude of tens of thousands.

In one second, a cell performs about 10 million energy-consuming chemical reactions, which altogether require about one picowatt (one millionth millionth of a watt) of power.

This is quite an interesting research.Is this the mankinds hope organic computing.

Connectomes and human brain.MIT

very interesting.

MIT news is my source for leading edge research in technology.
Today they decided to put light on Mapping the human brains neurons and their connections. This whole thing started when it was discovered that a tiny one millimeter size worm(C.elegans) does not have much of a brain but has a nervous system apprising of a total of 302 nerve cells or neurons.In 1970 some scientists decided to create an electric wiring diagram of how these cells connect with each other.They called it connectomes, similar to genome.
The C. elegans connectome, reported in 1986, took more than a dozen years of tedious labor to find.

Now Viren Jain and his colleagues at Seung lab at MIT have found a way to teach computers to trace the neuron connection in cells.As the technique becomes more developed they are hoping that they will be able to map these connectomes in a much faster fashion that the time it took to do for C.elegan. Hope is that connectomes of mice brain could be done first so that someday human brain connectome can be created.

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/brain-mapping.html

MIT had 75 Nobel prize winners

I do not know if it is a record while checking some facts on MIT site ,i became aware that 75 persons connected with MIT have recieved the honors from Nnobel committe for their out standind work.59 of these laureates are still alive and continue to promote the culture of learning worldwide.

Two of the Indian Origin Nobel laureates, Amartya Sen(1998 economics) and Har Gobind Khorana (1968 medicine) served as teachers at MIT.

Paul Krugman NYT columnist is also a MIT teacher and Alum.

Quite impressive for a school in Boston

MIT and its report on minority faculty.

MIT ( Massachusetts institute of technology ) is one of the sites i visit regularly. and i am quite impressed how they deal with variety of issues involved with learning innovation and training the best and the brightest minds in the world.In the process the have made research and learning alliances with many universities in other countries.

MIT on Thursday issued a report by its Initiative on Faculty Race and Diversity that provides important findings about how race affects the recruitment, retention, professional opportunities and collegial experiences of Black, Hispanic and Native American professors at MIT.This forms the under represented minority faculty.MIT by asking a group of 9 faculty members to study and give solutions to the problems of not being able to attract and retain faculty of this under represented group has made an important effort in this field.

Institutions worldwide would benefit from the findings and recommendations provided in this report.I know these are complex problems related to development.In many of the developing countries to correct inequities many time very draconian measures of high reservation of seats are taken in the process innovation is hindered and such actions have negative impact on scholarship.

We are at a very interesting juncture in history where many of America's elite schools have women presidents.FOR MIT a school known for technology, having woman president is quite commendable.May be it is putting a chink in the statement once made by Larry Summers(even if in jest) that women were not endowed be top rated scientist.

Mice with human immune cells will be used for testing vaccines.

Cell biology is developing to level where scientists at MIT amd its allied labs in Singapore have developed a way to transfer all the related cells from imbilical cord blood of human infants into mice. the work is being done under the guidance of Professor Jianzhu Chen. They have also developed systems so 100 to 150 mice can be imparted these identical cells and making it possible for scientists to study big enough sample for the effect of different pathogens on these cells.It will reduce the risk of testing in humans .It will help in early trials of new vaccines in development.I always thought this was the normal progression of the genetic engineering of the lab mice.

I am glad sience is catching up with my utopia.

This science may be called Development of mice with the human hematopoietic system (humanized mice)

mit.edu. suggest some x prizes.

X prizes are the prizes given for an outstanding leap in sciences or technology.2004
xprize was for a private manned rocket flight into space.That flight is helping to make possibility of commercial space travel by Virgin space tourism thinkable.It will be venture to send tourists at 200,000 dollars a person into space.

Now x-lab@MIt is suggesting several of them.Deshpande center for technology innovation at mit is one of the prime developers of the technology advances.

1.The first prize is proposed for cross continental all electric powered flight with two stops in 24 hours.
2. prize for a small refrigerator size power storage unit to be installed in homes. This should eliminate the need of half of the power plants in America to take care of peak period power consumption in the process saving on resources.
3.Power storage capacity of 20 mega watt storage for six hours will make it possible for utilities to store power when surplus power is available like solar or hydro or wind from renewable resources.
4.A 5000 watt storage for ten hours will bring power to Billion people who do not have it now.

I WELCOME ANY SUGGESTIONS TO ADD ON TO THIS SUGGESTION BY MIT STUDENTS.

HOW MIT SOCIAL MEDIA LAB WON$40000 DARPA CONTEST

A social network that ballooned
An MIT team’s savvy use of social media to locate weather balloons as part of a $40,000 DARPA contest may shed light on how to mobilize resources during emergencies.

The U.S. Defense Department’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was holding a competition that weekend: on Saturday morning, 10 large red weather balloons would be raised at undisclosed locations across the United States; the first team to use social media — like online social networks and communication systems — to determine the correct latitude and longitude of all 10 would receive $40,000.

MIT media lab developed a incentive system to test its premises and won the prize.The crux of the MIT team’s approach was the incentive structure it designed — a way of splitting up the prize money among people who helped find a balloon. Whoever provided the balloon’s correct coordinates got $2,000; but whoever invited that person to join the network got $1,000; whoever invited that person got $500; and so on. No matter how long the chain got, the total payment would never quite reach $4,000; whatever was left over went to charity.
This is quite a model concept and MIT as well as DARPA learned about social networking and possible uses of them in emergencies.

Large Capacity Batteries

Deshpande Center and the Chesonis Family Foundation ,has funded work by MIT professor Donald Sadoway in designing and developing technologies for large capacity batteries.

These are high capacity batteries to be used by utilities to offset quirks in nature like low wind in wind turbines and cloudy days and nights for solar power Generation. There is need of large scale batteries or a electrical power storage process to get us away from peak period power generation issues .It is said that peak power generation is most expensive part of our power grid.By power storage we will be solving the problem which have been handled only by installing peak power generation using gas or oil.With the new carbon emission awareness and foreign oil dependence it is about time we looked for alternate solutions for high capacity batteries.

These Batteries are new in the sense that they use two different metals in Liquid form( at high temperature) and a salt as electrolyte .The process is reversed in discharging( use ) process.In the larger models electricity generated will keep the metals liquid ending the need of outside source for heat liquefying metals which are less than 700 degree centigrade.

It is brand new development in technology.