The Australian National Anthem

The Australian National Anthem
Loui Seselja, Portrait of Margret Roadknight, singer, looking at sheet music for Waltzing Matilda while visiting the
National Library of Australia, Music Section, Canberra, 22 July 1994, negative: b&w. Image courtesy of
the National Library of Australia- external site: an24493323
Australians are not renowned for rushing into major decisions - change is usually a slow
and considered process. The journey towards choosing our own national anthem was no
exception.
The move to replace God Save the Queen with an anthem unique to Australia began as
early as the 1820s. Over the decades, public opinion has been constantly canvassed and
numerous competitions held to find a suitable song.
Peter Dodds McCormick's- external site Advance Australia Fair was officially declared
Australia's national anthem by the Governor-General on 19 April 1984, close to 160 years
after the first alternative anthems were put forward. The song was first performed in
Sydney in 1878 and, interestingly, was sung at the inauguration of the Commonwealth of
Australia by a choir of 10,000 people.
Some early nominations
John Dunmore Lang- external site, who published an Australian Anthem and anAustralian
Hymn in 1826, was an early advocate of a distinctively Australian anthem. South
Australian Carl Linger- external site wrote Song of Australia in 1860, which was
suggested to the (then) Prime Minister in 1929 as a possible national anthem. Linger's
composition remained a favourite with Australians and was on the shortlist of 'possibles'
117 years later when Australians voted for an anthem at a national poll.
The lead-up to change

The issue of the anthem was provoking more and more debate. The Australian
Broadcasting Commission held two competitions in 1943 and 1945, and the 1951
Commonwealth Jubilee celebrations competition was won by Henry Krips with This Land
of Mine. The 1956 Olympic Games, staged in Melbourne, sparked a fresh and passionate
debate about the need for a truly Australian anthem.
Portrait of Gough Whitlam, Prime Minister of Australia, December 2nd 1972-1975, c. 1972, negative. Image
courtesy of the National Library of Australia- external site: an12265747
In 1974 a public opinion poll, which sampled an estimated 60,000 people, offered three
songs for choice: Advance Australia Fair; Banjo Paterson's- external site Waltzing Matildaexternal site; and Linger's Song of Australia.Advance Australia Fair polled 51.4 per cent,
prompting the (then) Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, to announce that it would become
our national anthem.
After some intense political debate, a national poll was conducted in 1977 with over
seven million people issued with ballot papers. The results were: Advance Australia
Fair 43.2 per cent, Waltzing Matilda 28.3 per cent, God Save the Queen 18.7 per cent
and Song of Australia 9.6 per cent.
A new anthem
In April 1984 the Governor-General issued a proclamation declaring that God Save the
Queen was designated the Royal Anthem, to be played at public engagements in
Australia attended by the Queen or members of the Royal family. At the same
time, Advance Australia Fair was finally declared to be the official national anthem.
The original words of the song have been changed with 'Australia's sons let us rejoice' the original first line - being replaced with 'Australians all let us rejoice' and further
changes have occurred in the rarely sung third verse.
Waltzing Matilda - our 'unofficial' national anthem
Colonel J.M. Arnott, chauffeur and Banjo Paterson at Jindabyne, 191-?, photograph: gelatin silver. Image courtesy
of the National Library of Australia- external site: an21273582
Waltzing Matilda- external site is recognised as Australia's 'unofficial' national anthem. It

is one of nation's most loved songs and Banjo Paterson's lyrics certainly strike a chord
with many Australians.
Written in 1895, Paterson's song speaks the language of everyday Australians. Its
informality, simplicity and upbeat melody - the very qualities that gave it such broad
appeal - are also the reasons why many thought it inappropriate as a national anthem.
After all, the critics argue, how can our national anthem celebrate the theft of a sheep?
It seems many Australians agreed with the critics and let their minds rule their hearts
when they overwhelmingly endorsed Advance Australia Fair as the national anthem.
The debate continues

While Waltzing Matilda had its critics during the debate, so too did Advance Australia
Fair. The simplicity and direct language of Waltzing Matilda is in contrast to the
sometimes stiff, formal and obscure lyrics of Advance Australia Fair, for example 'Our
home is girt by sea'.
And while there is a growing affection for the anthem, there are still those who believe it
to be somewhat antiquated. It is a debate that seems certain to continue.
ADVANCE AUSTRALIA FAIR

Advance Australia Fair (The National Anthem of Australia) was composed by Peter
Dodds
McCormick sometime around
the turn of this century. Several versions with different combinations of the verses are
found in different references. Some
Australian governments seemed to disapprove of the sentiment of some of these
verses,
and passively discouraged their
remembrance. Consequently, several of these verses are very difficult to find unless
one
searches for old and original references.
God Save The Queen is also sung as The Australian Royal Anthem.
Australians all let us rejoice,
For we are young and free;
We've golden soil and wealth for toil,
Our home is girt by sea;
Our land abounds in Nature's gifts
Of beauty rich and rare;
In history's page, let every stage
Advance Australia fair!
In joyful strains then let us sing,
"Advance Australia fair!"
When gallant Cook from Albion sail'd,
To trace wide oceans o'er,

True British courage bore him on,
Till he landed on our shore.
Then here he raised Old England's flag,
The standard of the brave;
With all her faults we love her still,
"Brittannia rules the wave!"
In joyful strains then let us sing
Beneath our radiant southern Cross,
We'll toil with hearts and hands;
To make this Commonwealth of ours
Renowned of all the lands;
For those who've come across the seas
We've boundless plains to share;
With courage let us all combine
To advance Australia fair.
While other nations of the globe
Behold us from afar,
We'll rise to high renown and shine
Like our glorious southern star;
From England, Scotia, Erin's Isle,
Who come our lot to share,
Let all combine with heart and hand
To advance Australia fair!
Shou'd foreign foe e'er sight our coast,
Or dare a foot to land,
We'll rouse to arms like sires of yore
To guard our native strand;
Brittannia the shall surely know,
Beyond wide ocean's roll,
Her sons in fair Australia's land
Still keep a British soul.
In joyful strains the let us sing
Dr Sharwood's revised version.
An alternative set of verses to Advance Australia Fair has been written by Dr Robin
Lorimer Sharwood, fourth Warden of
Trinity College in The University of Melbourne. This is now the official version for use
within St Paul's Cathedral Melbourne.
This version may be reproduced without permission provided due acknowledgement is
made and no alterations are made to the
words.
O God, who made this ancient land,
And set it round with sea,
Sustain us all who dwell herein,
One people strong and free.
Grant we may guard its generous gifts,
Its beauty rich and rare.
In your great name, may we proclaim,
Àdvance, Australia fair!'

With thankful hearts then let us sing,
Àdvance Australia, fair!'
Your star-bright Cross aslant our skies
Gives promise sure and true
That we may know this land of ours
A nation blessed by You.
May all who come within its bounds
Its peace and plenty share,
And grant that we may prayerfully
Advance Australia fair.
With thankful hearts then let us sing,
Àdvance, Australia fair!'
Sent by Carlos Andr Pereira da Silva Branco
Australian Ambassador to the

Philippines
Mr Bill Tweddell
Biography
Mr Tweddell is a senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Mr Tweddell has
served as Australian Ambassador to Vietnam; Consul-General, Hong Kong; High Commissioner, Sri
Lanka; Deputy High Commissioner to the United Kingdom; and Deputy High Commissioner to India; with
earlier postings to Greece and Bangladesh. He was also Chief of Staff to the former Minister for Foreign
Affairs, Alexander Downer.
Mr. Tweddell holds Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Economics degrees from James Cook University. He
is married to Chris and has two sons, Andrew and Paul.
Articles
Ambassador Belen F. Anota
Details
Hits: 10582
Ambassador Belen Fule Anota is a career diplomat. She joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1977. She was Principal Assistant
from 1977 to 1978; Acting Chief at the Treaties Division of the Office of Legal Affairs from 1978 to 1980, and Principal Assistant at the
Office for Political Affairs from1980 to 1981 . She was assigned to the Philippine Embassy in Tel-Aviv in 1981 and was First Secretary
& Consul General when she finished her tour of duty in 1989. She was Director at the Office of Personnel and Administrative Services
from 1989 to 1990 and Acting Executive Director at the Office of ASEAN Affairs from 1989 to 1993. From 1993 1999, she served as
Minister Counselor then Deputy Chief of Mission at the Philippine Embassy in Jakarta. She was Assistant Secretary at the Office of
Consular Affairs from 1999 to 2002. From 2002 2004, she was Philippine Ambassador to Israel, with concurrent jurisdiction over
Cyprus and from 2004 2008, she was Philippine Ambassador to Singapore. From April to June 2009, she was Assistant Secretary for
the Office of Fiscal Management and thereafter was Assistant Secretary for the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Coordination
until October 2010. From October 2010 to January 2011, she was Charg dAffaires, a.i. at the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo. She was
Assistant Secretary for the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Coordination from January to September 2011.
She assumed as Philippine Ambassador to Australia on 27 September 2011. She is also the non-resident Philippine Ambassador to
Nauru, Tuvalu and Vanuatu
Ambassador Anota earned her Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from the University of Santo Tomas (1970) and Bachelor of
Laws from the Ateneo de Manila Law School (1974). She has a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of the
Philippines (1979).
She is married and has a son and a daughter.
FACTS ABOUT THE EMBASSY

Philippines in Australia: In addition to the Philippines's embassy in Canberra, the Philippines has 7 other
representations in Australia. These representations include consulates in Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Hobart,
Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney.
Australia in the Philippines: Australia maintains an embassy in Manila.
The Philippine embassy is one of 464 foreign representations in Australia, and one of 107 foreign representations in
Canberra. See more @ the
Australia EmbassyPages
The Philippine embassy in Canberra is one of 224 Philippine diplomatic and consular representations abroad. See
more @ the
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Skilled Occupation List (SOL) Australia

processing.
The Australia skills list or Skilled Occupation List (SOL) is used as part of the Australian points system for immigration. In order
to qualify for skilled migration to Australia, you must nominate an occupation from the SOL. However, if you are applying for
skilled migration via nomination by a State or Territory Government, you also have the option of nominating an occupation from
theConsolidated Sponsored Occupation List (CSOL).
Please note that all occupations on the new Skilled Occupation List are from the ANZSCO (Australia and New Zealand Skilled
Classification of Occupations) as opposed to the previously used ASCO (Australian Skilled Classification of Occupations).
Understanding which Occupation List to use
If you apply for a General Skilled Migration visa and you are NOT nominated by a State or Territory Government, you must
nominate an occupation from the Skilled Occupation List (SOL).
If you apply for a General Skilled Migration visa and you ARE nominated by a State or Territory Government, you must
nominate an occupation from either the Skilled Occupation List (SOL) OR the Consolidated Sponsored Occupation
List (CSOL).
Australian Skilled Occupation List (SOL)

See below for the current Australian Skilled Occupation List:
Australian Skilled Occupation List (SOL) - Updated 01/07/2013
Occupation
ANZSCO Code
Assessing Authority
Construction project manager
133111
VETASSESS
Project builder
133112
VETASSESS
Engineering manager
133211
Engineers Australia/AIM
Production Manager (Mining)
133513
VETASSESS
Child Care centre manager
134111
TRA
Medical administrator
134211
VETASSESS
Nursing clinical director
134212
ANMAC
Primary health organisation

manager
134213
ANMAC
Welfare centre manager
134214
VETASSESS
Accountant (general)
221111
CPA/ICAA/NIA
Management accountant
221112
CPA/ICAA/NIA
Taxation accountant
221113
CPA/ICAA/NIA
External auditor
221213
CPA/ICAA/NIA
Internal auditor
221214
VETASSESS
Actuary
224111
VETASSESS
Land economist
224511
VETASSESS
Valuer
224512
VETASSESS
Ship's engineer
231212
AMSA
Ship's master
231213
AMSA
Ship's officer
231214
AMSA
Architect
232111
AACA
Landscape architect
232112
VETASSESS
Cartographer
232213
VETASSESS
Other Spatial Scientist
232214
VETASSESS
Surveyor
232212
SSSI
Chemical engineer
233111
Engineers Australia
Materials engineer
233112
Engineers Australia
Civil engineer
233211
Engineers Australia
Geotechnical engineer
233212
Engineers Australia
Quantity surveyor
233213
AIQS
Structural engineer
233214
Engineers Australia
Transport engineer
233215
Engineers Australia
Electrical engineer
233311
Engineers Australia
Electronics engineer
233411
Engineers Australia
Industrial engineer
233511
Engineers Australia
Mechanical engineer
233512
Engineers Australia
Production or plant engineer
233513
Engineers Australia
Mining engineer (excluding

petroleum)
233611
Engineers Australia
Petroleum engineer
233612
Engineers Australia
Aeronautical engineer
233911
Engineers Australia
Agricultural engineer
233912
Engineers Australia
Biomedical engineer
233913
Engineers Australia
Engineering technologist
233914
Engineers Australia
Environmental engineer
233915
Engineers Australia
Naval architect
233916
Engineers Australia
Agricultural consultant
234111
VETASSESS
Agricultural scientist
234112
VETASSESS
Forester
234113
VETASSESS
Medical laboratory scientist
234611
AIMS
Veterinarian
234711
AVBC
Metallurgist
234912
VETASSESS
Physicist (medical physicist

only)
234914
ACPSEM
Early childhood (pre-primary

school) teacher
241111
NOOSR/AITSL
Secondary school teacher
241411
NOOSR/AITSL
Special needs teacher
241511
AITSL
Teacher of the hearing impaired 241512
AITSL
Teacher of the sight impaired
241513
AITSL
Special education teachers nec 241599
AITSL
Medical diagnostic
radiographer
251211
AIR
Medical radiation therapist
251212
AIR
Nuclear medicine technologist
251213
ANZSM
Sonographer
251214
AIR
Environmental Health Officer
251311
VETASSESS
Occupational Health and Safety

251312
Advisor
VETASSESS
Optometrist
251411
OCANZ
Chiropractor
252111
CCEA
Osteopath
252112
ANZOC
Occupational therapist
252411
OTC
Physiotherapist
252511
APC
Podiatrist
252611
APodC/ANZPAC
Speech pathologist
252712
SPA
General medical practitioner
253111
Medical Board of Australia
Anaesthetist
253211
Specialist physician
253311
Cardiologist
253312
Clinical haematologist
253313
Medical oncologist
253314
Endocrinologist
253315
Gastroenterologist
253316
Intensive care specialist
253317
Neurologist
253318
Paediatrician
253321
Renal medicine specialist
253322
Rheumatologist
253323
Thoracic medicine specialist
253324
Specialist Physicians nec
253399
Psychiatrist
253411
Surgeon (general)
253511
Cardiothoracic surgeon
253512
Neurosurgeon
253513
Orthopaedic surgeon
253514
Otorhinolaryngologist
253515
Paediatric surgeon
253516
Plastic and reconstructive

surgeon
253517
Urologist
253518
Vascular surgeon
253521
Dermatologist
253911
Emergency medicine specialist
253912
Obstetrician and Gynaecologist 253913
Ophthalmologist
253914
Pathologist
253915
Diagnostic and Interventional

Radiologist
253917
Radiation Oncologist
253918
Medical practitioners nec
253999
Midwife
254111
ANMAC
Nurse Practitioner
254411
ANMAC
Registered nurse (aged care)
254412
ANMAC
Registered nurse (Child and

Family Health)
254413
ANMAC
Registered nurse (community

health)
254414
ANMAC
Registered nurse (critical care

and emergency)
254415
ANMAC
Registered nurse (development

254416
disability)
ANMAC
Registered nurse (disability and

254417
rehabilitation)
ANMAC
Registered nurse (medical)
254418
ANMAC
Registered nurse (medical

practice)
254421
ANMAC
Registered nurse (mental

health)
254422
ANMAC
Registered nurse
(perioperative)
254423
ANMAC
Registered nurse (surgical)
254424
ANMAC
Registered nurse (paediatrics)
254425
ANMAC
Registered nurse nec
254499
ANMAC
ICT business analyst
261111
ACS
Systems analyst
261112
ACS
Analyst programmer
261311
ACS
Developer programmer
261312
ACS
Software engineer
261313
ACS
Computer Network & Systems

Engineer
263111
ACS
Telecommunications engineer
263311
Engineers Australia
Telecommunications network
engineer
263312
Engineers Australia
Barrister
271111
SLAA
Solicitor
271311
SLAA
Clinical psychologist
272311
APS
Educational psychologist
272312
APS
Organisational psychologist
272313
APS
Psychotherapist
272314
VETASSESS
Psychologists nec
272399
APS
Social worker
272511
AASW
Civil engineering draftsperson
312211
Engineers
Australia/VETASSESS
Civil engineering technician
312212
VETASSESS
Electrical engineer draftperson
312311
Engineers Australia
Electrical engineer technician
312312
TRA
Radiocommunications
technician
313211
TRA
Telecommunications field
engineer
313212
Engineers Australia
Telecommunications network
planner
313213
Engineers Australia
Telecommunications technical
officer or technologist
313214
Engineers Australia
Automotive electrician
321111
TRA
Motor mechanic (general)
321211
TRA
Diesel motor mechanic
321212
TRA
Motorcycle mechanic
321213
TRA
Small engine mechanic
321214
TRA
Sheetmetal trades worker
322211
TRA
Metal Fabricator
322311
TRA
Pressure Welder
322312
TRA
Welder (first class)
322313
TRA
Fitter (General)
323211
TRA
Fitter and Turner
323212
TRA
Fitter-Welder
323213
TRA
Metal Machinist (First Class)
323214
TRA
Locksmith
323313
TRA
Panelbeater
324111
VETASSESS
Stonemason
331112
TRA
Carpenter and Joiner
331211
TRA
Carpenter
331212
TRA
Joiner
331213
TRA
Painting trades workers
332211
TRA
Glazier
333111
TRA
Fibrous plasterer
333211
TRA
Solid plasterer
333212
TRA
Plumber (general)
334111
TRA
Airconditioning and mechanical

334112
services plumber
TRA
Drainer
334113
TRA
Gasfitter
334114
TRA
Roof plumber
334115
TRA
Electrician (general)
341111
TRA
Electrician (special class)
341112
TRA
Lift mechanic
341113
TRA
Airconditioning and refrigeration

342111
mechanic
TRA
Electrical linesworker
342211
TRA
Technical cable jointer
342212
TRA
Electronic equipment trades

worker
342313
TRA
Electronic instrument trades

worker (general)
342314
TRA
Electronic instrument trades

worker (special class)
342315
TRA
Cabinetmaker
394111
VETASSESS
Boat Builder and Repairer
399111
TRA
Shipwright
399112
TRA
Dental Hygienist
411211
VETASSESS
Dental Prosthetist
411212
TRA
Dental technician
411213
TRA
Dental therapist
411214
VETASSESS
If you cannot find your occupation listed on the Skilled Occupations List, check the Consolidated Sponsored
Occupations List (CSOL).
The diversity that makes up the population of Australia was shown in the 2015 Australian Citizenship Day
ceremonies with more than 3,500 from 108 countries taking the pledge.
According to figures from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP), more than 80 ceremonies
were held across the nation.
Celebrated annually on September 17, Australian Citizenship Day helps raise

community awareness of the meaning and value of Australian citizenship and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton
congratulated all the new citizens as they pledged their loyalty and commitment to Australia.
The Minister attended and spoke to Canberras newest citizens at a special ceremony at Government House, where
35 people were conferred by the Governor General, Sir Peter Cosgrove.
Dutton said that Australian Citizenship Day was not only a day for new citizens to celebrate, but also a day for
Australians to affirm their commitment to Australia.
The day gives the Australian community an opportunity to reflect on the importance and meaning of being an
Australian citizen, Dutton said. Now, perhaps more than ever, it is important to pause and reflect on the values
responsibilities and privileges we share through the unifying bond of Australian citizenship.
One of those taking part was Sampath Akula, originally from India, who works as a systems administrator in
Canberra and arrived in Australia in 2009 as a student and studies for a Masters degree in IT.
This really is a very big opportunity for me and I can say with honesty that this feels like such an
incredible achievement . Every step of the way has been full of fantastic experiences. I love the friendly people
and also the excellent transport and infrastructure, said Akula. I am so proud to be becoming an Australian. The
only thing I have left to work out is my cricket allegiance.
More than 4.5 million people have become citizens since Australian citizenship was introduced in 1949.
To qualify for state nomination you must meet all

nomination requirements relevant to your situation and
occupation.
You must ultimately meet all the Commonwealth Department of Immigration and Border Protection
(DIBP) criteria and requirements.
Before applying for State Nomination, you should work out if you have sufficient points on the DIBP
points test to apply for the 190 permanent or the 489 provisional visa.
Please read through the nomination requirements below and the document checklist before applying.
1. Commitment to South Australia

1.1 State nomination is provided to meet skills needs of this state and is granted on the basis of the
applicants genuine interest and commitment to living and working in South Australia for two years
from the date of arrival, with a view to long-term settlement.
You must confirm this commitment by:
1.1.1 Undertaking first-hand, thorough and meaningful research on South Australia and
providing your reasons for wanting to migrate to South Australia in the online application form.
1.1.2 Undertaking research on job opportunities in South Australia and any occupation licensing
or registration requirements.
1.1.3 If you are onshore, you may be required to provide evidence of South Australian residence
and that your employment has primarily been in South Australia.
1.2 When you arrive in South Australia on a state nominated General Skilled Migration (GSM) visa,
you are required to:
1.2.1 Register your arrival online with Immigration SA
1.2.2 Provide up to date contact details online to Immigration SA for your first two years in South
Australia
1.2.3 Complete employment surveys during your first two years in South Australia
1.3 The following commitment to state restrictions apply.
1.3.1 If you are in Australia but not residing in South Australia, you are ineligible to apply for
South Australian state nomination. This restriction includes South Australian international
graduates residing interstate and overrides chain migration and high points - 80 points or
higher categories.
1.3.2 If you are residing offshore or in South Australia and you completed your Australian
qualification outside South Australia in the last 3 years, you can only apply for the provisional
489 visa unless:
At least 6 months of your skilled work experience was undertaken in South Australia (489 or 190 is
available)
OR
You meet the requirements for Chain Migration (489 or 190 is available).
2. Age
3. Occupation
4. Skills assessment
5. Work experience
6. English language
7. Financial capacity
8. SkillSelect Expression of Interest (EOI)
Access to additional occupations
The Australian heroine from start, when she carried the Olympic torch into the stadium, to finish, as
she crossed the line to take 400m gold, was the indigenous athlete Cathy Freeman. Against the will of
many of her still oppressed people, she came to represent the symbol, albeit shallow, of reconciliation
between White and Aboriginal Australia. But the frenzy of flames and fireworks surrounding the
Games blinded the rest of the world to the darker side of a land down under.
In 1999, John Pilger returned home to find that the elaborate preparations for the Games
overshadowed a hidden world where Aborigines continue to live in Third World conditions. He
revealed that some of the greatest sportsmen and women in the world were in fact Aboriginal. Many
of them, like blacks in South Africa under Apartheid, were until recently denied a place in their
country's Olympic teams.
He also found that the Australian Government was in the process of overturning the landmark
legislation of 1992 which finally recognized Aborigines as people with common law rights before the
English colonized the country. 'Welcome to Australia: The Secret Shame Behind the Sydney
Olympics' was the third film Pilger made on the Aboriginal struggle alongside fellow Australian, Alan
Lowery
21 Interesting Facts About Australia

14 2013
Are you Australian? Relocating overseas and moving to Australia? Shipping to Australia? Holidaying in Australia? Are
we asking too many questions about Australia? Sorry. Here are some interesting facts about Oz that we've left open for
you to add to. If you think you have some fascinating but little known nuggets yourself, leave a comment or talk to us via
Twitter or Facebook.
Okay here we go. Prepare to be dazzled:
1.
Spreading out is not the done thing in Oz. Vegetation covers 91 % of Australia.
2.
The roof of the Sydney Opera House weighs more than 160,000 tons. You have to hand it to that
roofer.
3.
Between 2010-2011, beer-drinking dropped to a 65-year low. Only 4.23 litres were consumed per
person. There must have been a synchronised realisation that beer is horrible and other drinks are nicer.
4.
The Snowy Mountains receive more snow than Switzerland. The Snowy Mountains are in New South
Wales and are more commonly known aswait for itThe Snowies.
5.
Australia was the second country in the world to give women the right to vote in 1902. New
Zealand was the first. Maybe that was why.
6.
Masterchef Australia is really great. Sorry, thats not so much a fact, as a personal opinion but still,
its my list.
7.
Melbourne has been voted most liveable city for the last two years. And if you follow Shane Warnes
Twitter feed, his annoyingly beautiful pictures of Melbourne will testify to this.
8.
Australia has the highest rate of gambling in the world with $3 billion being collected by the poker
machine alone between 2007-2008. Why did people keep using it?
9.
Kangaroo meat is a healthier alternative to beef or lamb. Theyre just harder to catch.
10.
Tasmania has the cleanest air in the world.
11.
Australia has the world's largest cattle ranch measuring around the same size as Belgium.
Although, interestingly, only six cows. Only part of this is made up.
12.
Canberra became capital of Australia as a neutral option to end intense debate (and bickering)
between Melbourne and Sydney.
13.
There are 150 million sheep in Australia and only 20 million people, so theres a lot of catching up
to do.
14.
Sharks are immune to all known diseases. Now this is an amazing fact. We should ask them what
their secret is. And when I say we, I mean anyone but me.
15.
The average Australian swallows three spiders a year. Presumably more, if they actually like the
taste of spiders.
16.
The kangaroo and the emu feature on the Australian Coat of Arms because both are incapable of
walking backwards. They were chosen to symbolise a nation moving forward. (Although these animals
can turn around and walk in the other direction but lets not be petty.)
17.
Designer of the Sydney Opera House Jrn Utzon said his design was inspired by the simple act of
peeling an orange. He wanted the 14 shells of the building to be able to make a perfect sphere. It didn't
quite work out like that but we still love it.
18.
On the 17th December 1967, Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt vanished after going for a swim
at Cheviot Beach Victoria and was presumed dead two days later.
19.
Australia's Naughtiest Home Videos is a Nine Network show that has gained notoriety for being
taken off the air part-way through the broadcast of its first and only episode.
20.
21.
Australia is home to six of the top ten most deadly snakes in the world. Six. That number again. Six.
The first settlers from Europe consumed more alcohol per person than any other community in the
history of mankind. Allegedly.
So, do you want to add this list? What have I left out that people must know about life Down U
Science and technology

Engineers from Brown Develop Key Component for
Terahertz Wireless
September 17, 2015
Technology
Terahertz waves leak out of a small slit in the antenna at different angles, depending on frequency. The receiver can
be tuned to select one angle, plucking a single data channel from a stream containing many channels.
Engineers from Brown University have made progress on a key component for terahertz wireless: multiplexing and
de-multiplexing a terahertz stream.
Terahertz radiation could one day provide the backbone for wireless systems that can deliver data up to one
hundred times faster than todays cellular or Wi-Fi networks. But there remain many technical challenges to be
solved before terahertz wireless is ready for prime time.
Researchers from Brown University have taken a major step toward addressing one of those challenges. Theyve
developed what they believe to be the first system for multiplexing terahertz waves. Multiplexers are devices that
enable separate streams of data to travel through a single medium. Its the technology that makes it possible for a
single cable to carry multiple TV channels or for a fiber optic line to carry thousands of phone calls at the same time.
Any terahertz communications application is going to need some form of multiplexing and demultiplexing, said
Daniel Mittleman, professor of engineering at Brown and senior author of a paper describing the new device. This
is, to our knowledge, the first time anyone has demonstrated a viable strategy for multiplexing in the terahertz
range.
The research was published September 14 in Nature Photonics.
Todays cellular and Wi-Fi networks rely on microwaves to carry voice conversations and data. But the increasing
demands for data transfer are quickly becoming more than microwaves can handle. Terahertz waves have a much
higher frequency and therefore more potential bandwidth. Scientists and engineers have only recently begun
exploring the potential of terahertz waves, however. As a result, many of the components for a terahertz wireless
network including multiplexers have not yet been developed.
The multiplexer that Mittleman and his colleagues have been working on makes use of whats known as a leaky
wave antenna. In this case, the antenna is made from two metal plates placed in parallel to form a waveguide. One
of the plates has a small slit in it. As terahertz waves travel down the waveguide, some of the radiation leaks out of
the slit. It turns out that terahertz waves leak out a different angles depending on their frequency.
That means if you put in 10 different frequencies between the plates each of them potentially carrying a unique
data stream theyll come out at 10 different angles, Mittleman said. Now youve separated them and thats
demultiplexing.
On the other end, a receiver could be tuned to accept radiation at a particular angle, thus receiving data from only
one stream.
We think its definitely a reasonable solution to meet the needs of a terahertz communication network, said
Nicholas Karl, a graduate student at Brown and the papers lead author. Karl led the experiments on the device with
fellow graduate student Robert McKinney. Other authors on the study are Rajind Mendis, a research professor at
Brown, and Yasuaki Monnai from Keio University in Tokyo.
One of the advantages to the approach, the researchers say, is that by adjusting the distance between the plates,
its possible to adjust the spectrum bandwidth that can be allocated to each channel. That could be especially useful
when such a device is deployed for use in a data network.
For example, if one user suddenly needs a ton of bandwidth, you can take it from others on the network who dont
need as much just by changing the plate spacing at the right location, Mittleman said.
The group plans to continue its work to refine the device. A research group from Osaka University is collaborating
with Mittlemans group to implement the device in a prototype terahertz network theyre building.
This is a first-generation, proof-of-concept device, Karl said. There are still things we can do to improve it and well
continue to study it.
Mittleman hopes that the work will challenge other researchers to start developing components for terahertz
networks.
The biggest impact this may have is it may just be the kick that people need to start thinking about this issue,
Mittleman said. That means theyll start coming up with clever ideas that are entirely different from this one.
The work was supported by the National Science Foundation and the W.M. Keck Foundation.
Publication: Nicholas J. Karl, et al., Frequency-division multiplexing in the terahertz range using a leaky-wave
antenna, Nature Photonics (2015); doi:10.1038/nphoton.2015.176
Source: Brown University
New System Converts MRI Scans into 3D-Printed

Heart Models for Surgical Planning
September 17, 2015
Technology
3D-printed heart models.
Engineers and computer scientists at MIT and Boston Childrens Hospital have developed a new system that can
convert MRI scans of a patients heart into 3D-printed models.
The models could provide a more intuitive way for surgeons to assess and prepare for the anatomical idiosyncrasies
of individual patients. Our collaborators are convinced that this will make a difference, says Polina Golland, a
professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, who led the project. The phrase I heard is that
surgeons see with their hands, that the perception is in the touch.
This fall, seven cardiac surgeons at Boston Childrens Hospital will participate in a study intended to evaluate the
models usefulness.
Golland and her colleagues will describe their new system at the International Conference on Medical Image
Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention in October. Danielle Pace, an MIT graduate student in electrical
engineering and computer science, is first author on the paper and spearheaded the development of the software
that analyzes the MRI scans. Medhi Moghari, a physicist at Boston Childrens Hospital, developed new procedures
that increase the precision of MRI scans tenfold, and Andrew Powell, a cardiologist at the hospital, leads the
projects clinical work.
The work was funded by both Boston Childrens Hospital and by Harvard Catalyst, a consortium aimed at rapidly
moving scientific innovation into the clinic.
MRI data consist of a series of cross sections of a three-dimensional object. Like a black-and-white photograph,
each cross section has regions of dark and light, and the boundaries between those regions may indicate the edges
of anatomical structures. Then again, they may not.
Determining the boundaries between distinct objects in an image is one of the central problems in computer vision,
known as image segmentation. But general-purpose image-segmentation algorithms arent reliable enough to
produce the very precise models that surgical planning requires.
Human factors
Typically, the way to make an image-segmentation algorithm more precise is to augment it with a generic model of
the object to be segmented. Human hearts, for instance, have chambers and blood vessels that are usually in
roughly the same places relative to each other. That anatomical consistency could give a segmentation algorithm a
way to weed out improbable conclusions about object boundaries.
The problem with that approach is that many of the cardiac patients at Boston Childrens Hospital require surgery
precisely because the anatomy of their hearts is irregular. Inferences from a generic model could obscure the very
features that matter most to the surgeon.
In the past, researchers have produced printable models of the heart by manually indicating boundaries in MRI
scans. But with the 200 or so cross sections in one of Mogharis high-precision scans, that process can take eight to
10 hours.
They want to bring the kids in for scanning and spend probably a day or two doing planning of how exactly theyre
going to operate, Golland says. If it takes another day just to process the images, it becomes unwieldy.
Pace and Gollands solution was to ask a human expert to identify boundaries in a few of the cross sections and
allow algorithms to take over from there. Their strongest results came when they asked the expert to segment only a
small patch one-ninth of the total area of each cross section.
In that case, segmenting just 14 patches and letting the algorithm infer the rest yielded 90 percent agreement with
expert segmentation of the entire collection of 200 cross sections. Human segmentation of just three patches
yielded 80 percent agreement.
I think that if somebody told me that I could segment the whole heart from eight slices out of 200, I would not have
believed them, Golland says. It was a surprise to us.
Together, human segmentation of sample patches and the algorithmic generation of a digital, 3-D heart model takes
about an hour. The 3-D-printing process takes a couple of hours more.
Prognosis
Currently, the algorithm examines patches of unsegmented cross sections and looks for similar features in the
nearest segmented cross sections. But Golland believes that its performance might be improved if it also examined
patches that ran obliquely across several cross sections. This and other variations on the algorithm are the subject
of ongoing research.
The clinical study in the fall will involve MRIs from 10 patients who have already received treatment at Boston
Childrens Hospital. Each of seven surgeons will be given data on all 10 patients some, probably, more than
once. That data will include the raw MRI scans and, on a randomized basis, either a physical model or a
computerized 3-D model, based, again at random, on either human segmentations or algorithmic segmentations.
Using that data, the surgeons will draw up surgical plans, which will be compared with documentation of the
interventions that were performed on each of the patients. The hope is that the study will shed light on whether 3-Dprinted physical models can actually improve surgical outcomes.
Absolutely, a 3-D model would indeed help, says Sitaram Emani, a cardiac surgeon at Boston Childrens Hospital
who is not a co-author on the new paper. We have used this type of model in a few patients, and in fact performed
virtual surgery on the heart to simulate real conditions. Doing this really helped with the real surgery in terms of
reducing the amount of time spent examining the heart and performing the repair.
I think having this will also reduce the incidence of residual lesions imperfections in repair by allowing us to
simulate and plan the size and shape of patches to be used, Emani adds. Ultimately, 3D-printed patches based
upon the model will allow us to tailor prosthesis to patient.
Finally, having this immensely simplifies discussions with families, who find the anatomy confusing, Emani says.
This gives them a better visual, and many patients and families have commented on how this empowers them to
understand their condition better.
Source: Larry Hardesty, MIT News
NASA Thrusters Propelled by New Green Propellants

Complete Milestones
September 15, 2015
Technology
This image reveals a temperature profile of a 22 Newton thruster using the green propellant LMP-103S during a 10second pulsing test that ratchets the temperature upward. Using this data, engineers can determine how chemical
reactions cause heat to flow around to the thruster over time. Credits: NASA/MSFC/Christopher Burnside
NASA is testing thrusters propelled by green propellants that can provide better performance without the toxicity
while helping to lower costs by eliminating infrastructure needed for handling toxic fuels.
To stay in the proper orbit, many satellites have thrusterssmall rocket enginesthat fire to change altitude or
orientation in space. On Earth where gravity dominates, 5 pounds of thrust, equivalent to 22 Newtons of force, may
seem small, but in space, it doesnt take much thrust to move a large spacecraft.
Currently, most satellite thrusters are powered by hydrazine, a toxic and corrosive fuel that is dangerous to handle
and store. In a quest to replace hydrazine with a more environmentally friendly fuel, NASA is testing thrusters
propelled by green propellants that can provide better performance than hydrazine without the toxicity. These
propellants could help lower costs by eliminating infrastructure needed for handling toxic fuels and reducing
processing timemaking it less expensive and safer and easier to launch both commercial and NASA spacecraft.
When you consider all of the satellites in orbit today that do everything from observing Earth and monitoring
weather to peering deep into our universe to answer questions about its origins, its easy to see that using green
propellants will make a big difference in increased mission performance at a reduced cost while keeping both the
environment and our workforce safe from contamination, said Steve Jurczyk, NASAs associate administrator for
the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) at NASA Headquarters in Washington. NASA has a rich history
of ensuring our technology and scientific prowess has a benefit to life on Earth, and green propellant will help
ensure that NASA continues to be a steward of this planet.
NASA recently completed several hot-fire tests with thrusters powered by two different green propellants with the
potential to replace hydrazine. Both are ionic liquid-based blends that are less toxic and less flammable than
hydrazine, which makes them easier and less costly to store, to handle and to fuel up spacecraft before launch.
Additionally, the new propellants offer higher performance, delivering more thrust for a given quantity of propellant
than hydrazine.
One of the green propellants is a hydroxylammonium nitrate-based propellant known as AF-M315E. It was
developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory at Edwards Air Force Base in California. This propellant will be
demonstrated on a small satellite on NASAs Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM). During the GPIM flight, the
smallsat will fire thrusters powered by AF-M315E to conduct maneuvers to change the satellites altitude and
orientation. GPIM recently passed a major milestone with the delivery of the propellants propulsion subsystem built
by Aerojet Rocketdyne in Redmond, Washington, to the missions prime contractor, Ball Aerospace & Technologies
Corp. in Boulder, Colorado, for integration into the spacecraft. For this project, the GPIM team tested two different
sized thrusters (1 and 22 Newton) with AF-M315E. Five of the 1-Newton thrusters will fly on GPIM.
With GPIMs flight scheduled to launch next year, NASA and the aerospace industry have taken positive steps to
demonstrate use of a propellant that will reduce satellite fueling hazards and save time and money during launch
campaigns, said Tim Smith, GPIM mission manager for NASAs Technology Demonstration Missions at Marshall.
GPIM is managed by STMDs Technology Demonstration Missions Program Office at Marshall.
The other green propellant is a fuel called LMP-103S, which is based on the oxidizer ammonium dinitramide
produced by Eurenco Bofors in Karlskoga, Sweden. A team at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville,
Alabama, recently completed tests with both 5 Newton and 22 Newton thruster built by ECAPS and powered by
LMP-103S. Engineers fired the 22 Newton thruster 35 times under varying conditions and monitored results with
infrared cameras. Orbital ATK, Inc. assisted NASA with these tests.
We conducted the first NASA tests with 22 Newton thrusters with this propellant in the United States, said
Christopher Burnside, lead engineer for testing the LMP-103S propellant. They performed quite well, providing
performance at comparable levels to todays hydrazine thrusters. Its always great to put thrusters through the paces
in an environment that simulates operational conditions.
To guide future investments, NASA is leading the development of a green propellant roadmap along with other
government agencies, industry and academic leaders who recently shared their collective experiences during a
technical interchange meeting at Marshall.
I like the analogy of relating thrusters and propellant systems to aircraft, said Charles Pierce, manager of
Marshalls Spacecraft Propulsion Systems Branch, which recently completed the tests with LMP-103S. One aircraft
doesnt meet every need. Some high performance aircraft need to fly fast while other larger aircraft need to
conserve fuel and fly slowly. Some carry passengers while others carry only cargo. Likewise, NASA needs to have
flexibility in the types of thrusters and propellant systems it has to meet a variety of mission needs. One type of
propellant might work best for one type of mission while another is better suited for a different mission. Its important
that we have choices as we go green.
Source: Tracy McMahan, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
A New Frontier in 3D Printing, Engineers Print

Transparent Glass in 3D
September 14, 2015
Technology
The glass 3-D printing process.
Engineers from MIT have developed a new system to print transparent glass in 3-D. This new system is the first to
create strong, solid glass structures from computerized designs.
The technology behind 3-D printing which initially grew out of work at MIT has exploded in recent years to
encompass a wide variety of materials, including plastics and metals. Simultaneously, the cost of 3-D printers has
fallen sufficiently to make them household consumer items.
Now a team of MIT researchers has opened up a new frontier in 3-D printing: the ability to print optically transparent
glass objects.
The new system, described in the Journal of 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing, was developed by Neri
Oxman, an associate professor at the MIT Media Lab; Peter Houk, director of the MIT Glass Lab; MIT researchers
John Klein and Michael Stern; and six others.
Other groups have attempted to 3-D print glass objects, but a major obstacle has been the extremely high
temperature needed to melt the material. Some have used tiny particles of glass, melded together at a lower
temperature in a technique called sintering. But such objects are structurally weak and optically cloudy, eliminating
two of glasss most desirable attributes: strength and transparency.
Additive Manufacturing of Optically Transparent Glass developed by the Mediated Matter Group at the MIT Media
Lab in collaboration with the Glass Lab at MIT. Ancient yet modern, enclosing yet invisible, glass was first created in
Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt 4,500 years ago. Precise recipes for its production the chemistry and techniques
often remain closely guarded secrets. Glass can be molded, formed, blown, plated or sintered; its formal qualities
are closely tied to techniques used for its formation. From the discovery of core-forming process for bead-making in
ancient Egypt, through the invention of the metal blow pipe during Roman times, to the modern industrial Pilkington
process for making large-scale flat glass; each new breakthrough in glass technology occurred as a result of
prolonged experimentation and ingenuity, and has given rise to a new universe of possibilities for uses of the
material. This show unveils a first of its kind optically transparent glass printing process called G3DP.
The high-temperature system developed by the MIT team retains those properties, producing printed glass objects
that are both strong and fully transparent to light. Like other 3-D printers now on the market, the device can print
designs created in a computer-assisted design program, producing a finished product with little human intervention.
In the present version, molten glass is loaded into a hopper in the top of the device after being gathered from a
conventional glassblowing kiln. When completed, the finished piece must be cut away from the moving platform on
which it is assembled.
In operation, the devices hopper, and a nozzle through which the glass is extruded to form an object, are
maintained at temperatures of about 1,900 degrees Fahrenheit, far higher than the temperatures used for other 3-D
printing. The stream of glowing molten glass from the nozzle resembles honey as it coils onto a platform, cooling
and hardening as it goes.
One challenge the researchers faced was keeping the filament of glass hot enough so the next layer of the structure
would adhere to it, but not so hot that the structure would collapse into a shapeless lump. They ended up producing
three separate components that can independently be heated to the required temperatures: the upper reservoir for
the stock of molten glass, the nozzle at the bottom of that chamber, and a lower chamber where the printed object is
built up.
The concept began as a project in a course on additive manufacturing, Klein says; he and others decided to refine
the concept when initial work showed the idea had promise. But it was still a long and laborious process, with a lot of
trial-and-error.
Glass is inherently a very difficult material to work with, Klein says: Its viscosity changes with temperature,
requiring precise control of temperature at all stages of the process.
The new process could allow unprecedented control over the glass shapes that can be produced, Oxman says.
We can design and print components with variable thicknesses and complex inner features unlike glassblowing,
where the inner features reflect the outer shape, Oxman explains. For example, she adds, We can control solar
transmittance. Unlike a pressed or blown-glass part, which necessarily has a smooth internal surface, a printed
part can have complex surface features on the inside as well as the outside, and such features could act as optical
lenses.
Oxman adds that she foresees the process being adapted to create much larger structures.
Could we surpass the modern architectural tradition of discrete formal and functional partitions, and generate an
all-in-one building skin that is at once structural and transparent? she asks. Because glass is at once structural
and transparent, it is relatively easy to consider the integration of structural and environmental building performance
within a single integrated skin.
Houk cites several additional directions for pushing the research further. One is adding pressure to the system
either through a mechanical plunger or compressed gas to produce a more uniform flow, and thus a more
uniform width to the extruded filament of glass. Additional work will focus on the use of colors in the glass, which the
team has already demonstrated in limited testing.
Klein says the printing system is an example of multidisciplinary work facilitated by MITs flexible departmental
boundaries in this case, involving team members from the Media Lab, the Department of Mechanical
Engineering, and the MIT Glass Lab, which is part of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
At MIT, members of the research team also included Markus Kayser, Chikara Inamura, and Shreya Dave. They
were joined by James Weaver of Harvard Universitys Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and
Giorgia Franchin and Paolo Colombo of the University of Padova in Italy.
PDF Copy of the Study: Additive Manufacturing of Optically Transparent Glass
Source: David L. Chandler, MIT News
New Technique Could Enable Chips with Thousands of Cores
September 10, 2015

Technology
Researchers from MIT have unveiled the first fundamentally new approach to cache coherence in more than three
decades, a memory-management scheme that could help enable chips with thousands of cores.
In a modern, multicore chip, every core or processor has its own small memory cache, where it stores
frequently used data. But the chip also has a larger, shared cache, which all the cores can access.
If one core tries to update data in the shared cache, other cores working on the same data need to know. So the
shared cache keeps a directory of which cores have copies of which data.
That directory takes up a significant chunk of memory: In a 64-core chip, it might be 12 percent of the shared cache.
And that percentage will only increase with the core count. Envisioned chips with 128, 256, or even 1,000 cores will
need a more efficient way of maintaining cache coherence.
At the International Conference on Parallel Architectures and Compilation Techniques in October, MIT researchers
unveil the first fundamentally new approach to cache coherence in more than three decades. Whereas with existing
techniques, the directorys memory allotment increases in direct proportion to the number of cores, with the new
approach, it increases according to the logarithm of the number of cores.
In a 128-core chip, that means that the new technique would require only one-third as much memory as its
predecessor. With Intel set to release a 72-core high-performance chip in the near future, thats a more than
hypothetical advantage. But with a 256-core chip, the space savings rises to 80 percent, and with a 1,000-core chip,
96 percent.
When multiple cores are simply reading data stored at the same location, theres no problem. Conflicts arise only
when one of the cores needs to update the shared data. With a directory system, the chip looks up which cores are
working on that data and sends them messages invalidating their locally stored copies of it.
Directories guarantee that when a write happens, no stale copies of the data exist, says Xiangyao Yu, an MIT
graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science and first author on the new paper. After this write
happens, no read to the previous version should happen. So this write is ordered after all the previous reads in
physical-time order.
Time travel
What Yu and his thesis advisor Srini Devadas, the Edwin Sibley Webster Professor in MITs Department of
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science realized was that the physical-time order of distributed
computations doesnt really matter, so long as their logical-time order is preserved. That is, core A can keep working
away on a piece of data that core B has since overwritten, provided that the rest of the system treats core As work
as having preceded core Bs.
The ingenuity of Yu and Devadas approach is in finding a simple and efficient means of enforcing a global logicaltime ordering. What we do is we just assign time stamps to each operation, and we make sure that all the
operations follow that time stamp order, Yu says.
With Yu and Devadas system, each core has its own counter, and each data item in memory has an associated
counter, too. When a program launches, all the counters are set to zero. When a core reads a piece of data, it takes
out a lease on it, meaning that it increments the data items counter to, say, 10. As long as the cores internal
counter doesnt exceed 10, its copy of the data is valid. (The particular numbers dont matter much; what matters is
their relative value.)
When a core needs to overwrite the data, however, it takes ownership of it. Other cores can continue working on
their locally stored copies of the data, but if they want to extend their leases, they have to coordinate with the data
items owner. The core thats doing the writing increments its internal counter to a value thats higher than the last
value of the data items counter.
Say, for instance, that cores A through D have all read the same data, setting their internal counters to 1 and
incrementing the datas counter to 10. Core E needs to overwrite the data, so it takes ownership of it and sets its
internal counter to 11. Its internal counter now designates it as operating at a later logical time than the other cores:
Theyre way back at 1, and its ahead at 11. The idea of leaping forward in time is what gives the system its name
Tardis, after the time-traveling spaceship of the British science fiction hero Dr. Who.
Now, if core A tries to take out a new lease on the data, it will find it owned by core E, to which it sends a message.
Core E writes the data back to the shared cache, and core A reads it, incrementing its internal counter to 11 or
higher.
Unexplored potential
In addition to saving space in memory, Tardis also eliminates the need to broadcast invalidation messages to all the
cores that are sharing a data item. In massively multicore chips, Yu says, this could lead to performance
improvements as well. We didnt see performance gains from that in these experiments, Yu says. But that may
depend on the benchmarks the industry-standard programs on which Yu and Devadas tested Tardis. Theyre
highly optimized, so maybe they already removed this bottleneck, Yu says.
There have been other people who have looked at this sort of lease idea, says Christopher Hughes, a principal
engineer at Intel Labs, but at least to my knowledge, they tend to use physical time. You would give a lease to
somebody and say, OK, yes, you can use this data for, say, 100 cycles, and I guarantee that nobody else is going to
touch it in that amount of time. But then youre kind of capping your performance, because if somebody else
immediately afterward wants to change the data, then theyve got to wait 100 cycles before they can do so.
Whereas here, no problem, you can just advance the clock. That is something that, to my knowledge, has never
been done before. Thats the key idea thats really neat.
Hughes says, however, that chip designers are conservative by nature. Almost all mass-produced commercial
systems are based on directory-based protocols, he says. We dont mess with them because its so easy to make
a mistake when changing the implementation.
But part of the advantage of their scheme is that it is conceptually somewhat simpler than current [directory-based]
schemes, he adds. Another thing that these guys have done is not only propose the idea, but they have a separate
paper actually proving its correctness. Thats very important for folks in this field.
Paper: Tardis: Time Traveling Coherence Algorithm for Distributed Shared Memory
Source: Larry Hardesty, MIT News
Nanosatellites Provide New Opportunities for Space

Science
September 9, 2015
Technology
Miniaturized satellites, known as nanosatellites or CubeSats, are small platforms that enable the next generation of
scientists and engineers to complete all phases of a complete space mission during their school career.
Good things really do come in small packages.
When we think of space satellites that assist with communications, weather monitoring and GPS here on Earth, we
likely picture them as being quite largemany are as big as a school bus and weigh several tons. Yet theres a
class of smaller satellites thats growing in popularity. These miniaturized satellites, known as nanosatellites or
CubeSats, can fit in the palm of your hand and are providing new opportunities for space science.
CubeSats are part of a growing technology thats transforming space exploration, said David Pierce, senior
program executive for suborbital research at NASA Headquarters in Washington. CubeSats are small platforms that
enable the next generation of scientists and engineers to complete all phases of a complete space mission during
their school career. While CubeSats have historically been used as teaching tools and technology demonstrations,
todays CubeSats have the potential to conduct important space science investigations as well.
CubeSats are built to standard specifications of 1 unit (U), which is equal to 10x10x10 centimeters (about 4x4x4
inches). CubeSats can be 1U, 2U, 3U or 6U in size, weighing about 3 pounds per U. They often are launched into
orbit as auxiliary payloads aboard rockets, significantly reducing costs.
Because of the smaller payload and lower price tag, CubeSat technology allows for experimentation. Theres an
opportunity to embrace some risk, said Janice Buckner, program executive of NASAs Small Innovative Missions for
Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program. These mini experiments complement NASAs larger assets.
Another advantage of the smaller is bigger concept is its more inclusive. The low cost and relatively short delivery
time from concept to launch typically 2-3 years allows students and a growing community of citizen scientists
and engineers to contribute to NASAs space exploration goals, part of the White Houses Maker Initiative. By
providing hands-on opportunities for students and teachers, NASA helps attract and retain students in science,
technology, engineering and math disciplines, strengthening NASAs and the nations future workforce.
This inclusiveness also applies to geography. In 2014 NASA announced the expansion of itsCubeSat Launch
Initiative, with the goal of launching 50 small satellites from 50 states within five years. To date NASA has selected
CubeSats from 30 states, 17 of which have already been launched. Two more Alaska and Maryland are slated
to go to space later this year, including the first ever CubeSat launched by an elementary school.
In April 2015 the SIMPLEx program requested proposals for interplanetary CubeSat investigations, with a panel of
NASA and other scientists and engineers reviewing 22 submissions. Two were chosenone led by a postdoctoral
research scientist and the other a university professor. NASA Headquarters, Planetary Science Division, also
selected three technology developments for possible future planetary missions: one to expand NASAs ability to
analyze Mars atmosphere, one to investigate the hydrogen cycle at the moon and one to view a small near-Earth
asteroid. Each selected team will receive one year of funding to bring their respective technologies to a higher level
of readiness. To be considered for flight, teams must demonstrate progress in a future mission proposal competition.
The CubeSat investigations selected for a planetary science mission opportunity are:
Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper (LunaH-Map), a 6U-class CubeSat that will enter a polar orbit around the moon with
a low altitude (3-7 miles) centered on the lunar south pole. LunaH-Map carries two neutron spectrometers that will
produce maps of near-surface hydrogen. LunaH-Map will map hydrogen within craters and other permanently
shadowed regions throughout the south pole. Postdoc Craig Hardgrove from Arizona State University (ASU),
Tempe, Arizona, is the principal investigator. ASU will manage the project.
CubeSat Particle Aggregation and Collision Experiment (Q-PACE) is a 2U-class, thermos-sized, CubeSat that will
explore the fundamental properties of low-velocity particle collision in a microgravity environment, in an effort to
better understand the mechanics of early planet development. Josh Colwell from the University of Central Florida
(UCF), Orlando, Florida, is the principal investigator, and UCF will manage the project.
The proposals selected for further technology development are:
The Mars Micro Orbiter (MMO) mission, which uses a 6U-class Cubesat to measure the Martian atmosphere in
visible and infrared wavelengths from Mars orbit. Michael Malin of Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego,
California, is the principal investigator.
Hydrogen Albedo Lunar Orbiter (HALO) is a propulsion-driven 6U-class CubeSat that will answer critical questions
about the lunar hydrogen cycle and the origin of water on the lunar surface by examining the reflected hydrogen in
the moons solar wind. The principal investigator is Michael Collier of NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, Maryland.
Diminutive Asteroid Visitor using Ion Drive (DAVID) is a 6U-class CubeSat mission that will investigate an asteroid
much smaller than any studied by previous spacecraft missions and will be the first NASA mission to investigate an
Earth-crossing asteroid. Geoffrey Landis of NASAs Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio, is the principal
investigator.
These selections will enable the next generation of planetary scientists and engineers to use revolutionary new
mission concepts that have the potential to return extraordinary science, said Buckner. CubeSats are going to
impact the future of planetary exploration.
Source: NASA
Scientists Develop an Ultrathin Invisibility Cloak

September 18, 2015
Science
A 3D illustration of a metasurface skin cloak made from an ultrathin layer of nanoantennas (gold blocks) covering an
arbitrarily shaped object. Light reflects off the cloak (red arrows) as if it were reflecting off a flat mirror.
A team of scientists have invented an ultra-thin invisibility cloak that can conform to the shape of an object and
conceal it from detection with visible light.
Invisibility cloaks are a staple of science fiction and fantasy, from Star Trek to Harry Potter, but dont exist in real life,
or do they? Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley
Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley have devised an ultra-thin invisibility skin cloak that can
conform to the shape of an object and conceal it from detection with visible light. Although this cloak is only
microscopic in size, the principles behind the technology should enable it to be scaled-up to conceal macroscopic
items as well.
Working with brick-like blocks of gold nanoantennas, the Berkeley researchers fashioned a skin cloak barely 80
nanometers in thickness, that was wrapped around a three-dimensional object about the size of a few biological
cells and arbitrarily shaped with multiple bumps and dents. The surface of the skin cloak was meta-engineered to
reroute reflected light waves so that the object was rendered invisible to optical detection when the cloak is
activated.
This is the first time a 3D object of arbitrary shape has been cloaked from visible light, said Xiang Zhang, director
of Berkeley Labs Materials Sciences Division and a world authority on metamaterials artificial nanostructures
engineered with electromagnetic properties not found in nature. Our ultra-thin cloak now looks like a coat. It is easy
to design and implement, and is potentially scalable for hiding macroscopic objects.
Zhang, who holds the Ernest S. Kuh Endowed Chair at UC Berkeley and is a member of the Kavli Energy
NanoSciences Institute at Berkeley (Kavli ENSI), is the corresponding author of a paper describing this research in
Science. The paper is titled An Ultra-Thin Invisibility Skin Cloak for Visible Light. Xingjie Ni and Zi Jing Wong are
the lead authors. Other co-authors are Michael Mrejen and Yuan Wang.
This short video clip shows how the activation of a metasurface cloak made from an ultrathin layer of nanoantennas
can render a 3D object invisible. When the cloak is turned on, the bump-shaped object being illuminated in the
center white spot disappears from view. The object reappears when the cloak is turned off. Video courtesy of
Xiang Zhang and his research group, Berkeley Lab/UC Berkeley.
It is the scattering of light be it visible, infrared, X-ray, etc., from its interaction with matter that enables us to
detect and observe objects. The rules that govern these interactions in natural materials can be circumvented in
metamaterials whose optical properties arise from their physical structure rather than their chemical composition.
For the past ten years, Zhang and his research group have been pushing the boundaries of how light interacts with
metamaterials, managing to curve the path of light or bend it backwards, phenomena not seen in natural materials,
and to render objects optically undetectable. In the past, their metamaterial-based optical carpet cloaks were bulky
and hard to scale-up, and entailed a phase difference between the cloaked region and the surrounding background
that made the cloak itself detectable though what it concealed was not.
Creating a carpet cloak that works in air was so difficult we had to embed it in a dielectric prism that introduced an
additional phase in the reflected light, which made the cloak visible by phase-sensitive detection, says co-lead
author Xingjie Ni, a recent member of Zhangs research group who is now an assistant professor at Penn State
University. Recent developments in metasurfaces, however, allow us to manipulate the phase of a propagating
wave directly through the use of subwavelength-sized elements that locally tailor the electromagnetic response at
the nanoscale, a response that is accompanied by dramatic light confinement.
In the Berkeley study, when red light struck an arbitrarily shaped 3D sample object measuring approximately 1,300
square microns in area that was conformally wrapped in the gold nanoantenna skin cloak, the light reflected off the
surface of the skin cloak was identical to light reflected off a flat mirror, making the object underneath it invisible
even by phase-sensitive detection. The cloak can be turned on or off simply by switching the polarization of the
nanoantennas.
A phase shift provided by each individual nanoantenna fully restores both the wavefront and the phase of the
scattered light so that the object remains perfectly hidden, says co-lead author Zi Jing Wong, also a member of
Zhangs research group.
The ability to manipulate the interactions between light and metamaterials offers tantalizing future prospects for
technologies such as high resolution optical microscopes and superfast optical computers. Invisibility skin cloaks on
the microscopic scale might prove valuable for hiding the detailed layout of microelectronic components or for
security encryption purposes. At the macroscale, among other applications, invisibility cloaks could prove useful for
3D displays.
This research was funded by the DOE Office of Science.
Publication: Xingjie Ni, et al., An ultrathin invisibility skin cloak for visible light, Science 18 September 2015: Vol.
349 no. 6254 pp. 1310-1314; DOI: 10.1126/science.aac9411
Source: Lynn Yarris, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Pre-Reptile Bunostegos Akokanensisear Earliest

Known Creature to Walk Upright on All Fours
September 17, 2015
Science
Bunostegos akokaensis: About the same size as a cow, this pre-reptile also stood the same way upright with its
legs underneath. It may be the earliest known creature to do so, according to a new study. Drawings: Morgan Turner
According to a new study from Brown University, the pre-reptile Bunostegos akokanensis the oldest known creature
to have walked upright on all fours, roaming the ancient supercontinent of Pangea about 260-million years ago.
A newly published analysis of the bones of Bunostegos akokanensis, a 260-million-year-old pre-reptile, finds that it
likely stood upright on all fours like a cow or a hippo, making it the earliest known creature to do so.
To date all of the known pareiasaurs who roved the supercontinent of Pangea in the Permian era a quarter of a
billion years ago were sprawlers whose limbs would jut out from the side of the body and then continue out or slant
down from the elbow (like some modern lizards). Morgan Turner, lead author of the study in the Journal of
Vertebrate Paleontology, expected Bunostegos would be a sprawler, too, but the bones of the animals forelimbs tell
a different story.
A lot of the animals that lived around the time had a similar upright or semi-upright hind limb posture, but whats
interesting and special about Bunostegos is the forelimb, in that its anatomy is sprawling precluding and
seemingly directed underneath its body unlike anything else at the time, said Turner who performed the analysis
under the supervision of Christian Sidor while a student at the University of Washington. Now Turner is a graduate
student at Brown University. The elements and features within the forelimb bones wont allow a sprawling posture.
That is unique.
The findings allowed Turner, Sidor, and her co-authors to characterize how Bunostegos might have looked, standing
like a cow and about the same size.
Imagine a cow-sized, plant-eating reptile with a knobby skull and bony armor down its back, said co-author Linda
Tsuji of the Royal Ontario Museum, who discovered the fossils in Niger with Sidor and a team of paleontologists in
2003 and 2006.
Four forelimb findings
Turner examined much of the skeletons of several individuals. The findings that matter most, however, are all in the
forelimbs. In particular, four observations make the case, she said, that Bunostegos stood differently than all the
rest, with the legs entirely beneath the body.
The shoulder joint (1), humerus (2), knee-like elbow hinge (3), and a longer ulna (4) together make the case that
Bunostegos stood with its legs under its body.
The shoulder joint the glenoid fossa is facing down such that the humerus (the bone running from shoulder to
elbow) would be vertically oriented underneath. It would restrict the humerus from sticking out to the side.
Meanwhile Bunostegos humerus is not twisted like those of sprawlers. In a sprawler, the twist is what could allow
the humerus to jut out to the side at the shoulder and then orient the forearm downward from the elbow. But the
humerus of Bunostegos has no twist, suggesting that the foot could actually reach the ground only if the elbow and
shoulders were aligned under the body, Turner said.
The elbow joint is also telling. Unlike in sprawling pareiasaurs, which had considerable mobility at the elbow, the
movement of Bunostegoss elbow is more limited. The way the radius and ulna (forearm bones) join with the
humerus forms a hinge-like joint, and wouldnt allow for the forearm to swing out to the sides. Instead, it would only
swing in a back and forth direction like a human knee.
Finally, the ulna is longer than the humerus in Bunostegos, which is a common trait among non-sprawlers. Many
other sprawling four-legged animals have the reverse ratio, Turner said.
Going back 260 million years
The idea that Bunostegos would be an outlier in terms of its posture matches well with the idea that it was
somewhat of an outlier in its choice of habitat.
Bunostegos was an isolated pareiasaur, Turner said.
Way back when, Niger was an arid place (like some of it is today) where plants and water sources might well have
been few and far between. Scientists have associated walking upright on all fours with a more energy-efficient
posture than sprawling. For the long journeys between meals, Turner said, the upright posture might have been
necessary for survival.
The significance of such an early example of the upright posture is that Bunostegos dates very far back on the
evolutionary tree, pushing back the clock on when this posture shows up in evolution.
But Turner said she wouldnt be surprised if other animals of the time are eventually also found to have similarities
to this posture, which evolved independently in reptiles and mammals several times over the eras.
Posture, from sprawling to upright, is not black or white, but instead is a gradient of forms, Turner said. There are
many complexities about the evolution of posture and locomotion we are working to better understand every day.
The anatomy of Bunostegos is unexpected, illuminating, and tells us we still have much to learn.
At Brown, Turner is working in the lab of Stephen Gatesy, where she is studying a continuum of postures and
locomotion in ancient creatures. In addition to Turner, Tsuji and Sidor, Oumarou Ide of the University of Niamey in
Niger is an author of the study.
The National Science Foundation supported the research.
Publication: Morgan L. Turner,et al., The vertebrate fauna of the upper Permian of NigerIX. The appendicular
skeleton of Bunostegos akokanensis (Parareptilia: Pareiasauria), Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 2015;
DOI:10.1080/02724634.2014.994746
Source: Brown University
Siberian Traps Likely Triggered Mass Extinction
September 16, 2015

Science
A new study from MIT reveals that the Siberian Traps erupted at the right time, and for the right duration, to have
been a likely trigger for the end-Permian extinction.
Around 252 million years ago, life on Earth collapsed in spectacular and unprecedented fashion, as more than 96
percent of marine species and 70 percent of land species disappeared in a geological instant. The so-called endPermian mass extinction or more commonly, the Great Dying remains the most severe extinction event in
Earths history.
Scientists suspect that massive volcanic activity, in a large igneous province called the Siberian Traps, may have
had a role in the global die-off, raising air and sea temperatures and releasing toxic amounts of greenhouse gases
into the atmosphere over a very short period of time. However, its unclear whether magmatism was the main culprit,
or simply an accessory to the mass extinction.
MIT researchers have now pinned down the timing of the magmatism, and determined that the Siberian Traps
erupted at the right time, and for the right duration, to have been a likely trigger for the end-Permian extinction.
According to the groups timeline, explosive eruptions began around 300,000 years before the start of the endPermian extinction. Enormous amounts of lava both erupted over land and flowed beneath the surface, creating
immense sheets of igneous rock in the shallow crust. The total volume of eruptions and intrusions was enough to
cover a region the size of the United States in kilometer-deep magma. About two-thirds of this magma likely erupted
prior to and during the period of mass extinction; the last third erupted in the 500,000 years following the end of the
extinction event. This new timeline, the researchers say, establishes the Siberian Traps as the main suspect in
killing off a majority of the planets species.
We now can say its plausible, says Seth Burgess, who received his PhD last year from MITs Department of Earth,
Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences and is now a postdoc at the U.S. Geological Survey. The connection is
unavoidable, because its clear these two things were happening at the same time.
Burgess and Sam Bowring, the Robert R. Shrock Professor of Earth and Planetary Science at MIT, have published
their results in the journal Science Advances.
Learn how MIT researchers determined that volcanic eruptions from Siberian Traps are likely triggers for the endPermian mass extinction. Video: Melanie Gonick/MIT
A singular event
Around the time of the end-Permian extinction, scientists have found that the Earth was likely experiencing a sudden
and massive disruption to the carbon cycle, abnormally high air and sea temperatures, and an increasingly acidic
ocean all signs of a huge and rapid addition of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Whatever triggered the
mass extinction, scientists reasoned, must have been powerful enough to generate enormous amounts of
greenhouse gases in a short period of time.
The Siberian Traps have long been a likely contender: The large igneous province bears the remains of the largest
continental volcanic event in Earths history.
Its literally a singular event in Earth history its a monster, Burgess says. It makes Yellowstone look like the
head of a pin.
Its thought that as the region erupted, magma rose up through the Earths crust, essentially cooking sediments
along the way and releasing enormous amounts of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane into the
atmosphere.
The question we tried to answer is, Which came first, mass extinction or the Siberian Traps? What is their overall
tempo, and does the timing permit magmatism to be a trigger for mass extinction? Burgess says.
Dates pinned
For the answer, Burgess, Bowring, and colleagues traveled to Siberia on multiple occasions, beginning in 2008, to
sample rocks from the Siberian Traps. For each expedition, the team traveled by boat or plane to a small Siberian
village, then boarded a helicopter to the Siberian Traps. From there, they paddled on inflatable boats down a wide
river, chiseling out samples of volcanic rock along the way.
Wed have a couple of hundred kilos of rocks, and would go to the market in Moscow and buy 15 sport duffle bags,
and in each wed put 10 kilos of rocks and hope we could get them all on the plane and back to the lab, Burgess
recalls.
Back at MIT, Burgess and Bowring dated select samples using uranium/lead geochronology, in which Bowrings lab
specializes. The team looked for tiny crystals of either zircon or perovskite, each of which contain uranium and lead,
the ratios of which they can measure to calculate the rocks age. The team dated various layers of rock to determine
the beginning and end of the eruptions.
They then compared the timing of the Siberian Traps to that of the end-Permian extinction, which they had
previously determined using identical techniques.
Thats important, because we can compare green apples to green apples. If everything is done the same, theres
no bias, Burgess says. Now were able to say magmatism definitely preceded mass extinction, and we can resolve
those two things outside of uncertainty.
Richard Ernst, a scientist-in-residence at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, says the new timeline establishes a
definitive, causal link between the Siberian Traps and the end-Permian extinction.
This paper nails it, says Ernst, who was not involved in the study. Given that they have dated a portion of the
Siberian Traps occurring just before, during, and only for a short time after the extinction, this is the smoking gun
for this large igneous province being fully correlated with the extinction. At this point, additional dating and other
studies will simply provide more details on the link.
Now that the team has resolved the beginning and end of the Siberian Traps eruptions, Burgess hopes others will
take an even finer lens to the event, to determine the tempo of magmatism in the 300,000 years prior to the mass
extinction.
We dont know if a little erupted for 250,000 years, and right before the extinction, boom, a vast amount did, or if it
was more slow and steady, where the atmosphere reaches a tipping point, and across that point you have mass
extinction, but before that you just have critically stressed biospheres, Burgess says. Now weve pinned it down in
time, and others can go in with other techniques to get a more fully fleshed out timeline. But we need it to start
someplace, and thats what weve got.
This research was funded, in part, by the National Science Foundation.
Publication: Seth D. Burgess and Samuel A. Bowring, High-precision geochronology confirms voluminous
magmatism before, during, and after Earths most severe extinction, Science Advances, 28 Aug 2015: Vol. 1, no. 7,
e1500470; DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1500470
Source: Jennifer Chu, MIT News
Pillared Graphene Structures Gain Strength, Toughness

and Ductility
September 15, 2015
Science
Carbon nanotube pillars between sheets of graphene may create hybrid structures with a unique balance of
strength, toughness and ductility throughout all three dimensions, according to Rice University scientists. Five,
seven or eight-atom rings at the junctions can force the graphene to wrinkle. Credit: Illustration by Shuo Zhao and
Lei Tao/Rice University
In a newly published study, scientists from Rice University reveal that putting nanotube pillars between sheets of
graphene could create hybrid structures with a unique balance of strength, toughness and ductility throughout all
three dimensions.
Carbon nanomaterials are common now as flat sheets, nanotubes and spheres, and theyre being eyed for use as
building blocks in hybrid structures with unique properties for electronics, heat transport and strength. The Rice
team is laying a theoretical foundation for such structures by analyzing how the blocks junctions influence the
properties of the desired materials.
Rice materials scientist Rouzbeh Shahsavari and alumnus Navid Sakhavand calculated how various links,
particularly between carbon nanotubes and graphene, would affect the final hybrids properties in all directions. They
found that introducing junctions would add extra flexibility while maintaining almost the same strength when
compared with materials made of layered graphene.
Their results appear this week in the journal Carbon.
Carbon nanotubes are rolled-up arrays of perfect hexagons of atoms; graphene is a rolled-out sheet of the same.
Both are super-strong and excel at transmitting electrons and heat. But when the two are joined, the way the atoms
are arranged can influence all those properties.
Some labs are actively trying to make these materials or measure properties like the strength of single nanotubes
and graphene sheets, Shahsavari said. But we want to see what happens and quantitatively predict the properties
of hybrid versions of graphene and nanotubes. These hybrid structures impart new properties and functionality that
are absent in their parent structures graphene and nanotubes.
To that end, the lab assembled three-dimensional computer models of pillared graphene nanostructures, akin to
the boron-nitride structures modeled in a previous study to analyze heat transfer between layers.
This time we were interested in a comprehensive understanding of the elastic and inelastic properties of 3-D
carbon materials to test their mechanical strength and deformation mechanisms, Shahsavari said. We compared
our 3-D hybrid structures with the properties of 2-D stacked graphene sheets and 1-D carbon nanotubes.
Layered sheets of graphene keep their properties in-plane, but exhibit little stiffness or thermal conductance from
sheet to sheet, he said. But pillared graphene models showed far better strength and stiffness and a 42 percent
improvement in out-of-plane ductility, the ability to deform under stress without breaking. The latter allows pillared
graphene to exhibit remarkable toughness along out-of-plane directions, a feature that is not possible in 2-D stacked
graphene sheets or 1-D carbon nanotubes, Shahsavari said.
The researchers calculated how the atoms inherent energies force hexagons to take on or lose atoms to
neighboring rings, depending on how they join with their neighbors. By forcing five, seven or even eight-atom rings,
they found they could gain a measure of control over the hybrids mechanical properties. Turning the nanotubes in a
way that forced wrinkles in the graphene sheets added further flexibility and shear compliance, Shahsavari said.
When the material did fracture, the researchers found it far more likely for this to happen at the eight-member rings,
where much of the strain gathers when stressed. That leads to the notion the hybrids can be tuned to fail under
particular circumstances.
This is the first time anyone has created such a comprehensive atomistic lens to look at the junction-mediated
properties of 3-D carbon nanomaterials, Shahsavari said. We believe the principles can be applied to other lowdimensional materials such as boron nitride and molybdenum/tungsten or the combinations thereof.
Shahsavari is an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering and of materials science and
nanoengineering at Rice.
Rice University, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health and IBM-shared University
Research Award supported the research. The researchers used the NSF-supported DAVinCI supercomputer
administered by Rices Ken Kennedy Institute for Information Technology.
Publication: Rouzbeh Shahsavaria and Navid Sakhavand, Junction configuration-induced mechanisms govern
elastic and inelastic deformations in hybrid carbon nanomaterials, Carbon, Volume 95, December 2015, Pages
699709; doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2015.08.106
Source: Mike Williams, Rice University
NASA Releases New Pluto Images Taken by the New

Horizons Spacecraft
September 18, 2015
Science, Space
Plutos Majestic Mountains, Frozen Plains and Foggy Hazes: Just 15 minutes after its closest approach to Pluto on
July 14, 2015, NASAs New Horizons spacecraft looked back toward the sun and captured this near-sunset view of
the rugged, icy mountains and flat ice plains extending to Plutos horizon. The smooth expanse of the informally
named icy plain Sputnik Planum (right) is flanked to the west (left) by rugged mountains up to 11,000 feet (3,500
meters) high, including the informally named Norgay Montes in the foreground and Hillary Montes on the skyline. To
the right, east of Sputnik, rougher terrain is cut by apparent glaciers. The backlighting highlights over a dozen layers
of haze in Plutos tenuous but distended atmosphere. The image was taken from a distance of 11,000 miles (18,000
kilometers) to Pluto; the scene is 780 miles (1,250 kilometers) wide. Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
The latest images from NASAs New Horizons Spacecraft show breathtaking views of Plutos majestic icy
mountains, streams of frozen nitrogen and haunting low-lying hazes, and a strangely familiar arctic look.
This new view of Plutos crescent taken by New Horizons wide-angle Ralph/Multispectral Visual Imaging Camera
(MVIC) on July 14 and downlinked to Earth on September 13 offers an oblique look across Plutonian landscapes
with dramatic backlighting from the sun. It spectacularly highlights Plutos varied terrains and extended atmosphere.
The scene measures 780 miles (1,250 kilometers) across.
This image really makes you feel you are there, at Pluto, surveying the landscape for yourself, said New Horizons
Principal Investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado. But this image is also a
scientific bonanza, revealing new details about Plutos atmosphere, mountains, glaciers and plains.
Owing to its favorable backlighting and high resolution, this MVIC image also reveals new details of hazes
throughout Plutos tenuous but extended nitrogen atmosphere. The image shows more than a dozen thin haze
layers extending from near the ground to at least 60 miles (100 kilometers) above the surface. In addition, the image
reveals at least one bank of fog-like, low-lying haze illuminated by the setting sun against Plutos dark side, raked by
shadows from nearby mountains.
In addition to being visually stunning, these low-lying hazes hint at the weather changing from day to day on Pluto,
just like it does here on Earth, said Will Grundy, lead of the New Horizons Composition team from Lowell
Observatory, Flagstaff, Arizona.
Combined with other recently downloaded pictures, this new image also provides evidence for a remarkably Earthlike hydrological cycle on Pluto but involving soft and exotic ices, including nitrogen, rather than water ice.
Bright areas east of the vast icy plain informally named Sputnik Planum appear to have been blanketed by these
ices, which may have evaporated from the surface of Sputnik and then been redeposited to the east. The new Ralph
imager panorama also reveals glaciers flowing back into Sputnik Planum from this blanketed region; these features
are similar to the frozen streams on the margins of ice caps on Greenland and Antarctica.
We did not expect to find hints of a nitrogen-based glacial cycle on Pluto operating in the frigid conditions of the
outer solar system, said Alan Howard, a member of the missions Geology, Geophysics and Imaging team from the
University of Virginia, Charlottesville. Driven by dim sunlight, this would be directly comparable to the hydrological
cycle that feeds ice caps on Earth, where water is evaporated from the oceans, falls as snow, and returns to the
seas through glacial flow.
Pluto is surprisingly Earth-like in this regard, added Stern, and no one predicted it.
Source: NASA
New Porous Hydrogel Could Improve the Success of

Stem Cell Tissue Regeneration
September 15, 2015
Science
In this image, new bone structure has formed after stem cells were transplanted using the novel hydrogel strategy
developed at the Wyss Institute.
Using a new porous hydrogel, scientists have experimentally improved bone repair by boosting the survival rate of
transplanted stem cells and influencing their cell differentiation.
Possible stem cell therapies often are limited by low survival of transplanted stem cells and the lack of precise
control over their differentiation into the cell types needed to repair or replace injured tissues. A team led by David
Mooney, a core faculty member at Harvards Wyss Institute, has now developed a strategy that has experimentally
improved bone repair by boosting the survival rate of transplanted stem cells and influencing their cell differentiation.
The method embeds stem cells into porous, transplantable hydrogels.
In addition to Mooney, the team included Georg Duda, a Wyss associate faculty member and director of the Julius
Wolff Institute for Biomechanics and Musculoskeletal Regeneration at Charit Universittsmedizin in Berlin, and
Wyss Institute founding director Donald Ingber. The team published its findings in todays issue of Nature Materials.
Mooney is also the Robert P. Pinkas Family Professor of Bioengineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of
Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Stem cell therapies have potential for repairing many tissues and bones, or even for replacing organs. Tissuespecific stem cells can now be generated in the laboratory. However, no matter how well they grow in the lab, stem
cells must survive and function properly after transplantation. Getting them to do so has been a major challenge for
researchers.
Over a period of 14 days, these images (from top) show void spaces forming in a novel injectable hydrogel. The
void spaces act as a stem cell niche to boost the proliferation and maturation of transplanted stem cells, which
could be leveraged to improve tissue regeneration therapies. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
oneys team and other researchers have identified specific chemical and physical cues from the
stem cell niche (the area in which stem cells survive and thrive with support from other cell types
and environmental factors) to promote stem cell survival, multiplication and maturation into
tissue. Whereas chemical signals that control stem cell behavior are increasingly understood,
much less is known about the mechanical properties of stem cell niches. Stem cells like those
present in bone, cartilage, or muscle cultured in laboratories, however, have been found to
possess mechanosensitivities, meaning they require a physical substrate with defined elasticity
and stiffness to proliferate and mature.
So far these physical influences had not been efficiently harnessed to propel real-world
regeneration processes, said Nathaniel Huebsch, a graduate student who worked with Mooney
and who is the studys first author. Based on our experience with mechanosensitive stem cells,
we hypothesized that hydrogels could be leveraged to generate the right chemical and
mechanical cues in a first model of bone regeneration.
Two water-filled hydrogels with very different properties are the key to the Mooney teams
method. A more stable, longer-lasting bulk gel is filled with small bubbles of a second, so-called
porogen that degrades at a much faster rate, leaving behind porous cavities.
By coupling the bulk gel with a small peptide derived from the extracellular environment of
genuine stem cell niches, and mixing it with a tissue-specific stem cell type as well as the
porogen, the team can create a bone-forming artificial niche. While the bulk gel provides just the
right amount of elasticity plus a relevant chemical signal to coax stem cells to proliferate and
mature, the porogen gradually breaks down, leaving open spaces into which the stem cells
expand before they naturally migrate out of the gel structure altogether to form actual
mineralized bone tissue.
In small-animal experiments conducted so far, the researchers show that a void-forming hydrogel
with the correct chemical and elastic properties provides better bone regeneration than
transplanting stem cells alone. Of further interest, the maturing stem cells deployed by the
hydrogel also induce nearby native stem cells to contribute to bone repair, further amplifying
their regenerative effects.
This study provides the first demonstration that the physical properties of a biomaterial can not
only help deliver stem cells but also tune their behavior in vivo, said Mooney. While so far we
have focused on orchestrating bone formation, we believe that our hydrogel concept can be
broadly applied to other regenerative processes as well.
The collaborative, cross-disciplinary work was supported by the Harvard University Materials
Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC), which is funded by the National Science
Foundation (NSF).
This is an exquisite demonstration of MRSEC programs high impact, said Dan Finotello,
program director at the NSF. MRSECs bring together several researchers of varied experience
and complementary expertise who are then able to advance science at a considerably faster
rate.
Additional funding was provided by the National Institutes of Health; the Belgian American
Education Foundation; the Einstein Foundation Berlin; the Berlin-Brandenburg School for
Regenerative Therapies; the Harvard College Research Program; and NSF Graduate Research,
Einstein Visiting, Harvard College PRISE, Herchel-Smith and Pechet Family Fund Fellowships.
Publication: Nathaniel Huebsch, et al., Matrix elasticity of void-forming hydrogels controls
transplanted-stem-cell-mediated bone formation, Nature Materials (2015);
doi:10.1038/nmat4407
Source: Benjamin Boettner and Kat J. McAlpine, Wyss Institute Communications
Introduction
Technology news is full of incremental developments, but few of them are true milestones. Here were citing 10
that are. These advances from the past year all solve thorny problems or create powerful new ways of using
technology. They are breakthroughs that will matter for years to come.
-The Editors
Agricultural Drones
Relatively cheap drones with advanced sensors and imaging capabilities are giving farmers new ways to
increase yields and reduce crop damage.
Ultraprivate Smartphones
New models built with security and privacy in mind reflect the Zeitgeist of the Snowden era.
Brain Mapping
A new map, a decade in the works, shows structures of the brain in far greater detail than ever before,
providing neuroscientists with a guide to its immense complexity.
Neuromorphic Chips
Microprocessors configured more like brains than traditional chips could soon make computers far more astute
about whats going on around them.
Genome Editing
The ability to create primates with intentional mutations could provide powerful new ways to study complex and
genetically baffling brain disorders.
Microscale 3-D Printing

Inks made from different types of materials, precisely applied, are greatly expanding the kinds of things that
can be printed.
Mobile Collaboration
The smartphone era is finally getting the productivity software it needs.
Oculus Rift
Thirty years after virtual-reality goggles and immersive virtual worlds made their debut, the technology finally
seems poised for widespread use.
Agile Robots
Computer scientists have created machines that have the balance and agility to walk and run across rough and
uneven terrain, making them far more useful in navigating human environments.
Smart Wind and Solar Power
Big data and artificial intelligence are producing ultra-accurate forecasts that will make it feasible to integrate
much more renewable energy into the grid.
Constant use of social media

technology causes teen anxiety
and depression
A study by the British Psychological Society warns that constant pressure on teenagers to use social media technology
causes lower sleep quality, lower self-esteem, higher anxiety and increased depression levels.
Bantuquka | Dreamstime.com
The need to be constantly available and respond 24/7 on social media accounts can cause depression, anxiety and
reduced sleep quality for teenagers, says a study presented yesterday at a British Psychological Society conference in
Manchester.
The researchers, Dr Heather Cleland Woods and Holly Scott of the University of Glasgow, provided questionnaires for
467 teenagers regarding their overall and night-time specific social media use. A further set of tests measured sleep
quality, self-esteem, anxiety, depression and emotional investment in social media which relates to the pressure felt to
be available 24/7 and the anxiety around, for example, not responding immediately to texts or posts.
Dr Cleland Woods explained: "Adolescence can be a period of increased vulnerability for the onset of depression and
anxiety, and poor sleep quality may contribute to this. It is important that we understand how social media use relates
to these. Evidence is increasingly supporting a link between social media use and wellbeing, particularly during
adolescence, but the causes of this are unclear."
Analysis showed that overall and night-time specific social media use along with emotional investment were related to
poorer sleep quality, lower self-esteem as well as higher anxiety and depression levels.
Lead researcher Dr Cleland Woods said: "While overall social media use impacts on sleep quality, those who log on at
night appear to be particularly affected. This may be mostly true of individuals who are highly emotionally invested.
This means we have to think about how our kids use social media, in relation to time for switching off."
Last year, a similar study found that increased use of digital media is causing children's social skills to decline.
Nito100 | Dreamstime.com
8th September 2015
3-D printing of transparent glass

is now possible
Researchers at MIT have demonstrated the first 3D printing technique able to make transparent glass objects.
The range of materials that 3D printers can work with has been steadily growing in recent years from
bioprinted cartilage constructs, to combinations ofdifferent plastic types in full colour, to elastic silicon membranes for
heart attack patients, and even artificial rhino horn.
Some materials have been more difficult to develop, such as glass. Until now, it was only possible for opaque glass to
be 3D printed. However, a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has achieved the first method for
creating fully transparent glass, as demonstrated in this video.
The platform, known as "G3DP", is based on a dual-heated chamber concept. An upper chamber acts as a kiln
cartridge, while the lower chamber serves to anneal the structures. The kiln cartridge operates at over 1,000C
(1900F), with molten material being funnelled through a custom nozzle of alumina-zircon-silica. Objects are formed
inside a third chamber, where they are cooled in a gradual, controlled way to ensure they don't break.
Finding a nozzle suitable for molten glass was a major challenge, according to the researchers. It had to be made of a
material able to handle both high temperatures and resist the glass sticking to it. A paper describing their work,
"Additive Manufacturing of Optically Transparent Glass", is available online.
7th September 2015
The world's first quantum dot

monitor
Electronics maker Philips has launched the world's first quantum dot monitor in Europe, featuring 99% Adobe RGB
colour accuracy.
Pictured here is the 27" E6, the world's first quantum dot monitor, delivering 99% Adobe RGB colour in full HD 1080p
(1920x1080) at a mainstream price. It has been developed in a collaboration between Philips and QD Vision.
The monitor is based on Colour IQ technology, which uses quantum dots semiconductor nanocrystals engineered to
emit light in any colour. The size of each quantum dot determines the energy it emits, which determines the exact
colour. In addition to their large and extremely accurate colour pallete, quantum dots are also very stable, which
means that they won't wear out over time. The colours of individual dots won't warp or change over time.
"Quantum dot technology is changing the way monitor users think about colour, and the new 27" E Line monitor is the
first on the market to showcase this new technology," said Stefan Sommer, a director at MMD, which exclusively
markets and sells Philips branded LCD displays worldwide. "QD Vision is helping us create a monitor with 99% Adobe
RGB colour at a very aggressive price point, making it accessible to everyone who uses a monitor."
Even at the highest price points, most of today's monitors are only capable of displaying less than 95% of the Adobe
RGB standard, with mainstream models typically only presenting roughly 70% of the colour spectrum. Using the
Colour IQ system, it is now possible for monitors to deliver the full Adobe RGB standard (>99%), but at much lower
overall costs.
"The superior colour of our edge-lit quantum dots and our strong price-performance characteristics make them an
ideal catalyst for positive disruption in the global monitor industry," said Matt Mazzuchi, Vice President, Market and
Business Development at QD Vision. "Our close collaboration with Philips monitors brought this full gamut colour
monitor to European consumers."
The new E6 quantum dot monitor will be available in Europe from October 2015. There's no word yet on when the
product will launch in the U.S.
4th August 2015
New memory technology is 1,000

times faster
Intel and Micron have unveiled "3D XPoint" a new memory technology that is 1,000 times faster than NAND and 10
times denser than conventional DRAM.
Intel Corporation and Micron Technology, Inc. have unveiled 3D XPoint technology, a non-volatile memory that has
the potential to revolutionise any device, application or service that benefits from fast access to large sets of data.
Now in production, 3D XPoint technology is a major breakthrough in memory process technology and the first new
memory category since the introduction of NAND flash in 1989.
The explosion of connected devices and digital services is generating massive amounts of new data. To make this data
useful, it must be stored and analysed very quickly, creating challenges for service providers and system builders who
must balance cost, power and performance trade-offs when they design memory and storage solutions. 3D XPoint
technology combines the performance, density, power, non-volatility and cost advantages of all available memory
technologies on the market today. This technology is up to 1,000 times faster, with up to 1,000 times greater
endurance than NAND, and is 10 times denser than conventional memory.
"For decades, the industry has searched for ways to reduce the lag time between the processor and data to allow
much faster analysis," says Rob Crooke, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Non-Volatile Memory
Solutions Group. "This new class of non-volatile memory achieves this goal and brings game-changing performance to
memory and storage solutions."
"One of the most significant hurdles in modern computing is the time it takes the processor to reach data on longterm storage," says Mark Adams, president of Micron. "This new class of non-volatile memory is a revolutionary
technology that allows for quick access to enormous data sets and enables entirely new applications."
As the digital world balloons exponentially from 4.4 zettabytes of data created in 2013, to an expected 44
zettabytes by 2020 3D XPoint technology can turn this immense amount of data into valuable information in
nanoseconds. For example, retailers may use 3D XPoint technology to more quickly identify fraud detection patterns in
financial transactions; healthcare researchers could process and analyse much larger data sets in real time,
accelerating complex tasks such as genetic analysis and disease tracking.
The performance benefits of 3D XPoint technology could also enhance the PC experience, allowing consumers to enjoy
faster interactive social media and collaboration as well as more immersive gaming experiences. The non-volatile
nature of this technology also makes it a great choice for a variety of low-latency storage applications, since data is
not erased when the device is powered off.
Following more than a decade of research and development, 3D XPoint technology was built from the ground up to
address the need for non-volatile, high-performance, high-endurance and high-capacity storage and memory at an
affordable cost. It ushers in a new class of non-volatile memory that significantly reduces latencies, allowing much
more data to be stored close to the processor and accessed at speeds previously impossible for non-volatile storage.
The innovative, transistor-less cross point architecture creates a three-dimensional checkerboard where memory cells
sit at the intersection of word lines and bit lines, allowing the cells to be addressed individually. As a result, data can
be written and read in small sizes, leading to faster and more efficient read/write processes.
3D XPoint technology will sample later this year with select customers, and Intel and Micron are developing individual
products based on the technology.
31st July 2015
Neural network is 10 times bigger

than the previous world record
Digital Reasoning, a developer of cognitive computing, recently announced that it has trained the largest neural
network in the world to date with a stunning 160 billion parameters. Googles previous record was 11.2 billion, while
the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory trained a neural network with 15 billion parameters.
The results of Digital Reasonings research with deep learning and neural networks were published in the Journal of
Machine Learning and Arxiv alongside other notable companies like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft. They were
presented at the prestigious 32nd International Conference on Machine Learning in Lille, France, earlier this month.
Neural Networks are computer systems that are modelled after the human brain. Like the human brain, these
networks can gather new data, process it, and react to it. Digital Reasonings paper, titled Modelling Order in Neural
Word Embeddings at Scale, details both the impressive scope of their neural network as well as the exponential
improvement in quality.
In their research, Matthew Russell, Digital Reasonings Chief Technology Officer, and his team evaluated neural word
embeddings on word analogy accuracy. Neural networks generate a vector of numbers for each word in a
vocabulary. This allowed the research team to do word math. For instance, king minus man plus woman would
yield a result of queen. There is an industry standard dataset of around 20,000 word analogies. Google's previous
accuracy on this metric was a 76.2% accuracy rate. In other words, Google was able to get 76.2% of the word
analogies "correct" in their system. Stanford's best score is a 75.0% accuracy. Digital Reasonings model achieves a
score of 85.8% accuracy, which is a near 40% reduction in error over both Google and Stanford, a massive
advancement in the state of the art.
We are extremely proud of the results we have achieved, and the contribution we are making daily to the field of
deep learning, said Russell. This is a tremendous accomplishment for the company and marks an important
milestone in putting a defensible stake in the ground towards our position as not just a thought leader in the space,
but as an organisation that is truly advancing the state of the art in a rigorous, peer reviewed way.
24th July 2015
Deep Genomics creates deep

learning technology to transform
genomic medicine
Deep Genomics, a new technology start-up, was launched this week. The company aims to use deep learning and
artificial intelligence to accelerate our understanding of the human genome.
Credit: Hui Y. Xiong et al./Science
Evolution has altered the human genome over hundreds of thousands of years and now humans can do it in a
matter of months. Faster than anyone expected, scientists have discovered how to read and write DNA code in a living
body, using hand-held genome sequencers and gene-editing systems. But knowing how to write is different from
knowing what to write. To diagnose and treat genetic diseases, scientists must predict the biological consequences of
both existing mutations and those they plan to introduce.
Deep Genomics, a start-up company spun out of research at the University of Toronto, is on a mission to predict the
consequences of genomic changes by developing new deep learning technologies.
Our vision is to change the course of genomic medicine, says Brendan Frey, the companys president and CEO, who
is also a professor in the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of
Toronto and a Senior Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR). Were inventing a new
generation of deep learning technologies that can tell us what will happen within a cell when DNA is altered by natural
mutations, therapies or even by deliberate gene editing.
Deep Genomics is the only company to combine more than a decade of world-leading expertise in both deep learning
and genome biology. Companies like Google, Facebook and DeepMind have used deep learning to hugely improve
image search, speech recognition and text processing. Were doing something very different. The mission of Deep
Genomics is to save lives and improve health, says Frey. CIFAR Senior Fellow Yann LeCun, the head of Facebooks
Artificial Intelligence lab, is also an advisor to the company.
"Our company, Deep Genomics, will change the course of genomic medicine. CIFAR played a crucial role in
establishing the research network that led to our breakthroughs in deep learning and genomic medicine," Frey says.
Deep Genomics is now releasing its first product, called SPIDEX, which provides information about how hundreds of
millions of DNA mutations may alter splicing in the cell, a process that is crucial for normal development. Because
errant splicing is behind many diseases and disorders, including cancers and autism spectrum disorder, SPIDEX has
immediate and practical importance for genetic testing and pharmaceutical development. The science validating the
SPIDEX tool was described earlier this year in the journal Science.
The genome contains a catalogue of genetic variation that is our DNA blueprint for health and disease, says CIFAR
Senior Fellow Stephen Scherer, director of the Centre for Applied Genomics at SickKids and the McLaughlin Centre at
the University of Toronto, and an advisor to Deep Genomics. Brendan has put together a fantastic team of experts in
artificial intelligence and genome biology if anybody can decode this blueprint and harness it to take us into a new
era of genomic medicine, they can.
Until now, geneticists have spent decades experimentally identifying and examining mutations within specific genes
that can be clearly connected to disease, such as the BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 genes for breast cancer. However, the
number of mutations that could lead to disease is vast and most have not been observed before, let alone studied.
These mystery mutations pose an enormous challenge for current genomic diagnosis. Labs send the mutations theyve
collected to Deep Genomics, and the company uses their proprietary deep learning system, which includes SPIDEX, to
read the genome and assess how likely the mutation is to cause a problem. It can also connect the dots between a
variant of unknown significance and a variant that has been linked to disease. Faced with a new mutation thats never
been seen before, our system can determine whether it impacts cellular biochemistry in the same way as some other
highly dangerous mutation, says Frey.
Deep Genomics is committed to supporting publicly funded efforts to improve human health. Soon after
our Science paper was published, medical researchers, diagnosticians and genome biologists asked us to create a
database to support academic research, says Frey. The first thing were doing with the company is releasing this
database thats very important to us.
Soon, youll be able to have your genome sequenced cheaply and easily with a device that plugs into your laptop. The
technology already exists, explains Frey. When genomic data is easily accessible to everyone, the big questions are
going to be about interpreting the data and providing people with smart options. Thats where we come in.
Deep Genomics envisions a future where computers are trusted to predict the outcome of experiments and
treatments, long before anyone picks up a test tube. To realise that vision, the company plans to grow its team of
data scientists and computational biologists. Deep Genomics will continue to invent new deep learning technologies
and work with diagnosticians and biologists to understand the many complex ways that cells interpret DNA, from
transcription and splicing to polyadenylation and translation. Building a thorough understanding of these processes
has massive implications for genetic testing, pharmaceutical research and development, personalised medicine and
improving human longevity.
24th July 2015
New computer program is first to

recognise sketches more
accurately than a human
Researchers from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) have built the first computer program that can recognise
hand-drawn sketches better than humans.
Known as Sketch-a-Net, the program is capable of correctly identifying the subject of sketches 74.9 per cent of the
time, compared to humans that only managed a success rate of 73.1 per cent. As sketching becomes more relevant
with the increase in the use of touchscreens, this development could provide a foundation for new ways to interact
with computers.
Touchscreens could understand what you are drawing enabling you to retrieve a specific image by drawing it with
your fingers, which is more natural than keyword searches for finding items such as furniture or fashion accessories.
This improvement could also aid police forensics when an artists impression of a criminal needs to be matched to a
mugshot or CCTV database.
The research, which was accepted at the British Machine Vision Conference, also showed that the program performed
better at determining finer details in sketches. For example, it was able to successfully distinguish the specific bird
variants seagull, flying-bird, standing-bird and pigeon with 42.5 per cent accuracy compared to humans that only
achieved 24.8 per cent.
Sketches are very intuitive to humans and have been used as a communication tool for thousands of years, but
recognising free-hand sketches is challenging because they are abstract, varied and consist of black and white lines
rather than coloured pixels like a photo. Solving sketch recognition will lead to a greater scientific understanding of
visual perception.
Sketch-a-Net is a deep neural network a type of computer program designed to emulate the processing of the
human brain. It is particularly successful because it accommodates the unique characteristics of sketches, particularly
the order the strokes were drawn. This was information that was previously ignored but is especially important for
understanding drawings on touchscreens.
Timothy Hospedales, co-author of the study and Lecturer in the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer
Science, QMUL, said: Its exciting that our computer program can solve the task even better than humans can.
Sketches are an interesting area to study because they have been used since pre-historic times for communication
and now, with the increase in use of touchscreens, they are becoming a much more common communication tool
again. This could really have a huge impact for areas such as police forensics, touchscreen use and image retrieval,
and ultimately will help us get to the bottom of visual understanding.
The paper, 'Sketch-a-Net that Beats Humans' by Q. Yu, Y. Yang, Y. Song, T. Xiang and T. Hospedales, will be presented
at the 26th British Machine Vision Conference on Tuesday 8th September 2015.
20th July 2015
New massless particle is

observed for the first time
Scientists report the discovery of the Weyl fermion after an 85-year search. This massless quasiparticle could lead to
future electronics that are faster and with less waste heat.
An international team led by Princeton University scientists has discovered an elusive massless particle, first theorised
85 years ago. This particle is known as the Weyl fermion, and could give rise to faster and more efficient electronics,
because of its unusual ability to behave as both matter and antimatter inside a crystal. Weyl fermions, if applied to
next-generation electronics, could allow a nearly free and efficient flow of electricity in electronics and thus greater
power especially for computers. The researchers report their discovery in the journal Science.
Proposed by the mathematician and physicist Hermann Weyl in 1929, Weyl fermions have been long sought by
scientists, because they are regarded as possible building blocks of other subatomic particles, and are even more
basic than electrons. Their basic nature means that Weyl fermions could provide a much more stable and efficient
transport of particles than electrons, the main particle behind modern electronics. Unlike electrons, Weyl fermions are
massless and possess a high degree of mobility.
"The physics of the Weyl fermion are so strange there could be many things that arise from this particle that we're
just not capable of imagining now," explained Professor M. Zahid Hasan, who led the team.
The researchers' find differs from other particle discoveries, in that the Weyl fermion can be reproduced and
potentially applied. Particles such as the Higgs boson are typically detected in the fleeting aftermath of collisions. The
Weyl fermion, however, was captured inside a specially designed synthetic metallic crystal called tantalum arsenide.
Professor M. Zahid Hasan
The Weyl fermion has two characteristics that could improve future electronics, possibly helping to continue the
exponential growth in computer power, while also proving useful in developing efficient quantum computing. Firstly,
they behave like a composite of monopole- and antimonopole-like particles inside a crystal. This means that Weyl
particles that have opposite, magnetic-like charges, can nonetheless move independently of each other with a high
degree of mobility. Secondly, Weyl fermions can be used to create massless electrons that move very quickly with no
backscattering. In electronics, backscattering hinders efficiency and generates heat. While normal electrons are lost
when they collide with an obstruction, Weyl electrons simply move through and around roadblocks.
"It's like they have their own GPS and steer themselves without scattering," said Hasan. "They will move and move
only in one direction since they are either right-handed or left-handed and never come to an end because they just
tunnel through. These are very fast electrons that behave like unidirectional light beams and can be used for new
types of quantum computing."
Hasan and his group researched and simulated dozens of crystal structures before finding the one suitable for holding
Weyl fermions. Once fashioned, the crystals were loaded into a scanning tunnelling spectromicroscope (pictured
above) and cooled to near absolute zero. Crystals passing the spectromicroscope test were taken to the Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory in California, for testing with high-energy photon beams. Once fired through the crystal,
the beams' shape, size and direction indicated the presence of the long-elusive Weyl fermion.
The hunt for the Weyl fermion began in the earliest days of quantum theory, when physicists first realised that their
equations implied the existence of antimatter counterparts to electrons and other commonly known particles.
"People figured that although Weyl's theory was not applicable to relativity or neutrinos, it is the most basic form of
fermion and had all other kinds of weird and beautiful properties that could be useful," said Hasan.
"After more than 80 years, we found that this fermion was already there, waiting. It is the most basic building block of
all electrons," he said. "It is exciting that we could finally make it come out following Weyl's 1929 theoretical recipe."
14th July 2015
China maintains supercomputing

lead
For the fifth consecutive time, Tianhe-2, a supercomputer developed by China's National University of Defence
Technology, has retained its position as the world's no. 1 system, according to the 45th edition of the twice-yearly
TOP500 list.
Tianhe-2, which means "Milky Way-2", continues to lead the TOP500 list with a performance of 33.86 petaflop/s
(quadrillions of calculations per second) on the Linpack benchmark.
In second place is Titan, a Cray XK7 system at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Titan, the top system in the US and one of the most energy-efficient systems on the list, achieved 17.59 petaflop/s on
the Linpack benchmark.
The only new entry in the top ten is at no. 7 Shaheen II is a Cray XC40 system installed at King Abdullah University
of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia. Shaheen II achieved 5.54 petaflop/s on the Linpack benchmark,
making it the highest-ranked Middle East system in the 22-year history of the list and the first to crack the top ten.
There are 68 systems with performance greater than 1 petaflop/s on the list, up from 50 last November. In total, the
combined performance of all 500 systems has grown to 363 petaflop/s, compared to 309 petaflop/s last November
and 274 petaflop/s one year ago. HP has the lead in the total number of systems with 178 (35.6%), compared to IBM
with 111 systems (22.2%).
Nine systems in the top ten were all installed in 2011 or 2012, and this low level of turnover among the top
supercomputers reflects a slowing trend that began in 2008. However, new systems are in the pipeline that may
reignite the pace of development and get performance improvements back on track. For example, Oak Ridge National
Laboratory is building the IBM/Nvidia "Summit", featuring up to 300 petaflops an order of magnitude faster than
China's Tianhe-2 that is planned for 2018. Meanwhile, British company Optalysys claims it will have a multi-exaflop
optical computer by 2020.
To view the complete list, visit top500.org.
13th July 2015
7 nanometre chips enable

Moore's Law to continue
Researchers have announced a breakthrough in the manufacture of 7 nanometre (nm) computer chips, enabling the
trend of Moore's Law to continue for the next few years.
IBM Research has announced the semiconductor industry's first 7nm (nanometre) node test chips with functioning
transistors. The breakthrough was accomplished in partnership with GLOBALFOUNDRIES and Samsung at SUNY
Polytechnic Institute's Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (SUNY Poly CNSE) and could result in the ability
to place more than 20 billion tiny switches transistors on the fingernail-sized chips that power everything from
smartphones to spacecraft.
To achieve the higher performance, lower power and scaling benefits promised by 7nm technology, researchers had to
bypass conventional semiconductor manufacturing approaches. Among the novel processes and techniques pioneered
in this collaboration were a number of industry-first innovations, most notably Silicon Germanium (SiGe) channel
transistors and Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography integration at multiple levels.
Industry experts consider 7nm technology crucial to meeting the anticipated demands of future cloud computing and
Big Data systems, cognitive computing, mobile products and other emerging "exponential" technologies. This
accomplishment was part of IBM's $3 billion, five-year investment in chip R&D announced last year.
"For business and society to get the most out of tomorrow's computers and devices, scaling to 7nm and beyond is
essential," said Arvind Krishna, senior vice president and director of IBM Research. "That's why IBM has remained
committed to an aggressive basic research agenda that continually pushes the limits of semiconductor technology.
Working with our partners, this milestone builds on decades of research that has set the pace for the microelectronics
industry, and positions us to advance our leadership for years to come."
Microprocessors utilising 22nm and 14nm technology power today's servers, cloud data centres and mobile devices,
and 10nm technology is well on the way to becoming a mature technology. The IBM Research-led alliance achieved
close to 50 percent area scaling improvements over today's most advanced technology, introduced SiGe channel
material for transistor performance enhancement at 7nm node geometries, process innovations to stack them below
30nm pitch and full integration of EUV lithography at multiple levels. These techniques and scaling could result in at
least a 50 percent power/performance improvement for next generation systems that will power the Big Data, cloud
and mobile era. These new 7nm chips are expected to start appearing in computers and other gadgets in 2017-18.
2.4K
8th July 2015
The world's first 2TB consumer

SSDs
Samsung has announced the first 2 terabyte solid state drives for the consumer market continuing the exponential
trend in data storage.
Samsung has announced two new SSDs the 850 Pro and 850 EVO both offering double the capacity of the
previous generation. The 2.5" form factor drives can greatly boost performance for desktops and laptops. They will be
especially useful in the accessing and storage of 4K video, which can often require enormous file sizes. The available
capacities include 120GB, 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB, all the way up to 2TB.
The 850 Pro is designed for power users needing the maximum possible speed, while the 850 EVO is less powerful but
somewhat cheaper. The 850 Pro features up to 550MBps sequential read and 520MBps sequential write rates and
100,000 random I/Os per second (IOPS). The 850 EVO has 540MBps sequential read and 520MBps write rates, with
up to 90,000 random IOPS. Both models feature 3D V-NAND technology, which stacks 32 layers of transistors on top
of each other. The drives also use multi-level cell (MLC) and triple-level cell (TLC) (2- and 3-bit per cell) technology for
even greater memory density.
Until recently, consumers were forced to choose between speed or size when it came to upgrading their hard drives.
For pure speed, a solid state drive was the best option, while larger sizes were typically catered for with slower and
clunkier spinning drives. These new terabyte-scale SSDs are going to change that combining both high speed and
high capacity. Price may still be an issue, as Samsung's new product line doesn't come cheap. The 2TB version of the
850 Pro will retail for $999.99 and the 850 EVO is $799.99. However, given the trend in price performance witnessed
in earlier generations of data storage, it is likely these high capacity SSDs will soon be a lot cheaper.
"Samsung experienced a surge in demand for 500 gigabyte (GB) and higher capacity SSDs with the introduction of
our V-NAND SSDs," says Un-Soo Kim, Senior Vice President of Branded Product Marketing, Memory Business, in
a press release from Samsung. "The release of the 2TB SSD is a strong driver into the era of multi-terabyte SSD
solutions. We will continue to expand our ultra-high performance and large density SSD product portfolio and provide
a new computing experience to users around the globe."
26th June 2015
70% of the world using

smartphones by 2020
By 2020, advanced mobile technology will be commonplace around the globe, according to a new report from
Ericsson.
The latest edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report shows that by 2020, advanced mobile technology will be
commonplace in every corner of the globe smartphone subscriptions will more than double, reaching 6.1 billion,
70% of the world's population will be using smartphones, and over 90% will be covered by mobile broadband
networks.
The report a comprehensive update on the latest mobile trends shows that growth in mature markets comes from
an increasing number of devices per individual. In developing regions, it comes from a swell of new subscribers as
smartphones become more affordable; almost 80% of smartphone subscriptions added by year-end 2020 will be from
Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa.
With the continued rise of smartphones comes an exponential growth in data usage: smartphone data is predicted to
increase ten-fold by 2020, when 80% of all mobile data traffic will come from smartphones (as opposed to basic
feature phones). In North America, monthly data usage per smartphone will increase from an average of 2.4 GB today
to 14 GB by 2020. It is likely that the 5G standard will be adopted by then.
Rima Qureshi, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of Ericsson, says: "This immense growth in advanced
mobile technology and data usage, driven by a surge in mobile connectivity and smartphone uptake, will make today's
big data revolution feel like the arrival of a floppy disk. We see the potential for mass-scale transformation, bringing a
wealth of opportunities for telecom operators and others to capture new revenue streams. But it also requires greater
focus on cost efficient delivery and openness to new business models to compete and remain effective."
An expanding range of applications and business models, coupled with falling modem costs, are key factors driving the
growth of connected devices. Added to this, new use cases are emerging for both short and long range applications,
leading to even stronger growth of connected devices moving forward. Ericsson's forecast, outlined in the report,
points to 26 billion connected devices by 2020, confirming we are well on the way to reaching the vision of 50 billion
connected devices.
Each year until 2020, mobile video traffic will grow by a staggering 55 percent per year and will constitute around 60
percent of all mobile data traffic by the end of that period. Growth is largely driven by shifting user preferences
towards video streaming services, and the increasing prevalence of video in online content including news,
advertisements and social media.
When looking at data consumption in advanced mobile broadband markets, findings show a significant proportion of
traffic is generated by a limited number of subscribers. These heavy data users represent 10 percent of total
subscribers, but generate 55 percent of total data traffic. Video is dominant among heavy users, who typically watch
around one hour of video per day, which is 20 times more than the average user.
To accompany the Mobility Report, Ericsson has created a Traffic Exploration Tool for creating customised graphs and
tables, using data from the report. The information can be filtered by region, subscription, technology, traffic, and
device type.
8th June 2015
New mobile app could

revolutionise human rights justice
The International Bar Association (IBA) today launched the eyeWitness app a new tool for documenting and
reporting human rights atrocities in a secure and verifiable way, so the information can be used as evidence in a court
of law.
With social media increasingly the forum for communicating human rights, many online images have raised awareness
of atrocities around the world but typically lack the attribution or information necessary to be used as evidence in a
court of law. Now anyone with an Android-enabled smart phone including human right defenders, journalists, and
investigators can download the eyeWitness to Atrocities app and help hold accountable the perpetrators of atrocity
crimes, such as genocide, crimes against humanity, torture and war crimes.
"The eyeWitness to Atrocities app will be a transformational tool in the fight for human rights, providing a solution to
the evidentiary challenges surrounding mobile phone footage," said IBA Executive Director Mark Ellis. "Until now, it
has been extremely difficult to verify the authenticity of these images and to protect the safety of those brave enough
to record them. As an advocate for the voiceless, the International Bar Association is dedicated to empowering
activists on the ground who are witnessing these atrocities with the ability to bring criminals to justice."
The app design is based on extensive research on the rules of evidence in international, regional and national courts
and tribunals. It includes several features to guarantee authenticity, facilitate verification and protect confidentiality by
allowing the user to decide whether or not to be anonymous.
"Putting information and technology in the hands of citizens worldwide has a powerful role to play in advancing the
rule of law," said Ian McDougall, EVP and General Counsel of LexisNexis Legal & Professional, which partnered with
the IBA. "LexisNexis Legal & Professional's world class data hosting capabilities will provide the eyeWitness
programme with the same technology that we use to safeguard sensitive and confidential material for our clients
every day. It's all part of our company's broader commitment to advancing the rule of law around the world, as we
believe every business has a role to play in building a safer, more just global society."
How the App Works
When a user records an atrocity, the app automatically collects and embeds into the video file GPS coordinates, date
and time, device sensor data and surrounding objects, such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi networks. The user has the option
of adding any additional identifying information about the image. This metadata will provide information integral to
verifying and contextualising the footage. The images and accompanying data are encrypted and securely stored
within the app. The app also embeds a chain of custody record to verify that the footage has not been edited or
digitally manipulated. The user then submits this information directly from the app to a database maintained by the
eyeWitness organisation.
Once the video is transmitted, it is stored in a secure repository that functions as a virtual evidence locker
safeguarding the original, encrypted footage for future investigations and legal proceedings. The submitted footage is
only accessible by a group of legal experts at eyeWitness who will analyse the footage and identify the appropriate
authorities, including international, regional or national courts, to pursue relevant cases.
"The IBA is proud to be spearheading the project and allocating $1 million of IBA reserves as part of its efforts to
promote, protect and enforce human rights under a just rule of law," said David Rivkin, IBA President. The IBA is
working in partnership with LexisNexis Legal & Professional, a part of RELX Group, which is hosting the secure
repository, database and backup system to store and analyse data collected via the app. The IBA is also partnering
with human rights organisations to put the app in the hands of those working in some of the world's most severe
conflict zones.
"The eyeWitness app promises to revolutionise the effectiveness of ground-level human rights reporting," said Deirdre
Collings, Executive Director of the SecDev Foundation, a Canadian research organisation. "We also see the app's
usefulness for media activists in conflict and authoritarian environments who undertake vital but high-risk reporting.
We're proud to include eyeWitness in our training programme for our partners in Syria and will be rolling it out across
our projects in the CIS region and Vietnam."
Established in 1947 and headquartered in London, the IBA is the world's leading organisation of international legal
practitioners, bar associations and law societies. Through its global membership of individual lawyers, law firms, bar
associations and law societies, it influences the development of international law reform and shapes the future of the
legal profession throughout the world.
5th May 2015
'Centimetre accurate' GPS

system could transform virtual
reality and mobile devices
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have developed a centimetre-accurate GPS-based positioning system
that could revolutionise geolocation on virtual reality headsets, cellphones and other technologies making global
positioning and orientation far more precise than what is currently available on a mobile device.
The researchers' new system could allow unmanned aerial vehicles to deliver packages to a specific spot on a
consumer's back porch, improve collision avoidance technologies on cars and allow virtual reality (VR) headsets to be
used outdoors. This ultra-accurate GPS, coupled with a smartphone camera, could be used to quickly build a globally
referenced 3-D map of one's surroundings that would greatly expand the radius of a VR game. Currently, VR does not
use GPS, which limits its use to indoors and usually a two- to three-foot radius.
"Imagine games where, rather than sit in front of a monitor and play, you are in your backyard actually running
around with other players," said Todd Humphreys, lead researcher and assistant professor in the Department of
Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics. "To be able to do this type of outdoor, multiplayer virtual reality
game, you need highly accurate position and orientation that is tied to a global reference frame."
Humphreys and his team in the Radionavigation Lab have designed a low-cost system that reduces location errors
from the size of a large car to the size of a nickel a more than 100 times increase in accuracy. Humphreys
collaborated on the new technology with Professor Robert W. Heath from the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, along with graduate students.
Centimetre-accurate positioning systems are already used in geology, surveying and mapping but the survey-grade
antennas these systems employ are too large and costly for use in mobile devices. This breakthrough by Humphreys
and his team is a powerful and sensitive software-defined GPS receiver that can extract centimetre accuracies from
the inexpensive antennas found in mobile devices. Such precise measurements were not previously possible. The
researchers anticipate that their software's ability to leverage low-cost antennas will reduce the overall cost of
centimetre accuracy and make it economically feasible for mobile devices.
Humphreys and his team have spent six years building a specialised receiver, called GRID, to extract so-called carrier
phase measurements from low-cost antennas. GRID currently operates outside the phone, but it will eventually run on
the phone's internal processor. To further develop this technology, they recently co-founded a startup, called
Radiosense. Humphreys and his team are working with Samsung to develop a snap-on accessory that will tell
smartphones, tablets and virtual reality headsets their precise position and orientation.
The researchers designed their system to deliver precise position and orientation information how one's head rotates
or tilts to less than one degree of measurement accuracy. This level of accuracy could enhance VR environments
that are based on real-world settings, as well as improve other applications including visualisation and 3-D mapping.
Additionally, it could make a significant difference in people's daily lives, including transportation, where centimetreaccurate GPS could allow better vehicle-to-vehicle communication technology.
"If your car knows in real time the precise position and velocity of an approaching car that is blocked from view by
other traffic, your car can plan ahead to avoid a collision," Humphreys said.
28th March 2015
10TB solid state drives may soon

be possible
An innovative new process architecture can extend Moore's Law for flash storage bringing significant improvements
in density while lowering the cost of NAND flash.
Intel Corporation in partnership with Micron have announced the availability of 3D NAND, the world's highestdensity flash memory. Flash is the storage technology used inside the lightest laptops, fastest data centres, and nearly
every cellphone, tablet and mobile device.
3D NAND works by stacking the components in vertical layers with extraordinary precision to create devices with three
times higher data capacity than competing NAND technologies. This enables more storage in a smaller space, bringing
significant cost savings, low power usage and higher performance to a range of mobile consumer devices, as well as
the most demanding enterprise deployments.
As data cells begin to approach the size of individual atoms, traditional "planar" NAND is nearing its practical scaling
limits. This poses a major challenge for the memory industry. 3D NAND is poised to make a dramatic impact by
keeping flash storage aligned with Moore's Law, the exponential trend of performance gains and cost savings, driving
more widespread use of flash storage in the future.
"3D NAND technology has the potential to create fundamental market shifts," said Brian Shirley, vice president of
Memory Technology and Solutions at Micron Technology. "The depth of the impact that flash has had to date from
smartphones to flash-optimised supercomputing is really just scratching the surface of what's possible."
One of the most significant aspects of this breakthrough is in the foundational memory cell itself. Intel and Micron
used a floating gate cell, a universally utilised design refined through years of high-volume planar flash
manufacturing. This is the first use of a floating gate cell in 3D NAND, which was a key design choice to enable greater
performance, quality and reliability.
The data cells are stacked vertically in 32 layers to achieve 256Gb multilevel cell (MLC) and 384Gb triple-level cell
(TLC) dies within a standard package. This can enable gum stick-sized SSDs with 3.5TB of storage and standard 2.5inch SSDs with greater than 10TB. Because capacity is achieved by stacking cells vertically, individual cell dimensions
can be considerably larger. This is expected to increase both performance and endurance and make even the TLC
designs well-suited for data centre storage.
Key product features of this 3D NAND design include:

Large Capacities Triple the capacity of existing technology, up to 48GB of NAND per die, enabling 750GB to fit in a
single fingertip-sized package.
Reduced Cost per GB First-generation 3D NAND is architected to achieve better cost efficiencies than planar NAND.
Fast High read/write bandwidth, I/O speeds and random read performance.
Green New sleep modes enable low-power use by cutting power to inactive NAND die (even when other dies in the
same package are active), dropping power consumption significantly in standby mode.
Smart Innovative new features improve latency and increase endurance over previous generations, and also make
system integration easier.
The 256Gb MLC version of 3D NAND is sampling with select partners today, and the 384Gb TLC design will be
sampling later this spring. The fab production line has already begun initial runs, and both devices will be in full
production by the fourth quarter of this year. Both companies are also developing individual lines of SSD solutions
based on 3D NAND technology and expect those products to be available within the next year.
2015 Trend: Hacking the Brain

"Powerful new tools allow researchers to monitor activity patterns across brain
circuits, bringing us closer to understanding how perception, thought and action
arise from different circuits. Based on this understanding, we can also create
new patterns, which will lead to the development of novel, individualized
treatments for many diseases such as Parkinson's disease and major
depression."
Phillip Sabes, PhD, professor of Physiology
For nearly a century, scientists seeking to understand the workings of the human brain have
electrically stimulated the brain and recorded its electrical activity. Now significant and technological
advances are ushering in an era that would have been unimaginable to early brain scientists.
Long-lasting implants employing hundreds or thousands of electrodes can be placed in the brain to
both deliver stimulation and to listen to brain activity for signs of trouble.
This technology will eventually allow amputees and patients with paralysis to directly control artificial
limbs with brain signals, will predict and head off epileptic seizures, and will better treat Parkinsons
disease and other movement disorders.
In an ambitious multi-year project , several UCSF scientists are exploring the possibility that brain
implants could ease the symptoms of and perhaps even cure psychiatric disorders including
anxiety, depression, and addiction.
2015 Trend: Breakthroughs in Teamwork
One of the major drivers of recent progress has been a wholesale shift in
culture. Investigators who were once fierce competitors are now finding ways to
collaborate with one another in large-scale, multi-site genomic studies. "
Matthew State, MD, PhD, chair of Psychiatry
Scientific labs long flourished using a model not unlike that followed by professional sports teams:
keep your game plan to yourself, recruit the best rising stars and aggressively compete with rivals to
be first out of the gate with important findings.
But as technology grows increasingly powerful and opens up new complex ways to tackle problems,
scientists are embracing a multidisciplinary team effort.
Take genomic research, for example. As it has become clear that increased risk for many diseases
may reside in very rare, difficult-to-find mutations, many researchers have begun assembling large
international research groups to freely share data, resources and credit for new discoveries.
Two recent studies of the genetics of autism in which UCSF researchers played major roles involved
50 laboratories worldwide. Before this work, smaller efforts had identified only 11 genes that confer a
risk for autism, but these large-scale studies netted more than 100 genes, including 60 that meet a
high-confidence criterion indicating they are highly likely to be involved in the disorder.
Nothing succeeds like success, so expect to see more shared science in the coming years.
2015 Trend: Diagnosing Disease through

DNA
This is the year that next-generation sequencing has come of age. We are
gradually moving away from using it exclusively as a powerful research tool and
we are starting to use it in the clinic. Detailed genetic analysis does not need to
be done at large genomic centers anymore. Small clinical, research, and public
health laboratories can do it too.
Charles Chiu, PhD, director of UCSF Viral Diagnostics and Discovery Center
The Human Genome Project was a feat for its era, but the technology it used is already outdated,
slow and expensive.
Now DNA from an individual or a virus or bacteria or a pathogen can be sequenced for less than
$1,000. The tools of so-called "next-generation DNA sequencing," also known as massively parallel
sequencing, allow lab workers to read out the equivalent of an entire genomes worth of sequence in
a day.
The technology is already having real impacts when time is of the essence: Chiu and his team used it
to identify the cause of life-threatening meningitis, saving the life of a 14-year-old boy after all
standard diagnostic tools failed. After sequencing all the DNA found in his spinal fluid, from the
patients own DNA to bacteria and viral DNA, scientists were able to identify the culprit within 24
hours: an unusual, but easily treated bacterial infection. Chiu is now working on applying this
technology to develop a rapid diagnostic test for the Ebola virus.
Next-generation sequencing offers unprecedented throughput, scalability and speed that could have
untold impacts on studying disease, biology and clinical research.
2015 Trend: Rejuvenation through the Blood

Today it seems as if everyone is going after molecules in the blood that might
help reverse biological aging. The pace is quick, and there are likely to be many
factors worth investigating further. There also are factors that can be removed
from old blood to slow aging, and we want to explore these, too.
Saul Villeda, PhD, Sandler Faculty Fellow
It sounds straight out of a vampire novel, but a recent study found that infusions of young blood can
perk up the brains of older mice.
Villeda made front-page news with these findings when his team identified anatomical, molecular and
biochemical evidence of cognitive improvements in the old mice after they were connected to the
circulatory systems of younger mice. At the same time, a team at Stanford University found that
young blood could help rejuvenate heart muscle, too.
In fact, young blood seems to improve muscle, liver, heart and brain discoveries that have spurred
a quest for the specific molecules responsible for rejuvenation.
All this raises hopes that molecules in the blood may be identified to do the same for humans. As the
search continues, Villedas collaborators already have launched a small clinical trial to test young
blood in Alzheimers disease.
2015 Trend: Prime Time for Telemedicine
"Telehealth is the right technology for our times. Americans want to feel
empowered by their health care providers, and they also want high quality,
personalized care. Providers and patients alike are beginning to trust
information technology with their health."
Seth Bokser, MD, MPH, medical director for IT at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital
After years of fitful growth, telemedicine is finally coming into its own in American health care.
Hospital IT departments have sorted out video camera and other equipment challenges, allowing
experts to consult remotely. Major social and economic forces are driving the adoption of such
technologies as virtual office visits, radiological readings and even remote ICU monitoring. Hospitals
everywhere face intensifying pressure to lower costs, and, perhaps most of all, consumers are
demanding better access to their health care providers. Many states are now requiring Medicaid and
even private insurers to cover these services.
Additionally, as primary care doctors are retiring, rural areas are struggling more than ever, and
community hospitals need cost-effective ways of providing both primary and specialty care.
Some big problems remain, such as how to license physicians to practice in other states and how
insurance companies should reimburse these services.
Experts say that, especially when patients are experiencing new symptoms, nothing can replace an
in-person visit. But telemedicine is finding its place in modern medicine.
2015 Trend: Breaking Down Cancer

Categories
"For the first time ever, we're able to pinpoint to important molecular features
shared by cancers that affect different tissues, and, conversely, to make
important distinctions between cancers that affect the same tissue. This will
have huge implications for therapy as we begin to design treatment plans based
on a cancer's molecular signature rather than its tissue of origin."
Denise Wolf, PhD, computational biologist at UCSF Helen Diller Comprehensive
Cancer Center
Though once viewed as a monolithic entity, cancer is now known to be a diverse collection of
diseases demanding a wide range of treatments, often in combination.
The exponentially increasing power of genome-sequencing technology is allowing scientists to
examine tumors letter by genetic letter, with surprising results. A 2014 study led partly by UCSF
scientists suggested that these new techniques could lead to more accurate diagnoses for as many
as one in 10 patients, compared to traditional methods.
Combined with decades worth of accumulated clinical experience, such insights are already leading
to radical new treatment recommendations.
For example, the most common type of breast cancer, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), may be better
treated with the watchful waiting strategies successfully used in prostate cancer rather than
aggressive surgical and radiation treatments, say UCSF clinical researchers.
2015 Trend: Systems Pharmacology
"Scientists can now design molecules with exquisite potency and specificity for
particular receptors, and by combining this knowledge with our understanding
of whole body systems, theres huge potential for a rebirth of pharmacology."
Brian Shoichet, PhD, professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
Thirty years ago, molecular biology transformed the field of pharmacology by allowing researchers to
isolate and purify the particular receptors through which drugs acted. Despite the great promise of
focusing drug research on the molecular level, fewer drugs have since been discovered and at
greater expense.
The focus, many researchers say, needs to be on both molecular and systemic impacts.
This emerging field, known as systems pharmacology, integrates the behavior of molecules to
understand the effects of drugs on the whole organism.
For example, UCSF researchers looking to find a drug to fight tuberculosis are developing computer
models that incorporate diverse observations, such as information from human lung tissue, how a
drug moves from blood to lung to infection site and the complex mechanisms of drug interactions with
the different pathogen sub-types.
The goal is to create models to efficiently evaluate new drug regimens to make sure they not only will
work faster and be more effective, but also are compatible with other drugs.
2015 Trend: Transparency in Health Care

Pricing
"Patients expect clear, comprehensive and understandable charges, so they can
make informed decisions about their health care, and hospitals are responding
to this need. UCSF believes that helping our patients take care of their health
care expenditures is a must."
Barrie Strickland, chief financial officer of UCSF Medical Center
Consumers' bills for health care tests and treatments can vary greatly across the country and even in
the same city, making it difficult for patients to predict what their out-of-pocket costs will be. Complex
language charges versus costs versus prices versus bills adds to the confusion.
As patients are increasingly being asked to take on more of their health care costs, hospitals and
health plans are looking for ways to provide better transparency.
UCSF, for one, has embarked on key initiatives that include estimating patients' costs upfront and
sharing information about available financial assistance programs.
Introduction
Not all breakthroughs are created equal. Some arrive more or less as usable things; others mainly set the
stage for innovations that emerge later, and we have to estimate when that will be. But wed bet that every one
of the milestones on this list will be worth following in the coming years.
-The Editors
Magic Leap
A startup is betting more than half a billion dollars that it will dazzle you with its approach to creating 3-D
imagery.
Availability: 1-3 years
Nano-Architecture
A Caltech scientist creates tiny lattices with enormous potential.
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The Australian National Anthem

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The Australian National Anthem

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The Australian National Anthem

Some early nominations

The lead-up to change

Waltzing Matilda - our 'unofficial' national anthem

Waltzing Matilda- external site is recognised as Australia's 'unofficial' national anthem. It

The debate continues

ADVANCE AUSTRALIA FAIR

To trace wide oceans o'er,

`Advance, Australia fair!'

Australian Ambassador to the

FACTS ABOUT THE EMBASSY

Australia Skilled Visa Requirements

Age - you must be under 50 when you apply;

Immigration to Australia: Skilled Points Test

English Language Ability;

Australian Study Requirements;

Credentialled Community Language Qualifications;

Study in Regional Australia

Partner Skill Qualifications;

Professional Year in Australia;

Nomination by State or Territory Government (visa subclass 190 only); and

Australian Visa Subclasses and Points Pass Marks

Skilled - Independent (subclass 189)

Skilled - Sponsored (subclass 190)

Skilled - Regional Sponsored (subclass 489)

Can You Pass The Immigration Points Test For Australia?

Points for Age

Take The Points Test For Australia

Points for English Language Ability

Proficient English - person has a score of 7 or more in the English Language

Competent English - person has a score of 6 or more in the English Language

Do You Have Enough Points?

Points for Skilled Employment

At least eight and up to 10 years (of past 10 years).

At least eight and up to 10 years (of past 10 years).

Do You Meet The Minimum Points Requirement Australia?

Points for Educational Qualifications

Doctorate from an Australian educational institution or other Doctorate of a

At least a Bachelor degree, including a Bachelor degree with Honours or

Can You Pass The Immigration Points Test For Australia?

Australian Study Requirements

One or more degrees, diplomas or trade qualifications awarded by an

Do You Have Enough Points?

Points for Credentialled Community Language Qualifications

Can You Pass The Immigration Points Test For Australia?

Points for Study in Regional Australia or a low population growth

Points for Partner Skill Qualifications

English Language Ability;

A suitable skills assessment in a nominated occupation on the same Skilled

Occupation List used for your application.

Take The Immigration Points Test For Australia

Points for Nomination by State or Territory Government (visa subclass

Do You Have Enough Points?

Points for Nomination by State or Territory Government or Sponsorship

Nomination by a state or territory government under a State Migration Plan, or

We expect more occupations to become eligible for a skilled visa as further

2. Are you still in this employment,

3. How many years have you been

4. How many months have you

5. How many years have you been

6. Do you have a job offer from an

Note: To be defined as 'fluent', you must:

Be accredited with NAATI (National Accreditation Authority for Translators and

2. What year did