European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Reiter performed the experiments while on the ISS, as seen in the video below. Human immune cells were allowed to float freely in microgravity while others were placed in a centrifuge that simulated gravity. The cells in the centrifuge were found to be more healthy than those left to float.

Analysis showed that a transmitter called the Rel/NF-kB pathway stopped working in microgravity, preventing immune cells from working correctly.

“Normally, when our bodies sense an invasion, a cascade of reactions occur that are controlled by the information held in our genes, similar to an instruction book,” said Isabelle Walther, a researcher with the Space Biology Group in Zurich, Switzerland. “Finding which gene does what is like looking for the right key to fit a keyhole, without having found the keyhole yet.”

Researchers stated that these findings could help disease research in two ways. First, being able to deactivate genes associated with the immune system could help patients who suffer from autoimmune diseases. Second, drugs could be developed to target genes that fight specific diseases.

“We are working towards a finer control of disease,” said Millie Hughes-Fulford, a NASA astronaut and an investigator on the research. “If you imagine our immune system responding to diseases as a waterfall, up until now we have been fighting disease at the bottom of the waterfall. In the future we could target the raindrops before they have a chance to cascade into waterfalls. We live in exciting times.”

The Wall Street Journal reports that Google had recently submitted an application to the FCC for a license for an “experimental radio service.” The application covers the company’s headquarters in California.

Now, this wouldn’t be too exciting except for the fact that the application specifically states Google will be using radio frequencies that most devices in use today can’t take advantage of. The frequencies come from licensed spectrum controlled by Clearwire Corp. This licensed spectrum is reportedly better than Wi-Fi when it comes to disseminating a signal across metropolitan areas.

So, who’s going to be experimenting with this new wireless technology? The application states that the building currently housing the Google Fiber team will be the first place to be outfitted with the technology. The team there is already working to build the next generation land line network so it makes sense that they would be building the next generation wireless network as well.

Now, what could this mean for future Google Fiber projects? Analysts speaking to the Wall Street Journal suggests that Google could be rolling out a wireless service to its Google Fiber subscribers. Those who subscribe to the service would be able to tap into exclusive Wi-Fi throughout the city. Another theory is that Google’s Motorola unit is building phones to take advantage of the new spectrum. Either way, Google is planning for the future of wireless, and it’s kind of exciting.

Google already provides free Wi-Fi at its headquarters in California and New York. It’s great for those who are in or around the building, but what about entire cities? There have been some efforts to provide Wi-Fi access across an entire city, but it’s not exactly the best solution in getting Internet to everybody. Google’s plans may involve using this new spectrum that’s better suited for metropolitan environments to start offering wireless Internet to more people.

Of course, the company will have to make sure people have the hardware to take advantage of it first. That’s an entirely different challenge in and of itself, but Google has proven in the past that it has the resources to dabble in such things. It will be interesting to see what comes of it.

An experiment at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is mimicking the conditions observed at hydrothermal vents in the deepest parts of the ocean. Glass tubes, thin barrels, and valves are sending carbon dioxide-rich ocean water and alkaline fluid through a sample of rock that simulates ancient volcanic ocean crust. The experiment runs at 100 times the pressure on the Earth’s surface and at around 90 degrees Celsius (200 degrees Fahrenheit) A detector system detects the compounds coming out of the set-up, keeping watch for organic compounds such as ethane and methane.

“What we’re trying to do is to climb down and create the conditions for the very first steps to the beginning of life as we know it,” said Mike Russell, leader on the experiment and a senior geologist with the NASA Astrobiology Institute’s Icy Worlds team at JPL. “That’s the hard part.”

The Icy Worlds project is trying to learn more about potentially habitable environments like Mars, as well as liquid water environments on icy objects such as Saturn’s moon Enceladus, where signs of water ice have been found.

The hydrothermal vent experiments are based on Russell’s 1989 theory that life on Earth may have begun at alkaline hydrothermal vents some 4 billion years ago. The carbon dioxide at these vents could have supplied the carbon needes to produce organic molecules. Evidence for this was found in 2000, when a vent showing signs of producing organic molecules was found in the Atlantic Ocean.

“If this ocean experiment is successful, scientists would have a better handle on where to look for the building blocks of life on Earth and beyond, and what signatures we should be looking for of life and of habitable environments in the solar system,” said Isik Kanik, Icy Worlds Principal Investigator.

(Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Dr. Roy Lowry of Plymouth University recently showed a group of college students what a real explosion is. The experiment in question takes liquid nitrogen and returns it to a gaseous state. The very smart people who run Plymouth’s YouTube channel explain what you are about to see:

The conversion of liquid to gas is endothermic as the nitrogen takes in heat from the water surrounding the bottle to break the forces holding the nitrogen molecules together. The pressure building up in the bottle is a measure of the potential energy. This is suddenly released as the bottle bursts, converting the stored (potential) energy to kinetic.

That might have gone over your head. If that’s the case, just watch the video:

It should be noted that you shouldn’t try this kind of experiment at home. Liquid nitrogen can be very dangerous. It’s still really awesome. This is why chemistry was always a joy whenever we got to go to the lab.

Over the coming months, we’ll be reviewing the responses to determine where to build. As we narrow down our choices, we’ll be conducting site visits, meeting with local officials and consulting with third-party organizations. Based on a rigorous review of the data, we will announce our target community or communities by the end of the year.

Of course, we’re not going to be able to build in every interested community — our plan is to reach a total of at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people with this experiment. Wherever we decide to build, we hope to learn lessons that will help improve Internet access everywhere.

Original Article: Google announced today that is planning to build and test "ultra high-speed" broadband networks in a small number of trial locations around the U.S. This means Google will deliver Internet speeds of 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to now, according to the company.

Google says it has the following things in mind:

• Next generation apps: We want to see what developers and users can do with ultra high-speeds, whether it’s creating new bandwidth-intensive "killer apps" and services, or other uses we can’t yet imagine.
• New deployment techniques: We’ll test new ways to build fiber networks, and to help inform and support deployments elsewhere, we’ll share key lessons learned with the world.
• Openness and choice: We’ll operate an "open access" network, giving users the choice of multiple service providers. And consistent with our past advocacy, we’ll manage our network in an open, non-discriminatory and transparent way.

"Like our WiFi network in Mountain View, the purpose of this project is to experiment and learn," says the company says. "Network providers are making real progress to expand and improve high-speed Internet access, but there’s still more to be done. We don’t think we have all the answers – but through our trial, we hope to make a meaningful contribution to the shared goal of delivering faster and better Internet for everyone."

Google is putting out a request for information to help identify communities that are interested. They’re taking responses until March 26. Then they’ll announce the chosen communities. We’re awaiting response from Google on the criteria for how communities will be chosen.
 

Related Articles:

> White Spaces Officially Cleared For Wireless Broadband

> Google Sees White Spaces Filling With Internet

> Google, Verizon Weigh In On White Space Test

I know I will probably ruffle a few feathers here but I don’t see this as such a big deal because I believe that most of the ‘success’ of these mediums has been more hype than reality. The article points out that the main reasons that what is really happening is the fact that advertisers are less likely to throw money at something that there is little proof of real returns, “Areas like mobile, virtual worlds and widgets are expected to be hit particularly hard, as it remains unclear what kind of impact ads in these media have.”

Since we internet marketers love to talk about what is cool and happening and what the next big thing is the industry tends toward hyperbole far too often. Hype exceeds reality in this space by a few years at a minimum. When people are forced to look at things with more discerning eyes the shine comes off of these new areas pretty quickly. Who can argue with Peter Kim, Senior Partner at Dachis which advises the likes of Johnson & Johnson on marketing strategies when he says:

“When we get into the need to drive results, you can’t spend money on the experiments and hope to keep your job and get your sales goals.”

That’s just reality talking and I believe that oftentimes the internet marketing world checks reality at the door and thinks cool outranks smart. It doesn’t matter what market you are in, when you throw away money on unproven (and sometimes just plain speculative) marketing options you are being irresponsible. Accountability in the financial markets is an important subject these days. How about accountability in marketing?

Aside from the effect of less spending there may be another consequence of this slowdown which will be consolidation in the already ‘boutiquey’ world of these experimental advertising vehicles. Investment in these kinds of companies will slow. This all comes together as a ‘perfect storm’ of difficult factors for this industry that is trying to tap into the tremendous ‘potential’ that may need to be redefined anyway. Realistic projections would be interesting to see versus the hype we see all the time.

To wrap up, Larry Bettino, a general partner at StarVest Partners, a New York based investment fund says, “The assumption that eyeballs would generate ad revenue is no longer valid. Many firms won’t be able to survive what is going to be a much more difficult environment.” What I take away from that is that is that we should be concentrating on the elements of online marketing that work. While it sounds very plain vanilla and not so exciting, search marketing is hard to argue with even the dollars are getting tighter. There is nothing wrong with getting back to basics even in the ‘new world economy’.

Comments

Google Lets (Some) Users Adjust Search Results

Users’ work will, at this point, only be reflected when they’re logged into their own Google accounts – there’s no helping out (or messing it up for) the rest of us, in other words. 

The idea of expanding this closed experiment into the mainstream has created a lot of interesting possibilities, however.

If one person was able to affect everyone’s results, spammers would probably ruin Google within days.  Don’t think that the company doesn’t realize this, though, so users might instead have to achieve some sort of critical mass in order to change anything.

There’s also the chance that Google will simply use all of this input to update its algorithms; the experiment is really only a speedier and more direct reflection of what already happens.

The least exciting option is that the experiment will just remain a matter of each individual searcher fine-tuning his or her own results. 

Actually, the least exciting option is that the experiment will get canceled, but the individualized search route isn’t much better; given the existence of bookmarks and human memory, it seems like a lot of work going towards very little gain.

We’ll be sure to report any updates relating to this experiment (which was first spotted by Haochi Chen); it might become yet another abandoned idea, but could also represent a major change in the way Google works.

The experiments include alternative views for search results, keyboard shortcuts and new navigation options. All the experiments represent some interesting improvements to the current Google search experience.

Descriptions of the new experiments as listed on the Google Experiments page:

Alternate views for search results:

See results on a timeline, map, or in context of other information types. With these views, Google’s technology extracts key dates, locations, measurements, and more from select search results so you can view the information in a different dimension.

Keyboard shortcuts:

Navigate search results quickly and easily, minimizing use of your mouse.

Left-hand search navigation:

Search deeper in a particular type of content- patents, products or news, for example. Google searches across all kinds of content, then ranks results by relevance.

If you want to see additional results of a particular content type, just click a link in the left-hand search navigation.

Right-hand contextual search navigation

Similar to the left-hand search navigation, right-hand contextual search navigation allows you to search deeper in a particular type of content or to search related terms – but from the right side of the page.

All the new experiments will be welcome additions to Google’s user interface and options. Unfortunately you can only sign up for one of them, so pick wisely and make sure to provide them with feedback – chances are, they’ll be released as permanent additions in the not too distant future. Sign up for Google Experiments here.

Comments

Tag:

Now they’re working on “EyeLab,” a studio dedicated to turning glossy 30- to 60-minute shows into bite-sized web clips. Even more revolutionary, CBS is also planning to involve users in not only watching video clips but making and uploading their own mashups of CBS clips.

Perhaps most revealing is the attitude of CBS’s President of Marketing, George Schweitzer. He states, “Online video is not just about TV shows as we know them, and EyeLab content is not for TV.”

Expanding on that idea, MediaPost writes:

“By inviting fans to participate, we expect to grow our already vast content slate tremendously,” said Patrick Keane, executive vice president, chief marketing officer, CBS Interactive. “We are well aware that the Internet is the world’s best laboratory.”

The professionally-made clips are ultimately destined for CBS’s online advertising networks, and be geared toward “simultaneously market CBS shows and entertain viewers.”

CBS is working very hard to allow its fans to use their copyrighted material in an “acceptable outlet,” and for that I applaud them. But what are they going to do if when someone uploads a clip that’s half CSI and half The Matrix?

Comments

Tag:

This achievement led Steven Starr, the founder and chairman of Revver, to state, “The time and place to be an independent creator is right now, online.  Smart advertisers are financing an online economy that supports these creators, and the top talent will build fortunes.  This is historic: It is the birth of a sustainable art form, and it’s happening before our eyes.”

Doug Bresler, the creator of “Doogtoons,” would probably agree – he tossed some complimentary words into the official press release, and it was his brand that actually received Revver’s one millionth dollar.

Also, let’s not forget the lads at Eepybird – NewTeeVee’s Jackson West reports that they “have earned over $50,000 to date for the nearly 11 million views garnered by the Extreme Diet Coke & Mentos Experiments clip.”

So give Revver a cookie for its revenue-sharing achievement, or better yet, a cake with one candle – the company just had its first birthday, as well.