Using a revolutionary new microscope, scientists can now peer into embryos and watch, in one of the world's smallest 3-D movies, as brains, eyes and other organs form. A team at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, watched zebra fish and fruit fly embryos develop under the scope for as long as 58 hours, charting the location of every cell as it danced around the embryo. This experiment would have been impossible a mere two years ago before a recent spate of innovations advanced microscopy years into the future.When it comes to watching the inner workings of cells , fluorescence microscopy is second to none. In this technique, scientists attach fluorescent tags to cellular proteins and, by shining a laser on the cells, cause them to light up. [More] European Molecular Biology Laboratory - Heidelberg - Microscope - Microscopy - Methods and Techniques

The Deepening Crisis: When Will We Face the Planet's Environmental Problems?

With this final column I will transition Sustainable Developments from Scientific American to the home page of the Earth Institute ( www.earth.columbia.edu ). Although I will continue to contribute occasional essays to the magazine, I will use this last regular column to say thank you and take stock of the deepening crisis of sustainable development.During the four years of this column, the world’s inability to face up to the reality of the growing environmental crisis has become even more palpable. Every major goal that international bodies have established for global environmental policy as of 2010 has been postponed, ignored or defeated. Sadly, this year will quite possibly become the warmest on record, yet another testimony to human-induced environmental catastrophes running out of control. [More] Sustainable development - Environment - Earth - The Earth Institute - Environmental policy

Re-thinking the Internet with security and mobility in mind

The middle-aged Internet ( ARPANET first went live more than 40 years ago ) could easily slide into complacency, but the National Science Foundation (NSF) might be staving this off with four multimillion-dollar grants that the agency has recently awarded. The Future Internet Architecture (FIA) research projects are expected to re-think the network from the ground up, taking into account emerging security concerns, the demand for greater bandwidth and the growth of mobile devices. [More] ARPANET - National Science Foundation - Research - United States - Security

Engineering students happily deafened by Mwanga metalworkers

Editor's Note: Students from Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering are working in Tanzania to help improve sanitation and energy technologies in local villages. The student-led group , known as Humanitarian Engineering Leadership Projects (HELP), will file dispatches from the field during their trip. This is their seventh blog post for Scientific American.The rooster in the room next to us crowed loudly at sunrise, and we despondently got out of bed with the goal of finding Fundi [see photo at left] , the town of Kalinzi's elusive stove maker. We found him farming and arranged to meet with him after work at the seventh hour of the Swahili clock, 1 p.m. international time (Swahili time starts with the first hour of sunlight and is therefore six hours behind). [More] Tanzania - Swahili language - Thayer School of Engineering - Engineering - Dartmouth College

Sounds like art fraud: Acoustic waves give clues to paintings' provenance

Theft, imitation and outright deception can make a painting's history even murkier than centuries of accumulated grime. But getting to the bottom of a piece of art's origins can be crucial for restoration --and forensics. [More] Fraud - Crime - Theft - Provenance - Art and Antiquities

Wind Turbine or Airplane? New Radar Could Cut Through the Signal Clutter

Wind turbines function best in wide-open spaces where they can capture airflow unobstructed by buildings or mountains. Unfortunately, these same conditions are also optimal for aircraft takeoffs and landings, creating tension between wind energy utilities and airports in a number of locations worldwide. Utility-scale wind turbines, many of which stand more than 100 meters tall, can interfere with the radar used to safely guide aircraft. [More] Wind turbine - Wind power - Energy - Wind - Business

Researchers discover how to conduct first test of 'untestable' string theory

Researchers have planned how to carry out the first experimental test of string theory. String theory was originally developed to describe the fundamental particles and forces that make up our universe. The new research describes the unexpected discovery that string theory also seems to predict the behavior of entangled quantum particles. As this prediction can be tested in the laboratory, researchers can now test string theory.

Next step in evolution? A technical life form that passes on knowledge and experience

Dutch biologist Gerard Jagers op Akkerhuis has developed the ?operator hierarchy? -- a system based on the complexity of particles and of organisms, which can predict the next step in evolution: a technical life form, that can pass on its knowledge and experience to the next generation.

Chemists, engineers achieve world record with high-speed graphene transistors

Researchers have developed a new fabrication process for high-speed graphene transistors using a nanowire as the self-aligned gate. This new technique does not produce any appreciable defects in the graphene during fabrication, so the carrier mobility is retained. Also, by using a self-aligned approach with a nanowire as the gate, the group was able to overcome alignment difficulties previously encountered and fabricate short channel devices with unprecedented performance.

Computer technique could help partially sighted 'see' better

Thousands of people who are partially sighted following stroke or brain injury could gain greater independence from a simple, cheap and accessible training course which could eventually be delivered from their mobile phones or hand-held games consoles, according to a new study.

Probing for principles underlying animal flock patterns: A model system for group behavior of nanomachines

A team of physicists from Germany has developed a versatile biophysical model system that opens the door to studying phenomena such as the seemingly choreographed motion of hundreds or thousands of fish, birds, or insects, and probing their underlying principles. Using a combination of an experimental platform and theoretical models, more complex systems can now be described and their properties investigated.

New app shows 2-D structure of thousands of RNA molecules

For the first time, it's possible to experimentally capture a global snapshot of the conformation of thousands of RNA molecules in a cell. The finding is important because this scrappy little sister of DNA has recently been shown to be much more complex than previously thought.

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