#A new weapon in the fight against cancer Cancer happens when cells in the body start growing uncontrollably.
But what if the tissue surrounding a tumour could be enlisted to stop the cancer spreading?
Many cancer researchers believe that targeting the spread of cancer to other organs, otherwise known as metastasis, holds the key to successfully treating the disease
because metastasis is the cause of death for 90%of those who die of cancer.
In the past, many treatments aimed at preventing metastasis have been targeted at tumour cells themselves, for example with chemotherapy,
but after a while the tumour cells can become resistant to the treatment and the cancer then spreads.
Welcome environment Recent research has shown also that the cells and proteins that surround a tumour play an important role in determining how it behaves.
recruiting their help in creating a micro-environment with suitable conditions for the cancer to spread.
A large proportion of the cells found in the tumour micro-environment are associated cancer fibroblasts (CAFS.
and helps heal wounds. However in cancer, fibroblasts are coopted into re-sculpting and stiffening the surrounding matrix.
This helps the tumour to grow larger by encouraging cells to divide and allows cancer cells to escape into the bloodstream from where they can then spread to other parts of the body.
and help bring the cancer-associated fibroblast cells back on side against the cancer. Further experiments found that the CAFSCHANGE in behaviour was caused by a protein that is involved in sensing the amount of oxygen available to the cells.
The team then used a drug in the mice with cancer that fools this oxygen sensor into behaving
They found that the cancer was then less likely to spread in those mice that had been treated with the drug than in those that hadn.
However, it is an exciting development in the way we think about how cancer can be treated.
One of the great challenges in cancer treatment is that tumour cells are genetically unstable
As our understanding of the complex relationship between cancer and our bodies evolves, we will find new ways to target
and combat the disease. It is very likely that the chemotherapies of the future will exploit these interactions
1. 1 billion people more than three times the population of the United states live without electricity. So it goes without saying that ending energy poverty is a key step in ending poverty itself.
And world leaders agree a sustainable development goal just for energy was adopted last month. It emphasizes the role of renewable energy in getting us to the finish line of reaching sustainable energy for all by 2030.
What will give us a big boost in that race? Private financing. During an Oct 9 panel discussion at the World bank Group-IMF Annual Meetings in Lima, Peru, seven public and private experts converged to talk about renewable energy,
and the pivotal role private finance can play. The session was moderated by Angus Mccrone, Chief Editor of Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Kicking off the event, the International finance corporation Executive vice president and CEO, Jin-Yong Cai, andrune Bjerke, CEO of DNB,
the largest financial services group in Norway, talked about the state of renewables. The money for renewable investments is there said,
Bjerke, but he also emphasized that the infrastructure is not. think we should look more into the distribution systems:
how to make the grids more accessible, how to invest in new technologies related to storage,
how to take advantage of the tech revolution to put more emphasis to new, green energy sources,
he said. One example is Senegal, which has made great strides in renewables, especially hydropower, but struggles with distribution. frican villages are isolated quite.
You might have a major power plant, but it doesn mean that you have said access Thierno Alassane Sall,
Senegal Minister of Energy and Development of Renewable energies. e can resolve it without financing solutions to transportation and distribution issues.
That where we need the investors and the support of the international community. But if infrastructure takes investment to build
investors want to see infrastructure already in place . or an energy project to succeed on a larger scale,
you have to have solid transmission and distribution networks. You have to have reasonable, clear regulations so people know what theye getting into,
said Cai. ee been much more daring and willing to take risks through our investments.
We try to demonstrate that renewable energy is part of the solution. Jordan was able to turn a crisis into an opportunity. ur story is one of resilience and turning challenges into opportunities.
With all honesty it was a question of survival almost of life and death, said Imad Najib Fakhoury,
Jordan Minister of Planning and International Cooperation. ee one of the few countries in the middle East that doesn have oil.
We imported 96%of our energy. So we started a diversification strategy in 2008. By 2010, we adopted a law in energy efficiency
so we set up the framework to implement the strategy. In 2011 the Arab spring broke out
We also lost our gas supply (from Egypt) for electricity. Jordan government had to replace gas with diesel at five times the cost.
and made an arrangement with the IMF for a reform program in the energy sector. We removed all subsidies on fuel products,
Peru Minister Of mines and Energy, Rosa Maria Ortiz Rios, said renewables will play a major role in diversifying the country energy generation sources.
The panel agreed on one thing: Without renewable energy, we cannot end poverty by 2030. enewable energy is the foundation of a modern economy,
said Cai
#What happens when quantum physics meets genetic engineering? Nature has had billions of years to perfect photosynthesis, which directly or indirectly supports virtually all life On earth.
In that time, the process has achieved almost 100 percent efficiency in transporting the energy of sunlight from receptors to reaction centers where it can be harnessed a performance vastly better than even the best solar cells.
One way plants achieve this efficiency is by making use of the exotic effects of quantum mechanics effects sometimes known as uantum weirdness.
Surprisingly, the researchers at MIT and Eni, the Italian energy company, achieved this new approach to solar energy not with high-tech materials
or microchips but by using genetically engineered viruses. This achievement in coupling quantum research and genetic manipulation, described this week in the journal Nature Materials,
was the work of MIT professors Angela Belcher, an expert on engineering viruses to carry out energy-related tasks,
and Seth Lloyd, an expert on quantum theory and its potential applications; research associate Heechul Park;
and 14 collaborators at MIT, Eni, and Italian universities. Lloyd, a professor of mechanical engineering, explains that in photosynthesis,
a photon hits a receptor called a chromophore, which in turn produces an exciton a quantum particle of energy.
This exciton jumps from one chromophore to another until it reaches a reaction center, where that energy is harnessed to build the molecules that support life.
But the hopping pathway is random and inefficient unless it takes advantage of quantum effects that allow it, in effect,
to take multiple pathways at once and select the best ones, behaving more like a wave than a particle.
This efficient movement of excitons has one key requirement: The chromophores have to be arranged just right, with exactly the right amount of space between them.
the team was able to get it to bond with multiple synthetic chromophores or, in this case, organic dyes.
Lloyd and Belcher, a professor of biological engineering, were reporting on different projects they had worked on,
out that the viruses Belcher works with have the right length scales to potentially support quantum effects.
When he saw Belcher report on her work with engineered viruses he wondered if that might provide a way to artificially induce a similar effect,
Belcher team had created their first test version of the engineered virus. Many months of work then went into perfecting the receptors and the spacings.
and analyze the data. That why I so excited by this. hile this initial result is essentially a proof of concept rather than a practical system,
it points the way toward an approach that could lead to inexpensive and efficient solar cells or light-driven catalysis,
and transport energy from incoming light, but do not yet harness it to produce power (as in solar cells)
or molecules (as in photosynthesis). But this could be done by adding a reaction center, where such processing takes place,
a professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard university who was involved not in this work. The research, he says, ombines the work of a leader in theory (Lloyd) and a leader in experiment (Belcher) in a truly multidisciplinary and exciting combination that spans biology to physics to potentially, future technology.?
ccess to controllable excitonic systems is shared a goal by many researchers in the field, Aspuru-Guzik adds. his work provides fundamental understanding that can allow for the development of devices with an increased control of exciton flow. his article is published in collaboration with MIT.
Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum. To keep up with the Agenda subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
He is currently Bruce Mahan Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. He received his S b. degree in Chemistry from MIT in 1966,
#How One Business Approach Can Save The Environment And Bring $4. 5 Trillion To The World Economy Despite reports of a turbulent global economy,
the World bank delivered some great news recently. For the first time in history, extreme poverty (people living on less than $1. 90 each day) worldwide is set to fall to below 10%.
%Considering that this rate has declined from 37.1%in 1990 to 9. 6%in 2015, it is hopeful that one-third of the global population will participate the middle class by 2030.
For all industries, this growth will bring new challenges and pressures when meeting unprecedented demand in an environment of dwindling if not already scarce resources.
And because current manufacturing methods create massive waste, about 80%of $3. 2 trillion material value is lost irrecoverably each year in the consumer products industry alone.
According to Dan Wellers, Digital Futures lead for SAP, f the economy is not sustainable, we are in trouble.
And in the case of the linear economy, it is not sustainable because it inherently wastes resources that are becoming scarce.
Right now, most serious businesspeople think sustainability is in conflict with earning a profit and becoming wealthy.
True sustainability, economic sustainability, is exactly the opposite. With this mindset, it becomes strategic to support practices that support a circular economy in the long run.
The circular economy: Good for business, good for the environment What if your business practices and operation can help save our planet?
Would you do it? Now, what if I said that this one business approach could put $4. 5 trillion up for grabs?
By taking a more restorative and regenerative approach, every company can redesign the future of the environment, the economy,
and their overall business. ade possible by the digital economy, forward-thinking businesses are choosing to embrace this value to intentionally reimagine the economy around how we use resources,
observed Wellers. y slowing down the depletion of resources and possibly even rejuvenating them, early adopters of circular practices have created business models that are profitable,
and therefore sustainable. And they are starting to scale. In addition to making good financial sense, there another reason the circular economy is a sound business practice:
Your customers. In his blog 99 Mind-blowing Ways the Digital economy Is Changing the Future of Business,
Vivek Bapat revealed that 68%of consumers are interested in companies that bring social and environmental change.
More important, 84%of global consumers actively seek out socially and environmentally responsible brands and are willing to switch brands associated with those causes.
Five ways your business can take advantage of the circular economy As the circular economy proves,
business and economic growth does need not to happen at the cost of the environment and public health and safety.
As everyone searches for an answer to job creation economic development, and environmental safety, we are in an economic era primed for change.
As a result, businesses are scaling their wealth by investing in new economic growth strategies. What are these strategies?
Here are five business models that can enable companies to unlock the economic benefits of the circular economy,
and maximize the economic value of product return flows. Extension of product life: Extend the life cycle of products and assets.
Promote a platform for collaboration among product users as individuals or organizations. Product as a service:
#When Actors Replace Instructors as On-Camera Talent Instructors have typically been the on-screen talent for the recorded lectures used in online courses.
But when Purdue University began expanding the online certification courses in its Engineering Professional Education program,
Mundane 20-to 40-minute lecture videos of a"talking head"no longer provided a learning experience that professionals taking online courses would tolerate.
The Engineering Professional Education program provides non-credit online courses designed for"lifelong learners, "led by instructors who come from the field."
"Our students love them because they're so close to the content and they're using
former director of professional development programs who now is the graduate programs director in Purdue's Weldon School of Biomedical engineering.
Still, student feedback suggested a desire for higher-quality videos in the online certification courses.
As a result, Purdue has begun pulling away from the use of subject-matter experts (SMES) for prerecorded lectures,
The result has been much happier students. How It Works The development of a new online program in project management provided Maris
and her colleagues with the perfect opportunity to try the new approach to video creation.
and the university ultimately selected a location near Dallas, TX several states away. The on-campus studio couldn't commit to the kinds of time blocks required for the project,
the design team's work would be delayed.""If you're hiring professional talent and they're going to be there for several days,
When the videos alternate between actors, the students get used to seeing a mix and won't be shocked"if somebody new shows up.
"The actors are filmed against a green screen, and the background, created by the studio's graphic designers,
students can trust the content; and there's a certain level of flexibility in adjusting the content as the need arises they don't need to work so closely from a script.
students won't watch the videos. Likewise, students may not be able to"relate to"the instructor.
In one example, noted Maris, an instructor looked young, and students would comment on that in their feedback.
It took the videos along with interaction with the instructor in the discussion forum e-mails and online help sessions"for students to be convinced that he really is the expert."
"In using actors, the obvious challenge was that they might not be"believable "if they mispronounce the jargon of the subject.
Maris said that one SME Purdue works with"charges a pretty hefty hourly rate. For me to have her in the studio at her hourly rate would be way more expensive than to hire the professional talent we hire."
Research has shown that adult learners"quit retaining information"after that much viewing time, said Maris. In order to achieve that length,
videos focus on specific concepts learners are going to need to understand. This approach has a second advantage:
Or a new topic video based on SME or student suggestions can be inserted wherever it's needed.
Conversely, when data shows that students aren't using specific videos at all, or if students give feedback that a given topic isn't pertinent to the work environment,
those videos are removed from the program. To give the videos a shelf-life of"maybe a couple of years,"noted Maris,
"We couldn't pay that kind of price if we were doing 40 or 50 five-,six-or seven-minute lecture videos,
"But the studio was enthralled pretty with working with a Big 10 university and partnering with Purdue for this series of courses and the potential of other online certification courses in the future.
and put many learners through, which is what we can do with these courses, "she said,
the expense will be worth it. Actors Are Not Instructors The actors never introduce themselves in the lecture videos,
nor do their names appear on the screen.""They never state that they are the instructor,
"That practice is in response to feedback from the faculty, who were concerned that students would feel like the school was pulling a"bait and switch.""
""We didn't want our students to feel like we weren't giving them the real thing,
"she noted. Keep Testing the Results During the development of the beta course, the design team had its SME record a couple of videos on camera using the same teleprompter setup.
Students still preferred the actor.""We didn't say who was remarked who, "Maris.""But they could tell right away.
what she does in the course content. Go with the actors because we love to watch them.'
"We have learned from student feedback that they're more likely to watch the shorter lectures and well produced videos."
The Old Way Vickie Maris, former director of professional development programs who now is the graduate programs director in Purdue's Weldon School of Biomedical engineering,
described the traditional way Purdue's Engineering Professional Education program produces lecture videos: After an initial brainstorming session
The team uses Adobe Connect to capture the audio and the Powerpoint slides.""That's a fairly simple way to get something on the ground
"Most of the SMES we've worked with are comfortable creating voice over Powerpoint. That's an easy way for them to get their content out
and for us to have some'meat'to work with.""Those lectures are posted to the course sections in Blackboard Learn for students to access.
To try out new curriculum, the university offers the course in its alpha form for free to about 10 learners,
said Maris.""In exchange for that free registration, they know up front that we're going to ask them at several points along the way for feedback."
which it delivers to about 20-25 students who take the class for a 50 percent registration discount in return for their feedback.
The instructor would use his or her slides on a monitor as a form of teleprompter.
the monitor wasn't exactly in line with the camera, and student feedback could be harsh:"
"Watching her eyes scanning the teleprompter is quite off-putting and sophomoric, "responded one student. Also, in recent years, the students have increasingly found the 10-to 40-minute lectures too long to watch online.
And since the SME was essentially reading his or her notes, it was repetitive content.
Students were either reading their workbooks or watching the videos, but rarely was a student using both learning tools
#Researchers at Brown U Develop Terahertz Wireless Multiplexing A Brown University-led team of researchers has developed a system for multiplexing
and de-multiplexing terahertz waves, solving one of the technical challenges of terahertz wireless networking,
which could potentially deliver data at rates that are up to 100 times faster than current wireless technology.
Terahertz waves operate at a much higher frequency than the microwaves used in cellular and Wi-fi communications,
and can therefore offer much greater bandwidth. However, there are numerous technical challenges to solve before terahertz wireless can become a reality.
This new multiplexing system potentially solves one of those challenges. Multiplexing is the process of separating streams of data that are traveling through a single medium
such as a single TV cable carrying multiple channels.""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 research paper on the subject, in a prepared statement."
"This is, to our knowledge, the first time anyone has demonstrated a viable strategy for multiplexing in the terahertz range."
"The terahertz multiplexing system developed by the researchers uses a"leaky wave antenna, "which has"two metal plates placed in parallel to form a waveguide,"according to information from the university."
"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.""Each frequency can carry a separate data stream,
and the data receiver at the other end could pick up an individual stream by accepting radiation at a specific angle.
The researchers published a paper, "Frequency-Division Multiplexing in the Terahertz Range Using a Leaky-Wave Antenna,"in Nature Photonics on September 14.
The lead author of the paper was Nicholas Karl, a graduate student at Brown n
#Invisible Drones Could Become Reality with New Meta Material Electrical engineers at the University of California in San diego have created a new design for a cloaking device,
using an ultra-thin Teflon substrate, studded with cylinders of ceramic, that can endlight weaves around objects coated with it,
creating a cloak. The Teflon has a low refractive index, while the ceramic refractive index is higher, a combination
which allows light to be dispersed through the sheet without any absorption. Prof. Boubacar Kanté, senior author of the study xtremely Thin Dielectric Metasurface for Carpet Cloakingnvisibility may seem like magic at first
but its underlying concepts are familiar to everyone. All it requires is a clever manipulation of our perception,
said Boubacar Kanté, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer engineering at the UC San diego Jacobs School of engineering and the senior author of the study. ull invisibility still seems beyond reach today,
but it might become a reality in the near future thanks to recent progress in cloaking devices.
Up to now, the main theoretical tool used for designing invisibility cloaks has been transformation optics/conformal mapping according to Fermat principle,
an electromagnetic wave will travel between two points along the path of least time. In a homogeneous material
this path is just a straight line. However, in an inhomogeneous material, the path becomes a curve
Thus, one can control the path of waves by appropriately designing the material parameters (electric permittivity and magnetic permeability.
An extremely thin cloaking devise is designed using dielectric materials. The cloak is a thin Teflon sheet (light blue) embedded with many small, cylindrical ceramic particles (dark blue.
Photo courtesy of Li-Yi Hsu/University of California, San diego) An extremely thin cloaking devise is designed using dielectric materials.
The cloak is a thin Teflon sheet (light blue) embedded with many small, cylindrical ceramic particles (dark blue.
Photo courtesy of Li-Yi Hsu/University of California, San diego) By scattering the electromagnetic radiation in the visible, infrared or radar spectrum,
such Metamaterial will be able to render a coated object undetectable in these wave frequencies, by forcing light
or radar waves to bypass the object surface through the coating, which effectively loaksthe object.
The new, super-thin metamaterial has the capability to better hide the three-dimensionality of objects
The University of California has achieved a cloak that won reduce any intensity when light is reflected from the coated
Having the ability to create ultimate stealth protection for anything over a battlefield or warzone provides enormous military advantage over the adversary.
which can provide the military with air superiority. While this cloak has numerous applications for the military,
this technology will create a ripple effect beyond the battlefield that will improve the performance of other diverse applications.
Compared to an invisibility cloak, this technology has not only the ability to conceal, but the ability to increase optical communication signal speed
We can change the way light waves are being reflected at will and ultimately focus a large area of sunlight onto a solar power tower
#Russian Parliament Approves Military action in Syria, While US Scales Back Support to Rebels The upper chamber of the Russian parliament has given unanimously a formal consent to President Putin to use the nation military in Syria to fight terrorism at a request from the Syrian President Bashar
Assad. Consent was necessary for deployment of troops for foreign combat missions under the Russian constitution.
Head of the presidential administration Sergey Ivanov stressed that no ground operations are planned in Syria.
Russia would use its warplanes to hit terrorist targets when requested by the Syrian government.
He stressed that unlike the US-led coalition of countries that bombs militant troops in Syria
and Syria has stopped temporarily receiving new recruits at its training sites. e continue to recruit
#US ARMY Turns to Computer Software for Medic Training Technology already has pushed medical and emergency responder training well beyond the days of mock wounds and static mannequins.
New software designed for Army medical training allows personnel to see in real-time the effect of their treatments on the bodies of virtual patients and high-tech mannequins.
Combat Medic, developed for the service by Applied Research Associates, places trainees in a 3-D collaborative world where they learn to treat the three injuries most associated with preventable battlefield deaths hemorrhage, blocked
a new ARA software program funded in part by the Army intends to significantly advance that training via a downloadable hysiology enginethat allows medical personnel see how their actions affect every other aspect of their patient physiology.
what happening to the respiration rate, this is how the patient is responding to your actions. great deal of military medical training is conducted now using sophisticated gaming systems and virtual reality, with the trainee personnel n front of a laptop or with a mouse, keyboard or joystick,
and interacting with virtual patients in the computer, she said. With the new software, not only will they be able to train to perform various procedures,
but immediately see the affects actions and treatments have on the patient. The Defense Medical Research Development Program put $7 million up for the new software
which not only may be downloaded into Dod existing virtual reality and mannequin training system, but by the broader public because it is open source. ll the models we are creating can be downloaded for free by anyone to create immersive training,
Carter said. hat the Army is hoping is that this physiology engine becomes the standard for physiology simulations,
so that anybody in the future who creates a medical training game for the military can take and use Biogears in that.?
Physiology serves as the foundation for any medical simulation you have said out there Matthew Hackett, science and technology manager with the Army Research Laboratory.
This software allows anyone in the military, Dod-wide, to take this as a building block for simulation
and not have to do that from scratch every single time. his means a cost savings to the military,
since programs will not have to be rebuilt each time for different kinds of simulations, he said. It also good from the industry standpoint because,
as open source, ore people can get into the ballgameto build simulation programs, he said e
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