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How It Works: The First Disposable, USB-Powered Genome Sequencer

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MinION Sequencer MinION is a disposable device that contains a sensor chip, ASIC and the fluidics system needed to perform a complete single-molecule sensing experiment. Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd.
Nanopore technology that lets your computer read your chromosomes

The first human genome sequence took 13 years and cost $3 billion - now, less than a decade later, a new company promises to sequence a full genome in 15 minutes for a song. If this exponential increase in efficiency and drop in price sounds like something out of the computing industry, that's because it is. Multicore processors and customizable clusters are coming to gene sequencing, threatening to disrupt one of the most important industries in modern medicine.

Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd. says its new micro-sequencers - one of which is USB-powered and will retail for $900 - could be used quickly and easily in the field, identifying anything from viruses at airports to new species in the deep jungle. Here's how it works.

To determine how nucleotide bases are arranged, most sequencing machines break a DNA strand apart and replicate it, amplifying it by several orders of magnitude. Computers suss out the nucleotide arrangements using a variety of methods, from dyes to other chemicals. Take the forthcoming $1,000-per-genome Ion Proton chip, for instance. It attaches DNA fragments to microscopic beads and spins them in microwells on a semiconductor chip. The wells are flooded with each of the DNA nucleotides, and the machine looks for matchups. When there's a match, a positive hydrogen ion is released, and algorithms interpret the resulting voltage change to determine which bases matched, thereby building a chart of base arrangements.

Instead, Oxford Nanopore's technology keeps the purified DNA strand intact, passing it through a nanoscale biological "pore" made from a protein. Nanopores first entered the scene in the 1990s, but haven't yet made it to market for a variety of reasons. Oxford Nanopore says recent advances in polymer chemistry have made its design possible.

The heart of the company's design is a custom-designed nanopore, inserted into a polymer membrane that rests on top of a microwell. The membrane has a high electrical resistance, and a voltage is applied so a current passes through the nanopore. Each microwell has its own electrode. A user would pour some purified DNA into the cartridge, where it would flow over the membrane and through the nanopores. As the DNA strand passes through a pore, each of its nucleotides interrupts the current in a measurable way. This change in conductivity can be used to identify the nucleotide.

Whole arrays of nanopores and their microwells are embedded onto chips, using typical semiconductor manufacturing techniques, and these are inserted into a disposable cartridge. Each cartridge is built so the nanopores are tuned to sense specific molecules - like DNA, or maybe proteins, drugs or other compounds. A user inserts the cartridge into the sequencing node of choice: either the GridION node, which looks like an old-school VCR, or the MinION system, which is a slightly fat USB stick.

Each nanopore analyzes its sample independently of the others. This massively parallel approach allows for faster analysis, according to the company - the nanopores can read nucleotides in real time with low error rates. What's more, the GridION nodes can be used as a customizable cluster, in the same way computers can - if you have two machines, you can either use them as two machines, or as one machine running twice as fast, as a company spokeswoman describes it. Users will be able to determine the configurations they want. The MinION devices can work in clusters, too, using the company's software and a USB hub.

"Oxford Nanopore is as much an electronics company as a biotechnology company," company CEO Gordon Sanghera said.

The company tried it out with the Phi X phage, a bacterial virus, sequencing the virus' entire 54,000-base, or 5.4 kilobase, genome in one fell swoop. The first GridION machines to go on sale this year will read 100 kilobases, which is far longer than the DNA snippets used by most current sequencers. This will give a more accurate glimpse of DNA's structure, the company says.

Initially, the GridION system will feature a node containing 2,000 nanopores, which can read DNA at hundreds of kilobases per second. The MinION cartridge can run 150 megabases per hour over its six-hour lifetime. By 2013, the company plans to start selling 8,000-nanopore nodes, each reading hundreds of kilobases. A cluster of 20 of these nodes would theoretically be able to sequence the 3.2 billion base pairs in a human genome within 15 minutes, Sanghera said.


MIT Predicts That World Economy Will Collapse By 2030

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Crowds and Haze in Shanghai Jeremy Vandel via Flickr

Forty years after its initial publication, a study called The Limits to Growth is looking depressingly prescient. Commissioned by an international think tank called the Club of Rome, the 1972 report found that if civilization continued on its path toward increasing consumption, the global economy would collapse by 2030. Population losses would ensue, and things would generally fall apart.

The study was - and remains - nothing if not controversial, with economists doubting its predictions and decrying the notion of imposing limits on economic growth. Australian researcher Graham Turner has examined its assumptions in great detail during the past several years, and apparently his latest research falls in line with the report's predictions, according to Smithsonian Magazine. The world is on track for disaster, the magazine says.

The study, initially completed at MIT, relied on several computer models of economic trends and estimated that if things didn't change much, and humans continued to consume natural resources apace, the world would run out at some point. Oil will peak (some argue it has) before dropping down the other side of the bell curve, yet demand for food and services would only continue to rise. Turner says real-world data from 1970 to 2000 tracks with the study's draconian predictions: "There is a very clear warning bell being rung here. We are not on a sustainable trajectory," he tells Smithsonian.

Is this impossible to fix? No, according to both Turner and the original study. If governments enact stricter policies and technologies can be improved to reduce our environmental footprint, economic growth doesn't have to become a market white dwarf, marching toward inevitable implosion. But just how to do that is another thing entirely.

[Smithsonian]

Photo Artists Use Filter "Normally Used by NASA" to Remove People From Crowded Urban Places

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Columbus Circle, Deserted Lucie & Simon

"Silent World," a photography project by Parisian artists Lucie & Simon, takes the most crowded parts of New York City, Paris, and Beijing, and alters them in a basic (but technically incredible difficult) way. We recognize Times Square, Columbus Circle, and more landmarks from our own hometown, but only barely--those usually people-clogged landmarks are now empty, totally bereft of the swarms of tourists and locals alike that give those areas their personality. Apparently the artist duo used a neutral filter "normally used by NASA for analyzing stars." The filter allows the photographers to take extra-long exposures, and then cut out any moving objects like people or cars. Check out video of the project below.

The Best of the 2012 New York Auto Show

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At the 2012 New York International Auto Show, a healthier industry moved beyond the trauma of the last several years, rolling out an assortment of new production vehicles, concept cars, and even one flying car. Here are some highlights.

The Most Amazing Images of the Week, April 2-6, 2012

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Tungurahua The Tungurahua volcano in Ecuador has some of the most amazing, terrifying eruptions in the world. This one, from 2006, shows molten lava streaming down the sides of the mountain while ash spews into the night sky. More info here. Patrick Taschler

From the amazing Tungurahua volcano spewing molten rock and ash to a stunning concept motorcycle to a cargo ship smashing into the rocky beach of Wales, this week's roundup of the most amazing science and tech images is an excellent one (though we couldn't find any science-and-Passover imagery, to our surprise). And the weekend itself is shaping up to be excellent! So go enjoy it! Wait, no, look through this gallery first. Then enjoy it!


Click to launch the gallery.

At the New York Auto Show, a Street-Legal Airplane Steals the Spotlight

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Terrafugia's Transition, in Flight Terrafugia
Terrafugia's Transition arrives in New York

The biggest attraction at this year's New York International Auto Show isn't an automobile at all. Technically, it's a "roadable aircraft." Sometimes it's called a street-legal airplane. Whatever you call it, Terrafugia's Transition is a vehicle that lives in between strict definitions. And at an otherwise unremarkable showcase of the latest model year automobiles and newest concept cars, the Transition is the star of the show.

When PopSci last took an in-depth look at the Transition, Terrafugia was in its infancy and its first proof-of-concept vehicle was still awaiting its first flight. The vehicle's future was anything but certain. It looked a bit awkward, with a huge canard wing built into the nose of the plane, doubling as a front bumper. It was also, at the time, estimated to cost the consumer roughly $200,000.

Since then, the price has gone up (roughly 100 individuals have dropped $10,000 deposits on the $279,000 vehicles, which are slated to begin shipping next year). That awkward canard wing in the nose has disappeared. But the chief difference is the most important one. The Transition sitting on display at the New York International Auto Show is both a real airplane and a real car, and people are starting to recognize it as such.

"The proof of concept did what it needed to do, but it was rough," Terrafugia's COO Anna Mracek Dietrich says. "A polished, production- and customer-ready vehicle it was not." Then, nodding toward the vehicle on display--the same vehicle that just completed its successful first flight on March 23--she adds "this is real now."

Making it real wasn't easy. Conjuring a vehicle that lives in two worlds, both as a street-legal automobile and as an Federal Aviation Administration-certified light sport aircraft practically invites red tape. Terrafugia's engineers constantly served two masters who were sometimes at odds with each other: the FAA and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, whose blessing was needed to declare the Transition street legal.

Satisfying them both provided some vexing engineering challenges, but it also made the Transition into the auto-aircraft hybrid it is today. It both drives and flies burning unleaded auto fuel straight from a conventional gas pump. It's the only aircraft we can think of with retractable side-mounted rear-view mirrors and a rear-mounted camera that feeds to a screen in the cab/cockpit (to assist in backing up). And the safety cage, constructed of carbon fiber box beams, is the lightest on any vehicle certified for the road.

But perhaps the most interesting development in the Transition's story isn't how it went from a rough prototype to the New York International Auto Show in just three years, but that the aircraft is here at all. The Transition, Dietrich says, is an airplane first and always has been. The company has been showing off its prototypes at aviation shows like AirVenture in OshKosh, Wis., for a few years now. Its very presence at one of the major car shows signals a shift in focus for Terrafugia, and perhaps a slight change in identity for the Transition as well.

"We've always focused the design on the fact that it's an airplane first, and that's still the case," Dietrich says. "But there's a huge potential here for people that normally wouldn't be exposed to aviation to take an interest in this. Getting a pilot's license isn't nearly undertaking that it used to be for these simple, easy-to-fly little light sport aircraft. You can take two weeks off of work and come back a pilot."

Dietrich says that in examining the customers who have already put down deposits on the first hundred Transitions the company identified a wide range of people interested for a wide range of reasons. Some see it as a recreational vehicle. Others--ranging from real estate developers who desire a birds-eye view of the terrain below to farmers or ranchers who simply need a quick and easy way to cover a lot of ground in a given day--view it as a practical means of transportation given their daily routines and needs.

More to the point: some of them aren't even pilots yet. The FAA's light sport aircraft (LSA) certification requires just 20 hours of flight training for aspiring pilots who wish to fly aircraft like the Transition that are of minimal size and speed and that only operate in favorable conditions. The barrier to entry for piloting something like the Transition is low--low enough that some customers appear to be getting their LSA certifications purely because they see a benefit in the versatility the Transition offers.

So now, with its regulatory approvals in order and a successful first flight under its belt, here sits the Transition in an exhibit hall otherwise packed with the world's most cutting edge automobiles, to the last one designed to keep all four tires firmly on the pavement. Terrafugia still has months of envelope testing, stress trials, and a gamut of other performance evaluations ahead of it, all designed to expose the Transitions flaws. But if the crowds at the New York International Auto Show are any indication, this idea that looked so uncertain just three short years ago might just fly after all.

How It Works: The World's Fastest Elevator

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World's Fastest Elevator Kevin Hand
We've come a long way since the first elevator. This one rockets upward at over 20 MPH--but how does it work?

The first commercial passenger elevator, installed by Otis Elevator Company in 1857, climbed 40 feet a minute. The elevators that Mitsubishi Electric are installing in China's 2,000-foot-tall Shanghai Tower travel 59 feet a second. When construction is complete in 2014, the elevators will whisk passengers straight from the basement-level entrance to the observation deck near the top of the tower, a 1,855-foot journey, in less than a minute. See how this elevator works here.

The Solar System With the Most Planets Is Now ... HD 10180

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HD 10180 ESO/L. Calçada

It's a shame about Pluto. Now that the astronomical community has downgraded the once-furthest planet from the sun to non-planet status (technically it's now referred to as a protoplanet or dwarf planet), our solar system is at risk of being unseated as the largest known planetary system in the universe. An astronomer at the University of Hertfordshire has revisited data related to nearby star HD 10180 and discovered that it very likely has nine planets, making it the most populous known solar system.

Astronomer Mikko Tuomi made the discovery by applying new kinds of statistical analysis to old data gathered when HD10180 first became a point of interest in the Hydrus constellation back in 2010. At that point the star--just 130 light years away--was thought to have five planets, all giants with masses akin to Neptune and Saturn. A sixth planet then surfaced in the data, which describe the way the star wobbles as the gravity of its planets tug on it.

By combing back through the data using different techniques for analysis, Tuomi found evidence for three more planets, all very small (ranging from 1.3 to 5.1 times the size of Earth) and all very close to the star (the closest of the new planets orbits the star in just 1.2 days, the furthest in only 68 days). That, of course, puts them way too close to the star to be considered potentially habitable. But they do put HD 10180 in a class by itself when it comes to planetary population.

This, of course, all depends on the discoveries being confirmed. Tuomi thinks that his new findings confirm the existence of the seventh planet in orbit around HD 10180, but the other two still require more evidence before they can be considered fully confirmed planets.

[PhysOrg]


How it Would Work: Destroying an Incoming Killer Asteroid With a Nuclear Blast

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Earth, and the Near-Earth Objects that Threaten It ESA - P.Carril
Simulations show how unleashing Earth's destructive arsenal into deep space could save the planet

One way or another, it's on everyone's minds, living somewhere in the back of our collective consciousness. Hollywood knows it, and continues to plumb it for box office numbers. Sci-fi is rife with it. The fossil record shouts warnings across millennia about it. Even the dinosaurs developed a particular, albeit brief, loathing for it. The killer asteroid--the one that we might never even see coming--could end life on this planet and there would be nothing humans could do about it. It creates a kind of helplessness that's difficult to even think about, and it's Robert Weaver's job to think about it all the time.

Weaver, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), doesn't hunt for killer asteroids, but he does study the ways humans might use their vast nuclear arsenals--designed to wipe each other off the face of the planet--to save the whole of humanity from a catastrophic asteroid impact. Weaver has been running simulations on LANL's Cielo supercomputer to determine humanity's capacity to mitigate an impending asteroid threat using a one-megaton nuclear energy source--one roughly 50 times more powerful than the blasts inflicted upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the close of World War II.

There's more than one way to divert an asteroid of course. With the proper notice, like that afforded us by the asteroid Apophis or 2011 AG5, humans could fly a spacecraft out to intercept an asteroid in deep space. This spacecraft could impact the asteroid to nudge it slightly off course, or it could fly abreast of the threat, acting as a kind of "gravity tractor" whose slight gravitational tug would push it off its collision course over time. It's even been suggested that a spacecraft could bombard one side of a killer asteroid with a laser, heating it enough to change its orbital characteristics and its path.

That's if we have time. "From my perspective, the nuclear option is for the surprise asteroid or comet that we haven't seen before, one that basically comes out of nowhere and we have just a few months to respond to it," Weaver says. In other words, lacking the time to deploy something more elegant, we can pull out the method of last resort and blast the threat out of existence with the biggest energy source at our disposal. There's no telling exactly how an asteroid deflection mission would transpire because it's never been tried before, but scientists like Weaver are hard at work simulating the ins and outs of mitigating of an incoming impactor. It's knowledge we hope we'll never have to use, but should we ever have to, this is how it would work.

Interception

Weaver conducted a whole parameter study on his simulated asteroid mitigation mission that included all kinds of variables including composition, the size of the constituent rocks making up the asteroid, the porosity of the asteroid, and so on. But he had to start with some fixed parameters. For the 3-D simulation (depicted in the video below) he chose to model the potato-shaped Itokawa asteroid, the same one visited by Japan's Hayabusa asteroid lander back in 2005.

Weaver's simulations don't address the delivery of a nuclear energy source to the asteroid, though there are people out there who do study that very issue. For instance, at the biannual Planetary Defense Conference global partners hash out the thorny politics inherent in hurling the world's most powerful weapons into space for peaceful purposes.

But we know we can intercept asteroids in deep space. Japan's Hayabusa probe actually landed on and returned from Itokawa during the last decade, and NASA's Dawn spacecraft is currently in orbit around the asteroid 4 Vesta in the asteroid belt. We've even crashed into a comet before, via NASA's Deep Impact mission, which hurled a probe into the center of comet 9P/Tempel. If it's close enough to be a threat, we can rendezvous with it.


Detonation

Weaver's simulations have shown something that should boost humanity's confidence in this endeavor: for an asteroid of the oblong shape and size of Itokawa--roughly 1,640 feet across--there's no need to drill down into the center of the asteroid to mitigate the threat. "I varied the location of the explosion from the center of the asteroid to the surface of the asteroid both along the long side and the short side," Weaver says. "The center was by far the most effective because it just blew the whole thing apart. But effective enough was an explosion at the surface of the asteroid, both on the short side and the long side, with the short side being most effective. Once I discovered that, my study focused on surface explosions because it's just a much simpler mission."

A surface explosion, known as a contact burst, wouldn't actually take place right at the surface. Based on what we know about asteroid composition--and there's still much to be learned--many asteroids are more like huge orbiting piles of smaller rocks than cohesive, solid chunks of hard material. There appears to be a soft dust layer, known as the regolith, that covers asteroids like Itokawa, a layer that could be as much as 30 feet deep. A nuclear energy source rammed into an asteroid could penetrate down into this layer with little trouble, giving it some of the kinetic advantages of being buried within the asteroid. And once the energy source is in direct contact with the asteroid, it's all pretty much over with.

"The big plume that you see coming out of the top of the asteroid in the simulation is the effect of all that heated rock in the vicinity of the explosion being expelled from the asteroid at high velocities," Weaver says. "There's rock-to-rock kinetic energy transfer that happens. These rock-to-rock interactions propagate the energy from the surface all the way through to the opposite end of the asteroid, totally disrupting these rubble piles."

In other words, the blast is transferred all the way through the asteroid, scattering the once cohesive rubble in every direction. The asteroid threat is no more.

Aftermath

In the simulations, the asteroids essentially come apart, hurling rock outward with the force of the nuclear blast. But the most visible objection to this kind of asteroid mitigation is the idea that by blowing an asteroid apart, we might just create many smaller rocks that could still be big enough to threaten Earth. Moreover, if the rocks aren't sufficiently scattered the asteroid could potentially recombine under their own gravity, making the nuclear blast a moot point.

But Weaver's simulations showed something unexpected: the rock expelled from the far side of the asteroid by the blast was kicked out at velocities that surprised even Weaver. Given that the escape velocity--the velocity at which the constituent rocks need to be traveling to escape the asteroid's own gravity--for an asteroid Itokawa's size is less than a centimeter per second, the possibility of the asteroid recombining after the blast is virtually non-existent.

"In my 2-D calculations I'm seeing velocities imparted to expelled rock on the opposite side of the asteroid of meters per second," Weaver says. "The escape velocity for an asteroid such as the one I'm looking at is fractions of a centimeter per second. I was calculating velocities of expelled rock at one to ten meters per second, well in excess--by orders of magnitude--of the escape velocity. That was a surprise to me and gave me some confidence that this really is an effective mitigation technique. The asteroid will not recollect, and it will not pose a hazard of a bunch of smaller rocks hitting the Earth."

This, of course, is according to the calculations.

"All this depends obviously on exactly where the intercept is done, how far away from the Earth it is, how much time we have left--and all of these are unknowns until we discover a threatening asteroid," Weaver says. "All of these assumptions are assumptions. What I think I'm bringing to the table for the first time are truly validated simulations of these non-uniform, non-circular compositions that will hopefully give policy makers a better understanding of what their options are."

With those options defined, at least for the scenario of an Itokawa-sized threatening asteroid, Weaver will next turn to an expanding set of parameters simulating larger and larger rocks of varying compositions up to the size of a "dinosaur killer" (about 6.2 miles across). To that end, Weaver and LANL will soon begin a collaboration with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory that will pool computational and funding resources that will take this kind of asteroid mitigation exploration to the next level, assessing a range of potential threats. For now, those killer asteroids live solely in the simulations running on LANL's supercomputers. But that might not always be the case.

How It Works: A Circular Saw That Cuts Any Material Without Swapping Blades

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Dual-Blade Buzz Saw Sam Kaplan
A pair of blades that spin in opposite directions make this saw fit for any task

To saw different materials, users often need to switch blades. A blade with big teeth, for example, cuts wood quickly because it scoops out a lot of material with each tooth. But those same big teeth make the saw kick back toward the user if applied to a harder substance such as steel. Conversely, a blade with small teeth won't cause kickback on steel but is needlessly slow on wood. The new TwinBlade Saw from Ridgid cuts through nearly any material without requiring the user to change blades. Instead of employing one blade, the TwinBlade rotates a pair in opposite directions. Because two blades are working at once, the saw cuts faster. And the opposing spinning motions balance each other out, minimizing kickback. See how the saw works here.

Sponsored Post: Making Life Easy is Harder Than You Think

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AMERICA REVEALED, a new four-part mini-series airing Wednesdays on PBS at 10/9c, takes viewers on a journey high above the American landscape to reveal the country as never seen before. Advertisement

Complex systems expert Yul Kwon (winner of "Survivor: Cook Islands") hosts this exciting new PBS series that travels through time, space and systems to reveal a nation of interdependent and intricately interwoven networks that feed and power the nation, produce millions of goods, transport people great distances and still come together to make America work.

From the corn farmer in Central Valley, California to the live-wire cable repairers in New Jersey, viewers will discover a fascinating new perspective on the hidden patterns and rhythms of American life, all through the eyes of individuals who play a part in keeping America fed, moving, powered and making goods. These networks rely on vast, complex and precisely calibrated systems, yet most Americans have never had the chance to observe or understand them. Until now.


Navy's Robot Helicopters Are Getting New Onboard Brains That Will Help Them Fight Somali Pirates

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Fire Scout, Now Hunting Pirates U.S. Navy

It's tough being a pirate these days. Facing off with Navy SEALs and missile cruisers on their home turf of the high seas is tough enough for small-arms wielding pirates in diminutive watercraft. Now, the Navy is bringing in the robots. The Office of Naval Research has plans to imbue its Fire Scout unmanned, ship-launched helicopters with electronic brains capable of identifying the small boats generally used by pirates.

Computer vision of this kind is generally pretty difficult, as object recognition is a really tough computational task. But the pirate-hunting Fire Scout will have an additional piece of technology on its side: LIDAR . This "laser radar" technology bounces laser pulses off of surrounding objects to quickly and accurately render a 3-D image of its environment, even at a distance.

These Fire Scouts will be equipped with a database of watercraft profiles for boats commonly used by pirates in places like the Horn of Africa, where Somali pirates have been increasingly brazen in their attacks on commercial ships. After creating a LIDAR rendering of a boat on the water below, the Fire Scouts will quickly cross reference the parameters of its 3-D image against those in its database. If it determines that the boat in question is a potential piracy threat, it will notify its human operators.

That means Fire Scouts could be deployed in heavily trafficked waters and autonomously keep a lookout for anything suspicious. And, as we've seen the Fire Scout weaponized before, it could presumably even be used to interdict if the need arose. That's not really the purview of the current ONR initiative, but we'll go ahead and say it since that's what everyone's thinking. First tests will take place off the California coast this summer.

[LiveScience]

How It Works: How Do You Track Wild Salmon?

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Salmon Transport Kevin Hand
It's pretty difficult to track the movements of millions of salmon. Here's how

At the turn of the 19th century, up to 16 million salmon and steelhead trout migrated up the waterways of the Columbia River Basin to spawn. Today, about one million salmon and an equal number of steelhead return, in large part because the rivers have been dammed. When fish swim from their hatching grounds to the ocean, they learn the route and return by the same course years later. If a dam blocks it, the run discontinues. Read more about delicious salmon here.

Breaking: Facebook Is Buying Instagram for a Billion Dollars

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Mark Zuckerberg just announced that Facebook has agreed to buy mega-popular photo sharing service Instagram for $1 billion. Facebook's been on a buying spree of late, and has been beefing up its own already-ubiquitous photo sharing service lately as well. But it looks like it just landed a whale.

Facebook is already one of the biggest photo sharing destinations on the web. Everyone's on Facebook, and so are all their pictures. But Instagram isn't just another photo sharing service; it's basically everyone's favorite little social network. And unlike Twitter, the last little social network that didn't stay little, Facebook's nipping Instagram in the bud before it takes on a life of its own.

How fast has Instagram grown? It's got 30 million users despite having been iOS-only until recently. And it just expanded its API to include uploads from competitors like Hipstamatic. If everyone you know wasn't on it before, they were going to be soon. In fact, after this deal goes through, they definitely will be.

An acquisition of this magnitude certainly comes as a surprise, but maybe it shouldn't have been a total one. We've been hearing rumblings about Facebook working on an iPhone-based photo-sharing Instagram competitor for almost a year now. At a certain point, if you can't beat 'em, you buy 'em.

Facebook's impending IPO probably didn't have much to do with its ability to purchase Instagram-it already had globs of cash-but might shade how it uses Instagram going forward. Meaning, it'll have public investors to appease, so it's going to need to justify spending a ton of money. That means monetization, probably in the form of aggressive APIs, which Instagram was already jumping into. Zuck's announcement post says Facebook is "committed to building and growing Instagram independently," so it's just a matter of seeing whether or not that happens.

Either way, we'd say hold off on the doomsaying for Instagram's future as a smart and beautiful way to store and share your photos. We've actually quite liked Facebook's recent additions-Timeline and its new Photo Viewer-so at least wait and see what happens. And for those of you worrying how this will affect your Twitter account? It won't, according to Zuck. At least for the time being, Facebook is going to continue to develop Instagram "independently," and will keep allowing uploads to third-party services.

Facebook's other recent buys include a load of patents from IBM, the staff behind a webcam eye-tracking software startup called GazaHawk, and the staffs from Momentus Media and Caffeinated Mind.

We'll fill you in on the details as we know more, but for now, here's the full announcement from his FB page:

I'm excited to share the news that we've agreed to acquire Instagram and that their talented team will be joining Facebook.

For years, we've focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your friends and family. Now, we'll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests.

We believe these are different experiences that complement each other. But in order to do this well, we need to be mindful about keeping and building on Instagram's strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything into Facebook.

That's why we're committed to building and growing Instagram independently. Millions of people around the world love the Instagram app and the brand associated with it, and our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people.

We think the fact that Instagram is connected to other services beyond Facebook is an important part of the experience. We plan on keeping features like the ability to post to other social networks, the ability to not share your Instagrams on Facebook if you want, and the ability to have followers and follow people separately from your friends on Facebook.

These and many other features are important parts of the Instagram experience and we understand that. We will try to learn from Instagram's experience to build similar features into our other products. At the same time, we will try to help Instagram continue to grow by using Facebook's strong engineering team and infrastructure.

This is an important milestone for Facebook because it's the first time we've ever acquired a product and company with so many users. We don't plan on doing many more of these, if any at all. But providing the best photo sharing experience is one reason why so many people love Facebook and we knew it would be worth bringing these two companies together.

We're looking forward to working with the Instagram team and to all of the great new experiences we're going to be able to build together.

[Facebook via Business Insider]

Gizmodo is the world's most fun technology website, focused on gadgets and how they make our lives better, worse, and more absurd.

Church Leaders Give Blessing to Gadgets in the Pews

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Church pews nationwide were lit up this Easter weekend, and not just by the glow of so many churchgoers making their once-a-year appearances - iPads and smartphones were on plenty of parishioners' laps, helping people follow along with the ceremonies. Congregants are feeling increasingly comfortable with using gadgets in church, and priests and ministers are condoning it.

In Chicagoland, many congregations encourage the use of gadgets during church, as the Chicago Tribune reports. Worshippers are using Bible apps and web searches to find greater context behind the sermons they hear, and the preachers themselves are using the technology to get their messages out. As long as people are listening, maybe Googling Romans 6:8 and not playing Angry Birds, congregation leaders are glad to encourage the use of technology in the pews - a few even offer WiFi connections. Some churchgoers have even taken to Twitter during services to share the conversation.

"It's a tool to get closer to God on a weekly basis," one churchgoer told the paper.

Some observers think modern, evangelical churches would be more open to using smartphones and tablets, the Tribune says. But the Catholic Church, too, has plenty of experience with gadgets and apps - there's at least one app designed to help priests craft their sermons, another to help people write confessions, and Pope Benedict XVI is on Twitter.

There was a time when the only people allowed to play with toys in church were the children, skimming Matchbox cars along the pews while nibbling on Cheerios. But now it sounds like all the adults are doing it. Some might argue looking at the new iPad's retina screen is akin to a religious experience, so maybe it makes sense.

[via Slashdot]


Genetic Bar Code Search Can Use RNA to Pick Out Individuals From Huge Gene Pools

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RNA Wikipedia
Even without a DNA sample

DNA databases are highly protected resources, because they contain the most detailed fingerprint that can be used to identify a person - from genetic predisposition to cancer, to paternity tests, to criminal histories. But apparently RNA databases, derived from large genome studies, can also be used to pinpoint a person's identity, according to a new study. These databases are published in journals and are publicly available, and contain genetic information from thousands of people around the world.

Given these findings, scientists could use RNA and other deep personal data to improve patients' health and serve the greater good, the researchers argue. But it also raises some questions about genomic privacy.

The study, conducted at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, turns the process of RNA detection inside out. Researchers Eric E. Schadt and Ke Hao figured out how to infer a person's DNA using RNA data; most studies use DNA sequences and then determine how RNA relays that genetic information.

The researchers looked at levels of RNA, which works as a messenger carrying out DNA's instructions, in samples of liver tissue that were collected in two separate studies. One study looked at samples from liver donors, and the other studied people who were undergoing gastric bypass surgery. The Mount Sinai team looked for markers called expression quantitative trait loci, or eQTLs, which are locations on the genome that regulate expression of certain proteins or RNAs. They used algorithms that matched these eQTL patterns to variations in DNA bases, extrapolating the DNA sequences. Schadt describes it as "hearing a symphony and deducing which instruments are in the orchestra, essentially unwinding the developmental process to trace tissue samples back to RNA and the gene that instructed it."

With this DNA inference, you could theoretically use RNA levels to match an individual to an independently obtained DNA sample - like scanning a barcode to see if two items match.

"DNA collected at a crime scene could be genotyped and then searched against the barcodes derived from the gene expression studies represented, say, in the GEO database, enabling investigators to potentially link unknown individuals at the crime scene to individuals who participated in a particular study," the researchers write.

This finding rings some alarm bells about privacy - if you have stomach-shrinking surgery, and you've never donated DNA to a crime database, should the authorities really be able to track you down via your medical history? What about obtaining warrants for this information, when it's technically already in the public domain? In a Mount Sinai news release, Schadt hints that the age of medical privacy may be drawing to a close.

"Rather than developing ways to further protect an individual's privacy given the ability to collect mountains of information on him or her, we would be better served by a society that accepts the fact that new types of high-dimensional data reflect deeply on who we are," he said. "We need to accept the reality that it is difficult-if not impossible-to shield personal information from others. It is akin to trying to protect privacy regarding appearances, for example, in a public place."

The research appears in the online edition of Nature Genetics.

Test Drive: the 2012 BMW 3 Series Sedan

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BMW 3 Series Sedan courtesy BMW
The classic German sedan gets an exciting upgrade

When BMW rolls out an all-new 3 Series, it's big news, since these have been the benchmark of German sedans for the last 30 years or more. It also sets off a tectonic shift in the entry-level luxury market, with the Mercedes-Benz C Class, Audi A, not to mention the Cadillac CTS, Infiniti G and the Lexus GS suddenly called upon to step up their game to follow along.

This automotive war of attrition becomes a win for the consumer, as the arms race among the automakers gives the consumer a lot more choice. Really, who can argue with better, faster and safer cars every few years?

What's New

For 2012, BMW made the new 3 Series faster, more fuel-efficient and, to us, better looking in all respects. The 2012 model, BMW's sixth generation 3 Series, has grown in size.

The 3 Series is a whopping 3.66 inches longer with a two-inch longer wheelbase. Also, BMW made the vehicle a lot wider -- the front measuring 1.46 inches wider and the rear coming in at a booming Kim Kardashian-esque 1.85 inches wider. The 3 Series is kind of massive now -- the size of an old-generation 5 Series -- but, well, so are most Americans. That said, we like the size and think the 3 Series is still as nimble as a cat on a closely-cropped carpet.

To pull all that weight, BMW has rejiggered the base model 328i. Gone is the sweet-as-taffy naturally aspirated inline six-cylinder that powered countless BMWs and in its place is a new turbocharged four-cylinder engine that makes 240 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque -- more power than the outgoing V-6 but with a higher EPA rating too boot.

BMW says the 328i's 2.0-liter engine marks a return to the sedan's early sporting roots -- it was with a high-performance 4-cylinder engine that the BMW 3 Series made its debut back in 1975, with the first 6-cylinder engines making their first show at the 1977 Frankfurt Motor Show.

BMW calls their turbo technology TwinPower -- not as in twin turbo, but twin power, which BMW says aims "to combine increased driving enjoyment with reduced fuel consumption and emissions."

For those that want more power -- and we at PopSci say bring it! -- there is the 335i, a nearly bulletproof turbocharged 3.0-liter six-cylinder engine that makes 300 horsepower and 300 pound-feet of torque.

Both engines are offered with a new eight-speed automatic gearbox -- a first in the segment -- or a slick 6-speed manual gearbox. The consumer gets to choose how much they want that free hand to text.

What's Good

We like that the 3 Series is now also available in a trifecta of variants -- a Sport, Luxury and Modern Line, each with their own distinct trim and wheel packages. This seems to keep the mission creep of feature spec in check.

Also, the extra size looks good on the new 3 Series and goes a long way in creating a more refined and elegant profile for the car. To us, there is an overlap between the 3 and 5 Series models in terms of style and, well, class, which leaves room for the 1 Series, our favorite BMW of them all, to take the 2+2 sports car reins.

What's Bad

We really miss the inline six from the last 328. While the new turbo has more of everything -- power, fuel efficiency -- we live and die by the adage "there is no replacement for displacement." That said, it wouldn't take too much to get used to the new TwinPower Turbo. It just seems, well, different. Also, as you'll see in the pricing section below, the options add up quick, creating a sense of sticker shock. Close to $50K for a loaded 335i seems pricey to us.

Some may also decry what happened to the old BMW, those small and nimble models from the days of yore. Well, those late '70s models would crumple in an accident with an SUV and there would be no federally mandated active safety features to keep the family safe and sound. You choose if that is a good or bad thing.

The Drive

We had a chance to flog both models on a long road drive and at the Laguna Seca racetrack recently and, to tell the truth, at about the sixth lap in, owning a new 3 Series made a lot of sense to us.

Coming full throttle into the "The Rahal Straight" at about 90 miles an hour in a six-speed manual 328i Sport model, we thought "How great would this car be even just sitting in traffic on the 110 freeway in LA?" It was then we mashed the brakes hard to set up for the Corkscrew, and started mentally working on a revised monthly savings plan.

Off the track, both the 328i and 335i performed pretty flawlessly. The eight-speed automatic thwacking between gears, the turbos off-gassing in a silent symphony under the sheet metal. Both models are five-tool players.

On the freeway and through the mountains outside of Monterey, California, both of the 3 Series models are every bit as capable as the previous generations. In fact, the extra width and length help to surpass them in terms of handling. Not losing their sense of nimbleness, the new models, even with the size difference, is balanced with a sense of play behind the wheel.

We like the new 328i's engine a lot -- its 240 horsepower is in line with the car's weight and size, and there is virtually no turbo lag on either model. That said, it took a few miles to get used to a 328i with a turbo four, but such is life in the days when the OEMs need their fuel efficiency standards to rise each and every model year.

The Price

The 2012 BMW 3 Series Sedan comes in two variants, the 328i, which starts at $34,900 and the more powerful 335i, which starts at $42,400, plus $895 for destination and handling. The Sport, Luxury and Modern Lines vary in price for the 328i and the 335i, but expect anywhere from $1,400 for the Modern line on the 335i to $2,500 for the Sport line on a 328i. If you want wheel and tire packages, a sports suspension, leather upholstery or the premium package, the cost keeps adding up and up.

The Verdict

There is a reason that every other car manufacturer puts their premium sedan against the BMW. They are built like nails, run forever and drive like buttercream. The 3 Series is the benchmark, and, with the 2012 model, the mark just got raised just a little bit higher.

Video: Real-Life Fruit Ninja at 1,200 Frames Per Second

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Our high-speed Phantom video camera reveals the winner in a game of knife vs. pineapple

You know that iPhone game Fruit Ninja? Where fruits are flying at you and you have to slice them in half with a finger? It's a good, mildly challenging subway diversion. Translate it to the real world, though, and suddenly the air is full of slashing blades and squirting pulp, and it's not nearly as easy to cut a fruit in half as you thought it was.

I found this out the hard way. And wasn't I lucky that our Phantom v641 high-speed, high-def video camera was there to document my shame at 1,200 FPS?

Let it be known that this edit is very kind to me; many more un-ninja'd fruits passed my elegant swing unscathed. We've spared you that tedium. But also let it be known that if you don't stick around this video until my shining moment at 55 second in, I'm coming after you with the pineapple-cutter.

Be sure to check the rest of the fruits of our labor with the Phantom for more super-slo-mo exploding, chopping, smashing, blending...and adorableness.

How It Works: A Futuristic Fire Truck Puts Out Airplane Fires

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Airport-Fire Truck Daniel Schumpert and Jason Briney
A plane engulfed in flame is about the hardest fire to extinguish. How does this truck do it?

Aircraft fires pose unusual challenges for first responders. Extinguishing jet fuel requires thousands of gallons of flame-smothering foam, and the fuel burns so hot (up to 2,500°F) that firefighters typically have only three minutes to respond before passengers would be overcome by heat and smoke inhalation. Aircraft Rescue and Fireghting (ARFF) vehicles, then, must balance a heavy payload with quick acceleration. Since its release in 2001, the Oshkosh Striker has become the industry-leading ARFF; today it's used at the White House, nearly every Air Force base, and more than 200 U.S. airports. In 2010, Oshkosh revamped the $600,000-to-$800,000 vehicle for the first time, streamlining the design and refining the controls. See how this fire truck works here.

How It Works: Nerf's 20-Yard Gun

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Nerf Shootout Sam Kaplan and James Provost
It's a disc gun, not a dart gun--and that's just part of how it manages to shoot a whopping 65 feet

Since Nerf introduced its first dart gun, the Sharpshooter, two decades ago, the company's engineers have struggled to find ways to significantly advance their toys' range beyond the original 35 feet. They repeatedly refined the firing mechanism and even added motors, but even their best improvements only added about 10 feet. Last year, they redesigned both the launch mechanism and the ammo (discs, not darts). The range of the resulting Vortex line and its newest glow-in-the-dark edition, the Lumitron: 65 feet. See how the Nerf gun works here.

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