Posts Tagged ‘Singapore’

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Fish gets invisibility cloak first, cat waits patiently

Monday, June 17th, 2013

An invisibility cloak devised by researchers in Singapore and China is receiving a high degree of interest online with a June 14, 2013 news item on Nanowerk, a June 11, 2013 article by Philip Ball for Nature, and a June 13, 2013 article by Sarah Gates for Huffington Post.

The research paper, Natural Light Cloaking for Aquatic and Terrestrial Creatures by Hongsheng Chen, Bin Zheng, Lian Shen, Huaping Wang, Xianmin Zhang, Nikolay Zheludev, Baile Zhang was submitted June 7, 2013 to arXiv.org (arXiv is an e-print service in the fields of physics, mathematics, computer science, quantitative biology, quantitative finance and statistics. Submissions to arXiv must conform to Cornell University academic standards. arXiv is owned and operated by Cornell University, a private not-for-profit educational institution),

A cloak that can hide living creatures from sight is a common feature of mythology but still remains unrealized as a practical device. To preserve the phase of wave, the previous cloaking solution proposed by Pendry \emph{et al.} required transforming electromagnetic space around the hidden object in such a way that the rays bending around it have to travel much faster than those passing it by. The difficult phase preservation requirement is the main obstacle for building a broadband polarization insensitive cloak for large objects. Here, we suggest a simplifying version of Pendry’s cloak by abolishing the requirement for phase preservation as irrelevant for observation in incoherent natural light with human eyes that are phase and polarization insensitive. This allows the cloak design to be made in large scale using commonly available materials and we successfully report cloaking living creatures, a cat and a fish, in front of human eyes.

What they seem to be saying is that it’s possible to create an invisibility cloak perceptible to the human eye that is made of everyday materials.

I’ll show the fish video first. Pay attention as that fish darts behind its invisibility cloak almost as soon as the video starts (from the Nanowerk Youbube channel; June 14, 2013 Nanowerk news item),

Then, there’s the cat (also from the Nanowerk Youtube channel),


The June 11, 2013 article by Philip Ball for Nature describes the device which provides invisibility,

… This latest addition to the science of invisibility cloaks is one of the simplest implementations so far, but there’s no denying its striking impact.

The ‘box of invisibility’ has been designed by a team of researchers at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, led by Hongsheng Chen, and their coworkers. The box is basically a set of prisms made from high-quality optical glass that bend light around any object in the enclosure around which the prisms are arrayed, the researchers describe in a paper posted on the online repository arXiv.

Ball suggests that this latest invisibility cloak is very similar to a Victorian era music hall trick,

As such, the trick is arguably closer to ‘disappearances’ staged in Victorian music hall using arrangements of slanted mirrors than to the modern use of substances called metamaterials to achieve invisibility by guiding light rays in unnatural ways.

As far as I know, the ‘metamaterial’ invisibility cloaks require very sophisticated equipment for their production, are incredibly expensive, and aren’t all that practical.

Gates’s June 13, 2013 article for the Huffington Post provides an overview of some of the recent work on invisibility cloaks and metamaterials, as well as, previous work done by Dr. Hongsheng Chen, an electromagnetics professor at Zhejiang University (China), and Baile Zhang, an assistant physics professor at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University before they unveiled this latest invisibility cloak.

My most recent posting on the topic was a June 6, 2013 piece on a temporal invisibility cloak.

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Beautiful color printing for encoding high density data

Wednesday, April 10th, 2013

Researchers at A*STAR (Agency for Science Technology and Research) based in Singapore have printed images at an extraordinary resolution of 100,000 dots per inch according to an Apr. 10, 2013 news item on ScienceDaily,

To print the image, the team coated a silicon wafer with insulating hydrogen silsesquioxane and then removed part of that layer to leave behind a series of upright posts of about 95 nanometers high. They capped these nanoposts with layers of chromium, silver and gold (1, 15 and 5 nanometers thick, respectively), and also coated the wafer with metal to act as a backreflector.

Each color pixel in the image contained four posts at most, arranged in a square. The researchers were able to produce a rainbow of colors simply by varying the spacing and diameter of the posts to between 50 nanometers and 140 nanometers.

When light hits the thin metal layer that caps the posts, it sends ripples — known as plasmons — running through the electrons in the metal. The size of the post determines which wavelengths of light are absorbed, and which are reflected …

Although the current process is not practical, it takes several hours to print an image there are some intriguing benefits,

Printing images in this way makes them potentially more durable than those created with conventional dyes. In addition, color images cannot be any more detailed: two adjacent dots blur into one if they are closer than half the wavelength of the light reflecting from them. Since the wavelength of visible light ranges about 380-780 nanometers, the nanoposts are as close as is physically possible to produce a reasonable range of colors.

The researchers believe there may be applications for anti-counterfeiting tags and encoding high density data.

You can read more about the work and find a citation and link to the researchers’ study published in Nature Nanotechnology at the ScienceDaily news item.

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Astonishing material, multi-use titanium dioxide nanofibres

Wednesday, March 20th, 2013

The enthusiasm in the Mar. 20, 2013 news release on EurekAlert about Darren Sun’s work with titanium dioxide nanofibres seems boundless,

A new wonder material that can generate hydrogen, produce clean water and even create energy.

Science fiction? Hardly, and there’s more – It can also desalinate water, be used as flexible water filtration membranes, help recover energy from desalination waste brine, be made into flexible solar cells and can also double the lifespan of lithium ion batteries. With its superior bacteria-killing capabilities, it can also be used to develop a new type of antibacterial bandage.

Scientists at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore, led by Associate Professor Darren Sun have succeeded in developing a single, revolutionary nanomaterial that can do all the above and at very low cost compared to existing technology.

The Nanyang Technological University Mar. 20, 2013 news release (also posted to EurekAlert) gives details about how Sun created his ‘wonder’ material,

This breakthrough which has taken Prof Sun five years to develop is dubbed the Multi-use Titanium Dioxide (TiO2). It is formed by turning titanium dioxide crystals into patented nanofibres, which can then be easily fabricated into patented flexible filter membranes which include a combination of carbon, copper, zinc or tin, depending on the specific end product needed.

Titanium dioxide is a cheap and abundant material, which has been scientifically proven to have the ability to accelerate a chemical reaction (photocatalytic) and is also able to bond easily with water (hydrophilic).

…

Prof Sun, 52, from NTU’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, said such a low-cost and easily produced nanomaterial is expected to have immense potential to help tackle ongoing global challenges in energy and environmental issues.

With the world’s population expected to hit 8.3 billion by 2030, there will be a massive increase in the global demand for energy and food by 50 per cent and 30 per cent for drinking water (Population Institute report, titled 2030: The “Perfect Storm” Scenario).

“While there is no single silver bullet to solving two of the world’s biggest challenges: cheap renewable energy and an abundant supply of clean water; our single multi-use membrane comes close, with its titanium dioxide nanoparticles being a key catalyst in discovering such solutions,” Prof Sun said. “With our unique nanomaterial, we hope to be able to help convert today’s waste into tomorrow’s resources, such as clean water and energy.”

…

Prof Sun had initially used titanium dioxide with iron oxide to make anti-bacterial water filtration membranes to solve biofouling – bacterial growth which clogs up the pores of membranes, obstructing water flow.

While developing the membrane, Prof Sun’s team also discovered that it could act as a photocatalyst, turning wastewater into hydrogen and oxygen under sunlight while still producing clean water. Such a water-splitting effect is usually caused by Platinum, a precious metal that is both expensive and rare.

Here’s a list of what the researchers are claiming multi-use titanium dioxide materials can accomplish, from the news release,

Producing hydrogen and clean water

This discovery, which was published recently in the academic journal, Water Research, showed that a small amount of nanomaterial (0.5 grams of titanium dioxide nanofibres treated with copper oxide), can generate 1.53 millilitre of hydrogen in an hour when immersed in one litre of wastewater. This amount of hydrogen produced is three times more than when Platinum is used in the same situation.

Depending on the type of wastewater, the amount of hydrogen generated can be as much as 200 millilitres in an hour. Also to increase hydrogen production, more nanomaterial can be used in larger amounts of wastewater.

Producing low-cost flexible forward osmosis membranes

Not only can titanium dioxide particles help split water, it can also make water filter membranes hydrophilic – allowing water to flow through it easily, while rejecting foreign contaminants, including those of salt, making it perfect for desalinating water using forward osmosis. Thus a new super high flux (flow rate) forward osmosis membrane is developed.

This discovery was published recently in last month’s journal of Energy and Environmental Science. This is the first such report of TiO2 nanofibres and particles used in forward osmosis membrane system for clean water production and energy generation.

Producing new antibacterial bandages

With its anti-microbial properties and low cost, the membrane can also be used to make breathable anti-bacterial bandages, which would not only prevent infections and tackle infection at open wounds, but also promote healing by allowing oxygen to permeate through the plaster.

The membrane’s material properties are also similar to polymers used to make plastic bandages currently sold on the market.

Producing low-cost flexible solar cells

Prof Sun’s research projects have shown out that when treated with other materials or made into another form such as crystals, titanium dioxide can have other uses, such as in solar cells.

By making a black titanium dioxide polycrystalline sheet, Prof Sun’s team was able to make a flexible solar-cell which can generate electricity from the sun’s rays.

Producing longer lasting lithium ion batteries

Concurrently, Prof Sun has another team working on developing the black titanium dioxide nanomaterial to be used in Lithium ion batteries commonly used in electronic devices.

Preliminary results from thin coin-like lithium ion batteries, have shown that when titanium dioxide sphere-like nanoparticles modified with carbon are used as the anode (negative pole), it can double the capacity of the battery. This gives such batteries a much longer lifespan before it is fully drained. The results were featured prominently in a highly respected Journal of Materials Chemistry on its cover page last year.

As is expected these days, from the news release,

Next step – commercialisation

Prof Sun and his team of 20, which includes 6 undergraduates, 10 PhD students and 4 researchers, are now working to further develop the material while concurrently spinning off a start-up company to commercialise the product.

They are also looking to collaborate with commercial partners to speed up the commercialisation process.

Here’s a citation and a link for the paper,

Novel-Structured Electrospun TiO2/CuO Composite Nanofibers for High Efficient Photocatalytic Cogeneration of Clean Water and Energy from Dye Wastewater by Siew Siang Lee, Hongwei Bai Zhaoyang Liu, & Darren Delai Sun. Water Research Available online 19 March 2013 In Press, Accepted Manuscript http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2012.12.044

This paper is behind a paywall. Good luck to Professor Sun and his colleagues.

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Make your carbon atoms stand taller to improve electronic devices

Monday, January 21st, 2013

Scientists from Ireland ((Tyndall National Institute at University College Cork [UCC]) and Singapore (National University of Singapore [NUS]) have jointly published a paper about how they achieved a ten-fold increase in the switching efficiency of electronic devices by changing one carbon atom. From the Jan. 21, 2013 news item on ScienceDaily,

These devices could provide new ways to combat overheating in mobile phones and laptops, and could also aid in electrical stimulation of tissue repair for wound healing.

The breakthrough creation of molecular devices with highly controllable electrical properties will appear in the February [2013] issue of Nature Nanotechnology. Dr. Damien Thompson at the Tyndall National Institute, UCC and a team of researchers at the National University of Singapore led by Prof. Chris Nijhuis designed and created the devices, which are based on molecules acting as electrical valves, or diode rectifiers.

Dr. Thompson explains, “These molecules are very useful because they allow current to flow through them when switched ON and block current flow when switched OFF. The results of the study show that simply adding one extra carbon is sufficient to improve the device performance by more than a factor of ten. We are following up lots of new ideas based on these results, and we hope ultimately to create a range of new components for electronic devices.” Dr. Thompson’s atom-level computer simulations showed how molecules with an odd number of carbon atoms stand straighter than molecules with an even number of carbon atoms. This allows them to pack together more closely. Tightly-packed assemblies of these molecules were formed on metal electrode surfaces by the Nijhuis group in Singapore and were found to be remarkably free of defects. These high quality devices can suppress leakage currents and so operate efficiently and reliably. The device can be cleanly switched on and off purely on the basis of the charge and shape of the molecules, just like in the biological nanomachines that regulate photosynthesis, cell division and tissue growth.

The Jan. ??, 2013 University College Cork news release, which originated the news item, provides more details,

The combined experiments and simulations show for the first time that minute improvements in molecule orientation and packing trigger changes in van der Waals forces that are sufficiently large to dramatically improve the performance of electronic devices. Dr. Thompson explains: “These van der Waals forces are the weakest of all intermolecular forces and only become significant when summed over large areas. Hence, up until now, the majority of research into ultra-small devices has used stronger “pi-pi” interactions to stick molecules together, and has ignored the much weaker, but ubiquitous, van der Waals interactions. The present study shows how van der Waals effects, which are present in every conceivable molecular scale device, can be tuned to optimise the performance of the device.”

The devices are based on molecules that act as diodes by allowing current to pass through them when operated at forward bias and blocking current when the bias is reversed. Molecular rectifiers were first proposed back in 1974, and advances in scientific computing have allowed molecular‐level design to be used over the past decade to develop new organic materials that provide better electrical responses. However, the relative importance of the interactions between the molecules, the nature of the molecule-metal contact and the influence of environmental effects have been questioned. This new research demonstrates that dramatic improvements in device performance may be achieved by controlling the van der Waals forces that pack the molecules together. Simply changing the number of carbon atoms by one provides significantly more stable and more reproducible devices that exhibit an order of magnitude improvement in ON/OFF ratio. The research findings demonstrate the feasibility of boosting device performances by creating tighter seals between molecules.

Here a citation and a link to the paper,

The role of van der Waals forces in the performance of molecular diodes by Nisachol Nerngchamnong, Li Yuan, Dong-Chen Qi, Jiang Li, Damien Thompson, & Christian A. Nijhuis. Nature Nanotechnology (2013) doi:10.1038/nnano.2012.238 Advance online publication: Jan. 6, 2013.

This paper is behind a paywall.

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Interested in a summer internship in Singapore?

Friday, November 16th, 2012

I got another (see my May 14, 2012 posting about Singapore’s 2012 fellow programme) announcement for a student programme being funded in Singapore,

Undergraduate and graduate students in science, technology, research and engineering can experience the exciting city of Singapore by applying for the Experience@Singapore: Research Summer Internships. From Nov. 15, 2012 to March 1, 2013, the program is accepting applications for internships in one of the most exciting cities in Asia – a globally-ranked city that combines Western cosmopolitan standard of living with the rich history and cultural diversity of the East.

The program offers:

  • Opportunities to interact and be mentored by senior research talent
  • Exposure to research opportunities available in Singapore
  • A taste of Asia’s cultural diversity
  • Monthly stipend of SGD 1,500 (approximately US $1,200)
  • one-time travel allowance of SGD 1,500 (approximately US $1,200) for students travelling from U.S. to Singapore

The internship is open to outstanding students with the following criteria:

  • Minimum of a “B” grade average;
  • In his /her 3rd or 4th year of undergraduate studies or pursuing a master’s degree in any discipline of computer, life and natural / physical sciences; all branches of engineering; technology and medicine;
  • Ability to commit to an internship period of at least three months.

Applications for the Experience@Singapore program are ContactSingapore.sg/ExperienceSG/Research/Jul2013

Experience@Singapore is an initiative of Contact Singapore (ContactSingapore.sg), a Singapore government agency that aims to attract global talent to live, work and invest in Singapore.

The internship program is just an example of how Singapore is investing in R&D. From 2011-2015, it plans to invest an additional US $13 billion to establish itself as a research powerhouse in Asia. The country offers not only strong public funding, significant industry partnerships and state-of-the-art infrastructure, but also a diverse and international scientific community consisting of many nationalities.

There’s still lots of time to write up your application and Good luck! BTW, the internships start July 2013.

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The shrimp will save us

Friday, June 15th, 2012

Who knew that ceramics are a preferred material for body armour? Clearly, not me. According to the June 13, 2012 news item on Nanowerk, there’s a shrimp whose shell may offer inspiration for better quality ceramics used not only in military body armour but also in joint replacements. Here’s an image of one type of mantis shrimp,

Flower Mantis Shrimp (Photo Credit Silke Baron)

Pretty, isn’t it? Here’ s more from the June 13, 2012 news item on Nanowerk,

A scientist from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) may be onto an ocean of discovery because of his research into a little sea creature called the mantis shrimp.

The research is likely to lead to making ceramics – today’s preferred material for medical implants and military body armour – many times stronger. These findings were published in last Friday’s Science (“The Stomatopod Dactyl Club: A Formidable Damage-Tolerant Biological Hammer” [behind a paywall]), and focused on the mantis shrimp’s ability to shatter aquarium glass and crab shells alike.

The common creature native to the Indo Pacific, has club-like ‘arms’ which can strike prey at speeds matching that of a 5.56mm rifle bullet. Each impact generates a force exceeding 50 kilograms, which is hundreds of times the mantis shrimp’s weight.

The June 13, 2012 news release from Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) notes,

Assistant Professor Ali Miserez, from NTU’s School of Materials Science Engineering (MSE) and School of Biological Sciences (SBS), collaborated with Dr James Weaver from Harvard University as well as scientists from the University of California-Riverside, Purdue University, and Brookhaven National Laboratory in the United States.

They have observed down to the nanoscale the highly unique composite structure of the mantis shrimp’s club and discovered that it is weaved together in a unique fashion to create a structure tougher than many engineered ceramics. This is the first time that the mantis shrimp’s club is studied in such detail.

“The highly damage resistant property of the mantis shrimp could be most useful in medical products such as hip and joint implants, as they sustain impacts hundreds of times daily during walking and daily activities,” said Asst Prof Miserez, a recipient of the National Research Foundation Fellowship, which provides a research grant of up to S$3 million over five years.

“Damaged hip implants are a real problem, and cost billions of dollars to the healthcare systems worldwide. They also cause painful surgeries to patients when they need to be replaced. Using a nature-inspired blueprint to design biocompatible implants is actually a ‘shrimple‘ solution.”

Thank you for that wordplay. ‘Shrimple’, indeed! More seriously, I have previously commented on hip replacements and the search for ways to improve them, most recently in my April 20, 2012 posting.

The June 13, 2012 news release from Nanyang Technological University goes on to discuss Dr. Miserez’s lab and other applications for the shrimp-inspired ceramic materials,

Designing a damage-resistant implant which is made out of a bio-compatible bone material would solve the above problems [bone loss, toxicity, and immune reactions], as the material exists naturally in the human body. Asst Prof Miserez, whose laboratory is situated at MSE’s Centre for Biomimetic Sensor Science, said they will continue their research to better understand the design and materials and will attempt to replicate it in the laboratory next year.

His team, which includes PhD student Shahrouz Amini, will be focusing on developing a new bio-compatible material which could be used for medical implants such as hip implants. However, the potential applications for these nature-inspired designs are widespread because the final product is expected to be lighter weight and more impact resistant than existing products. These could include new types of armour plating, lighter vehicles and tougher engine and aircraft components like pistons and gears, all of which suffer from impact, wear and abrasion damage over time. [emphasis mine]

Possible medical and military advances march hand in hand, again!

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Posted in biomimcry, medicine, military, nanotechnology | 1 Comment »

Singapore’s National Research Foundation Fellowship open until Aug. 15, 2012

Monday, May 14th, 2012

There are a few provisos, which seems fair enough as you’d be receiving up to $480,000 US per year over five years for research purposes in addition to a salary at the Assistant Professor level. Here are more details from a notice I received on Friday, May 11, 2012,

The Singapore National Research Foundation (NRF) Fellowship is a globally competitive program and one of the best-funded grants available. For young, passionate scientists, this is an opportunity of a lifetime to lead potentially groundbreaking research, and be offered a tenured-track faculty position at any of the country’s prestigious universities or related research organizations.

Unlike most fellowships that are awarded to institutions, the NRF Fellowship is awarded to an individual, allowing the researcher to have more flexibility in choosing a suitable organization in Singapore.

The Fellowship offers:

  • Freedom and independence to pursue path-breaking research in the local host organization of choice
  • A five-year research grant of up to US$2.4 million
  • A separate, competitive salary at the Assistant Professor level
  • Tenure-track appointment at the chosen institution

The NRF is currently accepting applications and the deadline is August 15, 2012. The Fellowship is open to the following:

  • Outstanding scientists and researchers of any nationality and under the age of 40;
  • Possess a PhD degree in any discipline of computer, life and natural / physical sciences; all branches of engineering; and medicine; and
  • Can only be used to fund research conducted in Singapore.

Applications for the NRF Fellowship may be submitted online at https://rita.nrf.gov.sg/AboutUs/NRF_Initiatives/nrff2013/default.aspx

Good luck!

ETA May 25, 2012: Changed link.

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Asia’s research effort in nano-, bio-, and information technology integrated in Asian Research Network

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

The Feb. 29, 2012 news item by Cameron Chai on Azonano spells it out,

An Asian Research Network (ARN) has been formed by the Hanyang University of Korea and RIKEN of Japan in collaboration with other institutes and universities in Asia. This network has been launched to reinforce a strong education and research collaboration throughout Asia.

The Asian Research Network website is here. You will need to use your scroll bars as it appears to be partially constructed (or maybe my system is so creaky that I just can’t see everything on the page). Towards the bottom (right side) of the home page,there are a couple of red buttons for PDFs of the ARN Pamphlet and Research Articles.

From page 2 of the ARN pamphlet, here’s a listing of the member organizations,

KOREA

Hanyang University
Samsung Electronics
Electronics and Telecommunication Research Institute
Seoul National University
Institute of Pasteur Korea
Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology
Korea Advanced Nano Fab Center

JAPAN

RIKEN

INDIA

National Chemical Laboratory
Shivaji University
Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research
Pune University
Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (In Progress)
Indian Institute of Science (In Progress)

USA

University of Texas at Dallas
UCLA (In Progress)
f d i i ( )

CHINA

National Center for Nanoscience and Technology
Peking University

SINGAPORE

National University of Singapore
Nanyang Technological University (In Progress)
Stanford University In Progress)
University of Maryland (In Progress)

ISRAEL

Weizmann Institute of Science (In Progress)
Hebrew University Jerusalem

THAILAND

National Science and Technology Development Agency (In Progress)

I was a little surprised to see Israel on the list and on an even more insular note, why no Canada?

Getting back to the ARN, here are their aims, from page 2 of the ARN pamphlet,

We are committed to fostering talented human resources, creating a research network in which researchers in the region share their knowledge and experiences, and establishing a future-oriented partnership to globalize our research capabilities. To this end, we will achieve excellence in all aspects of education, research, and development in the area of fusion research between BT [biotechnology] and IT [information technology] based on NT [nanotechnology] in general. We will make a substantial contribution to the betterment of the global community as well as the Asian society.

I look forward to hearing more from them in the future.

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Interpol and innovation? Let’s not underestimate the criminals

Tuesday, February 14th, 2012

My hat’s off to Neal Ungerleider at the Fast Company website. His Feb. 9, 2012 article (Inside INTERPOL’s New Cybercrime Innovation Center) has proven to be incredibly successful. It seems to be everywhere which makes tracking down additional information about INTERPOL’s new complex a bit of a challenge. Here’s what Ungerleider wrote about the centre,

INTERPOL, the international policing agency, is opening a massive innovation center in Singapore in 2014. At the center, law enforcement will learn all about the latest cybercrimes… and have access to cutting-edge forensics laboratories and research stations.

I particularly enjoyed this line from Ungerleider’s article,

INTERPOL, the international policing organization, is building a law enforcement tech geek heaven in Singapore.

Here’s a video of what this new complex may look like,

Ungerleider goes on to note this about the activities and the bureaucracy supporting the complex,

Beyond cybercrime, police officers and researchers at IGCI will also be developing experimental strategies to combat environmental crime, counterfeiting, corruption in football/soccer, and Asian criminal syndicates. The complex will include laboratories, conference space, and a museum-like space for tours geared toward the public. INTERPOL being INTERPOL, the whole organizational process behind the center is highly bureaucratic and intricate [PDF].

The Jan. 16, 2012 media release from INTERPOL announces the director for this new complex,

INTERPOL has announced that Noboru Nakatani of Japan, currently the Special Advisor to the Commissioner General of Japan’s National Police Agency (NPA), and Director of the NPA’s Transnational Organized Crime Office, has been appointed as the Executive Director of the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI) in Singapore.

The state-of-the-art facility, due to become operational in early 2014, will equip the world’s police with the tools and knowledge to better tackle the crime threats of the 21st century. As a research and development facility for the identification of crimes and criminals, it will provide innovative training and operational support for law enforcement across the globe.

During the building’s ongoing construction, Mr Nakatani will oversee and coordinate the creation and development of the programmes and services that will be delivered from the IGCI by INTERPOL to its 190 member countries.

…

At Japan’s National Police Agency, Mr Nakatani held the post of Senior Assistant Director for cybercrime, as well as Executive Officer to the Minister of State, the Chairperson of the National Public Safety Commission.

“I am very pleased that the Government of Japan has allowed Mr Nakatani to return to INTERPOL in order to take up this challenging and historic post; it reaffirms Japan’s strong commitment to INTERPOL and to international police cooperation,” said INTERPOL President Khoo Boon Hui.

INTERPOL notes this about the need for this complex, from the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation page,

Crime threats are changing

Police worldwide are facing an increasing challenging operational landscape, as criminals take advantage of new technology, the ease of international travel and the anonymous world of virtual business.

Criminal phenomena are becoming more aggressive and elusive, notably in the areas of cybercrime and child sexual exploitation.

The future of policing

It is crucial for police to stay one step ahead of criminals. In today’s world this can only be achieved if law enforcement officials have real-time access to information beyond their own borders.

The digital age has opened up immense new opportunities to police forces, providing secure communications channels and instant access to criminal data. Innovation must become our best ally.

Championing innovation

The Global Complex will go beyond the traditional reactive law enforcement model. This new centre will provide proactive research into new areas and latest training techniques. [emphasis mine] The aim is to give police around the world both the tools and capabilities to confront the increasingly ingenious and sophisticated challenges posed by criminals.

The four main components of the Global Complex are as follows:

Innovation, research and digital security

  • Boosting cybersecurity and countering cybercrime;
  • A forensic laboratory to support digital crime investigations;
  • Research to test protocols, tools and services and to analyse trends of cyber-attacks;
  • Development of practical solutions in collaboration with police, research laboratories, academia and the public and private sectors;
  • Addressing issues such as Internet security governance.

For some reason that business about extending past the traditional reactive approach  to become proactive reminded me of the movie, Minority Report (internet movie database),

In the future, criminals are caught before the crimes they commit, … [sic]

I can’t imagine getting more proactive than that.

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Are we creating a Star Trek world? T-rays and tricorders

Monday, January 23rd, 2012

There’s been quite a flutter online (even the Huffington Post has published a piece) about ‘Star Trek-hand-held medical scanners’ becoming possible due to some recent work in the area of T-rays. From the Jan. 20, 2012 news item on Nanowerk,

Scientists who have developed a new way to create a type of radiation known as Terahertz (THz) or T-rays – the technology behind full-body security scanners – say their new, stronger and more efficient continuous wave T-rays could be used to make better medical scanning gadgets and may one day lead to innovations similar to the “tricorder” scanner used in Star Trek.

In a study published recently in Nature Photonics (“Greatly enhanced continuous-wave terahertz emission by nano-electrodes in a photoconductive photomixer” [behind a paywall]), researchers from the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), a research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in Singapore and Imperial College London in the UK have made T-rays into a much stronger directional beam than was previously thought possible and have efficiently produced T-rays at room-temperature conditions. This breakthrough allows future T-ray systems to be smaller, more portable, easier to operate, and much cheaper.

For anyone who’s not familiar with ‘Star Trek world’ and tricorders, here’s a brief description from a Wikipedia essay about tricorders,

In the fictional Star Trek universe, a tricorder is a multifunction handheld device used for sensor scanning, data analysis, and recording data.

David Freeman in his Jan. 21, 2012 article for the Huffington Post about the research puts it this way,

Trekkies, take heart. A scientific breakthrough involving a form of infrared radiation known as terahertz (THz) waves could lead to handheld medical scanners reminiscent of the “tricorder” featured on the original Star Trek television series.

What’s the breakthrough? Using nanotechnology, physicists in London and Singapore found a way to make a beam of the”T-rays”–which are now used in full-body airport security scanners–stronger and more directional.

Here’s how the improved T-ray technology works (from the Jan. 20, 2012 news item on Nanowerk),

In the new technique, the researchers demonstrated that it is possible to produce a strong beam of T-rays by shining light of differing wavelengths on a pair of electrodes – two pointed strips of metal separated by a 100 nanometre gap on top of a semiconductor wafer. The unique tip-to-tip nano-sized gap electrode structure greatly enhances the THz field and acts like a nano-antenna that amplifies the THz wave generated. The waves are produced by an interaction between the electromagnetic waves of the light pulses and a powerful current passing between the semiconductor electrodes from the carriers generated in the underlying semiconductor. The scientists are able to tune the wavelength of the T-rays to create a beam that is useable in the scanning technology.

Lead author Dr Jing Hua Teng, from A*STAR’s IMRE, said: “The secret behind the innovation lies in the new nano-antenna that we had developed and integrated into the semiconductor chip.” ….

Research co-author Stefan Maier, a Visiting Scientist at A*STAR’s IMRE and Professor in the Department of Physics at Imperial College London, said: “T-rays promise to revolutionise medical scanning to make it faster and more convenient, potentially relieving patients from the inconvenience of complicated diagnostic procedures and the stress of waiting for accurate results. Thanks to modern nanotechnology and nanofabrication, we have made a real breakthrough in the generation of T-rays that takes us a step closer to these new scanning devices. …”

It’s another story about handheld (or point-of-care) diagnostic devices and I have posted on this topic previously:

  • Jan. 4, 2012 about work in Alberta;
  •  Dec. 22, 2011 on grants to scientists in the US and Canada working on these devices;
  •  Aug. 4, 2011 about a diagnostic device the size of a credit card;
  •  Mar. 1, 2011 about nanoLAB from Stanford University (my last sentence in that posting “It’s not quite Star Trek yet but we’re getting there.”); and,
  •  Feb. 5, 2011 about the Argento and PROOF initiatives.

I see I had four articles last year and this year (one month old), I already have two articles on these devices. It reflects my own interest, as well as, the amount work being done in this area.

 

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