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Thursday, September 08, 2005 |
Number of premies nears historic half million mark in US. Nearly
a half million American babies were born prematurely in a single year,
according to a government report issued today, putting them at
increased risk for death and disability. Some 12.3 percent of all
babies – 499,008 infants -- were born prematurely (less than 37 weeks
gestation) in 2003, according to the report released by the National
Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). That's up from 12.1 percent (or
about 480,000 babies) in 2002 – and an increase of more than 30
percent since the government began tracking premature births in 1981. [Science Blog -]
4:57:53 PM  Google It!.
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New surgical device for bloodless operations gets first US outing. A
new device for removing liver tumours with virtually no blood loss has
been successfully used for the first time in America. The device uses
radiofrequency energy to 'seal' tissue around a tumour site, allowing
the tumour to be removed while preventing blood loss and other
complications. The device has enabled surgeons to operate where
previously it would have been too risky. [Science Blog -]
11:26:31 AM Google It!.
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The social imperative.
Blogs, wikis, and social tagging have shown us that group intelligence,
amplified by nothing more than linking and search, can manage flows of
information more effectively than most of us would have dared to dream.
WinFS at first glance seems antithetical to this approach. It
prescribes a formal taxonomy of data types. That taxonomy can be
extended but only by WinFS-savvy developers, and only in WinFS-aware
applications.
...
Beyond the handful of standard types, though, I'm not sure where all
those extensions are going to come from. Developers have always tried,
and so far always failed, to define reusable objects that meet the
needs of knowledge workers in the real world. Meanwhile, in the era of
social computing, we're learning to watch for the patterns that emerge
as people interact in information-rich contexts, and then pave those
cow paths.
...
I hope Microsoft will come to see WinFS not only as a
platform for developers, but also as an environment in which users can
do simple things that yield powerful social effects. [Full story at InfoWorld.com]
... [Jon's Radio]
8:56:39 AM Google It!.
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Molecular computers go where no PC has gone before. A
major breakthrough in the use of molecules as information processors is
to be announced at this year's BA Festival of Science in Dublin.
Nanotechnology experts are exploring the capabilities of molecules that
act like conventional computers but can operate in tiny places where no
silicon-based chip or semiconductor can go. Now, for the first time,
they have used these molecules to perform logic operations and process
information in spaces a few nanometres across. [Science Blog -]
8:54:02 AM Google It!.
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© Copyright 2005 Bruce Landon.
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