horizon jan14

8/13/2019 Horizon Jan14

1/9

Sending a text message via molecular

communication using alcohol could prove

revolutionary.

Read more...

A team of researchers at Purdue University has

shown that cellulose nanocrystals found in plants

exhibit a stiffness of 206 gigapascals, equivalent

to the stiffness of steel.

Read more...

With one step of his foot, Zhong Lin Wang

illuminated a thousand LED bulbs with no apparent

source of stored or wired electric power.

Read more...

A study carried out by Malaysian endriconologist Dr Lim Ee Lin and a team of researchers found

that an extremely low calorie diet had the effect of reversing Type 2 diabetes.

Read more...

Powering LED Bulbs With AStep of The Foot

Plants As Tough As SteelWorlds First Text Message Sentin Molecules

If I had asked people what they wanted,they would have said faster horses

If I had asked people what they wanted,they would have said faster horses

Henry FordHenry Ford

Low Calorie Diet Could Reverse Type 2 Diabetes

i de at e c re at e i nn ov a te

JANUARY 2014JANUARY 2014


2/9

Just as energy is the basis of life itself, and ideas the source of innovation,so is innovationthe vital spark of all human change, improvement and progress.

Theodore Levitt

A

2A publication of Unit Inovasi Khas, Pejabat Perdana Menteri, Malaysia

LOW CALORIE DIET couldLOW CALORIE DIET could

TYPE

www.ncl.ac.uk/press.office/item/malaysian-research

www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/.htm

www.scientificmalaysian.com/2013/12/29/

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XycfImagvC8

study carried out by a team of researchers from Newcastle University

Medical School in the UK found that an extremely low calorie diet over

a period of two months had the effect of reversing Type 2 diabetes.

The study was carried out over a two-month period with a daily diet that consistedof a 600-calorie food (consisting of liquid diet and non-starchy vegetables)

intake per day. Out of a total of eleven volunteers who took part in the clinical trial,

seven were tested to be free of diabetes three months after the end of the trial

when they went back to their normal diet.

Type 2 diabetes is a long-term condition caused by excess glucose in the blood.

Excess glucose in the blood is harmful to internal organs in the long term as the

glucose is converted into fat which tends to be deposited in internal organs

like the liver and pancreas.

This results in the pancreas not being able to produce insulin that breaks down

excess glucose. The diet used in the trial had the effect of reducing the fatty deposits

in the pancreas, thereby restoring the pancreas to its insulin-producing capability.At present, an estimated 1.4 million Malaysians (or one is six adults above the age

of 30), suffer from diabetes, of which 98 per cent have Type 2 diabetes. This study

could prove to be ground-breaking for sufferers to get their lives back to normal.

The research team from Newcastle University was led by Professor Roy Taylor

and of which a team member is a Malaysian endriconologist, Dr Lim Ee Lin.

Reversal of Type 2 diabetes.

2

Further Readings Watch This VideoApplications

nuary, 2014 horizon
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press.office/press.release/item/malaysian-researcher-finds-diet-can-reverse-type-2-diabeteshttp://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/reversal.htmhttp://www.scientificmalaysian.com/2013/12/29/malaysian-researcher-diet-can-reverse-diabetes/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XycfImagvC8http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XycfImagvC8http://www.scientificmalaysian.com/2013/12/29/malaysian-researcher-diet-can-reverse-diabetes/http://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/reversal.htmhttp://www.ncl.ac.uk/press.office/press.release/item/malaysian-researcher-finds-diet-can-reverse-type-2-diabetes


3/9

nuary, 2014

WORLDS FIRSTTEXT MESSAGE

SENT IN

WORLDS FIRSTTEXT MESSAGE

SENT IN

MOLECULESI have always found that my viewof success has been iconoclastic:

success to me is not about money or statusor fame, its about finding a livelihood thatbrings mejoyand self-sufficiencyand a

sense of contributing to the world.Anita Roddick

3

Sending a text message via molecular communication

using alcohol may seem ordinary at first glance,

but it could prove revolutionary where ubiquitous

radio-based communication systems fail to deliver.

A team of scientists at York University in Canada and the

University of Warwick in the UK used alcohol molecules

which were sprayed over a distance of four metres in a

lab to successfully deliver the text message O Canada.

We believe we have sent the worlds first text

message to be transmitted entirely with

molecular communication, controlling

concentration levels of the alcohol molecules

to encode the alphabet, with single spray

representing bits and no spray representing

the bit zero, says York University doctoral

candidate Nariman Farsad, who was the leader

of the team.

Added Dr. Weisi Guo from the School of

Engineering at the University of Warwick,

Of course, signaling or cues are somethingwe see all the time in the natural world-bees

for example use chemicals in pheromones

to signal to others when there is a threat to

the hive, and people have achieved short-range

signalling using chemicals. But we have gone to

the next level and successfully communicated

continuous and generic messages over

several meters.

The breakthrough holds much promise for

applications of molecular communication

in situations and environments where

electromagnetic waves cant be used, like intimes of emergencies with hazardous gas or

fuel leaks in confined spaces like tunnels,

and through sewage systems, water,

gas and oil pipelines or on oil rigs.

The breakthrough could also find potential

use in medicine where nanoscale devices could

be embedded into organs where they

could gather important data.

www.yfile.news.yorku.ca/2013/12/18/

www.plosone.org/article/

www.gizmag.com/molecular-signalling

www.youtube.com/watch?v=39oEgkIThHUSituations and environments where it is

neither safe nor possible to use radio-based

communication like in tunnels, sewage

systems, water, gas, oil pipelines and oil rigs.


A publication of Unit Inovasi Khas, Pejabat Perdana Menteri, Malaysia

horizon
http://yfile.news.yorku.ca/2013/12/18/cocktail-conversations-researchers-send-worlds-first-text-message-using-vodka/http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0082935http://www.gizmag.com/molecular-signalling-vodka-text-message/30199/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39oEgkIThHUhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39oEgkIThHUhttp://www.gizmag.com/molecular-signalling-vodka-text-message/30199/http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0082935http://yfile.news.yorku.ca/2013/12/18/cocktail-conversations-researchers-send-worlds-first-text-message-using-vodka/


4/9

horizon

4

WITH A STEP OF THE FOOT

William L. McKnight

Listen to anyone with an or ig ina l idea, no matter how absurdit may sound at first. If you put fences around people,

you get sheep. Give people the room they need.

www.news.gatech.edu/2013/12/07/

www.futurity.org/power-1000-led-bulbs

www.machinedesign.com/energy/

www.youtube.com/watch?v=joetshqFAOMHarvesting electric power from activities

where triboelectrification can be applied.


nuary, 2014


With one step of his foot, Zhong Lin

Wang illuminated a thousand LED

bulbs with no apparent source of stored

or wired electric power. The current that

powered the bulbs came from the same

source as that tiny spark that jumps from

a fingertip to a metal object when you

walk across carpet on a dry day.

The breakthrough discovery that Wang,a Regents professor in the School of

Materials Science and Engineering at the

Georgia Institute of Technology, and his

research team achieved was to harvest

this power and put it to work.

What Wang and his team applied is what

is known as the triboelectric effect to

create electric power by rubbing or

touching two different materials together.

A simple triboelectric generator uses two

sheets of dissimilar materials, one an

electron donor and the other an electronacceptor to create electron flow from one

material to the other.

When the sheets are then separated, one

sheet holds an electrical charge isolated

by the gap between them. An alternating

current can be generated if the process

is repeated and if an electrical load is

connected to two electrodes placed

at the edges of the two surfaces to

induce a current flow.

The fact that an electric charge can beproduced through triboelectrification

is well known, Wang explains. What we

have introduced is a gap separation

technique that produces a voltage drop,

which leads to a current flow in the external

load, allowing the charge to be used. Wang

further adds, We are able to deliver small

amounts of portable power for todays

mobile and sensor applications. This opens

up a source of energy by harvesting power

from activities of all kinds.
http://www.news.gatech.edu/2013/12/07/harvesting-electricity-triboelectric-generators-capture-wasted-powerhttp://www.futurity.org/power-1000-led-bulbs-stomping-one-foot/http://machinedesign.com/energy/triboelectric-generators-use-friction-create-electricityhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joetshqFAOMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joetshqFAOMhttp://machinedesign.com/energy/triboelectric-generators-use-friction-create-electricityhttp://www.futurity.org/power-1000-led-bulbs-stomping-one-foot/http://www.news.gatech.edu/2013/12/07/harvesting-electricity-triboelectric-generators-capture-wasted-power


5/9

PLANTS AS TOUGH ASPLANTS AS TOUGH AS

5A publication of Unit Inovasi Khas, Pejabat Perdana Menteri, Malaysia

Biomaterials for structural components for

automotive, civil and aerospace industries,

electronics and medical devices.

www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2013/Q4/

www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=129955

www.inhabitat.com/cellulose-super-material

Michelangelo

The greatest danger for most of us is notthat our aim is toohigh and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.

WWell, not quite literally, but a team of researchers at Purdue

University has shown that cellulose nanocrystals, the building

blocks of tress and other plants, exhibit a stiffness of 206 gigapascals,

equivalent to the stiffness of steel.The stiffness of 206 gigapascals was derived by the team by

precisely modelling the atomic structure of cellulose, based on

crystals only 3 nanometres (a nanometre is a billionth of a meter)

wide by 500 nanometres long.

Cellulose nanocrystals are found in abundance, and can be

harvested and refined, in trees and other plants and any number

of other renewable sources such as algae, cellulose-producing

bacteria, and tunicates or sea squirts.

The research findings could prove to be the precursor to the creation

of new biomaterials. It is also the first step towards a multiscale

modelling approach to understand and predict the behaviour of

individual crystals, the interaction between them, and their interaction

with other materials, said Pablo D. Zavattieri, a Purdue University

assistant professor of civil engineering.

This is important for the design of novel cellulose-based materialsas other research groups are considering them for a huge variety of

applications, ranging from electronics and medical devices to structural

components for the automotive, civil and aerospace industries.

Indeed, biomaterials manufacturing could prove to be commercially

viable as it could be a natural extension of the paper and biofuels

industries whereby current processes and technologies could be

leveraged to produce cellulose-based biomaterials.

Applications Further Readings

nuary, 2014 horizon
http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2013/Q4/cellulose-nanocrystals-possible-green-wonder-material.htmlhttp://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=129955http://inhabitat.com/cellulose-super-material-is-as-stiff-as-steel-study-shows/http://inhabitat.com/cellulose-super-material-is-as-stiff-as-steel-study-shows/http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=129955http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2013/Q4/cellulose-nanocrystals-possible-green-wonder-material.html


6/9

Applications Further Readings

T

6

Mass production of silicon structures at

significantly reduced costs to enable

new high-tech industry.

http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2013/

http://voices.yahoo.com/table-salt

http://www.nature.com/srep/2013/130717

Carl Rogers

The only person who is educatedis the onewho has learned how to learn and change.

he table salt is not normally thought of as extraordinary.

However, a recent discovery is about to put it in a totally

different league. Researchers at Oregon State University (OSU)

found that sodium chloride possesses the potential to enable

the commercial mass production of silicon nanostructures atsignificantly reduced costs.

Silicon is the second most abundant element in Earths crust.

Silicon nanostructures, which are smaller than a speck

of dust, have the potential to be used in photonics,

biological imaging, sensors, drug delivery, thermoelectric

materials that can convert heat into electricity,

and energy storage.

However, until this discovery, current technologies

employed to make silicon nanostructures were costly,

limiting their use in very limited products that markets

could afford to bear. Simpler technologies to make silicon

nanostructures are not viable because extremely hightemperatures are required.

The OSU researchers discovered a highly cost-effective

process of melting and absorbing heat at a critical moment

during a magnesiothermic reaction where molten salt acts

as a heat absorber and dissipator, preventing the collapse

of the nanostructures during production. The molten salt can

then be washed away, recycled and used again.

According to David Xiulei Ji, Assistant Professor of Chemistry in

the OSU College of Science, This could be what it takes to open up

an important new industry. There are methods now to create silicon

nanostructures, but they are vey costly and can only produce tiny

amounts. This process should allow the production of high-qualitysilicon nanostructures in large quantities at low cost.

This discovery has the potential to spawn new products arising from

potential mass production of silicon nanostructure which were hitherto

cost-prohibitive. Not bad for indeed for the humble table salt whose

use can now be significantly expanded.


horizonnuary, 2014
http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2013/aug/pass-salt-common-condiment-could-enable-new-high-tech-industryhttp://voices.yahoo.com/table-salt-enables-creation-silcon-nanostructures-12275074.htmlhttp://www.nature.com/srep/2013/130717/srep02222/full/srep02222.htmlhttp://www.nature.com/srep/2013/130717/srep02222/full/srep02222.htmlhttp://voices.yahoo.com/table-salt-enables-creation-silcon-nanostructures-12275074.htmlhttp://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2013/aug/pass-salt-common-condiment-could-enable-new-high-tech-industry


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horizonnuary, 2014

SOURCE: BLOOMBERG

Innovation was measured by 7 factors including R&D intensity,

productivity, high-tech density, researcher concentration, manufacturing

capability, education levels and patent activity

Innovation was measured by 7 factors including R&D intensity,

productivity, high-tech density, researcher concentration, manufacturing

capability, education levels and patent activity

Bloomberg Rankings 2013

MostInnovativeCountries

United States

South Korea

Germany

Finland

Sweden

Japan

Singapore

Austria

Denmark

France

Netherlands

Ireland

Norway

Russian

Belgium

Luxembourg

Canada

United Kingdom

Slovenia

Iceland

Switzerland

Australia

Czech Republic

Italy

Portugal

Hungary

Spain

New Zealand

China

Poland

EstoniaIsrael

Lithuania

Slovakia

Croatia

Hong Kong

Turkey

Malaysia

Malta

Tunisia

United States

South Korea

Germany

Finland

Sweden

Japan

Singapore

Austria

Denmark

France

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

NetherlandsIreland

Norway

Russian

Belgium

Luxembourg

Canada

United Kingdom

Slovenia

Iceland

Switzerland

Australia

Czech Republic

Italy

Portugal

Hungary

Spain

New Zealand

China

Poland

EstoniaIsrael

Lithuania

Slovakia

Croatia

Hong Kong

Turkey

Malaysia

Malta

Tunisia

Greece, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Latvia, Argentina, Romania,

Iran, Macedonia, Belarus, South Africa

Greece, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Latvia, Argentina, Romania,

Iran, Macedonia, Belarus, South Africa

41-50

A publication of Unit Inovasi Khas, Pejabat Perdana Menteri, Malaysia 7
http://www.bloomberg.com/slideshow/2013-02-01/50-most-innovative-countries.html#slide1http://www.bloomberg.com/slideshow/2013-02-01/50-most-innovative-countries.html#slide1


8/9

Natural gas is odourless. The smell isadded artificially for safety reasons.

Source: www.factslides.com

CANDY CRUSH

Candy Crush has more active monthly playersthan the entire population of Canada.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org

NATURAL GAS

The world's smallest poisonous frog is less than a centimetrelong and its skin is 200 times more toxic than morphine.

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

THE WORLDS SMALLEST POISONOUS FROG

horizonnuary, 2014

A publication of Unit Inovasi Khas, Pejabat Perdana Menteri, Malaysia 8
http://www.factslides.com/http://en.wikipedia.org/http://www.dailymail.co.uk/http://www.factslides.com/http://www.dailymail.co.uk/http://en.wikipedia.org/


9/9

THE OCTOPUS

Starting Jan 1, 2014, traditional 40 and 60 wattincandescent light bulbs will no longer beavailable in the U.S

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Octopuses have three hearts. Two branchial hearts pumpblood through each of the two gills, while the third is asystemic heart that pumps blood through the body.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org

THE STATUE OF LIBERTYTHE STATUE OF LIBERTY

The Statue of Liberty is thought to havebeen hit by about 600 bolts of lightningevery year.

Source: www.factslides.com

THE INCANDESCENT LIGHT BULB

horizonnuary, 2014
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://en.wikipedia.org/http://www.factslides.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.factslides.com/http://en.wikipedia.org/

horizon jan14

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