The Top Scientific Breakthroughs of

the 21st Century

Creation of the First Self-Replicating

Synthetic Life

Genomic science has greatly enhanced our understanding of the biological world. It is

enabling researchers to "read" the genetic code of organisms from all branches of life by

sequencing the four letters that make up DNA. Sequencing genomes has now become

routine, giving rise to thousands of genomes in the public databases. In essence, scientists

are digitizing biology by converting the A, C, T, and G's of the chemical makeup of DNA into

1's and 0's in a computer. But can one reverse the process and start with 1's and 0's in a

computer to define the characteristics of a living cell? We set out to answer this question.

Now, this scientific team headed by Drs. Craig Venter, Hamilton Smith and Clyde Hutchison

have achieved the final step in their quest to create the first synthetic bacterial cell. In a

publication in Science magazine, Daniel Gibson, Ph.D. and a team of 23 additional researchers

outline the steps to synthesize a 1.08 million base pair Mycoplasma mycoides genome,

constructed from four bottles of chemicals that make up DNA. This synthetic genome has

been "booted up" in a cell to create the first cell controlled completely by a synthetic

genome.

What did Venter's team do?

The cell was created by stitching together the genome of a goat pathogen called

Mycoplasma mycoides from smaller stretches of DNA synthesised in the lab, and inserting

the genome into the empty cytoplasm of a related bacterium. The transplanted genome

booted up in its host cell, and then divided over and over to make billions of M. mycoides

cells.

Venter and his team have previously accomplished both feats – creating a synthetic genome and

transplanting a genome from one bacterium into another – but this time they have combined the two.

"It's the first self-replicating cell on the planet that's parent is a computer," says Venter,

referring to the fact that his team converted a cell's genome that existed as data on a

computer into a living organism.

How can they be sure that the new bacteria are what they

intended?

Venter and his team introduced several distinctive markers into their synthesised genome.

All of them were found in the synthetic cell when it was sequenced.

These markers do not make any proteins, but they contain the names of 46 scientists on the

project and several quotations written out in a secret code. The markers also contain the key

to the code.

Crack the code and you can read the messages, but as a hint, Venter revealed the

quotations: "To live, to err, to fall, to triumph, to recreate life out of life," from James Joyce's

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man; "See things not as they are but as they might be,"

which comes from American Prometheus, a biography of nuclear physicist Robert

Oppenheimer; and Richard Feynman's famous words: "What I cannot build I cannot

understand."

Does this mean they created life?

It depends on how you define "created" and "life". Venter's team made the new genome out

of DNA sequences that had initially been made by a machine, but bacteria and yeast cells

were used to stitch together and duplicate the million base pairs that it contains. The cell

into which the synthetic genome was then transplanted contained its own proteins, lipids

and other molecules.

Venter himself maintains that he has not created life . "We've created the first synthetic

cell," he says. "We definitely have not created life from scratch because we used a recipient

cell to boot up the synthetic chromosome."

Whether you agree or not is a philosophical question, not a scientific one as there is no

biological difference between synthetic bacteria and the real thing, says Andy Ellington, a

synthetic biologist at the University of Texas in Austin. "The bacteria didn't have a soul, and

there wasn't some animistic property of the bacteria that changed," he says.

What can you do with a synthetic cell?

Venter's work was a proof of principle, but future synthetic cells could be used to create

drugs, biofuels and other useful products. He is collaborating with Exxon Mobil to produce

biofuels from algae and with Novartis to create vaccines.

"As soon as next year, the flu vaccine you get could be made synthetically," Venter says.

Ellington also sees synthetic bacteria as having potential as a scientific tool. It would be

interesting, he says, to create bacteria that produce a new amino acid – the chemical units

that make up proteins – and see how these bacteria evolve, compared with bacteria that

produce the usual suite of amino acids. "We can ask these questions about cyborg cells in

ways we never could before."

What was the cost of creating life?

About $40 million. Cheap for a deity, expensive if you are a lab scientist looking to create

your own synthetic bacterium. "This does not look like the sort of thing that's going to be

doable by your average lab in the near future," Ellington says.

This reminds me of Frankenstein's monster! Are synthetic cells

safe?

Yes. Venter's team took out the genes that allow M. mycoides to cause disease in goats. The

bacterium has also been crippled so it is unlikely to grow outside of the lab. However, some

scientists are concerned that synthetic organisms could potentially escape into the

environment or be used by bioterrorists.

Ellington brushes aside those concerns, noting that the difficulty of engineering cells is

beyond the scope of all would-be bioterrorists. "It's not a real threat," he says. "Unless you

are Craig Venter with a crew of 20 postdocs you're not going to do this."

However, George Church, a synthetic biologist at Harvard Medical School, is calling for

increased surveillance, licensing and added measures to prevent the accidental release of

synthetic life. "Everybody in the synthetic biology ecosystem should be licensed like

everybody in the aviation system is licensed."

Edited by Ahmed Mahmoud

Gene Silencing, A piece of the Puzzle for Individualized Cancer Therapy

Migrating breast cancer cell.

In a major cancer-research breakthrough, researchers at the McGill University, Department of Biochemistry have discovered that a small segment of a protein that interacts with RNA can control the normal expression of genes -- including those that are active in cancer. Human cells need to produce the correct proteins at the right time and in the appropriate

quantities to stay healthy. One of the key means by which cells achieve this control is by

"RNA interference," a form of gene silencing where small pieces of RNA, called micro RNAs,

obstruct the production of specific proteins by interacting with their genetic code. However,

not any piece of RNA can do this.

Immuno-fluorescence analysis of three Argonaute proteins .

In doing so, the team has discovered that Argonaute proteins can potentially be exploited to

enhance gene silencing.RNA interference could be used as a viable therapeutic approach for

inhibiting specific genes that are aberrantly active in diseases such as cancer.

Developing genetically based therapies that can be tailored to individual patients' particular

illnesses, may be the end of chemotherapy.

RNA Interference Cancer Treatment? Delivering RNA With Tiny Sponge-Like Spheres For the past decade, scientists have been pursuing cancer treatments based on RNA

interference -- a phenomenon that offers a way to shut off malfunctioning genes with short

snippets of RNA. However, one huge challenge remains: finding a way to efficiently deliver

the RNA.

A cluster of microsponges made of long strands of folded RNA, as seen by scanning electron microscopy.

(Credit: Hammond laboratory)

Most of the time, short interfering RNA (siRNA) -- the type used for RNA interference -- is

quickly broken down inside the body by enzymes that defend against infection by RNA

viruses.

"It's been a real struggle to try to design a delivery system that allows us to administer

siRNA, especially if you want to target it to a specific part of the body," says Paula

Hammond, the David H. Koch Professor in Engineering at MIT.

Hammond and her colleagues have now come up with a novel delivery vehicle in which RNA

is packed into microspheres so dense that they withstand degradation until they reach their

destinations. The new system, described Feb. 26 in the journal Nature Materials, knocks

down expression of specific genes as effectively as existing delivery methods, but with a

much smaller dose of particles.

Such particles could offer a new way to treat not only cancer, but also any other chronic

disease caused by a "misbehaving gene," says Hammond, who is also a member of MIT's

David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. "RNA interference holds a huge

amount of promise for a number of disorders, one of which is cancer, but also neurological

disorders and immune disorders," she says.

Genetic disruption RNA interference is a naturally occurring process, discovered in 1998, that allows cells to

fine-tune their genetic expression. Genetic information is normally carried from DNA in the

nucleus to ribosomes, cellular structures where proteins are made. siRNA binds to the

messenger RNA that carries this genetic information, destroying instructions before they

reach the ribosome.

Scientists are working on many ways to artificially replicate this process to target specific

genes, including packaging siRNA into nanoparticles made of lipids or inorganic materials

such as gold. Though many of those have shown some success, one drawback is that it's

difficult to load large amounts of siRNA onto those carriers, because the short strands do not

pack tightly.

To overcome this, Hammond's team decided to package the RNA as one long strand that

would fold into a tiny, compact sphere. The researchers used an RNA synthesis method

known as rolling circle transcription to produce extremely long strands of RNA made up of a

repeating sequence of 21 nucleotides. Those segments are separated by a shorter stretch

that is recognized by the enzyme Dicer, which chops RNA wherever it encounters that

sequence.

As the RNA strand is synthesized, it folds into sheets that then self-assemble into a very

dense, sponge-like sphere. Up to half a million copies of the same RNA sequence can be

packed into a sphere with a diameter of just two microns. Once the spheres form, the

researchers wrap them in a layer of positively charged polymer, which induces the spheres

to pack even more tightly (down to a 200-nanometer diameter) and also helps them to enter

cells.

After the spheres enter a cell, the Dicer enzyme chops the RNA at specific locations,

releasing the 21-nucleotide siRNA sequences.

Peixuan Guo, director of the NIH Nanomedicine Development Center at the University of

Kentucky, says the most exciting aspect of the work is the development of a new self-

assembly method for RNA particles. Guo, who was not part of the research team, adds that

the particles might be more effective at entering cells if they were shrunk to an even smaller

size, closer to 50 nanometers.

Targeting Tumors

Breast Cancer Cell

In the Nature Materials paper, the researchers tested their spheres by programming them to

deliver RNA sequences that shut off a gene that causes tumor cells to glow in mice. They

found that they could achieve the same level of gene knockdown as conventional

nanoparticle delivery, but with about one-thousandth as many particles.

The microsponges accumulate at tumor sites through a phenomenon often used to deliver

nanoparticles: The blood vessels surrounding tumors are "leaky," meaning that they have

tiny pores through which very small particles can squeeze.

In future studies, the researchers plan to design microspheres coated with polymers that

specifically target tumor cells or other diseased cells. They are also working on spheres that

carry DNA, for potential use in gene therapy.

Controlling Gene Expression, a new RNA-Based Therapeutic Strategies Small RNA-based nucleic acid drugs represent a promising new class of therapeutic agents

for silencing abnormal or overactive disease-causing genes, and researchers have discovered

new mechanisms by which RNA drugs can control gene activity.

Short strands of nucleic acids, called small RNAs, can be used for targeted gene silencing,

making them attractive drug candidates. These small RNAs block gene expression through

multiple RNA interference (RNAi) pathways, including two newly discovered pathways in

which small RNAs bind to Argonaute proteins or other forms of RNA present in the cell

nucleus, such as long non-coding RNAs and pre-mRNA.

The field of RNA mediated control of gene expression is rapidly evolving.

Edited by Shady Mohamed

Ice on Mars

Meteorites impacts have revealed ice on mars, scientists have found huge quantities of

water right under the surface of mars, it has been said to be “enough water ice to fill lake

Michigan twice”. The water is surrounding Mars’s south pole.

The south pole of Mars has a layer of dry ice that is 30 times thicker than previously thought,

a find that suggests the Red Planet may have had more liquid water on its the surface in the

distant past, scientists say.

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed frozen water hiding just below the

surface of mid-latitude Mars. The spacecraft's observations were obtained from orbit after

meteorites excavated fresh craters on the Red Planet.

Scientists controlling instruments on the orbiter found bright ice exposed at five Martian

sites with new craters that range in depth from approximately 1.5 feet to 8 feet. The craters

did not exist in earlier images of the same sites. Some of the craters show a thin layer of

bright ice atop darker underlying material. The bright patches darkened in the weeks

following initial observations, as the freshly exposed ice vaporized into the thin Martian

atmosphere. One of the new craters had a bright patch of material large enough for one of

the orbiter's instruments to confirm it is water ice.

This map shows five locations where fresh impact cratering has excavated water ice from just beneath the surface of Mars

In these false-color maps of the Martian poles, deep-blue indicates soil enriched by hydrogen. The South Pole is surrounded by icy terain. The north pole contains water-ice, too, but it is hidden for the moment by a

wintertime layer of carbon dioxide fro

Water on the moon

The moon remains drier than any desert on Earth, but the water is said to exist on the moon

in very small quantities. One ton of the top layer of the lunar surface would hold about 32

ounces of water

Finding water on the moon would be a boom in the future, acting as a potential source of

drinking water and fuel.

India's first-ever moon probe, was aimed to map the lunar surface and determining its

mineral composition, While the probe was still active, NASA Moon Mineralogy Mapper

detected wavelengths of light reflected off the surface that indicated a chemical bond

between hydrogen and oxygen; this is sign of water or hydroxyl.

The Cassini data shows a global distribution of the water signal, though it also appears

stronger near the poles and low in the lunar Maria.

The Shackleton is a really interesting crater, almost 4.5 kilometers deep and 20 kilometers in

diameter," or about 3 miles deep and 12.5 miles wide. "It is the deepest crater for that size

range that I know of on the moon."

There are potentially two types of water on the moon: that brought from outside sources,

such as water-bearing comets striking the surface, or that has been originated on the moon.

Scientists analyzing tiny fragments of hardened lava from long-ago lunar eruptions report

that the fragments contain about as much water as similar magmas on Earth, meaning there

is plenty of water inside the Moon too.

At the moons north pole it is estimated that the amount of ice located there as shown in the

“Mini-RF” data is 600 million metric tons.

Turning water into fuel

Scientists from the California Institute of Technology have come up with a way to convert

“water into fuel using sunlight and an oxide of a naturally-occurring rare earth metal.

Professor Sossina Haile and her team from Caltech were able to utilize cerium oxide to act as

a renewable and inexpensive catalyst, effectively converting water or carbon dioxide into

hydrogen or carbon monoxide.”

“The report on the new fuel device explains that it uses cerium oxide to strip oxygen out of

water and essentially converting it into a usable, liquid fuel. This is accomplished by heating

water to over 1,600 degrees Celsius, or over 2,900 degrees Fahrenheit, in the presence of

the catalyst”.

This is a very cheap process to do and there are no resources wiped out. This technology is

going to make huge contributions to the global gasoline supplies.

In its current stage of development the device can produce roughly three gallons of fuel a

day, which can be used to power vehicles or even generate reserves of solar energy to help

offset home utility costs.

“An earlier study on solar-to-fuel technology published in the journal Solar Energy in 2006

found the same effect when applying cerium oxide and heat to water. Scientists observed

that the process produced pure hydrogen readily available for use directly in hydrogen fuel

cells.”

Edited By Hisham Hatem

Finding Another Building Block in the

Galaxy

There is strong argued theory that the universe was created by the big bang.

The only elements present at the time were hydrogen and helium, so everything that was

present and all matter was in the form of hydrogen and helium. And the clumping of both

elements would form the galaxies and the stars, now we all know the building blocks of life

are the elements that sustain life on earth. But they are not just found here in our galaxy and

they were not formed here either.

Upon the formation of the stars, there means there is an origin of a star. The birthplaces of

stars are certain areas in space “clouds of gas” called Nebulae and the nearest one to us is

the Orion Nebula. Explosions in the nebulae, is why and how stars are formed. But stars are

not born one at a time; they are produced in clusters, star clusters. We know how to

estimate the ages of stars by calculating the distance it is from its cluster. There are mainly

three star sizes, the large, medium and small. The small ones, white dwarfs, are the ones

that live the longest, as they sustain their energy and burn it slower in comparison to larger

stars. Our sun is considered to be a medium sized star, which is yellow rather than the blue

white dwarf. It has a reasonable age limitation and lives for billions of years.

The Orion Nebula

Now what I have been trying to reach was the large stars. They are massive, the can

reach to be a hundred times larger than our sun, which give off incredible amounts of energy

and burn their “fuel” at faster rates than the relatively smaller stars, and they eventually

burn it all and collapse. Stars don’t just collapse though, they explode due to their

gravitational pull of matter when it explodes, and when that happens atoms are flying at

incredible speeds and direction which find paths and collide with others and fuse. This is

how a hydrogen bomb works. They simulate the collision of atoms to produce all this

amount of energy.

The energy that all these molecular fusions give of is so immense that it creates new

elements. The building blocks of life, this is how our planet was formed and it would not be a

coincidence if we found another planet similar to ours with elements, which could sustain

life similar to ours.

Alternative Energy Sources

In the early 19th century the main substance that was used to lubricate lamps, was

whale oil. Then they adapted to using petroleum which here was then considered as an

“alternate”. Now we have a new definition to “alternative energy source” which has many

definitions actually, but they all agree on the fact that it is energy that is derived from any

source that does not cause harm or damage to nature or the environment.

Alternative here refers to the general idea of having other sources of energy that

could replace the burning of fuels and extensively manipulating and over consumption of

natural resources. Over time the meaning of alternative energy sources has changed, in the

early medieval times the dominant source of energy was wood but buy the early 1500s

people in Europe were running out of forests due to deforestation from over consuming

wood, fortunately they managed to save themselves from a disaster by turning to an

“alternative” energy source which was soft coal and cultivating potatoes and such.

Examples of what we might call alternative energy would be things like, solar

energy, which is mainly generating electricity from sunlight. Wind energy, also generating

electricity from wind energy. Biofuel and ethanol, also common alternative energy sources

which are substitutes of gasoline and are used to power vehicles. Another more

environmentally friendly alternative energy source is hydrogen which is clean fuel used for

spaceships, airplanes and other vehicles.

An ecologically friendly energy source could also be biomass, which is derived from

all wastes and converted to be a usable substance once more. It is an energy source which is

renewable, that consists of living and non-living organisms which can be used to produce

electricity or heat. This is all important to know, and to know the value of our natural

resources we should use this information to find other alternative sources of energy to save

our planet.

Edited By Alaa Khadour

Growing New Organs From Patients’ Own

Stem Cells

Human organs can fail for several reasons; genetic deformities,

injuries, an disease can all damage them. The patient can get an organ

transplant but thousands of people are waiting for organs transplants

and many of them die every day. The healthy organs are in very short

supply, moreover, the donor and patient have to be closely matching or

else the patient’s immune system may reject the transplant.

A new solution to this problem is growing organs from patients’

own stem cells. Some scientists knew that every organ has a

“scaffolding”- a structure that gives its shape- and many different types

of cells with different functions. They came up with ways to create an

organ’s scaffolding using biodegradable polymers and natural molecules

like collagen.

Another approach that the tissue engineers came up with was the

“decellularization” which is the digestion of the cells of the spare organs,

leaving the natural scaffolding.

The next step is draping the scaffolding with cells which are

usually adult stem cells. The adult stem cells are extracted from the

person who will be receiving the organ so that it won’t be rejected. The

adult stem cells orchestrate the process of assembly. In conclusion, once

the cells were seeded onto a familiar scaffold they knew what to do.

Nature assembles the jigsaw puzzle.

Treating HIV

What is HIV?

It stands for Human immunodeficiency virus. This virus destroys the infection-

fighting cells of the immune system. Therefore the immune system will not be able to fight

infections.

Transmission of HIV

HIV is transmitted through body fluids such as blood, semen,

genital fluids, and breast milk. Having unprotected sex with a

person carrying the HIV can cause this virus to be transmitted.

What is the treatment for HIV?

The recommended treatment for HIV is the antiretroviral therapy (ART). The ART

requires taking a mixture of three or more anti-HIV medications daily. The ART stops the HIV

from increasing and prevents it from destroying more infection-fighting cells. The anti-HIV

medications cannot cure the HIV but they help people enjoy living longer.

When to start the HIV treatment?

A person carrying the HIV infection may not need to start the treatment immediately.

Starting the treatment depends on several factors :

Your overall health

How well your immune system is working

The amount of HIV in your blood

Whether you’re pregnant or not

Your willingness to commit to a lifelong treatment

What is treatment adherence?

Treatment adherence is taking the right dose of each anti-HIV medication at the

right time and just as prescribed. This is necessary for the HIV treatment. Good adherence

affects the treatment in two ways :

It reduces the amount of HIV in the body

It prevents drug resistance

Difficulties of treatment adherence

Sometimes treatment adherence can be difficult because of :

Difficulty in taking the medications (

trouble swallowing pills)

Medication side effects

Being sick or depressed

Alcohol or drug abuse

Edited By Hinar Khaled

The Most Famous Inventions of the

Century

Environmentally Friendly Transformer fluid from vegetable oils By T.V. Oommen

A new transformer insulating fluid developed from vegetable oil sources is described. Its

development required the selection of suitable base oil, its purification to electrical grade,

and its stabilization by antioxidants. The new fluid, designated BIOTEMP, is fully

biodegradable and performs well at elevated temperatures. It is intended as an

environmentally friendly fluid for use in transformers located in areas where oil spills and

contamination of the surroundings are of concern

Artificial Heart By Abiomed

The pumping organ or the heart is one of the most precious gifts of god. At first there was

no replacement to it but the first ever artificial heart was approved by FDA in 2004.

It is made of plastic and titanium and is able enough to self contain. Artificial heart has

already done many miracles.

There have been few cases when people were declared too ill by the doctors for heart

transplant but artificial heart did wonders for them. This invention has proved to be ground

breaking in the field of medical science and was named Time’s invention of the year

Ginger Or Segway Transporter

Ginger is a brilliant invention created by Dean Kamen in the year 2001. There was a bit of

mystery around this invention but once it was demonstrated, its ability was appreciated

world wide.

The segway transporter is an electric power transportation machine. It is basically a personal

human transporter; it uses five gyroscopes and built in computer. The segway can move at a

speed of 12mph and it has no brakes. The speed and the directions can be controlled

manually by the rider shifting weight and with the help of handlebars.

So far the public demonstrations have shown that segway can easily travel through grass,

pavement and minute obstacles. Sensors in segway control the movement of segway. When

the person moves forward, the sensors detect the motion of the rider and thus enable the

segway to move forward and if the rider pushes backwards the segway moves backwards.

One battery costs 10 cents and lasts for almost about 15 miles so the fuel for the machine is

very affordable.

Artificial Liver

One of the most important and complex organs of human body is liver. Liver removes the

toxins from the blood and manufactures great amount of proteins, and also play part in

metabolism.

The device to replace original damaged liver is now in its final stages. This artificial liver is

used as a bridge for the liver transplant with as much minimal chances of liver failure as

possible.

In some cases it is used to give the damaged liver sufficient time to team which may result in

eliminating the need of liver transplant altogether.

iPod

We are living in a modern 21st century Smart Phone world. iPod is a portable media player

which was first launched in the year 2001. But since its inception, it has revolutionized the

world of modern gadgets.

High storage media devices became a cheap possibility after development of cheap and

compact hard drives, with huge capacities. Apple made its first move by introducing its

media player, that could store a whole library of songs. Later more versions were

introduced, including the touchscreen version called iPod Touch.

Its sleek design and the way it was marketed, made it a huge success.

iPhone

The first ever iPhone hit the market in the year 2007. Although smart phone have already

been in the market and still there are many companies which have their own smart phones

with unique capabilities. But we know the term smart phone more from the iPhone, which is

a brand of Apple Inc.

Today mobiles and handheld phones have become our personal hand held computers,

which have the power of computers which once took a whole room to fill. It can be further

projected that this technology will further progress and in some years to come, we will see

computers and smart phones at an entirely new level.

Large Hadron Collider

Its is possibly one of the greatest scientific inventions of modern times. It really more of an

extremely high tech engineering feat which was achieved in the year 2008 when protons

beam was successfully circulated for the first time.

By building such a large collider, scientists are aiming to unlock many mysteries of science

and our universe which will open new doors for many more discoveries and inventions. The

LHC is 27 km in circumference and buried 175 km beneath the Franco-Swiss border.

Self Cleaning Window invented by PPG industries

The revolutionary new glass provides two consumer-valued benefits: windows with

SunClean glass are easier to clean and stay cleaner, so homeowners can enjoy a cleaner view

with less hassle. A durable, transparent coating on the glass helps break down dirt particles

and sheets water so that rain or the light spray of a garden hose can rinse the exterior clean.

Additionally, the sheeting action provides minimal spotting for a cleaner appearance.

SunClean glass is the latest innovation from PPG -- a leading global manufacturer of glass

products. PPG has been serving homeowners and the residential construction industry since

1883, with more than 30 years of expertise in glass coatings technology.

"Over the past four decades, PPG glass products have helped homeowners be safer with

tempered glass and stay warmer in the winter, cooler in the summer and save on energy

costs with our low-E glass products," said Patrick J. Kenny, director of marketing for flat glass

products. "Now, we will help make homeowners' lives easier with the introduction of

SunClean self-cleaning glass."

How It Works

The self-cleaning properties of SunClean glass are made possible by a durable, transparent

coating of titanium dioxide (TiO2) applied during the manufacturing process. The application

process, patented by PPG, makes the coating an integral part of the glass, providing

homeowners with a durable, long-lasting product.

After a few days of exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun, the coating becomes

energized and provides photocatalytic and hydrophilic properties. The coating and UV light

combine to create a photocatalytic action that helps to loosen and dissolve dirt and other

organic material. Since UV light is abundant even on cloudy days, this process works non-

stop throughout the day, and even remains at work during the night.

The hydrophilic properties of the glass make water droplets spread out, or sheet, across

the surface of the glass. When rain or even the light spray of a garden hose hits the window,

the dirt and organic materials are easily washed away. The sheeting action helps the window

dry without spotting or streaking like conventional glass.

"Washing the outside of your windows can now be as easy as watching a rain shower or

lightly spraying your windows while watering your flower beds," said Kenny.

Heat-Generating Jacket Inventor: Maiden Ventures, Polartec and North Face Research, Design & Development

Forget the down jacket, the long underwear and the extra-thick scarf. Designed for extreme

cold, the North Face MET5 jacket can keep you warm all by itself, thanks to a network of

microscopic, waterproof heating elements woven into the fabric. Working a control unit

stashed near the chest, you can dial the heat up to 114 degrees F. Small lithium-ion batteries

keep the juice flowing for up to five hours.

Mini Autonomous Robots Inventors: Ray Byrne, Ed Heller and Doug Adkins; Sandia National Laboratories

Imagine a robot small enough to crawl through pipes to check for chemical leaks or sneak

under doors to spy on intruders. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have created

the Mini Autonomous Robot Vehicle Jr. to do just that. Smaller than a cherry and powered

by three watch batteries, MARV Jr. can cover 20 in. per min. on custom-made tracks

fashioned from strips of latex balloons. Future versions may include miniature cameras,

microphones and chemical microsensors.

Millenium Bridge Inventor: Wilkinson Eyre Architects and Gifford and Partners, civil engineers

Drawbridges are quaint, but they are so medieval. So when city planners in the industrial

town of Gateshead, in northeast England, picked a design for a new pedestrian and bike

bridge to connect Gateshead with the historic city of Newcastle across the winding river

Tyne, they decided that a break from tradition was in order. For most of the day, a single

steel arch vaults high above the water, fixed by 18 harplike suspension cables to a 413-ft.-

long, curved pathway below. When a boat approaches, however, the entire bridge pivots to

one side. As the lower deck rises into the air, the upper arch descends on the other side until

both halves are suspended opposite each other some 90 ft. in the air. Powered by

hydraulics, the $25 million Millennium Bridge can tilt back and forth in four minutes. The

bridge is the centerpiece of a multimillion-dollar urban-renewal plan that will eventually

connect a new arts center to hotels and restaurants on either shore.

Retail DNA Test

The Everything Game

It's blasphemy, brilliance or both to take the entire evolution of a species — from a single-

celled animalcule in a drop of water to a space-faring, galaxy-exploring sentient being — and

turn it into a video game. But that's exactly what Will Wright has done. Wright is the man

who createdThe Sims, a game about everyday life in suburbia, but apparently he found the

vast panorama of human experience too confining, because he then spent seven years

creating Spore, in which players design their own life-form and then manage every aspect of

its progress through the centuries, from savagery to civilization.

High-Tech Running Shoes

Nike and Adidas continued their long-running battle for sneaker supremacy this year. Nike

unleashed its Zoom Victory track spike (right), with a paper-thin surface that snugs runners

like a second skin. Narrow threads made of Vectran, a material used to sew landing balloons

on the lunar rover, run like cables from the laces to the bottom, supporting the foot at key

pressure points such as the heel. The threads keep the shoe together with a minimum of

extraneous material, allowing the spike to weigh in at under 100 grams, which makes it one

of the lightest performance shoes on record. Meanwhile, Adidas, working in tandem with

Porsche Design, engineered the Porsche Design Sport Bounce running shoe. It features

metallic springs that cushion the foot, making your run as smooth as a ride in a high-end

sports car

Edited By Rana Ahmed