Month: March 2012

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Antibiotics and foodborne pathogens: are superbugs born in livestock?

— Despite our best efforts to wash our hands and keep raw meat separate from other ingredients while cooking, over 76 million Americans per year become ill from foodborne bacteria or the toxins produced by them. The bacterial culprits are typically E. coli, Salmonella, or Campylobacter jejuni. While gastrointestinal diseases are unpleasant, they can be treated with antibiotics that kill the offending bacteria. However, scientists and consumers alike worry that antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” may soon contaminate the food supply. One step the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is taking to prevent such superbugs is to regulate the use of antibiotics in livestock. Continue reading Antibiotics and foodborne pathogens: are superbugs born in livestock?

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Is the Robot Apocalypse Just Around the Corner?

— If you believe Hollywood’s interpretation, the advent of intelligent robots rarely ends well for mankind. Movies like The Matrix, Terminator, and I, Robot all depict robots as quite intelligent, capable, and horrifyingly destructive machines that either aim to enslave us, or worse, bring about the extinction of the human race. In these cinematic examples, robots are rarely helpful or friendly (with the occasional exceptions like Wall-E or R2-D2). Intelligent robots with the capacity to take over the world are fine as long as they remain in the realm of science fiction. But are highly capable robots confined to the silver screen? When you read the news and see titles like “Evolving robots learn to lie to each other,” “Tiny robots are ready to spy on us,” “Are we being watched by flying robotic insects?,” “A real-life robotic avatar turns you into a machine,” or consider that IBM’s Watson can handily defeat humans on Jeopardy, you might think that it’s time to panic. Or you may wonder what exactly all those reckless scientists are thinking – haven’t they seen the movies? Why don’t they stop before it’s too late? Continue reading Is the Robot Apocalypse Just Around the Corner?

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The Promise of Organic Solar Cells: Flexible, Cheap, and Printable

— The world is excited about solar cells – and with good reason. Imagine the City of the Future, where every exposed surface has solar cells on it, converting the sun’s energy into electricity. This vision could include solar cells on windows, on top of our cars, on the surface of our cell phones, or on our clothes. Instead of using energy from coal or oil, which pollutes the environment, we would be using the ever-present, pollution-free energy available from the sun. Scientists and engineers must work on improving solar cells if we want to make this futuristic city a reality. Continue reading The Promise of Organic Solar Cells: Flexible, Cheap, and Printable

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