EN
T
V
S
E
,
C
A
D
V
H
A
E
N
C
K
E
S
,
T
N
A
N
O
D
N
W
E
L
W
S
E
D
G
E
Y
2006
■ BY JEFF ECKERT
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES
INVENTION USES LASER
SCANNER FOR VIRUS ID
Perhaps just in time for the looming
bird flu pandemic, a device has
been developed at the University of
Colorado at Boulder ( www.colorado.
edu) that can determine the genetic
signatures of specific influenza strains
from patient samples quickly. Tests by
the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention have verified that the
CU-Boulder Flu Chip can determine
the genetic makeup of types and subtypes of the flu virus in about 11 hours.
The chip fits on a microscope slide
and contains an array of microscopic
spots, each of which is about 0.001
inches in diameter. Genetic bits of
information that are complimentary to
known individual influenza strains are
“spotted” robotically in an array such
that each row of three spots contains a
specific sequence of “capture” DNA.
The microarray is then immersed in a
wash of influenza gene fragments
obtained from the fluid of an infected
individual. RNA fragments from the
infected fluid bind to specific DNA
segments on the microarray like a key
in a lock, indicating both a match and
that the virus signature is present. The
captured RNA is then labeled with
another complimentary sequence that
also contains a fluorescent dye, and
such “hits” light up when the chip is
inserted into a laser scanner.
The Flu Chip also should be able
to recognize mutations that might
occur in avian flu H5N1, which has
been spreading rapidly from bird to
bird in Asia, Russia, and parts of
Europe. The ultimate goal is to shrink
the concept down to a cheap,
hand-held device that can be mass
produced and taken into remote locations where medical labs don’t exist.
PHOTO COP YRIGHT EUROPEAN SPACE AGENC Y, USED B Y PERMISSION.
VENUS PROBE ON
ITS WAY
■ Artist’s impression of Venus
Express orbiting Venus.
■ Professors Robert Kuchta and
Kathy Rowlen display a scanner and
the Flu Chip.
By the time you read this, the
European Space Agency’s Venus
Express should have already left a
launch pad in Kazakhstan, having been
lifted into space by a Soyuz rocket, and
be on its way to Earth’s “evil twin,”
Venus. The spacecraft, carrying seven
scientific instruments for studying the
planet, is a honeycombed aluminium
panel box within which all the systems
and the payload are fixed. It measures
1.5 x 1.8 x 1.4 m, excluding the solar
panels, and weighs in at 1,240 kg,
including 93 kg of payload and 570 kg
of fuel. With the solar panels extended,
the unit measures about 8 m across.
The basic mission, which
comes at a cost of about 220
million euros, is to make the
first global examination of the
Venusian atmosphere, which is
very hot and dense and appears
to be completely different from
the one around Earth. Existing
meteorological models fail to
predict the behavior of Venus’s
thicker blanket of gases.
In particular, the probe will
investigate (1) the choking
greenhouse effect on Venus, (2)
the hurricane force winds that permanently encircle the planet, ( 3) why
Venus rotates backward and so slowly
(just one revolution every 243 Earth
days), ( 4) the mysterious ultraviolet
absorption features at an altitude of
about 80 km ( 5), the planet’s mysteriously weak magnetic field, and ( 6) the
way particles from the sun interact
with the upper atmosphere. Slated to
arrive near the end of April, Venus
Express’ mission will last for about
1,000 Earth days, after which it will run
out of fuel. For details, and to keep an
eye on its progress, visit www.esa.int
PHOTO COURTES Y UNIVERSI T Y OF COLORADO AT
BOULDER, OFFICE OF NE WS SERVICES.
QUANTUM PHYSICS
DISPROVEN?
Perhaps even farther out than Venus
is a concept from Black Light
Power, Inc., of Cranbury, NJ. The
company claims to have developed a
working prototype of a power source
that unleashes substantial latent
energy in hydrogen atoms, allowing it
to generate as much as 1,000 times as
much heat as conventional fuels. The
process involves creating a new form of
hydrogen atom, called the “hydrino,” in
a process that causes the atom’s elec-
8
January 2006
