CONTENTS How to Build a Bionic Eye 3 Time to Retire Those Sets and Tutus 5 Sundance win for immigrant film 8 Baryshnikov at 60: Dancer extraordinaire still on a quest for the next challenge 9 Who Is Grady Harp? 12 Am I a Fascist? 15 A museum for the 21st century 18 Architectural Conservation Comes to College Campuses 19 Scientists Look At Those In Evolutionary Race Who Don't Make It 'Out Of The Gate' 21 Handwashing Can Reduce Diarrhea Episodes By About One Third 23 Universal Influenza Vaccine Tested Successfully In Humans 25 Seeing Is Believing: Visualizing Inflammation In Fat Tissue 27 Could Tiny Diatoms Help Offset Global Warming? 28 Does Mood Matter? What About The Order Of Choices? 30 New Method Enables Design, Production Of Extremely Novel Drugs 31 New Technique Quickly Detects Cancer 33 Maya Mask Splendor Enhanced With Sparkling Mica 35 Low Vitamin E Levels Associated With Physical Decline In Elderly 37 Soft Contact Lens Corneal Infections Fueled By Resistant Microbes 39 Scientists Call For Urgent Research Into 'Real' Impacts Of Invasive Species 40 Videos Extract Mechanical Properties Of Liquid-gel Interfaces 42 Sedentary Lifestyles Associated With Accelerated Aging Process 44 New Experimental Website Converts Photos Into 3D Models 46 What Gives Us Fingertip Dexterity? 48 Earth's Getting 'Soft' In The Middle, Geologists Note 50 Water Repellent Wood Fiber Products Developed 52 Engineers Use Blood's Hydrodynamics To Manipulate Stem, Cancer Cells 54 Don't Worry, Be Moderately Happy, Research Suggests 56 Altar Of Zeus Offer Insights Into Origins Of Greece's Most Powerful God 58 Why The Web Tells Us What We Already Know 60 Move Over US -- China To Be New Driver Of World's Economy And Innovation 61 Computer-based Tool Aids Research, Helps Thwart Questionable Publication Practices 63 How Do You Learn a Dead Language? 65 Books 'most popular online buy' 67 Why the nation needs an Angel of the South 68 Cells' internal clocks revealed 70 Can the novella save literature? 72 Freed From the Page, but a Book Nonetheless 73 A life of their own 76 Sistema de Infotecas Centrales Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila JUAN MUNOZ EXHIBITION AT TATE MODERN 82 New Method Exploits Ancient Mechanism To Switch Genes On And Off At Will 83 Discovery Challenges Long-held Beliefs About Water's Special Properties 85 Mental And Physical Exercise Delays Dementia In Fatal Genetic Disease 87 Virtual Reality Teaches Autistic Children Street Crossing, Study Suggests 89 Nowhere To Hide: New Ultra-powerful Microscope Probes Atomic World 90 Carbon Monoxide May Cause Long-lasting Heart Damage 92 Stardust Comet Dust Resembles Asteroid Materials 93 Lithium And Beryllium Alloys Could Bond And Result In Superconductivity 95 Polymer Gel Prevents Skin Grafts From Shrinking 97 Computer Model Developed For Osteoporosis Diagnostics 98 Synthesis Of Natural Molecule Could Lead To Better Anti-cancer Drugs 100 Innovative Method Improves Tsunami Warning Systems, Offers New Insights 103 Heat Pumps 'Go With The Flow' To Boost Output 105 Mercury's Magnetosphere Fends Off Solar Wind 106 Newborn Brain Cells Modulate Learning And Memory 108 Nanochemists Discover Semi-Conducting Nanotube For Next Generation Electronics 110 Haptics: New Software Allows User To Reach Out And Touch, Virtually 111 Blue-eyed Humans Have A Single, Common Ancestor 113 Developing Better Forage For Feeding Hungry Cattle Year Round 115 Could An Asteroid Hit Planet Earth, Again? 117 Climate Change Poses A Huge Threat To Human Health 119 Researchers Can Determine When A Human Was Born By Looking Into The Eyes Of 121 The Dead Probing The Cosmic Web Of The Universe: New Light On Dark Energy 123 Saving Endangered Sea Turtles 126 Deep Brain Stimulation In Hypothalamus Triggers 'Déjà Vu' Memory Recall In Patient 128 Culture and the city 130 Working in a daily dose of the arts 132 Six finalists named for first 'Arabic Booker' 134 A Difficult Youth Is A Good Thing For A Fish 136 Cosmetics or Lotions May Cause Fatal Infections In Critically Ill Patients 138 River Blindness Parasite Shows Signs Of Resistance To Only Effective Drug 139 New Program Will Improve Pollution Monitoring From Many Sources 141 Huge Drop In Preterm Birth-risk Among Women Taking Folic Acid 143 Tiny Avalanche Photodiode Detects Single UV Photons 145 Increased Hurricane Activity Linked To Sea Surface Warming 147 Micro Chip Processor Design Gets Mathematical Sweetener 149 Wired For Sound: Implant Sends Signals Direct To Brain 151 Computer Scientist Makes Splash With Academy Award For Fluid Simulation 152 El Nino At Play As Source Of More Intense Regional US Wintertime Storms 154 Downloadable Training Program Helps Teen Drivers Anticipate And Avoid Crashes 156 Traces Of The Martian Past In The Terby Crater 157 New Discovery On Magnetic Reconnection To Impact Future Space Missions 159 New Tool Probes Brain Circuits: Method Applied To Learning And Memory Pathway 161 Poetry's eternal youths 163 Danger! Theatre can affect your health 165 Malaria jab hope over chimp virus 167 Obesity drug use rises eight-fold 169 Test confusion 'risk to patients' 171 Wiping Out The Coffee-ring Effect Advances Inkjet Printing Of Electronic Circuits 173 Researchers Create Gold Aluminum, Black Platinum, Blue Silver Using Tabletop Laser 174 Making Accurate Predictions Of Tsunami Risks 176 2 Infoteca’s E-Journal No. 11 February 2008 Sistema de Infotecas Centrales Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila How to Build a Bionic Eye Researchers have created an electronic contact lens that could be used as a display or a medical sensor. By Kate Greene People don't think twice about wearing a Bluetooth headset to have conversations on their cell phones. Well, one day it might not be unusual to wear a contact lens that projects the phone's display directly onto the eye. Researchers at the University of Washington have taken an important first step toward building contact lenses that could do just that. By incorporating metal circuitry and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) into a polymer-based lens, they have created a functional circuit that is biologically compatible with the eye. "If you look at the structure of a lens, it's just a simple polymer," says Babak Parviz, professor of electrical engineering at the University of Washington. A number of researchers are putting electronics into polymers to build flexible circuits or displays, for instance. "What we realized was, we can make a lot of functional devices that are really tiny, and they can be incorporated into a contact lens to do a lot more than just improve vision," Parviz says. The team created the electronic lens with two main purposes in mind, he says. One of the goals was to see if it would be possible to build a heads-up display that could superimpose images onto a person's field of view, while still allowing her to see the real world. It would be a sort of augmented reality, explains Parviz. (See "TR10: Augmented Reality.") Soldiers could use the technology to see information about their environment, collected from sensors. Or civilians could use the electronic lens as a cell-phone display, to see who is calling and to watch videos during a commute, although these goals are long term, he says. Another possible application is to use the lens as a sensor that could monitor chemical levels in the body and notify the user if they indicate signs of disease. Although Parviz won't go into details about the specific sensors that his team is making, he explains that many indicators of health can be monitored from the surface of the eye. The live cells on the eye, he says, are in indirect contact with blood serum, which contains biomarkers for diseases. If a sensor designed to pick up these biomarkers was built into a lens, then doctors could have a completely new, noninvasive tool for disease tests. In addition, the lens could continually monitor changes over time, providing a more complete view of a person's health. 3 Infoteca’s E-Journal No. 11 February 2008 Sistema de Infotecas Centrales Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila Admittedly, these applications are years away. But Parviz and his team have laid the foundation for the work. In a paper presented at the International Conference of Micro Electric Mechanical Systems in Tucson, AZ, last week, the researchers describe how they created a lens with 16 working LEDs. The lens was made from a polyethylene tetraphthalate substrate--the kind of plastic used in beverage bottles--which was covered with metal wires for connecting the LEDs. In addition to wires, the researchers used chemicals to carve out circular indentations in which the LEDs would be placed. Parviz notes that one challenge in building working electronics and opto- electronics into plastic is that these devices must be made with high heat that would melt the plastic. To get around this problem, his team fabricated LEDs on a separate substrate, ensuring that the devices could easily be removed and transferred onto the plastic lens. Next, the researchers coated the fully assembled electronic lenses with polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), a biocompatible material. PMMA is also used to coat hard contact lenses, says Parviz, making his lenses more similar to hard contacts than the soft contacts worn by most people today. In the final step, the researchers molded the plastic into the shape of a lens. When the team tested the lenses, the circuit was viable and the LEDs lit up. The researchers also placed the lens in a rabbit's eye for 20 minutes and found no adverse effects. However, they did not turn on the electronics while the lens was in the rabbit's eye. "I think we have to be careful about what happens to the eye when it turns on," says Parviz.