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Submission + - The DNA Data Deluge (ieee.org)

Submitted by the_newsbeagle
the_newsbeagle writes: Fast, cheap genetic sequencing machines have the potential to revolutionize science and medicine--but only if geneticists can figure out how to deal with the floods of data their machines are producing. That's where computer scientists can save the day. In this article from IEEE Spectrum, two computational biologists explain how they're borrowing big data solutions from companies like Google and Amazon to meet the challenge.

An explanation of the scope of the problem, from the article: "The roughly 2000 sequencing instruments in labs and hospitals around the world can collectively generate about 15 petabytes of compressed genetic data each year. To put this into perspective, if you were to write this data onto standard DVDs, the resulting stack would be more than 2 miles tall. And with sequencing capacity increasing at a rate of around three- to fivefold per year, next year the stack would be around 6 to 10 miles tall. At this rate, within the next five years the stack of DVDs could reach higher than the orbit of the International Space Station."
Wireless Networking

Submission + - How the Sinking of the Titanic Sparked a Century of Radio Improvements (ieee.org)

Submitted by joshuarrrr
joshuarrrr writes: When the RMS Titanic scraped an iceberg on the night of 14 April 1912, its wireless operators began sending distress calls on one of the world’s most advanced radios: a 5-kilowatt rotary spark transmitter that on a clear night could send signals from the middle of the Atlantic to New York City or London. What the radio operators lacked, however, were international protocols for wireless communications at sea. At the time, US law only required ships to have one operator on board, and he was usually employed by the wireless companies, not the ship itself.

"At 12:15 a.m. on 15 April, Captain Edward Smith orders radio operator Jack Phillips begins transmitting “CQD MQY” (MQY were the Titanic’s call letters). At fellow operator Harold Bride’s suggestion, Phillips also to begin sending “SOS MQY.”...
The ship closest to the Titanic, the Californian, does not respond; its radio operator, who had been on duty since 7 a.m., had switched off his equipment for the night 10 minutes before the Titanic struck ice."

On the 100th anniversary of the Titanic, IEEE Spectrum looks at how the tragedy accelerated the improvement of communications at sea.
Medicine

Submission + - The Challenges of Tapping Blood Flow for Power (ieee.org)

Submitted by joshuarrrr
joshuarrrr writes: Researchers in Switzerland have tested small turbines designed to fit inside a human artery, like an implantable hydroelectric generator. The turbines can draw about a milliwatt of power, which would be enough to run a pacemaker. The problem is that the turbines tended to create turbulence, which can cause blood to coagulate into clots. Competing systems avoid the turbulence but have trouble generating enough power.
Image

FBI Interrogator Says Cookies Convinced Al-Qaeda Suspect To Talk 11

Posted by samzenpus from the catch-more-flies-with-sugar dept.
Ali Soufan, a former FBI interrogator, says that Osama Bin Laden's bodyguard, Abu Jandal, talked about the 9/11 attack only after he was given sugar free cookies. Jandal is diabetic and was unable to eat the regular cookies given to him with his tea. Noticing this, Soufan offered the suspect sugar-free cookies at their next meeting. Soufan says it was this act of kindness, not rougher methods, that opened up a dialogue between the two. "We had showed him respect, and we had done this nice thing for him. So he started talking to us instead of giving us lectures," Soufan said.

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