November 2008 Archives

By Jacqueline Hewett

I've just received details of two new photonics calls in the 7th research framework programme (FP7).

The first call is a general photonics call covering areas such as communication, lighting, biophotonics and imaging. EURO 60 million has been allocated to this call. The call closes on 1 April 2009.

The second call is more specific and covers organic photonics such as OLEDs as well as other disruptive photonic technologies such as metamaterials and plasmonics. EURO 30 million has been allocated to this call. The call opens on 31 July 2009 and closes on 3 November 2009.

OLE magazine recently spoke to John Magan, who is the deputy head of the EC's Photonics Unit. He explained how calls for proposals work, what makes a good proposal and also how proposals are assessed. I hope this is a useful point of reference if you are planning on submitting a proposal to either of these new calls.

By Jacqueline Hewett

If your research spills over into the energy sector, you might want to read about a new call for collaborative research projects in energy with South Africa.

The initiative is being run by the UK's Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) and at least £2million is available to support proposals submitted to this call. The deadline for submissions is 31 December 2008.

The announcement on the EPSRC is quite vague but says that it would like to "encourage new and innovative collaborative projects focusing on energy-related engineering and physical sciences research with South Africa."

For more information, simply visit the EPSRC's Calls for Proposals page.

By Hamish Johnston, editor of physicsworld.com

2009 is International Year of Astronomy

In 1609 the Tuscan polymath Galileo Galilei was the first astronomer to point a telescope skywards. He went on to discover sunspots, mountains on the Moon and four of the moons of Jupiter.

To mark this milestone in the development of modern science, the United Nations has declared 2009 the International Year of Astronomy.

Now, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of telescope-based astronomy, 1000 secondary schools in the UK will be given telescopes - paid for by the Society for Popular Astronomy, the Royal Astronomical Society and the UK science-research funding body STFC.

Given that light pollution and cloudy skies are all too common in much of Britain, I'm not sure what these high-school kids will see with their telescopes - but hopefully it will boost their interest in astronomy.

After peering through his telescope, Galileo was able to present solid evidence for the Copernican view that Earth orbited the Sun and not vice versa. Sadly, he was rewarded with the counter-reformation equivalent of an anti-social behaviour order (ASBO), which wasn't lifted until 1992.

Hmm...is Galileo really a suitable role model for British teens?

By Jacqueline Hewett

I've spent part of my afternoon today checking out the Optical Society of America's (OSA) new Interactive Science Publishing (ISP) articles. The ISP articles, which appear in OSA journals such as Optics Express, link out to large datasets, such as a CT scan of the human chest.

You can view these images by downloading a special bit of software developed by OSA in cooperation with Kitware and the National Library of Medicine. Give it a go, and see for yourself. You know the saying "a picture is worth a thousand words."

Here's what an enthusiastic Donald Lindberg, the director of the National Library of Medicine, had to say about ISP.

"The ISP concept unleashes a new way of thinking for clinicians and medical researchers in the medical imaging research community," he said. "ISP parallels previous successful initiatives in molecular biology and genomics, where the accepted practice is to publish original data, but it provides the first tools to really integrate three-dimensional datasets from X-ray, MRI, CT, and ultrasound instruments into journal articles. We feel that this technology has tremendous potential for accelerating translation research and thus improving the quality of health care worldwide."

One of the first articles to make use of the new ISP functionality is entitled "Applying anatomical optical coherence tomography (OCT) to quantitative 3D imaging of the lower airway". This paper describes how anatomical OCT can accurately measure the shape, diameter and length of the airways inside the lungs, even as they expand and contract during breathing.

A second publication using the ISP reminded me of a news story I wrote recently on creating a digital embryo. This next paper has the title In vivo spectral domain optical coherence tomography volumetric imaging and spectral Doppler velocimetry of early stage embryonic chicken heart development and as the name suggests the researchers have come up with a new way of measuring blood flow and imaging the structure of the heart in a developing chicken embryo.

By Jacqueline Hewett

I'd just like to say a big thank you to everyone who voted in our online poll. Some 60% of you believe that Barack Obama is the right choice for the global photonics industry, with 20% voting for John McCain and 19% saying that the choice of president will make no difference.

While the percentages in our poll don't quite mirror the overall election results, we're pleased to see that your favourite has now been elected as the next President of the United States.

So, what does the future hold now that Barack Obama has been elected? If would like to add your thoughts, please do so using the "Comments" link at the end of this post. However, maybe the best way to answer the question is to quote the new President-elect himself as he addressed his supports in Chicago.

"America we have come so far. We have seen so much but there is so much more to do. Tonight, let us ask ourselves, if our children should live to see the next century, what change will they see? What progress will we have made? This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time to put our people back to work, and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth that out of many we are one; that while we breathe, we hope; and that when faced with cynicism and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless cry that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes we can."

By Jacqueline Hewett

The goLITE BLU from Philips

It's always a shock to the system when British Summer Time comes to an end, and certainly I know a few people who really suffer at this time of year. With this in mind, I thought I would post news of Philips' latest innovation: the goLITE BLU, which is claimed to be a natural and convenient way to relieve seasonal mood-related problems.

Philips says in its press release that light therapy has been shown to improve mood and energy levels by regulating our internal body clock or circadian rhythms - the body's 24-hour cycle of activity and sleep related to light.

According to Dan Adams, a research manager at Philips Home Healthcare Solutions, the body clock is stimulated by blue light like that found in the summer sky so when we get less of this light in winter, people start to suffer.

"The goLITE BLU represents significant improvements in portable blue light therapy," says Adams. "Science has shown that to stimulate the body clock we don't need intense white light. This is because a person's body clock can respond up to two times greater to blue light than to white light and white light is 50 times more intense. Our Bluewave technology, which is incorporated into the goLITE BLU, dramatically reduces the overall intensity of light as compared to bright white therapy devices and can help minimize potential side effects such as eyestrain, glare and headaches."

The product measures 5.3 x 5.5 inches and weighs 12 ounces. Philips stresses that the goLITE BLU passes ocular safety testing and all government and industrial ocular safety standards and does not emit any harmful ultraviolet (UV) or near-UV light.

The suggested retail price for the goLITE BLU is $279. I wonder how useful this would be to help my jet-lag when I travel long-haul to the US for conferences such as Photonics West?

By Jacqueline Hewett

I received an e-mail today about a Masters programme called CIMET, which stands for Color in Informatics and Media Technology. As I hadn't heard of this course before, I thought I would write a short post about it to pass on the information.

Four European universities have teamed up to offer the two-year CIMET Masters: the University of Saint-Etienne (France), University of Joensuu (Finland), University of Granada (Spain) and University College Gjovik (Norway). The coursework is said to cover photonics, computer vision and imaging science, and computer science and multimedia technology. There is a mixture of both theoretical and practical work.

CIMET is part of the Erasmus Mundus programme, and has just launched its campaign to recruit students for the 2009-2011 degree. The deadline for non-European students is the end of January 2009, while the deadline for European students in May 2009. There is a lot more information regarding the applications procedure on the course website.

"To qualify for admission, applicants must have a Bachelor degree in computer science, physics or mathematics," explained Hélène Goodsir, CIMET Administrative Coordinator. "18 to 20 Erasmus Mundus grants are available for non-European students. Up to 8 grants will be available to high-level European students. The programme requests high mobility, but it is possible to mainly study in one host university and attend only one semester in another university. All courses will be given in English throughout the consortium."

The CIMET consortium is also able to host academics specialized in the fields of optics, colour, image and media technology. Scholars (PhD minimum) will be expected to contribute to the teaching of one compulsory course or one optional specialization course, under the direction of a permanent teacher at the host institution.