Science Daily has reported that Dr David Bickford, the lead scientist at the Department of Biological Sciences, NUS, has discovered the world's first lungless frog in Borneo.

"We knew that we would have to be very lucky just to find the frog," said David Bickford of the National University of Singapore. "People have been trying for 30 years. But when we did and I was doing the initial dissections -- right there in the field -- I have to say that I was very skeptical at first [that they would in fact lack lungs]. It just did not seem possible. We were all shocked when it turned out to be true for all the specimens we had from Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Link

Wired Science said:

I find it quite funny that Minister Yeo is a magnet for nanotechnology gifts. During his speech, he described a coffee mug that causes the carbon dioxide in soda to fizzle out quickly. After his speech, he was given a plaque with a fuel cell embedded in it. Considering how things are going, I suspect that he will receive a lot more of them in the coming years.

Recommended by Lucian: "Singapore looks set to beat the US in scientific areas such as nanotechnology."

Link

The Register reports that Singapore researchers have demonstrated that it is possible to "teleport" information from one so-called quantum dot to another. The article refers to the paper titled Quantum dot as a resource for teleportation and state swapping published by Choo KW and Dr Kwek LC in The American Physical Society Journal.

They used a computer model to study the transfer or swapping of states between two dots, and determined that it can be done perfectly, under certain very specific conditions. The model revealed that the fidelity of the teleportation is proportional to the entanglement of the two dots, and that a two-dot system would still work under a moderate amount of decoherence.

Link

Aaron Ng said:

I have received an official clarification from A*Star about the defamatory remarks in the AcidFlask incident in 2005, and I have decided to reproduce their reply below. This is because in this official reply, A*Star has granted permission for the defamatory remarks to be reproduced (under certain conditions), so the issue can now be openly discussed and objectively judged by everyone.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "It's high time we all learnt what the issue was really about. The real Philip Yeo (as far as I can tell) makes a cameo appearance. "

Link

Today Online said:

But the booming figures mask a Catch-22 situation: The current shortage of PhD holders in the biomedical sciences cluster is hampering Singapore's bid to attract multinational companies to move their high-end research projects here. Without a PhD, most of Singapore's life sciences graduates are only qualified to work as research assistants. . And both graduates and diploma holders vie for these positions that could pay less than $2,000 a month. In the industry's manufacturing sector, life sciences graduates compete against their peers from other general sciences and engineering disciplines. They face even stiffer competition in the sales sector, where paper qualifications take on less significance.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "Another example of the govt's hype causing oversupply of grads in a particular industry"

Link

Associated Press said:

“This is one of the strangest fish that I’ve seen in my whole career,” Dr Britz said. “It’s tiny, it lives in acid and it has these bizarre grasping fins. I hope that we’ll have time to find out more about them before their habitat disappears completely.”

Recommended by Elia Diodati: "Dr. Tan Heok Hui of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research was part of the Sumatra expedition that discovered this bizarre news species of fish, Paedocypris progenetica. Technically-minded science types will want to read the research article in Proc. Roy. Soc. B."

Link

Mercury News said:

Two of the nation's top government biologists are moving to Singapore instead of Stanford University, worried by delays in the allocation of $3 billion in taxpayer funds allocated for stem-cell research by Proposition 71...

``It is a loss for Stanford and a loss for America,'' Weissman said. ``Without a doubt, they are the best people I know to find out which genes are altered to cause cancer.''

``When they do their work, it will be for Singapore,'' he said. ``They'll conduct their clinical trials in Singapore. The first place their work will be patented and used will be Singapore.'

Recommended by danb: "Ah, thanks to the religious fundamentalists, Intelligent Design advocates, and legislative filibusters in America we get the top cancer researchers in their field.

Not sure if the MSM has covered this, if not, you read this first on Tomorrow.sg."

Link

The Register reported...

Researchers in Singapore have developed a paper battery that is powered by urine. Despite sounding gloriously silly, the breakthrough promises a cheap and disposable power source for home health tests for things like diabetes.

Link

IZ Reloaded

An exhibition called Albert Einstein - Man of the Century will be held at the Singapore Science Center from May 19th to November 2005. The Exhibition covers all the major aspects of Einstein’s life and work. Sections will be devoted to his groundbreaking scientific achievements and his active involvement in humanitarian affairs. The exhibition also presents an insight into Einstein’s personal life and his leisure activities. It explores Einstein’s mythic status as a universal cultural and scientific icon – including his correspondence with children from all around the world.

Link