SSggggyg"!
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CANADIAN
SCIENCE
Executive
Editor:
Lydia
Dotto
Managing
Editor:
John
Holt
ISSN
0712-488
Published
by:
Canadian
Science
News
Service,
Room
H-02,
University
College,
University
of
Toronto,
Toronto,
Ont.
M5S
1A1
(416)
595-7153
Canadian
Science
News
Service
acknowledges
a
grant
from
the
Science
Culture
Canada
Program
Process
recycles
both
wood,
plastic
By
Paige
Debergo
Plastic
and
wood
may
seem
worlds
apart,
particularly
when
it
comes
to
the
environment.
However,
University
of
Toronto
researchers
are
combining
plastic
and
wood-fibre
waste
products
into
various
forms
of
'synthetic
wood'
that
can
be
used
for
privacy
fencing,
siding,
bins
and
other
home
and
landscape
products.
Chemical
Engineering
professor
Ray
Woodhams
says
that,
although
wood-and-plasuc
combinations
are
not
new,
this
process
uses
a
highspeed
turbine
mixer
that
permits
a
variety
of
industrial
and
poit-consumer
recycled.
It
makes
efficient
use
of
using
glossy
magazine
paper,
sryrofoam
and
plastic-bound
books
like
telephone
books
which
were
previously
difficult
and
uneconomical
to
recycle.
"Most
of
the
automobiles
manufactured
today
in
Germany,
Japan
and
the
United
States
contain
plastic
panels
that
are
reinforced
with
wood
fibres,"
says
Woodhams
"Our
work
is
an
extension
of
that
commercial
process
using
recycled
newsprint
and
waste
plastics."
Woodhams'
colleague,
forestry
professor
John
Balatinecz,
says
there
are
two
reasons
to
combine
wood
fibres
with
these
plastics.
"Wood
fibres
have
a
tendency
to
reinforce
the
plastic
matrix
so
that
you
end
up
with
a
stronger
material
in
the
composite.
The
second
reason
to
add
wood
material
to
plastics
is
that
wood,
particularly
if
it
comes
from
residues
or
so-called
waste,
reduces
the
cost
of
the
end
product
significantly."
The
high-speed,
temperature-sensitive
'K-mixer',
developed
by
Synergistics
Industries
Limited
-
a
Toronto
company,
shreds
newsprint
Growing
fresh
grass
year-round
An
Ontario
veterinarian
has
devised
a
way
to
let
farmers
feed
their
livestock
fresh
grass
all
year
round.
Dr.
Murray
Smith,
president
of
Harvest
Spring
Nutritional
Systems
Inc.
in
Lambeth,
designs
and
sells
hydroponic
units
which
grow
barley
grass
in
water
to
provide
animals
with
fresh
feed
all
the
time.
The
units,
called
hydroponic
environmental
chambers,
are
glass-fibre
structures,
resembling
boxcars.
They
are
lined
with
stainless
steel
or
aluminum
shelves
holding
plastic
trays
filled
with
seed.
Every
few
hours
the
computer-controlled
unit
sprays
water
onto
the
seed.
Once
the
system
is
completely
seeded
and
the
first
crop
matures,
between
150
kilograms
and
one
tonne
of
grass
can
be
harvested
daily
on
a
rotating
basis,
depending
on
the
size
of
the
unit.
The
units
are
priced
from
$9,000
to
$88,000.
The
system
helps
meet
growing
and
disperses
it
into
the
plastic
within
'
seconds.
The
resulting
material
can
be
moulded
into
different
shapes
or
else
produced
as
sheets.
The
researchers
are
also
looking
into
ways
of
expanding
the
material
to
make
it
less
dense.
"We've
begun
to
use
what
we
call
'blowing
agents'
that
would
slightly
expand
the
wood
fibre
composites
to
make
the
material
light-weight,"
says
Woodhams
"You
can
now
drive
nails
and
screws
into
it
and
saw
it";
the
original
version
of
the
plastic
is
too
tough
and
dense
for
handyman
uses,
he
adds.
The
researchers
are
currently
looking
to
refine
the
process
by
using
a
'dry
refining'
method.
Balatinecz
says
that
"when
you
re-pulp
paper,
you
usually
use
water
that
becomes
contaminated
and
that's
no
good.
We
looked
at
ways
of
dry
refining
the
waste
paper
and
have
achieved
good
success
so
far".
The
research
is
being
sponsored
by
Resource
Plastics
Corp.,
a
plastics
recycling
plant
located
in
Brantford,
Ontario,
that
hopes
to
develop
a
market
for
the
synthetic
wood.
Chairman
Jim
Horn
says,
"I
think
I
have
identified
enough
of
a
market
that
it
would
be
economically
viable
to
go
ahead."
He
says
materials
produced
by
his
company,
such
as
waste
from
stretch
wrap,
could
be
blended
with
wood
products
to
produce
material
that
would
be
suitable
for
privacy
fencing.
With
the
current
concern
about
the
environment,
he
doesn't
foresee
any
problem
in
selling
manufacturers
or
consumers
on
the
cheaper,
stronger
product.
"People
are
becoming
very
conscious
of
the
problem
of
recycling
and
are
serious
about
accepting
things
that
are
made
in
a
responsible
manner
for
those
markets."
(Canadian
Science
News)
consumer
demand
for
more
natural,
chemical-free
products.
Smith
says.
He
designed
the
units
together
with
diet
and
health
programs
for
livestock,
poultry
and
racehorses.
He
says
that
many
producers
and
vets
agree
that
spring
grass
has
the
best
balance
of
vitamins
and
bacteria
for
an
animal's
health.
The
hydroponic
units
give
producers
a
natural
substitute
-
fresh
grass
-
for
feed
additives
such
as
hormones.
Additives
sometimes
leave
chemical
residues
in
the
animal
that
fresh
grass
does
not,
Smith
says.
The
units
and
the
health
programs
are
already
in
use
on
11
farms
in
south
western
Ontario.
One
dairy
producer
reports
big
benefits
from
the
system
including
increased
milk
production,
feed
savings
and
longer,
healthier
lives
for
the
cows,
says
Smith.
(Canadmn
Science
News)
Electronic
glove
lets
people
control
this
voice
synthesizer
By
Paige
Debergo
Using
an
'intelligent'
computer
system
modelled
on
the
human
brain,
researchers
at
the
University
of
Toronto
are
working
on
giving
speech-impaired
people
a
hand
in
communicating
verbally.
Project
"Glovetalk"
offers
hope
of
verbal
communication
to
the
speech
impaired.
The
research
involves
a
person
wearing
a
'data
glove'
connected
to
a
special
kind
of
computer
system.
The
user
makes
hand
shapes
that
represent
words
and
the
system
translates
these
shapes
into
a
verbal
response
from
a
voice
synthesizer.
What
makes
the
system
special
is
that
it
actually
learns'
not
only
to
recognize
the
hand
shape
but
to
make
allowances
for
slight
variations
in
shapes
made
by
different
people
or
by
the
same
person
at
different
times.
Computer
science
professor
Geoffrey
Hinton
explains
that,
"to
get
a
computer
to
do
something
you
normally
have
to
program
it.
You
have
to
figure
out
how
to
solve
the
problem
and
then
write
that
in
the
program
for
the
computer".
Glovetalk
works
differently
because
it
contains
a
'neural
network',
a
computer
system
modelled
on
the
human
brain.
The
brain
is
made
up,
in
part,
of
many
thousands
of
neurons
and
information
is
processed
though
chemical
connections
between
the
neurons,
called
synapses.
"There
is
evidence
that
the
strength
of
the
connection
-
essentially
the
amount
of
energy
that
goes
through
those
synapses
-
changes
as
you
learn,"
says
Sidney
Fels,
a
graduate
student
who
has
worked
on
the
project
since
it
began
a
year
and
a
half
ago.
Scientists
use
DNA
typing
to
detect
illegal
tuna
catches
By
Sally
Johnston
Scientists
in
Newfoundland
have
turned
detective
to
help
combat
bluefin
tuna
poachers
who
cheat
the
Atlantic
fishery
out
of
as
much
as
$18
million
a
year.
They
have
developed
a
laboratory
process
for
identifying
samples
of
fish
by
DNA,
the
molecule
that
contains
genetic
information
for
an
individual
human
or
animal.
The
technique
is
called
genetic
typing.
Police
forensic
scientists
also
use
a
system
of
genetic
typing,
referred
to
as
"DNA
fingerprinting',
in
rape
and
murder
cases.
Dr.
Willie
Davidson
and
his
research
associate,
Sylvia
Bartlett,
both
of
Memorial
University,
St.
John's,
Newfoundland,
have
dubbed
their
process
FINS
(forensically
informative
nucleotide
sequence).
It
was
developed
to
help
federal
officials
nab
unlicensed
fishermen
who
illegally
catch
the
protected
and
much-prized
bluefin
tuna.
The
fish
are
extremely
lucrative,
fetching
up
to
$20,000
each
on
the
black
market
in
Japan
where
they
are
eaten
as
sushi
(raw
food).
Poachers
can
easily
disguise
a
bluefin
tuna
simply
by
cutting
off
its
head
and
fins
and
gutting
it.
With
these
identifying
features
removed,
a
'dressed'
bluefin
is
virtually
impossible
to
distinguish
from
other,
more
common
species
of
tuna
such
as
albacore,
bigeye
and
yellowfin,
says
Keith
Veinot,
chief
of
the
Scotia
Fundy
Enforcement
and
Training
Division
in
Halifax.
The
division
is
Although
the
brain
is
much
more
complex,,
the
neural
network
system
used
in
Glovetalk
employs
many
of
the
same
principles.
The
computer
system
simulates
three
levels
of
neurons,
which
have
'weighted
connections'.
Input
neurons'
translate
the
hand
shapes
into
numeric
values,
and
'output
neurons'
represent
the
different
words.
In
between,
liidden
neurons'
translate
the
input
information
into
an
internal
code
that
the
computer
understands.
The
system
is
'trained'
to
recognise
the
hand
shapes
by
making
tiny
adjustments
in
the
weights
of
the
connections.
As
the
weights
are
adjusted,
the
computer
'learns'
the
correct
word
for
a
"particular
hand
shape.
"I
put
the
input
shape
into
the
network
and
I
look
at
what
the
output
is,
which
is
junk,"
says
Fels.
"I
adjust
the
weights
to
make
it
so
that
if
I
show
that
hand
shape
again
the
output
will
be
a
little
bit
closer
to
what
it
should
have
been.
I
do
this
for
all
the
words
over
and
over
many
thousands
of
times
until
it
gets
it
right.
I
make
little
tiny
adjustments
in
each
of
the
weights
each
time
I
.
present
an
example
to
it."
Glovetalk
currently
has
a
vocabulary
of
203
words.
The
problem
in
teaching
it
more
words
is
that
people
who
wanted
to
use
the
system
would
have
to
learn
the
hand
shapes
and
would
be
limited
to
the
vocabulary
of
the
system.
"We'd
like
to
kind
of
free
the
user
up
so
they
can
use
whatever
movements
they
like
to
mean
whichever
sound
they
like
-
as
long
as
they
do
it
consistently
of
course,"
says
Hinton.
To
do
this,
he
and
his
colleagues
part
of
the
federal
Department
of
Fisheries
and
Oceans.
"This
makes
it
extremely
difficult
to
enforce
fishing
quotas
and
other
restrictions
and
to
bring
prosecutions,"
says
Veinot.
Poachers
net
an
estimated
$12-
to
$18-million
worth
of
black
market
bluefin
annually,
he
adds.
DNA
(deoxyribonucleic
acid)
is
a
substance
found
in
every
cell
of
the
body.
It
acts
like
a
blueprint,
determining
individual
characteristics
for
every
living
organism.
No
two
species
and
no
two
people,
except
identical
twins,
have
exactly
the
same
type
of
DNA.
DNA
is
a
double-stranded
molecule.
Each
strand
of
DNA
is
made
of
groups
of
atoms
called
nucleotides.
The
four
nucleotides
in
DNA
are
adenine
(A),
guanine
(G),
cytosine
(C)
and
thymine
(T).
Davidson
compares
it
to
a
four-letter
alphabet,
repeated
over
and
over
in
an
enormous
word.
Fish
or
human
DNA
has
about
three
billion
of
these
letters
arranged
in
a
specific
sequence.
It
is
this
sequence,
or
pattern,
of
letters
that
determine
individual
characteristics.
But
parts
of
the
pattern
will
be
the
same
in
members
of
the
same
species
or
subspecies;
the
pattern
will
be
different
for
another
species.
The
FINS
process
enables
scientists
to
'read'
the
relevant
segments
of
the
DNA's
enormous
word,
says
Davidson.
This
DNA
reading
is
then
matched
against
a
computer
record
of
DNA
profiles
of
several
species
of
are
developing
an
artificial
vocal
tract
(AVT),
which
would
allow
people
to
use
their
hand
in
place
of
their
vocal
tract.
Using
their
hand,
people
could
speak
in
any
language,
with
an
accent;
they
could
sing
-
and
in
fact
do
anything
that
can
be
done
with
a
vocal
tract.
"They
might
seem
quite
arbitrary
sounds
(at
first)
but
as
you
get
better
and
the
interface
adapts
you'll
be
abb
to
control
those
sounds
to
make
speech.
When
you
first
leam
a
piano
the
stuff
that
comes
out's
pretty
much
junk.
But
as
you
get
better
and
practice
you
can
start
making
music.
Well,
the
music
out
of
this
funny
instrument
would
be
speech"
says
Fels.
Projects
like
the
proposed
AVT
have
been
unsuccessfully
attempted
by
others
and
both
Fels
and
Hinton
are
cautious
about
the
future
However,
Glovetalk
has
generated
world-wide
attention.
Fels,
who
completed
a
video
for
demonstration
purposes,
spent
time
this
summer
presenting
Glovetalk
at
an
academic
conference
in
Cambridge,
England
and
at
the
Institute
of
Perception
Research
in
Holland.
Hinton
speculates
that,
if
this
research
is
successful,
speech-impaired
people
could
eventually
carry
a
device
to
produce
fluent
speech,
"Given
how
fast
computers
are
progressing,
the
kind
of
computer
you'll
need
-to
do
that
can
probably
be
the
size
of
a
pocket
calculator
in
10
years
time."
Further
funds
have
been
received
from
a
federal
Centre
of
Excellence,
the
Institute
for
Robotics
and
Intelligent
Systems.
(Canadian
Science
News)
tuna
and
related
fish
like
swordfish
and
mackerel.
"FINS
will
revolutionize
the
way
fish
stocks
are
managed,"
sas
Davidson.
Other
wildlife
enforcement
agencies
will
benefit
because
the
process
can
also
be
used
to
identify
butchered
meat.
DNA
is
very
resilient,
explains
Davidson,
and
it
is
possible
to
get
a
reading
from
a
fish
in
virtually
any
condition.
Using
their
lab
process,
he
and
Bartlett
have
obtained
DNA
profiles
from
fish
that
has
been
canned,
smoked,
frozen,
covered
in
batter
and
even
partially
rotted.
Police
use
a
different
method
of
genetic
typing
to
identify
the
source
of
tiny
pieces
of
biological
evidence
such
as
blood,
urine,
semen,
hair
and
skin.
The
police
process
is
"on
a
different
level
of
complexity",
says
Davidson.
FINS
identifies
the
species.
The
police
technique
identifies
a
particular
member
of
the
species.
DNA
typing
has
been
used
in
civil
and
criminal
cases
to
establish
or
negate
paternity,
to
link
a
suspect
to
a
crime,
to
clear
a
falsely
accused
suspect,
to
distinguish
serial
crimes
from
copycat
crimes
and
to
identify
the
remains
of
a
victim.
Funding
for
FINS
was
by
the
federal
Department
of
Fisheries
and
Oceans
and
the
Centre
for
Fisheries
Innovation.
(Canadian
Science
News)
m