We’re still hungry for more powerful computers, especially in the science and engineering fields, and it looks like the silicon architects are cheerfully rising to the challenge. Cray Computers plan to have ‘Baker’, a liquid-cooled petaflop behemoth, installed and running by 2008. IBM say they’ll have Blue Gene up to the same speed at the same time. But this is an international phenomenon; the Chinese, the Japanese and even the Indians are getting in on the act too.

I noticed as a child that the people in my classes who had the bad allergies seemed to be the ones with the most cleanliness-obsessed families – it never seemed to make much sense. But now a recent study comparing lab rats with their wild brethren suggests that allergies may well be the result of living in environments that are too clean, to the extent that the immune system can’t cope when presented with what should be a minor annoyance.

As any hardcore computer modder will tell you, excess heat is the primary problem with high performance systems, and mod enthusiasts use all sorts of methods to prevent their overclocked processors from roasting themselves. Hewlett Packard has been having similar problems with its latest servers, and has developed cooling fans based on model aircraft jet engines to flush unwanted thermal waste from the cases.

Some people just can’t keep from boasting about their technology and gadgets. Next time a friend or acquaintance is battering on about how many megapixels their new camera has, why not remind him (or her) that the ‘Megacam’ at the 6.5-metre MMT Observatory near Tucson, Arizona has 350 megapixels, and that it takes pictures of things a little more interesting than astronomers goofing around with their cats?

Brian Wang has been poking around the webpages of NIAC (NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts), and has rounded up some interesting projects, including solar shields to prevent global warming, ‘photonic muscle telescopes’ and ‘ponderomotive propulsion’ systems. It’s a shame that NASA don’t get better funding, they have some great minds at work.