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It's tilting at entrenched anti-nuclear sentiments - and one look at Google graphics illustrating the word nuclear says it all. But, UK scientists have researched and outlined a 20-year master plan for the global renaissance of nuclear energy that should not be dismissed out of hand. This anticipates nuclear reactors with replaceable parts, portable mini-reactors, even ship-borne off-shore reactors supplying countries with CO2 free energy without the infrastructure costs.

No getting away from it, transdisciplinarity is an ugly mouthful of syllables. It is also an ambigious term, with no complete history and no consensus as to its meaning. Those who have tried to work with it have found it hard to get research work published, cannot be counted experts at anything, not to mention having their careers messed up by it. And yet it may be the ultimate route to tackle and solve what are defined as "wicked problems," not to mention a route to a new form of creativity.

It's not a question of "Will neuroscience deliver a technology that can bring people closer to themselves, as technology has brought people closer with others?" but rather "When exactly will it happen?" Computers play a key role in the development of the concepts of inception, augmented consciousness and that darker side, of brain washing.

The sun is reputedly rising on the UK solar market in 2010, as attractive government incentives make it the world’s fastest-growing country for photovoltaic (PV) installations this year, according to California based iSuppli Corp. Author Mary Jones however points out that PV is cheaper for very small loads but as system sizes gets larger, this "rule-of-thumb" reverses itself to favour wind.

Two Scots in New Zealand are behind the development of Rex Bionics Ltd which has produced a Robotic Exoskeleton (Rex) legs scheduled to go into production later this year. Lockhead Martin has received a $1.1m contract from the US Army Natick Soldier Center for test and evaluation of its Human Universal Load Carrier (HULC). In Japan, Cyberdyne's Hybrid Assistive Limb is a cyborg-type robot that can expand and improve physical capability and has expanded its battery life.

Smarter Grids are a very fourth dimensional generation( 4DG) as Grid generation deals with the use of grids (meshes) in the numerical solution of partial differential equations by finite elements, finite volume, finite differences and boundary elements. Grid generation is applied in the aerospace, mechanical engineering and scientific computing fields as well as now in the digital energy environment. So it seems highly suitable that Virginia University should launch its beta Smart Grid Information Clearinghouse, as GE launches in San Francisco, and Munich (to date) its $160m smart grid world competition Ecoimagination. In the UK presumably the work of NaREC and CENER will now be joined up to the Government's Smart Grid proposal, which intends to cover all energy and would include also Scotland's Smarter Grid Solutions work, which might now be a contender for Ecomagination money.

In Japan, operator NTT Docomo is to offer 5MHz mobile bandwidth for 4G services. In the US Verizon selected Ericsson as supplier of its LTE network being rolled out to markets in 2010. In Europe wireless service provider TeliaSonera plans to have a commercial roll out of 4G in Stockholm and Oslo in 2010. But in the UK it appears that operators are still mulling over the technology of WiMAX quickly available, or LTE superior but in need of more spectrum so nothing 4G is likely in 2010.

A team of European researchers from TU Munich, ETH Zurich, Evry Val d'Essone University, Max Planck Institute for Bilolgical Cybernetics, Haifa Technion, Centre for Virtual Reality Barcelona, University of Pisa and Madrid and Birmingham's Behavioural Brain Science Centre (SyMoN) have worked at “virtually” teleported real objects through cyberspace, touched things in virtual reality and felt the movements of a virtual dance partner.

Angels and incubators are currently a major source of start-up business expertise and provision of basic funding for new business.to get off the ground But there are some signs that the basic Angel model may be changing, and with spending cuts, the invaluable proactive incubator for the high technology SME could be worryingly at risk. Time to interface the models perhaps?

Considering that in the UK in 1900 there were only 200 women doctors; only in 1910 were were women allowed to become accountants and bankers, (but not diplomats, barristers or judges) and that it is less than 80 years since women in the UK have enjoyed the right to vote, their current move into successful entrepreneurship is definitely exhilarating and speeding up and doubtless politics will follow later.

VTT Technical Research Finland and Tampere University of Technology (TUT) are responsible for the development of remote maintenance systems for the world’s most challenging energy project, ITER. Both experience using full-scale test equipment has been positive. In other work, in a few years the experimental Italian-Russian nuclear fusion reactor IGNITOR near Moscow might be first to yield a self-sustaining fusion reaction.

The first of four SCDI organised trade trips nets £207,000 of orders. Bank of Scotland finds only a third of Scottish SME's export. Ernst & Young look at Scottish exports and inward investment and SQW assesses Scottish Enterprise on securing inward investment and helping Scottish companies export more. As The Economist article concludes sagely "The debate isn't over yet."

Over 120 architect and design teams from around the world made submissions to the design competition for the V&A at Dundee project, which aims to develop a new centre of 21st century design for Scotland at the heart of Dundee’s waterfront. Now a shortlist of companies from Vienna, Tokyo, New York, Oslo, and Edinburgh has been announced.

Hugh Gillen, managing director, Onyx Group Scotland reflects on this weeks £95m axe to government IT department spending, as 20% of Scotland's workers are employed in the public sector and finds this particular cloud could have a very silver lining provided it takes the comprehensive model approach to outsourcing.

Automated applications for scanning software to determine its composition, the pedigree of its components, and the status of compliance to licensing and copyright obligations are key elements of effective software IP management, urge Mahshad Koohgoli, CEO of Ottowa-based Protecode Inc and executive consultant, Sorin Cohn-Sfetcu. The present the following cost model for assuring software legal compliance – using automated tools correctively and preventively, and are in the news as having been named Cool Vendor for 2010 by Gartner.

It has some bearing for Scotland, when querying who gets to define “sustainable salmon farming” the Research Council of Norway, urges Norwegian researchers to stand up and be counted if Norway's salmon farming is to avoid having to comply with US special interest groups' standards. Almost simultaneously it appears the Barents Sea is getting warmer because the atmosphere in the polar regions has warmed, “primarily due to currents – a greater amount of warm Atlantic water is flowing into the North Atlantic and up to the Barents Sea." This is turn has led to greater spawning and a promise of more fish.

As the UK enjoys the Chinese malediction of "living in exciting times" when it comes to the state of its parliament, Cambridge researcher Dr Ian Dent casts a reflective look at how 'Digital Britain' progresses in his study on 'Beyond Broadband'. The main question it asks of you as you read it is: conspiracy theories or uncomfortable resonance? Whatever else, you should read and decide for yourself.

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