Despite so many health warnings and bans set up in regards with tobacco consumption, people either just can't kick the habit or refuse to do so altogether. However, some new products have been developed for smokers to indulge in their nicotine fix without the harmful chemicals, toxins and cancer-causing poisons due to their habit.

These products are a type of "electronic" or "digital" smoking designed to eliminate the harmful side-effects of smoking tobacco products. One of these products, the Crown7, is an Art Deco styled tube with a cartridge and a rechargeable battery.

Costing only US$ 2 a pop, the cartridges contain water, propylene glycol, nicotine, and a tobacco flavor which simulates the effect of smoking while emitting only a harmless vapor which leaves no residual odor or causes second hand smoking effects.

The only downside with the product would probably be the hefty price for the reusable tube itself - the price ranging around US$ 64.95 to 149.95. The tube comes in three styles that cater to different types of smokers: cigarette, cigar, and pipe.

Another product made for this purpose is the Vapir from AIR-2, an air vaporizer that transforms the active elements of practically any plant into an inhaleable mist without burning it. A patented microchip regulates the vaporization process, called volitization, to avoid overheating or burning. With this method tobacco users can get the nicotine fix they need without the harmful smoke.

Professor Lester Grinspoon of Harvard Medical School Associate relates the vast applications this method has beyond simple smoking substitution. Medicinal vaporization may eliminate the need to use hypodermic needles and oral medications which can be degenerated by digestive enzymes.

Despite all the advantages these new products may bring, it is still doubtful whether the public will be able to accept them as a new convention to alternative smoking. Regardless, it's a small step where innovative devices such as these bring about a healthier lifestyle for everyone.

Professor V Renugopalakrishnan of the Harvard Medical School in Boston claims to have developed a layer of protein made from genetically altered, light-sensitive microbe proteins which could store up to 50K GB or 50 terabytes. The light-activated protein, found in Halobacterium salinarum membrane, is also known as bacteriorhodopsin (bR). It captures and stores sunlight and converts it to chemical energy. When light shines on bR, it is converted to a series of intermediate molecules each with a unique shape and colour before returning to its 'ground state'.

By modifying the DNA that produces the bR protein, Prof Renugopalakrishnan and his colleagues were able to produce an intermediate that normally last for a few days to lasts for more than several years. They also engineered the bR protein to be more stable at the high temperatures generated by storing terabytes of data. They said the new technology will ultimately pave the way for a binary system to store data. "What this will do eventually is eliminate the need for hard drive memory completely," said Renugopalakrishnan.

Prof Renugopalakrishnan believes the protein layer could allow DVDs and other external devices to store terabytes of information.The new protein-based DVD will have advantages over current optical storage devices including next-gen DVD wannabe Bluray and HD-DVD because the information is stored in proteins that are only a few nanometres across.

"The protein-based DVDs will be able to store at least 20 times more than the Blue-ray and eventually even up to 50,000 gigabytes (about 50 terabytes) of information. You can pack literally thousands and thousands of those proteins on a media like a DVD, a CD or a film or whatever," he said at the International Conference on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in Brisbane.