Tiling theory could make DNA chips a reality
Previous attempts to use DNA as a molecular building block failed because its double helix structure is so flexible. However, Seeman and colleagues realized that if two synthetic DNA chains were place...
Atoms join in the race for lithography in the next century
The problem is that the features made by conventional optical lithography cannot be shrunk indefinitely. The laws of diffraction dictate that the only way to make feature sizes smaller is to shorten t...
Radar finds SOHO
Attempts to locate the satellite with NASA’s Deep Space Network had been unsuccessful. However, by bouncing radio waves from the Arecibo observatory in Puerto Rico off the satellite, and detecti...
Solving the plutonium problem
Russia and the US each have 50 tons of weapons-grade plutonium to dispose of by either converting it into fuel, or mixing it in with radioactive waste. At the same time, France and the UK separate 20 ...
Strain doubles superconductor temperatures
Their technique works by growing single crystal films of the superconducting compound lanthanum-strontium-copper-oxide (La1.9Sr0.1CuO4) on top of a crystal with a smaller lattice spacing. Because the ...
UK ends ‘free’ Internet access
The charges are designed to help fund the soaring costs of international Internet access from the UK. Over the past four years access costs have risen from £1 million ($1.7 m) to £7 million ...
American hesitation puts ITER in limbo
The Department of Energy (DOE), which oversees fusion research in the US, wanted to sign the extension. However, the Republican-controlled Congress insisted that the US should not sign it without R...
New clues to the left-handed origins of life
Fred Hoyle was the first to suggest that organic molecules developed in outer space and then fell to the earth, but it was not until the discovery of large quantities of left-handed amino acids in a m...
PEP-II shapes up
PEP-II consists of two independent storage rings in the tunnel that housed the original PEP collider. The high-energy ring, which stores a 9 GeV electron beam, is an upgrade of the existing PEP collid...
Antarctic glaciers feel the heat
Rignot used radar data taken between 1992 and 1996 by two European satellites, ERS-1 and ERS-2, to generate interference patterns that are sensitive to small vertical movements. These patterns provide...
