Perrin’s hypothesis reborn
In a unimolecular reaction a molecule breaks into two smaller molecules (or atoms) in a manner that appears to be independent of the chemical composition of its surrounding. The number of molecules fa...
Planet controversy ends
The new evidence is published in this week’s Nature. Two papers, one by David Gray of the University of Western Ontario, and one by Artie Hatzes of the University of Texas, Austin, describe new ...
Irradiating eggs
A number of different radiation sources, such as gamma-rays and X-rays, have been used to pasteurize intact eggs. However, the high radiation dose needed to kill Salmonella and other bacteria leads to...
Pulsars, glitches and superfluids
These neutron stars usually rotate with such precision that they are known as the best timekeepers in the universe, but every so often their rotation rate suddenly increases. It is thought that these ...
Modelling electron orbits
In 1911 Niels Bohr used quantum theory to explain how negatively charged electrons could remain in certain orbits without radiating energy. Patent 5695344 describes an educational demonstrator that si...
Glass floppy disks?
Aluminium alloys are widely used as a substrate in magnetic disks, but the demand for higher storage and faster access times require better materials. A replacement material would need to offer a thin...
Still moving images
When we walk across a room, our eyes automatically adjust to keep objects in focus. The eyeballs swivel in their sockets to compensate for the movement. Professional camera operators use a harness con...
Bone breakthrough
One of the holy grails of medicine is the production of a compound that help speeds up the regeneration of bone. Toshiyuki Ohnishi and Nobuhiro Moriyama, have patented a material they claim can do so....
Carbon-based electronics
In addition to being very strong and flexible, carbon nanotubes also have unusual electronic properties. Nanotubes are described by two numbers, conventionally m and n, and a specific nanotube can be ...
Battery boost
The growth in the use of mobile phones and portable computers is placing new demands on battery technology, but a new type of lithium battery could solve many of these problems
