Describing something dull as being as interesting as watching paint dry might be surprisingly innacurate at the small scale. If it were possible to take a video of polymers in the paint coming together and forming stable structures, and water molecules lifting off the surface, it would be fascinating to watch. Something like watching ice crystals growing on a window in slow motion or a flower blooming on a time-lapse camera. Previously, it has not been possible to watch and record atoms and molecules do their stuff in real time. Now, though, it is. A new machine from a company called Infinitesima allows this, and one of the first markets they expect for it is for companies studying the properties of drying paint. Subscribers to the Economist can read more: Not as boring as you thought, Jan 6th 2005.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Thursday, January 06, 2005
Small wonders....
On December 30th at 8.30pm (repeated on January 1st), my radio documentary Grey Goo's Sticky Mess was broadcast. At the time of writing this programme is still available online here.... A programme transcript is also promised at some time in the New Year. If you are unable to get hold of either of these, please email me at nloder@yahoo.com.
On January 1st, my survey of nanotechnolog--called Small Wonders--was also published in The Economist. There is also a radio interview with me as an online link. I have a limited number of spare copies of this survey, so if you'd like to read it please email me your details at the address above.
Finally, two recent articles published, one in November about sorting sperm with optical tweezers.
Also coming up this week is another bit of nanowizardry in the form of a machine that can make videos of atoms and molecules, making it finally possible to watch paint dry in thrilling detail.
On January 1st, my survey of nanotechnolog--called Small Wonders--was also published in The Economist. There is also a radio interview with me as an online link. I have a limited number of spare copies of this survey, so if you'd like to read it please email me your details at the address above.
Finally, two recent articles published, one in November about sorting sperm with optical tweezers.
Also coming up this week is another bit of nanowizardry in the form of a machine that can make videos of atoms and molecules, making it finally possible to watch paint dry in thrilling detail.
Virgin Galactic is ready for take off
In the Christmas edition of The Economist, check out an article about the incipient private space tourism industry. "One small step for space tourism..." is in the edition dated December 16th 2004. A little bit of overmatter on this article is that one of the plans for tourists paying for $200,000 flights is to actually mould each reclining seat to the individual passenger. (The seats will have to be recliners to reduce the effects of the G-forces of the spaceship.) Passengers will be given this seat as a souvenir to take home with them.
Saturday, December 18, 2004
Nanotechnology
It doesn't appear that nanotechnology is going to bring an end to the world any time soon.
But for anyone interested in a more detailed analysis and in the results of my two months of pondering and researching this subject might want to look out for two things. First, there will be a survey of nanotechnology published in The Economist on January 1st... under the title "Small wonders". This will also be available online.
Secondly, I am also putting together a radio documentary with the BBC on nanotechnology, called 'Grey goo's sticky mess'. It is going to be broadcast in the UK on Radio 4 as part of their Analysis series. The first broadcast will be on Thursday 30th December, the second on Saturday 1st January at 9.30. Both times are pm. During the week of broadcast it will be possible to listen to a copy of the broadcast online.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/analysis/default.stm
Other recent news, in October of this year the agricultural organisation CGIAR gave me an award for a piece on fish farming I wrote a while ago. The blue revolution: the promise of fish farming, is available at www.economist.com.
But for anyone interested in a more detailed analysis and in the results of my two months of pondering and researching this subject might want to look out for two things. First, there will be a survey of nanotechnology published in The Economist on January 1st... under the title "Small wonders". This will also be available online.
Secondly, I am also putting together a radio documentary with the BBC on nanotechnology, called 'Grey goo's sticky mess'. It is going to be broadcast in the UK on Radio 4 as part of their Analysis series. The first broadcast will be on Thursday 30th December, the second on Saturday 1st January at 9.30. Both times are pm. During the week of broadcast it will be possible to listen to a copy of the broadcast online.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/analysis/default.stm
Other recent news, in October of this year the agricultural organisation CGIAR gave me an award for a piece on fish farming I wrote a while ago. The blue revolution: the promise of fish farming, is available at www.economist.com.
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Small world
This Thursday (tomorrow!) I start work on a survey of nanotechnology. I have to figure out what the fuss is really all about. Are we going to be eaten by grey goo and have our brains rotted out by nanoparticles? Or maybe nanotech will lead to another stock market boom and bust, shortly after it solves the world's energy problems and creates peace in the Middle East. OK, I lied about the last one.
In a timely fashion, the magazine Wired is about to publish a piece in its October issue saying that the idea of assembling matter from the ground up using molecular assembly is tosh and many scientists now think it is not possible. I may understand too little about all this but I think I discovered proof of principle of molecular assembly a little earlier today by eating a ham sandwich.
The tour starts in Oxford, England and I head for San Francisco on Sunday.
In a timely fashion, the magazine Wired is about to publish a piece in its October issue saying that the idea of assembling matter from the ground up using molecular assembly is tosh and many scientists now think it is not possible. I may understand too little about all this but I think I discovered proof of principle of molecular assembly a little earlier today by eating a ham sandwich.
The tour starts in Oxford, England and I head for San Francisco on Sunday.
Friday, September 10, 2004
Two hot topics
1. Much excitement in the science department this week as NASA's Genesis probe crashed in Utah just as we were closing the section. We had to pull out an item at the last minute to create the room for something on the probe. A bit of high-speed reportage then followed...
An unflying saucer
Sep 9th 2004
From The Economist print edition
Genesis crashed. But can it be brought back to life?
THE Genesis capsule pictured above was supposed to have been returned to Earth by Hollywood stunt pilots. But the capsule, launched by America's space agency, NASA, suffered a distinctly unheroic fate when it plummeted to the ground in the Utah desert on September 8th. Although the proposal to catch it in mid-air was perfectly feasible, a fault with the probe's parachute system meant that the waiting helicopter pilots stood no chance of making the recovery... (full article here requires subscription)
2. The second piece I wrote this week was about radiation damage to the human germ line. It is a report I picked up from a conference in London on leukemia. Interesting and slightly depressing stuff.
Testing times
Sep 9th 2004
From The Economist print edition
There is now evidence that radiation damage can be passed down the generations
DURING the 1950s, one of the least inviting holiday destinations on the planet would have been Semipalatinsk, in Kazakhstan. It is a mere 150km (about 100 miles) from the Soviet Union's main atomic-bomb testing site and it was subjected to the fallout from 118 tests over 13 years. From this and other grim and inadvertent experiments, it is clear that nuclear radiation is a powerful cause of mutations in human DNA in the ordinary cells (those that are not concerned with reproduction) of the body. Such mutations can, in turn, cause cancers. But evidence supporting another oft-voiced fear—that radiation-induced mutations might affect human reproductive (or “germ-line”) cells—is weak and surprisingly controversial. (full article here requires subscription)
An unflying saucer
Sep 9th 2004
From The Economist print edition
Genesis crashed. But can it be brought back to life?
THE Genesis capsule pictured above was supposed to have been returned to Earth by Hollywood stunt pilots. But the capsule, launched by America's space agency, NASA, suffered a distinctly unheroic fate when it plummeted to the ground in the Utah desert on September 8th. Although the proposal to catch it in mid-air was perfectly feasible, a fault with the probe's parachute system meant that the waiting helicopter pilots stood no chance of making the recovery... (full article here requires subscription)
2. The second piece I wrote this week was about radiation damage to the human germ line. It is a report I picked up from a conference in London on leukemia. Interesting and slightly depressing stuff.
Testing times
Sep 9th 2004
From The Economist print edition
There is now evidence that radiation damage can be passed down the generations
DURING the 1950s, one of the least inviting holiday destinations on the planet would have been Semipalatinsk, in Kazakhstan. It is a mere 150km (about 100 miles) from the Soviet Union's main atomic-bomb testing site and it was subjected to the fallout from 118 tests over 13 years. From this and other grim and inadvertent experiments, it is clear that nuclear radiation is a powerful cause of mutations in human DNA in the ordinary cells (those that are not concerned with reproduction) of the body. Such mutations can, in turn, cause cancers. But evidence supporting another oft-voiced fear—that radiation-induced mutations might affect human reproductive (or “germ-line”) cells—is weak and surprisingly controversial. (full article here requires subscription)
Thursday, September 09, 2004
Marrakesh in August 2004
| After the heat of the day, Moroccans perk up and get lively. This is one of a series of photographs taken over a long weekend in Marrakesh in August 2004. Those of you who were there might want to see the other photographs that were taken here |  Downtown Marrakesh, August '04 |
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