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Physics World Digest: July 2002 edition

July 01, 2002

Oil firm exploits X-Files science
It sounds like a cross between the Archers, Dallas and The X-Files -- a company that claims it can find oil by searching for unknown particles called "microleptons" could soon start drilling in the heart of the English countryside. Technology Investment and Exploration Limited (TIEL) has been awarded an oil-exploration licence by the British government, even though physicists have dismissed the firm`s technology as pseudo-scientific nonsense. TIEL claims that underground deposits of oil can be found by searching for microleptons emitted by the oil. According to the firm, the particles are over a thousand times lighter than the electron and travel faster than the speed of light. Particle physicists including Nobel laureate Martin Perl and Robin Marshall of Manchester University are supporting local Leicestershire residents in their campaign to prevent the drilling from going ahead. (p. 5)
Contact: Robin Marshall, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, UK (tel. +44 (0)161 275 4170; fax +44 (0)161 275 4246; e-mail r.marshall@man.ac.uk)

"Electric bra" spots breast cancer
An "electric bra" that can detect the early signs of breast cancer has been developed by researchers at De Montfort University in Leicester. The bra can distinguish between healthy and cancerous tissue by measuring the electrical conductivity of the breast when current is passed through the tissue. Malcolm McCormick, who is developing the device, is about to start clinical trials of the bra in China, where one of his group`s researchers has close links. (p. 7)
Contact: Malcolm McCormick, 3D Technologies & Biomedical Engineering, Science and Engineering Research Centre, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK (tel. +44 (0)116 257 7088; fax +44 (0)116 257 7099; e-mail mmcc@dmu.ac.uk)

Displays enter the next dimension
A new full-colour display that brings three-dimensional images to life has been developed by Actuality Systems of Massachusetts. The 3D-display, which is in the shape of a ball, could help air-traffic controllers to visualise the sky surrounding a busy airport or drug developers to understand complex protein structures. Viewers can walk round the ball and visualise the images from any angle without having to wear special goggles as they do with conventional "stereoscopic" displays. Images are displayed on a spinning translucent screen inside the ball. (p. 23)
Contact: Gregg Favalora, Chief Technology Officer, Actuality Systems, Burlington, Massachusetts, US (tel. +1 781 229 7812; fax +1 781 229 7553; www.actuality-systems.com)

Special issue: energy challenges for the 21st century
Global warming and the soaring demand for energy are fuelling research and development into alternatives to oil, coal and gas. This special issue of Physics World looks at the technological and economic challenges of alternative and renewable energy sources.

- Saving energy through architecture: A 70-year-old house is being turned from an "energy guzzler" into a world-leader in energy efficiency by German chemical giant BASF. Known as the "three litre house" because it will use just three litres of oil to heat each square metre -- one seventh of what it normally takes -- the house is coated in special plaster that soaks up external heat with little wax candles. Architects, meanwhile, are working on a housing development in London known as BedZed that recycles bath water for the toilets and has wind turbines on the roof. (p. 33)
- Solar power to the people: Architects are learning to incorporate solar panels into buildings, with the gleaming blue-black fa'�ade of the Condé Nast building in New York a model for marrying solar cells with modern skyscraper design. (p. 35)
- Wind power moves out to sea: If you don`t like the look of on-shore wind turbines, why not build them at sea instead? By the end of the decade, offshore wind farms in Europe are set to produce as much power as several coal-fired stations. (p. 40)
- Bright future for efficient lights: With a quarter of the world`s electricity going on lighting, more efficient light bulbs could trigger enormous savings. By 2025 one in every two bulbs could be based on light-emitting diodes -- saving the energy equivalent to the output from 25 power stations. (p. 34)
- Wave energy sees surge of interest: There is enough energy hidden in the waves of the Atlantic Ocean between Portugal and Iceland to meet the entire energy requirements of several small countries. But harnessing the power of the sea still poses many technical challenges. (p. 37)
- Fuel cells eye the main market: Fuel cells -- which generate electricity with water as the only by-product -- are already being used to power the air-conditioning, radio and windows in cars. These ultra-clean devices could even be used to power entire cars or replace your central-heating boiler. (p. 21)
- Hydrogen economy blasts off: The replacement of the entire Reykjavik bus fleet by 80 hydrogen-powered vehicles is the latest step on the road to a "hydrogen economy". (p. 29)
- Green cars move into top gear: Car manufacturers like Honda, GM and Ford are developing greener vehicles that run on fuels other than petrol, such as hydrogen and ethanol. (p. 27)
- New designs on nuclear power: South African energy company Eskom are pioneering a new type of nuclear reactor that is claimed to be safe, cheap and efficient. Known as the "pebble-bed" reactor, it could be the salvation of the nuclear industry. (p. 42)
- Waiting for the power of the Sun: Physicists have long dreamed of using nuclear fusion -- the energy source that powers the Sun -- to generate electricity. Although a commercial fusion plant is still 30 years away, Canada, France, Japan and Spain are all bidding to host the next big experimental fusion reactor. (p. 44)

Also in this issue:
Physicists scrutinise rogue oscillation (p. 6); Jozef Strauss: a physicist in big business (p. 8); Targeting cosmic icebergs (p. 10); Extra dimension for audio (p. 11); Millionaire puts his faith in telescopes (p. 12); Condensate on a crest of a wave (p. 19); Can noise boost brain power (p. 20); Long molecules improve organic diodes (p. 22); Physics and vertical-pipe fitting (p. 55); The role for physics in energy supply (p. 51)

Institute of Physics

Related Nuclear Current Events and Nuclear News Articles

Nuclear Current Events and Nuclear News RSS

Scientists watch as peptides control crystal growth with 'switches, throttles and brakes'
By producing some of the highest resolution images of peptides attaching to mineral surfaces, scientists have a deeper understanding how biomolecules manipulate the growth crystals. This research may lead to a new treatment for kidney stones using biomolecules.

Genetic analysis helps dissect molecular basis of cardiovascular disease
Using highly precise measurements of plasma lipoprotein concentrations determined by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), researchers led by Daniel Chasman at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA, the Framingham Heart Study in Framingham, and the PROCARDIS consortium in Stockholm, Sweden and Oxford, England performed genetic association analysis across the whole genome among 17,296 women of European ancestry from the Women's Genome Health Study.

Is global warming unstoppable?
In a provocative new study, a University of Utah scientist argues that rising carbon dioxide emissions - the major cause of global warming - cannot be stabilized unless the world's economy collapses or society builds the equivalent of one new nuclear power plant each day.

Nuclear weapons: Predicting the unthinkable
If a nuclear weapon were detonated in a metropolitan area, how large would the affected area be? Where should first responders first go? According to physicist Fernando Grinstein, we have some initial understanding to address these questions, but fundamental issues remain unresolved.

An atomic-level look at an HIV accomplice
Since the discovery in 2007 that a component of human semen called SEVI boosts infectivity of the virus that causes AIDS, researchers have been trying to learn more about SEVI and how it works, in hopes of thwarting its infection-promoting activity.

Proton's party pals may alter its internal structure
A recent experiment at the Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility has found that a proton's nearest neighbors in the nucleus of the atom may modify the proton's internal structure.

Chromosomes dance and pair up on the nuclear membrane
Meiosis - the pairing and recombination of chromosomes, followed by segregation of half to each egg or sperm cell - is a major crossroads in all organisms reproducing sexually.

Nanotech in Space: Rensselaer Experiment To Weather the Trials of Orbit
Novel nanomaterials developed at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are scheduled to blast off into orbit on November 16 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis.

The bizarre lives of bone-eating worms
The females of the recently discovered Osedax marine worms feast on submerged bones via a complex relationship with symbiotic bacteria, and they are turning out to be far more diverse and widespread than scientists expected.

SNM applauds House action to build medical isotopes reactor in the US
SNM applauds the U.S. House of Representatives for its passage of H.R. 3276-the American Medical Isotopes Production Act of 2009.

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