| 4 al-Qaida prisoners escape US custody in Iraq By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA 2010-09-09T18:05:13ZBAGHDAD (AP) -- Four prisoners with links to al-Qaida being guarded by American troops escaped from a maximum-security prison in Baghdad and are still at large, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Thursday.... hosted.ap.org |
Horny find uncovers triceratops' ancestors Two enormous heads arrayed with horns are the first striking images of a pair of newly-discovered dinosaur species announced today. abc.net.au |
A Nobel prize - but not for levitating frogs | Jon Butterworth Congratulations to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov on winning the Nobel prize in physics – not for their frog-levitating work, but for groundbreaking studies of grapheneI'd heard about graphene before, but as a particle physicist it's not something I'm an expert on. Although I have reservations about prizes in general, it is always good to see great physics and outstanding physicists in the news, and it's a good excuse to educate myself about neighbouring subfields. So here you go ...Graphene is a material made of a single layer of carbon atoms. Actually, graphite is made of many such layers stacked on top of each other, very tightly bound within the layer, but with the layers loosely bound to each other. This is why graphite has such a curious mixture of properties: it's hard and slippery, but good for drawing on pavements with.Geim and Novoselov successfully isolated single layers of graphite – graphene – large enough for its properties to be studied. Graphene is transparent, electrically conducting, flexible, stretchable and, weight for weight, much stronger than steel. According to the summary on the Nobel website a hypothetical graphene hammock would be strong enough to hold a cat, but would weigh about the same as one of its whiskers. It's not too hard to imagine a lot of more lucrative applications.Understanding the physics of a real two-dimensional crystal solid both uses and potentially demonstrates some very interesting quantum mechanics and relativity. For example, there is an effect called the Klein paradox where fast-moving electrons can penetrate a super-high-energy barrier because they create matter-antimatter pairs. In some ways, electrons in graphene behave as though they are massless, and so pairs can be very easily produced and the relativistic effect can perhaps be demonstrated even with slow electrons and lower energy barriers.As a Mancunian by upbringing I'm very pleased that Geim and Novoselov work there. The fact that we have such brilliant scientists in UK universities is testament to the high quality of our research environment, and the long-term investment it has received. I can't resist the opportunity to yet again urge that we don't throw it all away in a series of misguided cuts.Geim is also well known (or as his web page puts it "notorious") for levitating frogs. This is a demonstration of the peculiar fact that all materials have some magnetism, albeit very weak in most cases, and that if you put them in a high enough magnetic field you can see the effects – and make them fly. Why frogs? Well, no frogs were harmed in the experiments. But also, magnetism is a hugely important topic in physics that can seem a little dry to students, and as the physicists put it:... the frog picture will probably help students studying magnetism to get less easily bored. Anyway, it's an unrelated example of how cool condensed matter physics can be. The serious business is graphene. Well deserved congratulations to them both.Jon Butterworthguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Letter: Animal research and the squeeze on science funding Scientists across the country will be awaiting the outcome of tomorrow's comprehensive spending review with understandable trepidation (Letters, 16 October).Inevitable cuts to the UK science budget will likely have a devastating impact on Britain's research effort. Those of us whose work focuses on or benefits from novel 3Rs approaches – replacing, reducing and refining the use of laboratory animals – may have particular cause for concern.Securing funding for 3Rs research is already a challenge. There are precious few dedicated 3Rs funders and mainstream funding sources seldom prioritise innovation aimed at reducing dependency on live animals or proposing entirely new approaches aimed at replacing animal models altogether.Reducing and replacing animal research wherever possible is, quite rightly, a requirement on all scientists. The government recognises the very real scientific and animal welfare advantages produced by novel alternative techniques in toxicology as well as medical research.The government's National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) demonstrates what can be achieved when sufficient state funding for alternatives is in place. After years of funding neglect, alternatives are now far better supported and consequently Britain has become a world leader in alternatives technology development. But for how much longer?Three Rs approaches like three-dimensional test tube models of disease and non-invasive neuroimaging offer exciting new answers to existing research questions. Many of the techniques already replacing traditional animal use are also far swifter and cheaper at producing results. But the societal benefits of exploiting such techniques will be lost if the funding environment becomes so squeezed that there is little room left for taking research risks. Innovation needs to be encouraged, not stifled and marginalised.Professor Geoff Pilkington University of Portsmouth, Professor Miles Whittington Newcastle University, Dr Franco Falcone University of Nottingham, Dr Charles Knowles Queen Mary University of London, Dr Craig Winstanley University of Liverpool, Professor Michael Coleman Aston University, Professor David Baker Queen Mary, University of London, Dr Leslie R Noble University of Aberdeen, Professor CV Howard University of Ulster, Dr George McKerr University of Ulster, Professor Philip Stephens Cardiff University, Dr Deborah Holliday University of Leeds, Professor Susan Jobling Brunel University, Dr Deborah Mason Cardiff UniversityAnimal researchAnimal behaviourResearch fundingHigher educationResearchguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
British barn owls rely on humans Three quarters of British barn owls now live in man-made nest boxes, according to conservationists. news.bbc.co.uk |