Riding an asteroid: China's next goal in space
After sending a probe to Mars in 2020, China plans to explore three asteroids and land on one of them to conduct scientific research, according to a Chinese asteroid research expert. The "China's Space
Scientific And Technical Development
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Soot and diamonds
Alchemists have succeeded in fashioning the high-tech version of the Philosopher's Stone: they can now make diamond films out of soot and a gas named argon. Chemist Dieter M Gruen's magic recipe:
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Making a standby sun
Physicists say it's theoretically possible to make a sun in the laboratory.
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The smallest battery
Scientists at the University of California, Irvine, have made the world's smallest battery -- about the size of the common-cold virus (Science, Vol 257 No 5074). Chemist Reginald Penner and his
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Cyclone hits the floor
A NEW V ACUUM cleaner has over come the perennial problem of dust clogging the filter and reducing the machine's efficiency. Dyson Dual Cyclone whizzes dirt and air around at high speed, but
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Extendable wheelchair
PEOPLE confined to wheelchairs will be able to reach for anything stored on the topmost shelves because a wheelchair has been developed in USA that can be raised a couple of metres without loss
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Enzymes go synthetic
Growing awareness in industry about the potential of enzymes might lead to their synthetic production
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Chip shots
Since the '70s, camera makers and photography enthusiasts have dreamt of a 1-chip camera that does everything. Thanks to the efforts of 3 scientists from nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at the
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You can scribble on this computer
THERE seems to be no limit to the miniaturisation of computers, because in the wake of laptops comes pocket-sized computers that allow the user to write on a liquid crystal screen with a special
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Miniature biosphere
A NEW batch of occupants has moved into Biosphere 2 -- the glass and steel structure enclosing 3 ha in Oracle, Arizona, where scientists are trying to create a miniature earth complete with rain
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Reading handwriting
A TEAM of US scientists has developed a technique to enable hand-held computers that work with a pen to recognise handwriting quickly and more accurately than their present level of literacy allows