A key technological breakthrough led by the University of Edinburgh suggests that a futuristic world where people can move objects without physical force but ?remotely? with laser pointers could be closer than we think. Chemists working on the nanoscale (80,000 times smaller than a hair’s breadth) have managed to move a tiny droplet of liquid across a surface – and even up a slope – by transporting it along a layer of light-sensitive molecules.
Their pioneering use of nanotechnology involved shifting a tiny droplet of a substance called diiodomethane, a thick, oily liquid, up a 12-degree slope against the force of gravity. This is claimed to be the small-scale equivalent of a conventional machine lifting an object twice the height of the world’s tallest building.
While President George W. Bush travels around the country in a last-ditch effort to sell his Iraq war, White House aides scramble frantically behind the scenes to hide the dark mood of an increasingly angry leader who unleashes obscenity-filled outbursts at anyone who dares disagree with him.
Orbital vehicle SpaceShipThree (SS3) will be developed by space tourism company Virgin Galactic and Mojave-based SpaceShipTwo (SS2)-developer Scaled Composites, if the planned SS2 suborbital service is successful, says Virgin Galactic president Will White?horn.
A parasitic worm that makes the grasshopper it invades jump into water and commit suicide does so by chemically influencing its brain, a study of the insects? proteins reveal.