Intute Spotlight for February

Keypad lockThe latest physical science news from David Bradley can also be found on the intute portal under the Spotlight. This month:

Shedding light on a molecular lock

Logic at the molecular scale has been exploited to build a keypad lock that “opens” only when the correct sequence of inputs is applied. Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel explain how they have harnessed the principles of molecular Boolean logic to create a nanoscale keypad lock…one you’re going to need very small fingers to key.

Anthropogenic volcanic activity

The first scientific report into the causes and impact of Lusi, the Indonesian mud volcano located in Eastern Java that erupted on 29th May 2006 in the middle of a rice paddy, has now been published. The results provide a damning indictment of the cause of this eruption, laying the blame most likely at the feet of natural gas explorers.

Demonic chemistry

In 1867, Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell devised a thought experiment that would help scientists find ways of breaking the law. The second law of thermodynamics, that is. The second law of thermodynamics tells us that heat cannot pass from a hotter object to a colder one. David Bradley talked to David Leigh who has devised a molecule that almost plays a demonic role.

Read the February issue of Intute Spotlight online now.