Scientists have used a roll of Scotch tape to take X-rays – moreover, the effect may be the key to nuclear fusion. Seriously.
Addendum: This short slide show is better than the article at giving you the scoop on this finding.
MacGyver Science
Previous post: Assorted links
Next post: Against multiple choice exams
Yeah, but here you see the chilling effect of the improper application of Intellectual Property and how it can stifle innovation:
“The details of what is occurring on the molecular scale are not known, the scientists said, in part because the Scotch adhesive remains a trade secret.”
Andrew is misunderstanding intellectual property protection. In the absence of protection, all intellectual property becomes held as trade secrets, while patent protection makes public processes and ingredients.
That’s pretty tenuous link from peeling tape to nuclear fusion. It’s nice to see the Times changing it up a little. Usually the default pie-in-the-sky outcome is “faster supercomputers.”
Ditto, Alex, on patents. Patents serve a net good because they cause much more transparency on the marketplace of ideas. Copyrights are more than just a bit too long imo.
And here I always thought it would be duct tape.
josh, Whatever?
The nuclear fusion bit is quite silly. Accelerating deuterium or tritium ions to energies sufficient for nuclear reactions has not been a serious problem for many years — has been done on the tabletop since the 1930s (Cockcroft and Walton). The difficulty in nuclear fusion for energy production is getting enough of the ions to react before they lose energy to collisions and ionization. Simply directing the ions at a passive target fails, since only a tiny fraction will react before slowing to a stop.
Er, yeah. It has been known for a long time that unspooling large sheets of insulators, like paper or photographic film, will lead to electrostatic discharge. In the case of film, this results in lighting-like marks that are called (big surprise) static marks. In paper factories, it is an industrial hazard.
You will find that the more cheap zeny is very good in our company.
wow.. very nice post… i really like the comments too.. thanks!!! Free Affiliate Program
New technology is always given us surprising and life way changing.
Comments on this entry are closed.