Technology Quantum TV rivals plasma displays AFTER five years of secret research, two of the world's biggest electronics companies say they have developed a picture display technology that more than halves the power consumption of large flat-screen television sets. Today's increasingly popular plasma TV screens, with a viewing area measuring 40 inches (100 centimetres) and more, consume at least 400 watts, … 51¶¯Âþ
Humans Washington diary THE National Academies is a funny organisation. Congress created it in 1863 when Abraham Lincoln was president, and it now consists of four organisations: the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council. Their job is to advise the government on scientific and technological matters. … Opinion
Life It's a jungle in there SOMEHOW, the monkey poo had gone astray. Baffled, Glenn Gibson scratched his head. The biologist at the University of Reading, UK, had been expecting a parcel of monkey faeces from some colleagues in California. Instead, the courier had delivered an enormous box labelled "frozen pork chops". "We thought that was a bit odd," Gibson recalls. … Features
Building the republic of reality Politics of Nature: How to bring the sciences into democracy by Bruno Latour, Harvard University Press, £16.95/$24.95, ISBN 0674013476 SOME time ago Bruno Latour visited 51¶¯Âþ. "Ah, so this is where objectivity is manufactured," he boomed. "I should like to watch you make it…" A couple of people, who had heard of him, put … Books & Arts
Feedback READERS often come across unusual titles for scientific papers and send them to us. Here is the latest batch. Andrew Hutchins noticed a paper in Cell (vol 87, p 151) by S. Block entitled: "Fifty ways to love your lever: Myosin motors". Robert Stevens was struck by a preprint he found on the web prior … Regulars