Gail Iles dips a spatula into a jar and smears its contents across a piece of tissue. "Just wait," she says, "this is cool." It starts as an isolated twinkle and then rapidly becomes a cascade of flashes as the black powder dries and reacts with air. Titanium aluminide is one of the materials being assessed This is raney nickel, a material so riddled with holes they sometimes call it "spongy nickel". It has a colossal surface area. Just one gramme of the stuff may have an effective surface of tens of square metres. It's what makes the powder so reactive, and the perfect candidate for a catalyst. It is being used to coat the electrodes of hydrogen fuel cells; and being a very common element, nickel is a lot cheaper than the platinum-based coatings that have traditionally been used for the same job. But Dr Iles, a research fellow with the European Space Agency (Esa), and colleagues would like to improve the nickel's performance.
Gail Iles dips a spatula into a jar and smears its contents across a piece of tissue. "Just wait," she says, "this is cool."
It starts as an isolated twinkle and then rapidly becomes a cascade of flashes as the black powder dries and reacts with air.
This is raney nickel, a material so riddled with holes they sometimes call it "spongy nickel". It has a colossal surface area. Just one gramme of the stuff may have an effective surface of tens of square metres.
It's what makes the powder so reactive, and the perfect candidate for a catalyst.
It is being used to coat the electrodes of hydrogen fuel cells; and being a very common element, nickel is a lot cheaper than the platinum-based coatings that have traditionally been used for the same job.
But Dr Iles, a research fellow with the European Space Agency (Esa), and colleagues would like to improve the nickel's performance.
From Cold War to cold meats... sailors from the US and Russian navies have tested their culinary skills in a sandwich-making competition. The contest was held during a visit by the US destroyer Stethem to the eastern Russian port of Vladivostok to mark Victory Day. Officers also joined in. A Russian cook took the prize for best-tasting sandwich while an American came top for most original presentation. Sandwiches topped with cucumber sails were among the Russian offerings. The ingredients included peppers, smoked ham, lettuce, cheese, mayonnaise, olives, cherry tomatoes and gherkins.
From Cold War to cold meats... sailors from the US and Russian navies have tested their culinary skills in a sandwich-making competition.
The contest was held during a visit by the US destroyer Stethem to the eastern Russian port of Vladivostok to mark Victory Day. Officers also joined in.
A Russian cook took the prize for best-tasting sandwich while an American came top for most original presentation.
Sandwiches topped with cucumber sails were among the Russian offerings.
The ingredients included peppers, smoked ham, lettuce, cheese, mayonnaise, olives, cherry tomatoes and gherkins.
An unusual weather pattern has whipped up powerful and destructive tornadoes in two of America's Southern States. CCTV footage caught the moment one tornado hit a car park in Alabama. In North Carolina planes were thrown off the tarmac at an airport, and homes were flattened. One person is reported to have been killed.
CCTV footage caught the moment one tornado hit a car park in Alabama.
In North Carolina planes were thrown off the tarmac at an airport, and homes were flattened. One person is reported to have been killed.
A train in Canada with about 280 people on board has been put under quarantine, after one passenger died and several others reported flu-like symptoms. The authorities say they do not believe there is a connection between the death and the illnesses. The train was travelling from Vancouver to Toronto when a woman in her 60s fell ill and died on Friday morning. The authorities say they are keeping passengers and crew on the train while they await the results of tests.
A train in Canada with about 280 people on board has been put under quarantine, after one passenger died and several others reported flu-like symptoms.
The authorities say they do not believe there is a connection between the death and the illnesses.
The train was travelling from Vancouver to Toronto when a woman in her 60s fell ill and died on Friday morning.
The authorities say they are keeping passengers and crew on the train while they await the results of tests.
Spanish health authorities launched a virtual portal through the Second Life website yesterday designed to help young people too embarrassed to speak to a doctor about sexually transmitted disease or a drug problem.Real doctors will log on and offer advice to their anonymous patients. What both will see is an image of a consulting room with a doctor and a typical patient. Dr Rosario Jimènez, of the Adolescent Attention Working Group, is one of the doctors who will spend up to four hours a week answering their virtual patients' questions.She said: "Teenagers do not often go to see the doctor but this is an efficient and amusing tool to reach them because we can both use the same route. Even though they do not often suffer serious illnesses, they often expose themselves to risks which can develop into problems in the future."This is a way to talk about their doubts about taking drugs or sexual relations which they cannot do in a traditional consultation."
Spanish health authorities launched a virtual portal through the Second Life website yesterday designed to help young people too embarrassed to speak to a doctor about sexually transmitted disease or a drug problem.
Real doctors will log on and offer advice to their anonymous patients. What both will see is an image of a consulting room with a doctor and a typical patient.
Dr Rosario Jimènez, of the Adolescent Attention Working Group, is one of the doctors who will spend up to four hours a week answering their virtual patients' questions.
She said: "Teenagers do not often go to see the doctor but this is an efficient and amusing tool to reach them because we can both use the same route. Even though they do not often suffer serious illnesses, they often expose themselves to risks which can develop into problems in the future.
"This is a way to talk about their doubts about taking drugs or sexual relations which they cannot do in a traditional consultation."
Seven activists arrested last year on their way to a banner-drop against the proposed M1 widening (See SchNEWS 575) had their cases thrown out of court on 1st May. When they were originally busted on their way to the M1 they were held on public order charges, while doors were booted in and phones and computers seized. They were later charged with `conspiracy to cause a public nuisance'. The judge didn't even wait to hear the defence before kicking the prosecution out at half time saying "there was not one jot of evidence to infer an endangerment of any member of the public". When the prosecution produced climbing gear seized from people's homes as evidence Judge Robinson told them that they'd better not be relying on it as he had similar equipment in his own gaff! He resoundingly rejected their argument that the hanging of banners over the motorway would constitute a public nuisance, and went on to say: "all of the available material (presented to the court) is consistent only with peaceful protest."
Seven activists arrested last year on their way to a banner-drop against the proposed M1 widening (See SchNEWS 575) had their cases thrown out of court on 1st May. When they were originally busted on their way to the M1 they were held on public order charges, while doors were booted in and phones and computers seized. They were later charged with `conspiracy to cause a public nuisance'.
The judge didn't even wait to hear the defence before kicking the prosecution out at half time saying "there was not one jot of evidence to infer an endangerment of any member of the public". When the prosecution produced climbing gear seized from people's homes as evidence Judge Robinson told them that they'd better not be relying on it as he had similar equipment in his own gaff! He resoundingly rejected their argument that the hanging of banners over the motorway would constitute a public nuisance, and went on to say: "all of the available material (presented to the court) is consistent only with peaceful protest."
