Three new hot topic articles have been published on Intute.

Tubes in space

Carbon nanotubes form in space but use a metal-free chemistry until now unavailable to chemists on Earth. The discovery is a surprising outcome of laboratory experiments designed by Joseph Nuth at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, Maryland, and his colleagues. They were hoping to understand how carbon atoms are recycled in stellar nurseries, the regions of space where stars and planets are born, but the finding could have applications in nanotechnology, as well as help explain some characteristics of supernovae.

http://www.intute.ac.uk/hottopics/2010/03/tubes-in-space/

A radical approach to understanding polymers

Polymerization is used to make a whole range of materials but understanding exactly what happens during synthesis when it involves free radicals is difficult. Now, New Zealand chemists have uncovered important clues by following the rates of reaction and the termination steps involved.

http://www.intute.ac.uk/hottopics/2010/03/a-radical-approach-to-understanding-polymers/

Atomic circuitry and quantum computing

Conventional supercomputers have limitations: they are logical and fast, certainly, can be run in parallel grids across the globe, but when it comes down to solving problems with no logical answer, such as cracking sophisticated encryption, working out the travelling sales-rep problem of logistics and deliveries, or modelling the climate, they have serious limitations.

http://www.intute.ac.uk/hottopics/2010/03/atomic-circuitry-and-quantum-computing/