Your Fear of Radiation Is Irrational
Radioactivity stirs primal fears in many people—but an undue sense of its risks can cause real harm. Bad Gastein in the Austrian Alps. It’s 10am on a Wednesday in early March, cold and snowy – but not in the entrance to the main gallery of what was once a gold mine. Togged out in swimming…
Can Lightning Strike an Indoor Pool?
Two swimming pool weather policies have surprised me in recent years. One was when I showed up to swim laps at an outdoor pool as it was beginning to drizzle. “Come on in,” I was told; as long as there was no lightning, the pool was still open. So I had one of my weirdest…
How Bigger Atoms Could Help Make Smaller “Lab-on-a-Chip” Devices
“Lab-on-a-chip” devices – which can carry out several laboratory functions on a single, micro-sized chip – are the result of a quiet scientific revolution over the past few years. For example, they enable doctors to make complex diagnoses instantly from a single drop of blood. In the future, shrinking such devices to extremely small sizes,…