Images of whole yeast cells at a resolution of ten nanometers, the highest resolution ever obtained with this method for biological samples, have been obtained by employing x-ray diffraction microscopy.

17 May 2010

Giorgio Volpe, Physics

Electronics, computers, lasers, and optical communication: all these inventions are in the list of the major technological breakthroughs of the 20th century, according to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering. However different, all of them have something in common: they all rely on transistors.

5 APRIL 2010

Giorgio Volpe, Physics

September 21, 2001: a passer-by notices something orange floating in the Thames River in London. On a closer look, it turns out to be a dead body and he immediately calls the police. The Metropolitan Police London sends a marine search squad that recovers the body further downstream. It is the torso of a little black boy, age 4 to 7; the orange color that caught the attention of the passer-by was the color of his shorts.

29 march 2010

Armand Niederberger, Physics

Imagine a red laser holding an unfinished robot. In the meantime a green laser cuts out of a raw frame a component perfectly shaped to work as its arm. In a rainbow of colours the robot gets assembled by light, virtually without any physical contact. Once it is ready, it is set free and the light beams start assembling the next robot.

22 March 2010

Giovanni Volpe, Physics