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Scientists moving closer to 'artificial noses'

These days, chemical analysts are expected to track down even single molecules. To do this highly sensitive detective work, nano researchers have developed minute strings that resonate in characteristic fashion. If a molecule docks onto one of the strings, then it becomes heavier, and its oscillations become measurably slower.

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory and the Mystery of the Missing Sinks

Picture a tree in the forest. The tree "inhales" carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, transforming that greenhouse gas into the building materials and energy it needs to grow its branches and leaves.

Art historians turn detective to verify a Vermeer

A painting by Dutch artist Vermeer, long thought to be a forgery, will go under the hammer at Sotheby's today for an estimated ?3 million pounds thanks to the investigative talent of UCL researchers.
Using a series of techniques ranging from polarising light microscopy to infrared x-ray reflectography, a ten-year study led by Ms Libby Sheldon of the Department of the History of Art was able to verify that the 'Young Woman Seated at the Virginals' was painted by the artist.

Trove of cancer-fighting sponges discovered in deep sea

In 1984, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution scientists exploring deep waters off the Bahamas in one of the institution's Johnson-Sea-Link submersibles discovered a small piece of sponge that harbored a chemical with a remarkable ability to kill cancer cells in laboratory tests. Despite almost two decades of searching, though, the group was never able to find enough of the sponge to fully explore its potential. But now that process can finally begin because, thanks to some creative detective work, the team has found the animal's secret hiding place and collected enough of it to support years of intense research.



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