Word: atomizers
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Technologist Eric Drexler envisioned a future in which machines far smaller than dust motes would construct everything from chairs to rocket engines, atom by atom; in which microscopic robots would heal human ills, cell by cell. Sixteen years after the publication of Drexler's book Engines of Creation, the molecular-scale technologies most immediately available to consumers are somewhat less fantastic: stain-resistant khakis and more durable tennis balls...
Another impediment is the cost and supply of the platinum particles that catalyze, or kick off, the process. Think of them almost as matchmakers, encouraging every oxygen atom to mate with two hydrogens, releasing valuable energy with each reaction. That is the heart of the fuel cell...
DIED. MARTIN D. KAMEN, 89, blacklisted physical biochemist who helped discover radioactive carbon 14, which was crucial to understanding basic chemical processes; in Santa Barbara, Calif. After being shunned by the scientific community amid rumors that he had leaked atom-bomb secrets to the Soviets, he won belated recognition in 1996, receiving the Enrico Fermi Award for lifetime achievement...
Skeptics may recall the burst of enthusiasm for conservation and renewable power when oil prices quadrupled in the 1970s. State-funded energy research and development surged, while tax incentives boosted solar, wind and other alternatives to petroleum and the atom. But once oil supplies loosened and prices dropped, governments lost interest. In the U.S., rules requiring more fuel-efficient cars were rolled back. In California, subsidies evaporated, pushing wind companies into bankruptcy. "It is a moral disgrace that we have done so little to reduce our dependence on imported oil and oil generally," says Reid Detchon, a former U.S. Energy...
...first one ends. Superheroes have been outlawed and ostracized. Pacifying the masses with airhead pop groups and infotainment, criminal mastermind Lex Luthor has secretly taken control of the U.S. behind a virtual-reality President. Batman, thought dead by the rest of the world, rescues various imprisoned heroes like The Atom, who controls his height from sub-atomic size to colossus, The Flash, who can run to the other side of the world in less than a second, and Plastic Man, who turns himself into any shape he desires. Together they battle not only Luthor, but also Superman, now forced...