Word: neutron
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American scientists are now reported to be researching a "neutron" bomb which could render large areas uninhabitable for brief periods of time in addition to wiping out all those in the vicinity of the blast. C. L. Sulzberger writes in the New York Times that the bomb's "short-lived radiation effects could destroy an enemy's troops without causing unacceptable damage in cities or other areas." In other words, the once-proven "urbanization" theory could be successfully applied without all the fuss and expense of repeated bombings. Contaminate the countryside, and you are bound to cause a mass exodus...
There are implications of the discovery that go beyond the white-dwarf theory. Since the discovery of pulsars three years ago, most astronomers have come to agree that the strange signal-emitting objects are in fact neutron stars-dying stars that according to theory have collapsed with such force that all that remains is a ball of neutrons as small as ten miles across. With the help of Kemp's new technique for detecting distant magnetism, astronomers may now be able to substantiate their pulsar theories. If pulsars are indeed neutron stars-objects even more dense than white dwarfs...
Drake said he is convinced that pulsars, some of which pulsate more than 50 times a second, are rotating neutron stars. Scientists have predicted the existence of neutron stars-a teaspoonful of which weighs more than a billion tons-as the remnants of the explosions of giant stars. But until the accidental discovery of pulsars in 1967, no neutron stars had been observed...
...With this high energy output, "spinning neutron stars are capable of producing all the cosmic rays that we sec," Drake said. In support of the "big bang" theory of the universe, astronomers had used the argument that nothingin our galaxy could produce the high energy cosmic rays that scientists have observed. But according to Drake, the ability of pulsars within our galaxy to produce high energy cosmic rays "allows the opposing steady-state theory to survive...
...building larger detectors, for example, astronomers could learn more about pulsars. If they are actually spinning neutron stars, as many astronomers have come to believe, they could be producing the kind of gravitational effect postulated by Einstein. The detection of gravity waves, Weber adds, gives man "a new set of windows for the study of the universe...