Why You Don't Weigh Less After Pee

The beautiful country is not winning the brains

Last week we celebrated the annual ceremony for the conferment of the Nobel prizes. Futura has honored the event by publishing the two articles, one of which the graphene , material "two-dimensional" he did win the Nobel Prize to Konstantin Novoselov and Andre Gaim. The two physicists are of Russian origin but has British citizenship and Novoselov Gaim Dutch nationality. Both work at the University of Manchester. This means that the pride resulting from having obtained such a prestigious award should be divided between different nations. Russia can now boast of having given birth to two other Nobel laureates (and thus reach quota 23). The Netherlands has already added to the Gaim their (relatively long) list so share reaching 19. Finally, the University of Manchester can now boast 25 Nobel laureates, despite recent cuts in funding for research carried out by the British government.

international scenario as well be considered as a classic example of the dynamics that characterize scientific research especially in recent decades. Research institutes are proper places for the collection of capable and bright regardless of their nationality. And these same people before arriving at an institution where you have taken to stabilize several years work experience in many other countries. The Nobel Prizes in Physics 2010 exemplify precisely these issues. In Typically, a look at the statistics of notorious universities (eg Columbia, Cambridge and Chicago) reveals that this character is typical of ambitious international Often these research centers are the place where academics from different countries perform their cutting edge research.

Let us turn now look to our beautiful country trying to figure out how to show you from this perspective. Italy has given birth to 20 Nobel laureates. We want to dwell only on the 12 falling into the category of science (physics, chemistry, physiology and medicine). Of these, almost everyone has done research in Italian institutions although there are exceptions. Take, for example, the case of the Nobel Prize for Physics 2002 Riccardo Coats that after graduating from the University of Milan has arrived overseas and led the entire scientific career in the U.S. (much to take the citizenship). Probably, this case falls within the infamous effect "flight-to-brain" in which Italy is emptied of many scientists who are ambitious and capable in other countries in search of stimulation and recognition.

Data on Italian Nobel but hide another alarming phenomenon. In fact, only five Italian universities (Pisa, Rome, Turin, Bologna and Milan) that can boast of Nobel between their academics. And note that the Nobel of these universities are Italian (Fermi, Rubbia, Montalcini just to name a few). Things it is the paradigm of international reference to which we did at the beginning of the article? If international trends are now inherent in the modern scientific way, because Italy is out there? When we rejoice because they will be given an Italian structure has hosted a foreign scientist allowing him to carry out a project from Nobel Prize?

The problem is twofold. On the one hand more and more scholars Italians leave Italy, the other less and less land in Italy for foreign scholars conduct their research. It is a clear picture. Under these conditions, Italy is intended to dry up a lake, a stream in increasing output and an influx near zero. This does not can only lead to a scientifically barren landscape in a very short time. Paradoxically, a simple solution would bring rapid change. In fact, adequate funding of research centers ridurebbe inevitably flow of Italian researchers abroad. At the same time, would give visibility in the international research conducted in Italy, making the Bel Paese a possible choice for skilled immigration and continues, not only for tourism hit-and-run. The mechanism could now get up to speed and self-promote. Just look beyond the momentary contingencies and invest in research. The lake dry, you may even overflow. But to will, rather than waiting for rain.

MARCELLO HUNTED

Jean Ann Ryan Company

Physics: two dimensions for a Nobel

Prize scientists Andrei Geim and Novoselov Konstantin for the discovery of graphene, wonder stuff

Two days ago, Tuesday, Oct. 5, it was announced the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2010 Andrei Geim and Novoselov Konstantin, two Russian scientists working at the University of Manchester, UK. To motivate the prestigious award, years of research and experiments which have led, in 2004, the discovery of graphene, a material property to nothing short of amazing and different applications technology, ranging from electronics biomedical engineering.

This material 'Wonderland' is nothing but a form of carbon. The novelty lies in the fact that in graphene, the carbon is arranged in thin sheets, the thickness of a single atom: it is basically a two-dimensional material. In our world of three dimensions, a thickness so small it is virtually impossible to imagine, if stacked one above the other about a million sheets of graphene, we reach the thickness of an ordinary sheet of paper! It is precisely because of its infinitesimal third dimension to this material, whose existence was predicted as early as 1947, took decades before they can be isolated in the laboratory.

Depending on how the carbon atoms bind to each other, this gives rise to a number of different materials, the most famous among them are the diamond and graphite. In diamond, carbon atoms form a very resistant glass, placing them in a structure whose basic unit is the tetrahedron, a solid with four triangular faces. The graphite, which can be found in pencils, is very different from diamond, although both are formed from carbon atoms. In graphite, the atoms are arranged in a series of layers with a honeycomb structure, where the unit of base is a hexagon, and the various layers are held together with each other by a relationship between the electrons belonging to different atoms, the bonds that hold the atoms in each layer are much stronger than those that hold together the different layers, and That is why, unlike diamond, graphite flakes easily.

Graphene is a single layer that constitutes the structure of graphite, in a way that vaguely recalls the layers of a wafer. Many suspected that, once isolated, such a structure in two dimensions would be curled in on itself and would not remain permanently in flat form. Geim and Novoselov, however, persisted for years in their search, until in 2004 they developed a seemingly simple experiment: they have used the common adhesive tape and a piece of graphite with adhesive tape, were able to hew out of the graphite layers of carbon one-atom thick graphene, in fact.

Because of the way in which its atoms are arranged, graphene is an excellent conductor of both electricity and heat, and therefore has found immediate application in the electronics industry, also has properties of semi-conductor and This can be used in the production of transistors. Recent studies have shown that this material is also the strongest in the world, yet is extremely malleable, and in addition is virtually transparent to those grounds, would be most suitable for making screens and displays.

The directors of the discovery were both born in the Soviet Union and have worked together for many years, first in Nijmegen, Holland, Novoselov, where he obtained his doctorate under the guidance of their Geim, and then at the University Manchester. The discovery of graphene have arrived in the typical way that is the basis of scientific research: always trying new and different solutions, which sometimes worked and sometimes not, but that he always learn something you did not know before. In this case, the efforts have proved extremely successful: in 2008 the discoverers of graphene were among favorites for the Nobel Prize, which has finally arrived in 2010. The Committee awarded the Nobel Foundation in particular the creative genius that has characterized many of their experiments, which led to a discovery turned out to be hugely important for a growing number of applications to everyday life.

Since the discovery, Geim and Novoselov have also been very open in sharing with the rest of the scientific community the results, as shown on the site PhysicsWorld.com Institute of Physics, where he also tells as the two have formed a new generation of physicists and invited many scientists from the University of Manchester and providing them with the knowledge they acquired on the methods for producing graphene. To present them, the Institute of Physics decided to open up access to all articles published scientific by two physicists on specialized magazines published by this institution.

addition to the congratulations of physicists and scientists around the world are focused on Geim and Novoselov eyes of the entire scientific community in Britain. In the UK, in fact, scientific research and academic institutions are currently threatened by heavy cuts in funding. There are numerous campaigns to protest against these measures in place, including the operation Science is Vital , which will see thousands of scientists and members of civil society paraded through the streets of London on Saturday, October 9.

After the award of the Nobel Prize to two excellent professors from a British university, many are hoping that the prestigious, rewarding not only a discovery of multiple industrial applications and technology but also the intense and extensive research efforts that preceded it, bring a message to the policy, showing once again the immense value of scientific research in society.

CLAUDIA MIGNONE

In the top, Andrei Geim and Novoselov Konstantin (Photo by Russell Hart / Univesity of Manchester) at the center, the two-dimensional structure of graphene (Source: Wikimedia Commons), below The logo of the initiative is Vital Science.