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Science Friday > Archives > 2001 > November > November 16, 2001

Hour Two: Science Grab Bag: Nuclear Security / Leonid Shower / Molecular Electronics

In an interview published last week, Osama bin Laden said he has nuclear weapons, ready to use. Though U.S. officials are skeptical, Russin officials admit lax security at their nuclear storage facilities.and experts say that because crude weapons using nuclear material are relatively easy to build, the threat of nuclear terrorism can't be ruled out.

In this hour of Science Friday, we'll look at the danger posed by loose nukes. We'll also find out about several recent advances in nanoelectronics -- including the development of transistors only one molecule in size. Plus, we'll take a sneak peak at the annual Leonids meteor shower, predicted to be a spectacular sky show this year.

Note: the molecular electronics research discussed in this segment has since been retracted from the journals after the researcher interviewed here, Hendrik Schon, was found to have fabricated data. The scientific misconduct was later discussed in this hour of Science Friday.

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Guests:
Hendrik Schon
Research Physicist
Bell Labs Lucent Technologies
Murray Hill, New Jersey

Matthew Bunn
Assistant Director, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program
Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Andrew Fraknoi
Director, Project Astro
Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Chair, Astronomy Department
Foothill College
Los Altos Hills, California

Books/Articles Discussed:

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Related Links:

Managing the Atom - Nuclear Terrorism
NTI: Nuclear Threat Initiative

ASP: Ready for the Storm
Skyway Inc: The Leonids
Sky and Telescope's Meteor Page
The American Meteor Society

NY Times: Nanowires May Lead to Superfast Computer Chips
IBM Research: Nanoscience Home
Harvard Magazine: Liquid Computing
Bell Labs: Scientists build the world's smallest transistor, paving the way for 'nanoelectronics'
Bell Labs: Scientists usher in new era of molecular-scale electronics

 

This segment produced by: Karin Vergoth