From THES, a review of No Small Matter: Science on the Nanoscale by Felice C. Frankel and George M. Whitesides (and an excerpt). A review of Living at Micro Scale: The Unexpected Physics of Being Small by David B. Dusenbery. New microscope reveals the shape of atoms: Improved field-emission microscope images electron orbitals, confirming their theoretical shapes. Superheavy Element 114 Ununquadium's synthesis confirmed, dashes hopes of "island of stability". It was a pleasant surprise to chemists at Oregon State University when they created a new, durable and brilliantly blue pigment by accident. A review of The Chemical Choir: A History of Alchemy by P. G. Maxwell-Stuart. The Genetic Science Learning Center
shows the relative sizes of very small objects, from a coffee bean to a carbon atom. National Geographic has produced a map of every space exploration in the last 50 years. From New Scientist, an article on building a second sun: Take $10 billion, add coconuts. A look at how Venus died and why Earth survives. From Wired, a special report on Plutomania. From Popular Mechanics, a look at the 9 wildest exoplanets ever spotted (and more). From Scientific American, astronomers are beginning to uncover nearby "Super-Earths"; and looking for life in the multiverse: Universes with different physical laws might still be habitable. The video "The Known Universe" takes viewers from the Himalayas through our atmosphere and the inky black of space to the afterglow of the Big Bang. How long is time?: The cosmos was already nearly 10 billion years old when our Sun was born, yet we're still quite a young universe.
