Thursday, September 10, 2009 LONDON: The University of Bristol has opened a state of the art centre for nanoscience research, featuring what is claimed to be the world's quietest room.The $18 million Centre for Nanoscience and Quantum Information (NQSI) features specialised laboratories where vibration and acoustic noise levels are among the lowest ever achieved, despite being located in the centre of Bristol City. The basement houses the low noise area with a suite of ultra-low vibration nanoscience laboratories that are anchored to the rock below.Because of the size of the materials involved - between one and 100 nanometers - complete stillness is essential to an experiment's success. There is virtually no air movement inside the lab.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
Comments