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can detect the metabolites our Scientists call for
bodies produce if we ingest certain
substances, including sarin or, in Brexit cooperation
this case, capsules of peppermint
oil. It then automatically updates LEADING scientists from across
the electronic tag on the tested Europe have written to UK and EU
person’s wrist. leaders, urging them to agree a
Chemical detectors were Brexit deal that preserves scientific
used to ensure decontamination cooperation.
showers were effective, while an The letter was signed by 29
overhead drone used ion-mobility Nobel laureates, including Venki
spectrometry to map how far Ramakrishnan, president of the Royal
the chemical had spread. A social XINHUA NEWS AGENCY/EYEVINE Society, and six winners of the Fields
media tracking tool pulled medal, the biggest prize in maths.
together relevant posts from According to the society, the UK
tweeting participants. received €8.8 billion out of a total of
“You’ve got eyes and ears on
the ground at extraordinary detail World’s longest sea bridge €107 billion of EU research grants
between 2007 and 2013. Many of the
that has never been available to largest grants are given to consortia
incident commanders before,” CHINA’S new mega-bridge was The structure is supported by pillars that span countries. “Creating new
says Paul Thomas, lead scientist officially opened on 23 October embedded in the sea floor, cables barriers to such ease of collaboration
on TOXI-Triage, and at by President Xi Jinping. hanging from giant towers, and two will inhibit progress, to the detriment
Loughborough University, UK. The 55-kilometre-long structure artificial islands. of us all,” the letter says.
All the technologies developed is the longest over-sea bridge in the According to its engineers, it should The Francis Crick Institute,
by the project have been designed world and took nine years to build. be able to withstand a magnitude-8 a medical research centre in London,
to have other uses too, otherwise It crosses the Pearl River estuary to earthquake, a super typhoon or a revealed this week that 78 per cent
they would seldom be used. The connect the Chinese mainland to collision with a 300,000-tonne ship. of the EU scientists working there
breath-analysis kit could be used Hong Kong and Macau, and is 20 times The project has been criticised for said they would be less likely to stay
in hospitals to detect intoxication the length of San Francisco’s Golden the deaths of 10 workers and feared in the UK after Brexit.
Gate Bridge. impacts on local white dolphins. Only
“ Preparation for chemical The bridge becomes an underwater 47 of them are still in the area, down
attacks has been neglected tunnel for a 7-kilometre section so from 188 in 2003. Taking the scenic
recently, but the threat ships can cross and planes can take off China is also home to the world’s
may be increasing” from the nearby airport in Hong Kong. longest bridge of any kind, the route to Mercury
About 400,000 tonnes of steel 164-kilometre-long Danyang–
from alcohol, date rape drugs or were used in the project, equivalent Kunshan Grand Bridge, which THE BepiColombo spacecraft is on
pesticides, for example. to eight times the amount used to crosses land and water between its way to Mercury after a successful
The tools worked well on the build the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Shanghai and Nanjing. launch from French Guiana on
day, but there were problems. 20 October.
One of the main lessons from The joint mission by the European
the trial is that the tools need to US to pull out of kilometres. It is one of only two Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace
be easier to use when wearing remaining treaties imposing verified Exploration Agency aims to probe
protective equipment. “You’re nuclear treaty? limits on US and Russian nuclear some of Mercury’s mysteries, such
sweltering hot. You have sweat forces, which together hold 92 per as its odd magnetic field, weird pools
running down your face. Your gas PRESIDENT Donald Trump told cent of all nukes. Experts fear that if of ice and hollows unlike anything we
mask is fogging up – you need reporters this week that the US will this treaty goes, the New START have seen on other planets.
better ways of enabling them to pull out of the Intermediate-Range treaty, which limits big, long-range But before BepiColombo can
use that kind of kit,” says Thomas. Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, saying nuclear weapons, could go too. do that, it has to get to Mercury,
The TOXI-Triage team is now that both Russia and China possess Since 2008, the US has charged a Herculean task because of the sun’s
analysing the data collected the missiles it bans. that a Russian prototype cruise powerful gravity. To avoid flying right
during the exercise to calculate While Russia is part of the treaty, missile violates the INF Treaty. Russia past Mercury and falling into the sun,
how best to deal with real China isn’t. The latter’s small but in turn charges that US armed drones the craft will take the scenic route.
casualties in such a scenario. growing nuclear armoury consists do, as do missile-defence launchers It will loop back around Earth once,
Preparation for biological entirely of intermediate-range installed in Romania, which could Venus twice and Mercury six times
and chemical attacks got a lot of missiles, however, and Trump may launch medium-range Tomahawk to get the energy it needs to get
attention after 9/11, but has been be trying to force three-way talks. missiles offensively. into orbit around Mercury.
neglected recently, says Adalja. The INF Treaty bans US or Russian These issues could be resolved If all goes well, BepiColombo
“I think the threat is still there ground-launched nuclear missiles with inspections, but raised tensions will reach its final destination in
and maybe even getting larger.” ■ with ranges between 480 and 5500 could now make that difficult. December 2025.
27 October 2018 | NewScientist | 5
