[extropy-chat] Stupid luddites oppose home cyclotrons...

[Robert Bradbury]

As is being reported in Wired [1], a number of luddites in Alaska have
joined forces to oppose the home installation of a used cyclotron [2] from
Johns Hopkins by engineer Albert Swank in his Anchorage home.

Now I grew up with some cool things... A "real" pinball machine, a
self-built model railroad set, a chemistry set, a basement room full of old
electronics equipment, diamond saws, rock polishers and gem grinders, a
welding machine, lots of shop tools and have graduated to doing more
advanced stuff over the years like building DNA sequencers, CCD cameras (for
astronomy but adaptable to DNA sequencing), etc.  But never in my wildest
dreams did I consider the possibility of a CAH (cyclotron at home).

Now, one might ask *why* one would want a cyclotron at home?  After all the
electricity to run it isn't going to come cheap.  The answer of course is to
manufacture gadolinium-148.

I won't make bets, but I'll buy a drink or two at the next Extro/WTA
conference I attend for the person who explains *why* one needs
gadolinium-148. :-;

Interestingly enough gadolinium popped up in the news today as its oxide may
be a possible replacement for SiO2 in semiconductor chips [3].

Robert

1. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,69726,00.html?tw=rss.TOP
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclotron
3. http://www.physorg.com/news8528.html
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