Breakthroughs Today

THE fire that broke in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has sent radioactivity into the air, putting at high risk lives even as far away as Tokyo. As of March 15, 2010 the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that this radiation leak amounted to 400 millisievert (mSv) per hour. Exposure to over 100 mSv a year, said the World Nuclear Association, can already lead to cancer. To help control this radioactive cloud, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) considered using boric acid. So, what’s in boric acid that can help control radioactivity from spreading? Allow me to divert from my column focus in view of the crisis in Japan. Boron, its basic element, is chemically inert, making it a good fire retardant, and resistant to boiling even with such strong acids as hydrochloric and sulfuric acids. One of its naturally occurring and stable isotopes, boron-10, is good at... [ Read more .] This article appears in SunStar Cebu newspaper on 23 March 2011.

IF YOU happen to believe that chance-happenings take place only to those who are more religious than scientific, then you need to read more into the lives of scientists and inventors. Mark Twain, the father of American literature, believed that the greatest of all inventors is “accident.” Wordsmiths call it “serendipity.” Still, look at anything around you—the bouncy silly putty, the sticky superglue, the transparent cellophane, the antibiotic penicillin—you name it, they all came from happy accidents. Even Viagra came out from an accident... ( Read more .)  This article appears in Sun-Star Cebu newspaper on 1 September 2010.