The cover of Nature this week shows bits of sticky tape on a person’s fingers – and with the bones’ outlines glowing softly through. One suspects it’s not that simple to do radiography with the dispenser in your kitchen drawer. But researchers at UCLA report that ordinary cellophane-type household tape emits flashes of light when unrolled and, in a vacuum, includes some X-rays. This is cute science. Maybe it’s serious too, but mostly cute and funny. Even Nature, in its press preview, lists it last with the puckish overline, “And finally….” The best account in that vein comes from India’s tech-oriented IT Examiner. Freelancer Andrew Thomas not only gets the ineffable Britishism “boffin” in twice, but starts off his tale with said boffins launched into their inquiry with an old issue of Mad Scientist Today. The science part is that the phenomenon is a new illustration of triboluminescence, a friction-related ionization and recombination process. And yes, the researchers really did X-ray some of their own fingers with the help of some of this stuff.
Other stories:
AP Malcolm Ritter keeps it light, too, but pointedly reports that no evidence says such tape’s X-ray potential is at all dangerous in normal use (unless you wrap things in a vacuum, and even then the space suit might protect you). Ritter contrasts this work with Nobel-prize-worthy research. Perhaps, one thinks, the folks at the Ig-Nobel Prizes will take note ; BBC James Morgan ; New Scientist Jessica Griggs ; Science News Davide Catstelvecchi calls the physicists “befuddled” by discovery an old claim of such things (from Russia) was correct ; MIT Tech. Review Katherine Bourzac notes this may lead to profit. The UCLA gang has patents pending.;
What, No Extra Grist for the Mill?: Aside from Nature’s own promotions to reporters, The Tracker can find no release – how could UCLA’s press office let this one slip?
-CP
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