X-ray Generator Fits In the Palm of Your Hand 32
ananyo writes "Scientists have reported the first tabletop source of ultra-short, laser-like pulses of low energy, or 'soft,' X-rays. The light, capable of probing the structure and dynamics of molecules (abstract), was previously available only at large, billion-dollar national facilities such as synchrotrons or free-electron lasers, where competition for use of the equipment is fierce. The new device, by husband-and-wife team Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn based at JILA in Boulder, Colorado, might soon lie within the grasp of a university laboratory budget — perhaps allowing them to one day be as common in labs as electron microscopes are."
Re:About usage (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:How time flies (Score:4, Interesting)
Nowadays, people install electron microscopes in their living rooms for use as educational kids' toys. See youtube for examples [youtube.com]