(That’s the English English ‘pants’ not the US English version…)

How could I possibly not click through to the following story with a title like this:

Self-Cleaning Underwear Goes Weeks Without Washing

I would imagine that combining the words ‘nanoparticles’ and ‘underwear’ in the same sentence may scare a lot of people – but I could be wrong. I especially like the bit in the story about how the underwear was tested on soldiers and it ‘helped to clear up some skin complaints’… There are so many jokes that could be inserted here, but I like my job and want to keep it.

The original article can be found in The Telegraph.

Stuart

Stuart Cantrill (Associate Editor, Nature Nanotechnology)

Ok, so it’s Tuesday today, but after a week off, it feels like a Monday so I’ve chosen today to kick off a new regular feature: Monday Miscellany, a collection of links to interesting news stories and other tidbits on the web related to science in Boston and elsewhere from the previous week and that maybe you missed. Of course, I’ll update you on other things I come across throughout the week.

So here we go.

The Boston Globe had a feature in its science section yesterday about the future of science museums, a topic relevant to Boston given that Harvard’s museums are moving to Allston, the MIT Museum is undergoing an expansion, and the Broad Institute will open up its new museum this year.

The key question the article raises is how to keep museums up-to-date and relevant in today’s fast-moving world of science and research, while still preserving their older but valuable collections. The article outlines some of the answers local museum directors have to this question. I hope they start implementing those answers soon. I’ve pretty well stopped going to see exhibits in most science museums because I’ve been disappointed too many times at seeing exhibits that are clearly outdated.

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute regularly puts out photos showing research in action. Here’s the latest:

This is a deep-sea octopus from the Gulf of Mexico photographed by WHOI’s Bruce Strickrott 7,500 feet underwater. He was cruising around the bottom of the ocean in Alvin, a diving submersible vehicle, when he met up with this female octopus. She latched onto Alvin’s robotic arm normally used to grab rocks and organisms.

Biological engineer James Sherley of MIT is threatening to go on a hunger strike next month if the decision to deny him tenure isn’t reversed. This article from Inside Higher Ed gives more details. Sherley is black and says racial discrimination is the issue here. He also objects to the use of embryonic stem cells for research. MIT says it won’t reconsider his case and that the decision to deny tenure was made fairly.

And to end off with the deep question for 2007: What are you optimistic about and why? This is the question posed by The Edge Foundation, a nonprofit group dedicated “to promote inquiry into and discussion of intellectual, philosophical, artistic, and literary issues, as well as to work for the intellectual and social achievement of society.”

On its website are articles by many high-profile scientists and thinkers answering such big-picture questions as “what is your dangerous idea?” (2006) and “what do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?” (2005)

Thoughtful reading. Click here to learn more about the question.