Introduced by John Maddox
An extra dimension in chemistry, fundamentally different from that on earth, may be revealed as a result of a search for superheavy elements in meteorites.
For years nuclear physicists have argued that there should be superheavy elements - elements far heavier than any currently stable on the earth. Despite careful searches for the signature of these elements in cosmic rays. no evidence for their existence has emerged. But Professor Edward Anders , from the Enrico Fermi Institute and Department of Chemistry at the University of Chicago, claims to have found a gas component of the Allende meteorite that may be the decay product of a superheavy element that was present in the solar nebula 4.5 billion years ago.
He discusses its significance in our understanding of the formation of the heavy elements in the evolution of the universe.
Editor MICHAEL BRIGHT followed by an interlude