The Cold War is a distant memory…but what to do with all those submarine ICBMs you have lying around? Why not make like the Russians, and use them for launching satellites.

It’s still ‘all go’ down at the nanoscale. Not only are scientists making glowing nanowires to shed visible light on their tiny world, they’ve also found a way to use carbon nanotubes as a sort of materials jig or extruder for nanoscale construction projects. Still no word on miniature pollution-munching egalitarian robots, though.

Not many details available on this little nugget, but apparently researchers at the Dubna Nuclear Institute, near Moscow, have made a ‘new substance’ that allows the creation of batteries that run on solar power from our Sun…and all the other stars too, 24 hours a day, regardless of weather. We need corroboration on this one, and quickly.

Yawn, this one again. Yes, it would be pretty cool, but we’ve heard about breakthroughs in the science needed for manufacturing cloaking/invisiblity devices too many times before. Plus, this National Geographic write-up says they’ve actually only managed to divert microwaves and radar, not visible light, so don’t get too excited.

The ESA’s ‘SMART-1’ Lunar probe has been taking high quality pictures of the Moon’s surface, showing us the topography of the different regions in more detail.