Supporting evidence for the theory that Earth’s oceans may have been brought here by cometary collisions has emerged. Astronomers from the University of Hawaii have located three icy asteroids that give off a ‘tail’ of volatile materials, which have flat, circular orbits in the ‘main belt’ between Mars and Jupiter. This will add fuel to the ongoing debate about how to distinguish between an asteroid and a comet, and indeed what those two words can be defined as meaning.

IBM is due to announce success at building a five-stage ring oscillator circuit onto a single carbon nanotube. The Big Blue boffins believe this gives them a base from which to test their hypothesis that CMOS silicon and nanotubes can be manufactured together.

ESA funded scientists have managed to measure the gravitational equivalent of a magnetic field under special laboratory conditions. A spinning superconductor appears to be producing an acceleration field by gravitomagnetic means, opening the door on new research aimed at uncovering the much-coveted quantum theory of gravity.

The astronomers are arguing again…some of them think that the estimates of asteroid impact frequency on Earth are hugely optimistic, and that collisions of certain types may be up to ten times more likely than these estimates state.

The everyday apps for carbon nanotubes are coming thick and fast. Pro bike manufacturers BMC have released a bike frame made from carbon nanofibre composite which weighs about the same as five mobile phones. Hardly a snip at £2100 ($3650), though.