Journal: The Little Synchrotron that Could ...

... change everything. Three years ago, the big news was the Giant Synchrotron in the UK; today, PhysOrg reports the potential for giant strides in research made possible by a Mini Synchrotron, the first of it's kind in the world. Unlike the stadium-sized synchrotron light sources, the Compact Light Source (CLS) will fit into a typical university x-ray lab. The reduction in scale and cost is a factor of 200--made possible by using a laser beam instead of the "undulator" magnets of the large synchrotrons. And NIH says, "scientists based in Palo Alto, California, have accomplished a major feat. The advance could transform numerous fields of biomedical research by vastly improving access to a key resource for studying the properties of molecules."

[Note] /. understandably rejected an earlier and too-hastily drafted version of this submission, hopefully I cleaned up the right stuff to give this news it's PROPS. I tried to give /. the jump on the EurekAlert, but now it's already being picked up on ScienceDaily, UPI, etc. Hope this one makes the cut, it's a REALLY BEAUTIFUL MACHINE of which I actually do have pics, but can't share them yet. :(