Media Mentions
17 February 2010
PETN – a recipe for disaster
The Guardian 27 December 2009
The substance pentaerythritol trinitrate (PETN) that was used to set off an explosion aboard Northwest Airlines flight
253 on Christmas Day is extremely powerful and difficult to detect, if carried in a sealed container, according to The Guardian. If this substance is used in even the smallest quantity, it can cause immense damage. An expert in explosives, Mr Hans Michels (Chemical Engineering and Chemical Technology) states: “If you can lay your hands on a reliable source, it would be the explosive of choice”. The device allegedly used by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab involved a syringe and a plastic container filled with 80 grams of PETN. The plan was to cause an explosion at much higher altitude, so that the decompression would tear the aircraft apart. Michels added: “There was almost certainly a failure between the primary and the main charge that meant the PETN did not fully detonate. If it had, the plane might have limped home because it was already quite low”.
Tags: Issue 214, Media Mentions
Posted in College, Research | 1 Comment »
Dr Salvador Navarro-Martinez (Mechanical Engineering) describes how his research on droplets could change the way we take medicine and fuel our cars. 
Spectacular satellite images suggest that Mars was warm enough to sustain lakes three billion years ago, a period that was previously thought to be too cold and arid to sustain water on the surface, according to research published in the journal Geology on 4 January.
In December 2009, Imperial graduate Zhao-Wei (Grant) Zhou received the Zondek Award for delivering the best project and presentation, at the 20th European Students’ Conference held in Berlin, Germany. Grant completed an intercalated BSc degree in surgery and anaesthesia at Imperial last year. His BSc research project, entitled Anaesthesia-induced neurodegeneration in different regions of the developing brain, was supervised by Dr Daqing Ma, Senior Lecturer (SORA). Grant beat 300 other participants to the top prize of €1,000.
Earlier this month, Imperial’s professor of evolutionary developmental biology, 
New UK research, published in PLoS ONE on 6 January, has not reproduced previous findings that suggested chronic fatigue syndrome may be linked to a recently discovered virus. The authors of the study, from Imperial and King’s College London, say this means that anti-retroviral drugs may not be an effective treatment for people with the illness. 
was awarded the Armourers and Braziers’ Company Prize by the Royal Society in November 2009. The award is presented to leading researchers for excellence in materials science and technology. Professor Kinloch received the award for his contribution to adhesion science, which focuses on bonding different molecules together.
