Today’s physics news: Smart wallpaper and the KGB’s memory zapping plot

Printed lasers can make your wallpaper ‘smart’

Scientists have printed lasers using standard inkjet printers – a move that may lead to a much easier and cheaper way to make future laser devices. A University of Cambridge team has used liquid crystals in place of ink to print tiny dots on a surface covered with a special coating. Once the coating dries, the dots become lasers, the researchers wrote in the journal Soft Matter.

BBC

British physicist and the KGB plot to ‘zap his memory with radiation’

Yesterday the diaries that Sir Bernard Lovell, the founder of Jodrell Bank observatory, requested be published only on his death at last set out his suspicions. The KGB, he claimed, had tried to wipe his memory with a beam of focused radiation. The documents also give clues, however, to another explanation. The diaries are an account of his visit, as part of a British delegation, to observatories in the Crimea. His visit included a surprise trip to an unexpectedly advanced radio telescope at Yevpatoria — after which, he claims, Soviet officials tried to persuade him to defect. He refused, saying: “I am an Englishman and I wish to return to England.” 

The Times (Subscription)

Physics at Work lets children into the world of science

In this article, Athene Donald credits the small but steady rise in the number of girls taking both physics and chemistry at A-level. Donald praises the Cavendish Laboratory for its outreach work which attracts a range of exhibitors each year as part of the Physics at Work event.

The Guardian

Science GCSE exam grades face parent challenge

GCSE grade boundaries in some science exams were changed part-way through the year, exam board figures show. Year 10 pupils who sat AQA board chemistry and biology modules in January needed up to 11 more marks to achieve an a A* grade than those who sat the same modules in June. AQA said grade boundaries varied according to a paper’s difficulty.

BBC