Number 140, August 13, 1993 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein NANOTUBES LESS THAN 1 NM IN DIAMETER have been synthesized by stringing cyclodetrin beads (cyclic glucose molecules) on a polymer thread and then removing the thread. Akira Harada of Osaka University in Japan makes the self-assembled polymer nanotubes not in an arc discharge---as is the case with carbon nanotubes---but in solution. He believes the tubes might serve as a host for reversible binding of small molecules and might also be valuable in chromatography, filtration, and catalysis experiments. (Nature, 5 August 1993.) PENGUIN EVENTS ARE SEEN AT CORNELL . The B meson, made in high-energy electron- positron collisions, is a composite object, made of a b (bottom) quark and one of several types (flavors) of antiquarks. The B quickly decays, usually by a process in which the b quark itself decays typically into a c (charm) quark and a W boson. This decay is both flavor-changing---the b becomes a c---and charge-changing since the charge of the b and c are -1/3 and +2/3, respectively. The CLEO Collaboration, working at Cornell's CESR electron-positron collider, has now observed the first flavor-changing, non-charge-changing decays of the b quark, in this case into an s (strange) quark and a photon. (Actually, in the lab bare b or c quarks are never observed, but rather the mesons (such as the B or K*) which contain the quarks.) The Feynman diagram for this rare process vaguely resembles a penguin, whence the name penguin event. These events, some theorists believe, have a bearing on the issue of CP (charge conjugation and parity) violation. (R. Ammar et al., Physical Review Letters, 2 Aug.) THE HIGHEST MAGNETIZATION FOR A MATERIAL , 2.8 tesla in a Fe16N2 compound, has been observed by scientists at Hitachi in Japan (H. Takahashi et al., J. Applied Physics, 15 May 1993). This value is to be compared with those for ferromagnetic elements: 2.15 for iron, 1.76 for cobalt, and 0.61 for nickel. Magnets made from the iron-nitrogen compound might be useful for motors or magnetic-recording devices. (Physics World, August 1993.) BUCKYBALLS MIGHT HAVE A LIQUID PHASE , but it probably wouldn't occur below a temperature of 1800 K, at which the C-60 molecules are probably unstable (Ailan Cheng et al., Physical Review Letters, Aug. 23). Michael Klein of the University of Pennsylvania (215-748- 7819) has performed computer simulations of buckyballs at high temperatures in an effort to stake out the domain for the solid, liquid, and gas states in a pressure-versus-temperature phase diagram. Fullerenes in liquid form could be more easily purified than the other phases; unfortunately, the new simulations suggest that bucky liquids, even if they exist, may be impractical to achieve or maintain. LANDMARKS ON VENUS must bear the names of famous women, real or mythological. This decision of the International Astronomical Union, made more than a decade ago, is now getting a workout in light of the myriad features identified for the first time by Magellan's radar waves. For example, the largest crater on Venus (280 km in diameter) is to be named for anthropologist Margaret Mead. Others to be honored are Anne Frank, Queen Isabella, and Dian Fosse. (Sky & Telescope, Sept. 1993.)