Magnets:
     MAGNETS HAVE BEEN AROUND PRACTICALLY FOREVER.  REALLY.  MAGNETS, LIKE
IRON AND NICKEL, OCCUR NATURALLY IN THE EARTH AND HUMANS HAVE KNOWN ABOUT
THEM AT LEAST SINCE THE ANCIENT GREEKS.  TODAY WE PRETTY MUCH  TAKE THEM FOR
GRANTED--THEY'RE JUST SOMETHING THAT HOLDS PIECES OF PAPER TO THE FRIDGE,
RIGHT?
 
     Livingston: "We don't think of them as being very high tech, but in actual fact,
much of our high tech world depends on these magnets."

     PHYSICIST JIM LIVINGSTON AT MIT HAS JUST WRITTEN A BOOK ABOUT MAGNETS
AND HE THINKS MAGNETS DESERVE A LITTLE MORE RECOGNITION SINCE MAGNETS ARE AT
THE HEART OF ALMOST ALL MODERN TECHNOLOGY.  THEY DRIVE MOTORS, THEY RECORD
INFORMATION IN YOUR COMPTUER, THERE'S ONE IN EVERY AUDIO SPEAKER EVER BUILT. 
LIVINGSTON EXPLAINS HOW MAGNETS WORK.  INDIVIDUAL ATOMS ALL HAVE A MAGNETIC
FIELD AROUND THEM.  IN MOST MATERIALS--SAY A BIG BLOCK OF COPPER--THE ATOMS
ALL FACE IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS AND SO THE MAGNETISM CANCELS OUT.  BUT IN A
MAGNET ALL THE ATOMS LINE UP LIKE SOLDIERS IN A ROW.

     Livingston: "A sort of fascism, an electronic fascism where all the atoms are froced
or decide at least to line up in parallel and the combination of millions and billions and
billion sof atoms actig in concert is what give syou the strength of the ateriasl that are
really magnetic like cobalt nickel iron. " 

     THE TINY MAGNETIC FIELDS AROUND ALL THE INDIVIDUAL ATOMS ADD UP TO MAKE
A POWERFUL MAGNET.  WHICH IS A GOOD THING SINCE THERE ARE A LOT MORE
MAGNETS AROUND YOU THAN YOU PROBABLY REALIZE. 

 "My voice is coming to you by magnet."