hear hear, sure the physorg article sucked, but the experiment itself was pretty good. I definitely wouldn't call either the experiment or the conclusions "tri

hear hear, sure the physorg article sucked, but the experiment itself was pretty good. I definitely wouldn't call either the experiment or the conclusions "trivial". This type of experiment and the development of bright tabletop xray sources is well worth the grant money invested. Also I think an important point is that while the pulses used to illuminate the sample have very high power they are only ~40 femtoseconds long so the total energy used is pretty small. The complaints about scientists and journalists overhyping their work to get funding, remind me of the accusations that tv networks and producers exploit sex and violence to boost ratings. The real problem here is that people like sex and violence and overhyped scientific results If you approach politicians and funding agencies with an honest balanced view as to the real motivations and likely value of proposed scientific projects, you will get kicked aside for someone who promises "star trek materials".