What is "a quantum-tunneling composite"? What is "eau de"? 1. The scientists covered batteries with a material—technically a quantum-tunneling composite—in which microparticles of conductive metal are suspended in an insulating layer. Under most circumstances, including inside of a child, the layer is nonconductive. What is "a quantum-tunneling composite"? 2. Rosetta will deploy a probe to land on the comet this November, and will soon gather more pungent whiffs of the comet’s appalling perfume. But by studying this eau de comet, researchers hope to better understand the deep—and apparently smelly—chemical origins of our solar system. What is "eau de"?Context: 20141112-Button Battery Coating Lessens Risk If Swallowed They’re called button cells, coin cells or watch batteries. By any name, these tiny, round batteries pose a choking danger to small kids. And if a child succeeds in swallowing a button cell, the battery may short-circuit in the moist esophageal environment, burning the tissue. A few thousand kids wind up in emergency rooms each year after swallowing a button battery. But a team of Harvard and M.I.T. researchers that includes prolific inventor Robert Langer thinks they have a partial solution: a protective coating. The scientists covered batteries with a material—technically a quantum-tunneling composite—in which microparticles of conductive metal are suspended in an insulating layer. Under most circumstances, including inside of a child, the layer is nonconductive. But when the material is subjected to high pressure, the microparticles are squeezed close enough together to carry a current. One such pressurized environment is the typical battery compartment in a small device—you often have to force the battery into place. So the same battery that remains inert when swallowed works just fine when it’s jammed into its slot in a hearing aid. The waterproof design would also protect batteries from corrosion in high humidity. The research is in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. [Bryan Laulicht et al, Simple battery armor to protect against gastrointestinal injury from accidental ingestion] Tests with pigs found the coated batteries to be gentle on the porcine esophagus. Next step: figure out a way to keep kids from putting the batteries in their mouths in the first place. Can a quantum tunneling composite be made to taste terrible? 20141113-Comet Reeks of Cat Crap and Rotten Eggs What smells like rotten eggs, a used litter box and an almond-munching mortician? The answer is one of those dirty snowballs in space, a comet. Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, to be exact, which is starting to thaw as it closes in on the sun. Since August, the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft has been monitoring the comet. Right now, Churyumov-Gerasimenko is between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, some 300 million miles from Earth. It’s so chilly out there that scientists expected Rosetta’s instruments to detect scarcely more than odorless carbon dioxide from the comet. But instead Rosetta has also detected hydrogen sulphide—with its rotten egg odor—as well as ammonia, with a smell familiar to anyone who has changed a cat pan. Also in the mix: formaldehyde and methanol, found in embalming fluid, mixed with faint traces of poisonous hydrogen cyanide, which has an almond-like aroma. Rosetta will deploy a probe to land on the comet this November, and will soon gather more pungent whiffs of the comet’s appalling perfume. But by studying this eau de comet, researchers hope to better understand the deep—and apparently smelly—chemical origins of our solar system.