The charkha is a portable hand-cranked spinning device used to make thread and yarn. Gandhi invented the charkha in order to promote self-sufficiency and to boycott the cloth and fibers of the ruling British government of the time.

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/multimedia/6713

One of the paper’s co-authors, Robert Baker from the Texas Tech University, said that the benefits for wildlife from the lack of human activity outweighed the risks of low-level radiation.

Writing on his university web page, Professor Baker said: “The elimination of human activities such as farming, ranching, hunting and logging are the greatest benefits.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6946210.stm

—–

Nature News special: Microscopy

Microscopes are the window to life - and advances in
microscopy over recent years are radically changing
the view through them. Here Nature profiles five
microscopes that are changing the ways that modern
biologists see the world and one that did so at the
dawn of microscopy.

to be bested by a home computer of 1976 such as this Apple I which sold for only $600:

The Apple 1 which was sold as a do-it-yourself kit (without the lovely case seen here)

http://www.computersciencelab.com/ComputerHistory/History.htm

http://www.directindustry.es/cat/analisis-y-caracterisacion-de-materiales-bancos-de-prueba/sensores-de-gas-I-493-_31.html

* TGS 2620 - for the detection of Solvent Vapors

http://socialtapestries.net/snout/documentation/node44.html

http://www.figarosensor.com/products/2620pdf.pdf