Dr Gwinn has the computers and, once again, infinity is an elastic concept.

ECONOMIST: Pulsars: In a wink | The

Dr Gwinn's telescopes are in South Africa and Australia, and the first thing he has pointed them at is the Vela pulsar.

ECONOMIST: Pulsars: In a wink | The

Dr Gwinn, however, likens this mess to a novel that has had all its pages torn out and reassembled in a different order.

ECONOMIST: Pulsars: In a wink | The

But Dr Gwinn's set-up knocks even this into a cocked hat.

ECONOMIST: Pulsars: In a wink | The

One of passenger Eileen Gwinn's biggest complaints about her 36-hour ordeal is that the airline crew and gate agents provided incomplete information, if they provided any at all.

NPR: Holding Pattern: Flight Delays are Going Up, Up, Up

What the combination of this giant lens and Dr Gwinn's computers provides is not so much magnification (the gaseous lens magnifies the pulsar only four times) as resolution the ability to discriminate between objects that are close together.

ECONOMIST: Pulsars: In a wink | The