This could shrink the size and cost of building giant accelerators, which produce sub-atomic particles.

ECONOMIST: Ultra-fast lasers

In just one year, Softbank managed to boost the subscriber base of the challenger carrier from 700, 000 in fiscal 2006 to 2.7 million in fiscal 2007, vaulting ahead of its giant rivals NTT-DoCoMo and KDDI in sub additions.

FORBES: US Consumers Need Softbank To Buy Sprint

It comprises 66 giant radio telescopes destined to observe the sky in millimetre and sub-millimetre wavelengths.

BBC: Alma telescope: Ribbon cut on astronomical giant

Our correspondent says the main example is banking giant UBS, which wrote off billions in the wake of the 2007 sub-prime mortgage crisis, and then had to be bailed out by the Swiss government.

BBC: Swiss referendum backs executive pay curbs