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Dr Liddle said: “This work is exciting because it suggests a new way of generating SMM behaviour and it shines a light on poorly understood uranium phenomena. It could help point the way to making scientific advances with more technologically amenable metals such as the lanthanides. The challenge now is to see if we can build bigger clusters to improve the blocking temperatures and apply this more generally.Computer hard discs are made up of magnetic material which record digital signals. The smaller you can make these tiny magnets the more information you can store.Although it may have somewhat negative PR it seems depleted Uranium — a by-product from uranium enrichment and of no use in nuclear applications because the radioactive component has been removed — could now hold some of the key to their research. Dr Liddle has shown that by linking more than one uranium atom together via a bridging toluene molecule SMM behaviour is exhibited.He said: “At this stage it is too early to say where this research might lead but single-molecule magnets have been the subject of intense study because of their potential applications to make a step change in data storage capacity and realise high performance computing techniques such as quantum information processing and spintronics.”Dr Liddle said: “The inherent properties of uranium place it between popularly researched transition and lanthanide metals and this means it has the best of both worlds. It is therefore anattractive candidate for SMM chemistry, but this has never been realised in polymetallic systems which is necessary to make them work at room temperature.”Dr Liddle’s work has attracted international interest. He recently won a prestigious €1m European Research Council Grant to study speculative and ground-breaking research into molecular depleted uranium chemistry. His research has already been highlighted in the media by Chemistry World, Chemical and Engineering News, Chemistry in Australia, and The Sunday Times Magazine. Dr Liddle has obtained several previous grants related to this work including from the EPSRC and the Royal Society and he was invited to speak at the International Chemical Congress of Pacific Basin Societies in 2010.Dr Liddle is also a regular contributor to the School of Chemistry’s award winning Periodic Table of Videos — www.periodicvideos.com. The website, created by Brady Haran, the University’s film maker in residence, won the 2008 IChemE Petronas Award for excellence in education and training.You can see a video about Dr Liddle’s latest discovery by going to: http://www.periodicvideos.com/videos/mv_magnetic_uranium.htm The University of Nottingham, described by The Sunday Times University Guide 2011 as ‘the embodiment of the modern international university’, has award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. It is ranked in the UK's Top 10 and the World's Top 75 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and the QS World University Rankings. It was named ‘Europe’s greenest university’ in the UI GreenMetric World University Ranking, a league table of the world’s most environmentally-friendly higher education institutions, which ranked Nottingham second in the world overall.The University is committed to providing a truly international education for its 40,000 students, producing world-leading research and benefiting the communities around its campuses in the UK and Asia.More than 90 per cent of research at The University of Nottingham is of international quality, according to the most recent Research Assessment Exercise, with almost 60 per cent of all research defined as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’. Research Fortnight analysis of RAE 2008 ranked the University 7th in the UK by research power. The University’s vision is to be recognised around the world for its signature contributions, especially in global food security, energy & sustainability, and health.May Fest 2011 is on Saturday May 7, 11am to 5.30pm, at The University of Nottingham.The University is throwing open its doors to the community — with heaps of free activities for all ages. The Physics Buskers, thunder and lightning on demand and brain games. Get a glimpse of some of the amazing things that are happening on your doorstep. Visit: www.nottingham.ac.uk/mayfestMore news from the University at: www.nottingham.ac.uk/news