In the ensuing diastole, these arteries would tend to retract, thus “thinning” the systolically thickened chamber walls.

Nanoparticles of various sorts are already found in products like sunscreen, paint and inkjet paper. More exotic varieties offer promise in medicine for sensitive diagnostic tests and novel treatments: the detection of Alzheimer's disease by finding a protein in spinal fluid, for instance, or nanoparticles that heat up and kill cancer cells.

An acid-tongued blonde who writes a legal-affairs column for the right-wing weekly Human Events, Ann Coulter . . . laughed. There are lots of us busy elves working away in Santa's workshop.

The wind is easterly, The weather is beasterly.