Fully compensated images have never been obtained across large fields of view. For an object the size of Jupiter, whose apparent diameter is about 40 arc seconds, there will be about 50 areas where the incoming light is affected in a different way by atmospheric distortion. One possible answer is to create numerous guide stars by deploying multiple lasers.So what of the future? Dr Fugate is enthusiastic: "The next decade will see a revolution in optical astronomy. Systems will get cheaper and we will learn a lot more on how to operate them. Lasers will come into their own for very faint objects and the big observatories will use adaptive optics.''Among the advances to be expected are the best-ever observations of distant galaxies and newly forming stars.

Adaptive optics may even alter our perspective on extraterrestrial life if we detect Earth-like planets around nearby stars.. It costs less than £5 to buy a gram of atropine - enough to poison the wife and lay a trail of spiked bottles of tonic water on the shelves of a local supermarket. So thought an Edinburgh biochemistry lecturer, Dr Paul Agutter. His plan to kill his wife, Alexandria, almost succeeded last August, but this month he was found guilty of attempted murder and jailed for 12 years. By an amazing coincidence, one of the first bottles of his poisoned tonic ended up in the home of Dr Geoffrey Sharwood-Smith, a consultant anaesthetist who was familiar with the symptoms of atropine. His wife and son became ill after drinking it, and he informed the hospital where they had been taken that he thought they had been poisoned by atropine. In the next few days five other local people were admitted suffering from atropine symptoms, including Mrs Agutter. Analysis of her gin and tonic proved it had more atropine than the supermarket tonics, revealing her husband's intentions: to dispose of her and marry his mistress.Atropine is metabolised by the body, leaving only traces by the time death occurs.

And it is a non-irritant toxin, so there are no inflamed internal organs for a pathologist to find.In the US, atropine has caused deaths among teenagers who have tried to get high by drinking tea made from the leaves of an ornamental bush called angel's trumpet. This plant produces a lot of atropine, and can induce hallucinations in small doses, although too much can cause paralysis and memory loss. Sometimes it kills.A better-known natural source of atropine is deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna), one berry of which can kill a child - although it rarely does because its bitter taste immediately acts as a warning and a repellent. Atropine can be detected at concentrations as low as one part in 10,000.Professor John Mann of Reading University, author of Murder, Magic and Medicine (Oxford University Press) says Cleopatra investigated belladonna when seeking the best poison for committing suicide A slave given it died a quick but painful death. Asp venom was equally rapid, but tranquil.In Renaissance times, belladonna became fashionable as an eye cosmetic.

Women squeezed the juice of a berry into their eyes and the atropine would cause the pupil to dilate, giving them a doe-eyed look. Actresses continued to use it in this century and, until quite recently, ophthalmic surgeons used it to examine inside the eye.Atropine is a white, odourless crystalline powder that melts at 114C, and was first isolated in 1833 by two German chemists, Geiger and Hess, from the black, shiny, cherry-sized berries of the deadly nightshade. It is still extracted from this tall bush, which is native to woodland around the Mediterranean, and cultivated in France. Deadly nightshade is rare in Britain, but not unknown.Atropine is not very soluble in water, and doctors who administer it medically choose atropine sulphate, which is very soluble.