PR> Herman, have you been following any of this?

I just now went back and read it.

 HT>> 240 ELECTRONS SET IN MOTION.  A
 HT>> soccerball-shaped carbon-60 molecule,

 PR> Is this the classic "bucky-ball"?

Yup.

 HT>> them.  When a photon absorbed, the energy
 HT>> can be converted into a collective movement
 HT>> of the electrons

 PR> I'm not sure how this is different than
 PR> typical photon absorption in organic
 PR> molecules, i.e. dyes.

I'm not familiar with how photon absorption in organic molecules is
modeled.  I think you're probably right, though.  When I read the article I
don't find anything that appears really newsworthy, either.

 HT>> referred to as a plasmon.  Previously a
 HT>> 20-electron-volt "surface plasmon" was
 HT>> observed: the absorption of the UV energy
 HT>> resulted in a systematic oscillation of the
 HT>> ensemble of electrons visualized as a thin
 HT>> sphere of electric
 HT>> charge.  Now a new experiment has found
 HT>> evidence of a

 PR> How does it radiate?

The process is likely modeled as a classical oscillator.  That is, any time
a charged body oscillates, it's going to emit EM radiation.

---