By a sophisticated instrument, known as an optical interferometer, any length can be measured in terms of the wavelength of laser light.

From the 19th, futures and options offered more specialised and sophisticated instruments: the first derivatives.

Inter-dealer brokers sit between financial institutions that want to deal in derivatives and other sophisticated instruments.

Yet scientists have analysed it using sophisticated instruments designed to measure radioactivity and found no reading.

The decision by many pension fund trustees to manage their funds' ballooning liabilities with more sophisticated instruments has given the banks an ideal opportunity to tout their wares.