Phys.org June 18, 2021 Most habitability assessments, like climate risk assessments more generally, are based on “top-down” approaches that apply quantitative models using uniform methodologies and generalizable assumptions at global and regional scales. According to a team of researchers in the US (Columbia University, Oregon State University, Princeton University) there is a risk that such climate determinism minimizes the potential for human agency to find creative, locally appropriate solutions. Although top-down modeling can serve a useful purpose in identifying potential future “hot spots” for habitability decline and potential outmigration, only by integrating “bottom-up” insights related to place-based physical systems and […]
Top 10 Science and Technology Inventions for the Week of June 18, 2021
01. Combining classical and quantum computing opens door to new discoveries 02. New advanced material shows extraordinary stability over wide temperature range 03. Scientists demonstrate perfect light absorption by single nanoparticle 04. Scientists make highly maneuverable miniature robots controlled by magnetic fields 05. Researchers uncover unique properties of a promising new superconductor 06. In a nano-optics breakthrough, researchers observe sound-light pulses in 2D materials (w/video) 07. Using ‘smart rust’ to mark objects unambiguously and tackle counterfeiting 08. Let there be light! New tech allows people to see in the dark 09. Bending light for safer driving; invisibility cloaks to come? […]
Bending light for safer driving; invisibility cloaks to come?
Nanowerk June 15, 2021 Perfect optical cloaking requires the total scattering of electromagnetic waves around an object at all angles, all polarizations, over a wide frequency range, irrespective of the medium. By simplifying the invisibility requirements, pioneering work on spherical transformation cloaks, carpet cloaks, plasmonic cloaks, and mantle cloaks has been realized in narrowband microwave, infrared, and even optical wavelengths. In a tutorial a team of researchers in the US (University of Michigan, industry) review the theoretical basis for invisibility cloaking, from spherical transformational optics to non-Euclidian cases, and discuss their limitations. Because the human eye is insensitive to the […]
Cameras and telescopes as thin as a sheet of paper?
Nanowerk June 10, 2021 Metalenses promise to make imaging devices more compact. An international team of researchers (Canada, USA – University of Rochester) has addressed the space between the lenses which is crucial for image formation but takes up by far the most room in imaging systems, by introducing the idea of a spaceplate. They experimentally demonstrated that it is compatible with broadband light in the visible spectrum. They manipulated light based on the angle rather than the position of a light ray. Angle is a completely novel domain. They designed and experimentally demonstrated plates that compressed the space. Such […]
Combining classical and quantum computing opens door to new discoveries
Science Daily June 15, 2021 Variational quantum eigensolvers (VQEs) combine classical optimization with efficient cost function evaluations on quantum computers. An international team of researcher (Canada, Austria, Germany) proposed a new approach to VQEs using the principles of measurement-based quantum computation. This strategy uses entangled resource states and local measurements. They have presented two measurement based VQE schemes. The first introduces a new approach for constructing variational families. The second provides a translation of circuit to measurement-based schemes. Both schemes offer problem-specific advantages in terms of the required resources and coherence times. The algorithm offers high error tolerance, often an […]
Electrohydraulic arachno-bot a fascinating lightweight
EurekAlert June 16, 2021 Researchers at the University of Colorado exploited the principles of spiders’ joints to drive articulated robots without any bulky components and connectors. The Electrohydraulic Soft-actuated joints (SES) joints comprised of both rigid and softer elements can be used in many different configurations. The joints use electrostatic forces to locally pressurize a hydraulic fluid, and cause flexion of a segmented structure. SES joints with rotation angles up to 70° blocked torques up to 70 mN m, and specific torques up to 21 N m kg−1 have been demonstrated. SES joints demonstrated high speed operation, with measured roll-off […]
In a nano-optics breakthrough, researchers observe sound-light pulses in 2D materials (w/video)
Nanowerk June 10, 2021 An international team of researchers (Israel, Spain, France, USA – Kansas State University) shone pulses of light along the edge of a 2D material, producing in the material the hybrid sound-light waves. Not only were they able to record these waves, but they also found the pulses could spontaneously speed up and slow down. Surprisingly, the waves even split into two separate pulses, moving at different speeds. They developed a new technique to image the motion of light without disturbing it. According to the researchers having access to the full spatiotemporal dynamics of 2D wave packets […]
Leading scientists warn of global impacts as Antarctic nears tipping points
Phys.org June 16, 2021 According to a panel of leading Antarctic scientists human-driven climate change is pushing the Antarctic towards numerous tipping points that will impact wider earth systems, with profound implications for humanity and biodiversity. They examine how climate change is rapidly pushing five critical, interconnected processes in the Antarctic Southern Ocean towards substantial changes. They warn that disrupting these processes may disproportionately exacerbate global climate change and have widespread impacts on marine and human life worldwide, due to the region’s central role in regulating our earth systems. According to the group we can build resilience in the Antarctic […]
Let there be light! New tech allows people to see in the dark
Nanowerk June 10, 2021 Conventional infrared imaging technologies require the use of materials such as narrow bandgap semiconductors, which are sensitive to thermal noise and often require cryogenic cooling. An international team of researchers (Australia, Italy, UK, Germany, France, Bulgaria) developed and demonstrated a proof-of-concept compact all-optical device to perform infrared imaging in a metasurface composed of GaAs semiconductor nanoantennas using a nonlinear wave-mixing process. Experimentally they showed the upconversion of short-wave infrared wavelengths via the coherent parametric process of sum-frequency generation. In this process, an infrared image of a target is mixed inside the metasurface with a strong pump […]
Lightning impacts edge of space in ways not previously observed
Science Daily June 14, 2021 A team of researchers in the US (New Mexico Tech, University of Central Florida) working with data collected by the Incoherent Scatter Radar (ISR) at the Arecibo Observatory, satellites, and lightning detectors in Puerto Rico, have for the first time examined the simultaneous impacts of thunderstorms and solar flares on the ionospheric D-region. One of the key things they showed in the paper is that lightning- and solar flare-driven signatures are completely different. The first tends to deplete electron density depletions, while the second enhances. They determined that solar flares and lightning from thunderstorms trigger […]