EurekAlert November 19, 2020 Environmental samples serve as ideal forms of contact trace evidence as detection at a scene can establish a link between a suspect, location, and victim. Translation of these tools to forensic science remains in its infancy, due in part to the merging of traditional forensic ecology practices with unfamiliar DNA technologies and complex datasets, biomass environmental signals carried by people and objects. However, the sensitivity, and reducing cost, of MPS is now unlocking the power of both high and low biomass environmental DNA (eDNA) samples as useful sources of genetic information in forensic science. Researchers in […]
Novel magnetic spray transforms objects into millirobots for biomedical applications (with video)
EurekAlert November 18, 2020 An international team of researchers (Hong Kong, China) has constructed millirobots by coating inanimate objects with a composited agglutinate magnetic spray. The technique enables a variety of 1D, 2D, or 3D objects to be covered with a thin magnetically drivable film (~100 to 250 micrometers in thickness). The film is thin enough to preserve the original size, morphology, and structure of the objects while providing actuation of up to hundreds of times its own weight. Under the actuation of a magnetic field, the millirobots are able to demonstrate a range of locomotive abilities: crawling, walking, and […]
Order from chaos
EurekAlert November 13, 2020 Current technology in LiDARS bounces the laser beams off moving mirrors, a mechanical method that results in slower scanning speeds and inaccuracies. Researchers in Japan have developed a new beam scanning device utilizing ‘photonic crystals’ whose lattice points can be arranged as nanoscale antennae. They found that by adjusting both position and size resulted in a seemingly random photonic crystal, producing an accurate beam without power loss. They called this a ‘dually modulated photonic crystal’. They showed that the scanner can generate beams in one hundred different directions: a resolution of 10×10. With further refinements, the […]
Pearls may provide new information processing options for biomedical, military innovations
Science Daily November 13, 2020 To overcome the hardware limitations of conventional spectrometers and hyperspectral imagers a team of researchers in the US (Purdue University, AFRL) has developed a spectral information processing scheme in which light transport through an Anderson-localized medium serves as an entropy source for compressive sampling directly in the frequency domain. As implied by the “lustrous” reflection originating from the exquisite multilayered nanostructures, a pearl (or mother-of-pearl) allows us to exploit the spatial and spectral intensity fluctuations originating from strong light localization for extracting salient spectral information with a compact and thin form factor. The research can […]
Quantum algorithm breakthrough
Science Daily November 16, 2020 A team of researchers in the US (Western Washington University, UC Santa Barbara, University of Michigan, NYCity University) has developed a quantum algorithm that uses quantum gates acting on neighboring qubits in a quasi-one-dimensional setting and its circuit depth is linear in the number of qubits. They identified correlation functions that serve as signatures of the Laughlin state and discussed how to obtain them on a quantum computer. Application of the algorithm provides tools to improve quantum computing devices. The algorithm opens a new venue to use the new quantum devices to study problems which […]
The troubling rise of facial recognition technology (podcast; 35 minutes)
Nature Podcast November 18, 2020 Scientists have grave concerns over ethical and societal impacts of facial-recognition technology. Cities across the globe are installing thousands of surveillance cameras equipped with facial recognition technology. Although marketed to reduce crime, researchers worry that these systems are ripe for exploitation and are calling for strict regulations on their deployment. Despite concerns surrounding consent and use, researchers are still working on facial recognition technology. Nature surveyed 480 researchers who have published papers on facial recognition, AI, and computer science. The results revealed that many researchers think there is a problem. Podcast
Ultra-fast polymer modulators that can take the heat
Science Daily November 13, 2020 Researchers in Japan took advantage of the high electro-optic activities, low dielectric constant, low propagation loss and ultra-high glass transition temperature of the developed side-chain electro-optic polymers to fabricate silicon-polymer hybrid modulator. It supports ultra-fast single-lane data rates up to 200 gigabits per second, excellent reliability, and exceptional signal fidelity at extremely high ambient temperatures up to 110 °C even after long-term exposure to high temperatures. It could provide ultra-fast and reliable interconnects for datacenters, 5G/B5G, autonomous driving, and aviation systems, effectively addressing the energy consumption issue for the next-generation optical communication…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL […]
Top 10 Science and Technology Inventions for the Week of November 13, 2020
01. Anti-hacking based on the circular polarization direction of light 02. DARPA’s plan for an airborne COVID detector 03. New approach to circuit compression could deliver real-world quantum computers years ahead of schedule 04. The next biometric identifier? 3D images of your finger veins 05. Power-free system harnesses evaporation to keep items cool 06. Scientists uncover secrets to designing brain-like devices 07. Sticky electrons: When repulsion turns into attraction 08. Tiny device enables new record in super-fast quantum light detection 09. Bioinspired metagel with broadband tunable impedance matching 10. Getting single-crystal diamond ready for electronics And others… Biodefense Headlines – […]
Anti-hacking based on the circular polarization direction of light
Phys.org November 6, 2020 Hardware-based Physical unclonable function (PUF) semiconductor chips have a unique physical code, however, the hardware structure had to be changed to increase the number of combinations of keys to enhance cryptographic characteristics. An international team of researchers (South Korea, USA – AFRL) has developed an encryption device that can greatly strengthen the cryptographic characteristics of PUFs selectively detecting circular polarization, without modify the hardware structure. They developed a phototransistor that can detect the circular polarization of light rotating in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. As a proof‐of‐concept, the chiral phototransistor arrays are demonstrated as a physically […]
Biodefense Headlines – 8 November 2020
Global Biodefense November 8, 2020 This week’s selections include COVID-19 surveillance data systems; pandemic impact on measles, polio vaccination rates; and revisiting a verification mechanism for the BWC… read more.