Science Daily February 11, 2020 To be able to send data at increased speeds, the lasers need to be modulated very rapidly: switching on and off or pulsing around 100 billion times every second. Instead of using external electronics, researchers in the UK used acoustic waves to vibrate the quantum wells inside the quantum cascade laser. The acoustic waves were generated by the impact of a pulse from another laser onto an aluminium film that caused the film to expand and contract, sending a mechanical wave through the quantum cascade laser. They were able to control the light output by […]
Wuhan Coronavirus Outbreak Suggests We Aren’t Ready for a Pandemic
Global Biodefense February 7, 2020 According to a top biosecurity expert in the US over the past decade and a half, since the SARS outbreak in the early 2000s, it’s clear that China has built stronger public health capacity. What this outbreak is making clear is that there is no country, including the United States, that is fully prepared for a high consequence outbreak. This outbreak is obviously a bad situation and we don’t know which direction it is going to go yet. But we do know that we don’t have the capability to detect, isolate, and ultimately stop a […]
Top 10 Science and Technology Inventions for the Week of February 7, 2020
01. If you want to catch more light, twist it 02. New encapsulation technique protects electronic properties of sensitive materials 03. New graphene amplifier unlocks hidden frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum 04. Anti-solar cells: A photovoltaic cell that works at night 05. New quantum switch turns metals into insulators 06. With nanogenerators, static electricity as strong as lightening can be saved in a battery 07. Closely spaced hydrogen atoms could facilitate superconductivity in ambient conditions 08. Lasers etch a ‘perfect’ solar energy absorber 09. Extending Quantum Entanglement Across Town 10. Scientists Warn Multiple Overlapping Crises Could Trigger ‘Global Systemic Collapse’ […]
Anti-solar cells: A photovoltaic cell that works at night
Science Daily January 29, 2020 Photovoltaics can generate electricity during daylight hours. Researchers at the University of Maryland consider an alternative photovoltaic concept that uses the earth as a heat source and the night sky as a heat sink, resulting in a “nighttime photovoltaic cell” that employs thermoradiative photovoltaics and concepts from the advancing field of radiative cooling. In this perspective, they discuss the principles of thermoradiative photovoltaics, the theoretical limits of applying this concept to coupling with deep space, the potential of advanced radiative cooling techniques to enhance their performance, and a discussion of the practical limits, scalability, and […]
Army wants tech that can identify people through walls
Fedscoop January 30, 2020 A new request for information is soliciting white papers on portable technology that can detect, identify, and monitor persons, animals, and materials behind multi-leveled obstruction(s) from a long standoff range, a technology that works both in the city and that can be deployed in dense foliage. The ideal system should be able to read biometric data, perform knowledge management functions and use machine learning and artificial intelligence to improve its science-fiction-like vision powers. Army is looking for information about technology that is ready to be used. Whether any such exists is uncertain. While wall-penetrating technology has […]
The Army working on a battlefield AI ‘teammate’ for soldiers
FedScoop February 3, 2020 To provide a more detailed picture of the battlefield for a solider and get them the most critical information researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are working with the Army to develop a system called the Aided Threat Recognition from Mobile Cooperative and Autonomous Sensors (ATR-MCAS), that will scan and classify imagery from sensors that can be mounted on vehicles, aerial coverage and autonomous vehicles to help soldiers recognize incoming threats. Currently the algorithms are being trained on test data. Soldiers will be able to the feed to show desired area of interest or livestream the raw […]
Charting the future of science and technology
Asia Research News February 4, 2020 Pressing issues in science and technology, including in healthcare and climate change, took centre-stage at the eighth Global Young Scientists Summit 2020 held in Singapore from January 14 to 17. The event was organised by the National Research Foundation Singapore to provide a platform for conversations on science and research, technology innovation and global issues. The theme of the conference was “Advancing Science, Creating Technologies for a Better World”. 325 outstanding young scientists interacted with 16 esteemed leaders in science and technology…read more.
Closely spaced hydrogen atoms could facilitate superconductivity in ambient conditions
Phys.org February 3, 2020 An international team of researchers (Switzerland, USA – University of Illinois, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Poland) conducted neutron scattering experiments on zirconium vanadium hydride at atmospheric pressure and at temperatures from -450 degrees Fahrenheit to as high as -10 degrees Fahrenheit and observed hydrogen-hydrogen atomic distances in the metal hydride, as small as 1.6 angstroms, compared to the 2.1 angstrom distances predicted for these metals. Computer simulations of the data proved conclusively that the unexpected spectral intensity occurs only when distances between hydrogen atoms are closer than 2.0 angstroms. The findings could possibly facilitate superconductivity at […]
Deep learning accurately forecasts heat waves, cold spells
EurekAlert February 4, 2020 Researchers at Rice University have created a deep learning computer system called “capsule neural network”. During training, it examines hundreds of pairs of maps. Each map shows surface temperatures and air pressures at five-kilometers height, and each pair shows those conditions several days apart. The training includes scenarios that produced extreme weather — extended hot and cold spells that can lead to deadly heat waves and winter storms. Once trained, the system was able to examine maps it had not previously seen and make five-day forecasts of extreme weather with 85% accuracy…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Extending Quantum Entanglement Across Town
IEEE Spectrum February 4, 2020 In an experiment researchers in Germany transferred the information contained in a single quantum bit from an atomic state to a single photon, then sent it through some 20 kilometers of fiber optic cable. They generated and observed the entanglement between a rubidium atom and a photon whose wavelength was transformed from 780 nm to the telecom S band at 1522 nm. The researchers found they can preserve on average some 78 percent of the entanglement between the rubidium atom and the fiber optic photon. Their next steps are to build out the full atom-to-photon-to-atom […]