Science Daily October 5, 2018 A key element for future spin-light applications is efficient quantum information transfer at room temperature, but at room temperature the electron spin orientation is nearly randomized. This means that the information encoded in the electron spin is lost or too vague to be reliably converted to its distinct chiral light. Researchers in Sweden have devised an efficient spin-light interface. The key element of the device is extremely small disks of GaNAs, a couple of nanometres high stacked on top of each other with a thin layer of GaAs between to form chimney-shaped nanopillars. Fewer than […]
New security scanners safely detect threats from people on the move
Phys.org October 8, 2018 The EU-funded SPIDERS project, has developed a ‘passive scanning’ solution which is based on a real time (up to 16 images by second), imaging system, working at millimetre wave frequencies and able to see through clothes and detect hidden objects such as liquids, powders or solids (metal or not). Crucially, the system dubbed ‘MM-Imager’, does not emit any radiation. The technology is based on the measurement of the natural radiation emitted by bodies at microwave frequencies (around 0.1THz). The SPIDERS system works in real time which makes the technology applicable to a wide range of potential […]
The Pentagon is studying an insect army to defend crops. Critics fear a bioweapon.
Washington Post October 4, 2018 The program funded by DARPA has a warm and fuzzy name: “Insect Allies.” The bugs would carry genetically engineered viruses that could be deployed rapidly if critical crops such as corn or wheat became vulnerable to a drought, a natural blight or a sudden attack by a biological weapon. The concept envisions the viruses making genetic modifications that protect the plants immediately, during a single growing season. A team of skeptical scientists and legal scholars published an article in the journal Science arguing that the Insect Allies program opens a “Pandora’s box” and involves technology […]
Possible game changer in detection of submarines
Next Big Future October 9, 2018 Researchers in China are working on a device they hope will be able to reveal the location of a target as far as 500 metres below the ocean surface monitoring tiny disturbances in the Earth’s magnetic field caused by metallic objects such as submarines. They are also working on sensors using cutting-edge quantum technology to chase the gravitational abnormality that a submarine creates in a large body of water. Powerful listening devices have also been planted in strategic seabed near the American naval base in Guam and in the South China Sea, some of […]
Quantum technologies can be applied on a standard telecommunications network
Phys.org October 4, 2018 Researchers in Spain have developed a quantum cryptography network integrated in a commercial optical network through technologies based on software defined networking allowing for the implementation of quantum and classical network services in a flexible, dynamic and scalable manner. The technology has been developed on an existing infrastructure using standard communications systems and allows switching between links connecting points that may be up to 60 kilometers apart. Twenty channels can share the same fiber in the same optical band that uses the quantum channel, allowing the simultaneous transmission of quantum signals with more than two terabytes […]
Russian scientists develop high-precision laser for satellite navigation
Phys.org October 3, 2018 Researchers in Russia have developed a laser for a lunar locator capable of measuring the distance to the moon with a margin of error of a few millimeters. The laser has a relatively small size, low radiation divergence and a unique combination of short pulse duration, high pulse energy and high pulse repetition rate and the laser pulse duration is 64 picoseconds, which is almost 16 billion times less than one second. The laser’s beam divergence, which determines radiation brightness at large distances, is close to the theoretical limit. The new laser will be used in […]
Scientists call for microbial ‘Noah’s Ark’ to protect global health
Science Daily October 4, 2018 A team of researchers in the US (Rutgers University, UC San Diego, University of Chicago, New York University) is calling for the creation of a global microbiota vault to protect the long-term health of humanity similar to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, the world’s largest collection of crop diversity created in case of natural or human-made disasters. According to the researchers over a handful of generations, we have seen a staggering loss in microbial diversity linked with a worldwide spike in immune and other disorders. It may be possible one day to prevent disease by […]
Trapping toxic compounds with ‘molecular baskets’
Phys.org October 9, 2018 Researchers at Ohio State University created molecular baskets with amino acids around the rims. The amino acids helped find simulated nerve agents in a liquid environment and direct them into the basket. They started a chemical reaction by shining a light with a particular wavelength on the baskets which caused the amino acids to shed a carbon dioxide molecule, effectively trapped the nerve agents inside the baskets. The new molecule complex, no longer soluble in water, precipitates from the liquid and becomes a solid which can be filtered out. It is possible to develop baskets that […]
Top 10 Science and Technology Inventions for the Week of October 12, 2018
01. Nanoscale pillars as a building block for future information technology 02. New security scanners safely detect threats from people on the move 03. Possible game changer in detection of submarines 04. New laser technology can identify unknown white powders from safe distance 05. Quantum technologies can be applied on a standard telecommunications network 06. Russian scientists develop high-precision laser for satellite navigation 07. Glow-in-the-dark paper as a rapid test for infectious diseases 08. Flowing salt water over this super-hydrophobic surface can generate electricity 09. The Pentagon is studying an insect army to defend crops. Critics fear a bioweapon. 10. […]
60 Years of DARPA’s Favorite Toys
IEEE Spectrum September 26, 2018 DARPA held a conference in Washington, D.C. to celebrate its 60th anniversary. One of the highlights was an exhibit hall full of both current DARPA programs as well as unique artifacts from DARPA’s history. IEEE has put together a gallery of the most interesting exhibits. DARPA also published a 140-page retrospective on what they’ve been up to over the last half century… read more.