LHC Roars to Life, Begins Task of Destroying Universe Yet Again [Lhc]
Christ, didn’t we kill this thing already? Repairwork on the Large Hadron Collider is making serious progress, with a test run of particle beams already completed. Scientists are hoping to attempt full world-ending experiments next month.
The results of that first test, a run of particle beams through the 17-mile tunnel, showed the machine in perfect working order. The scientists are hoping to have the LHC up and running as good as new in November, which after careful research I conclude is less than a week away. Sorry to drop the end of the world on you like that, but you’re all going to die in November. Them’s the breaks! [Pop Sci]
Posted: October 28th, 2009
at 1:00am by Dan Nosowitz
Topics: Hard-boiled wonderland and the end of the world, Lhc repairs, Schmience, large hadron collider, lhc, science
An Acoustic Hyperlens [Sound]
This is the acoustic hyperlens developed by the Xiang Zhang research group. Think of it as a radar dish for sound waves. Put into practice, it can increase performance of ultrasound baby-spotting and sonar submarine sighting by 8x. [EurekAlert, popsci]
Posted: October 26th, 2009
at 5:36pm by Brian Lam
Topics: Acoustic hyperlens, Prototypes, prototype, science, sound
NC State gurus develop new material to boost data storage, conserve energy
We’ve all assumed that anything’s possible when dabbling in the elusive realm of spintronics, and it seems as if a team at NC State University is out to prove just that. While using their newfound free time on Saturdays (you know, given that the football team has quit mid-season), Dr. Jagdish Narayan and company have utilized the process of selective doping in order to construct a new type of metallic ceramic that could be used to create a “fingernail-size computer chip to store the equivalent of 20 high-definition DVDs or 250 million pages of text.” The material could also be used (in theory, anyway) to create a new generation of ceramic engines that could withstand twice the heat of normal engines and hit MPG ratings of 80. Granted, this all sounds like wishful thinking at the moment, but we wouldn’t put it past the whiz kids in Raleigh to bring this stuff to market. Too bad the athletic director doesn’t posses the same type of initiative.
[Thanks, Joel]
NC State gurus develop new material to boost data storage, conserve energy originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Posted: October 25th, 2009
at 11:57pm by Darren Murph
Topics: NC State Basketball, NcStateBasketball, NcsuBus, SelectiveDoping, Storage, University of Maryland, UniversityOfMaryland, ceramics, nanometer, research, science, selective doping, spintronics
Prosthetic, robotic ‘Smart Hand’ has feelings, too
Researchers in Italy and Sweden have spent the last ten years developing what they call the “Smart Hand,” a prosthetic hand which enables feeling in its fingertips. The hand — which was recently wired up to a test patient through a surgical procedure — has four motors and forty sensors which are linked directly to the brain. In the surgery, the nerve endings of the patient were linked up to receptors in the hand, which allows for feeling in the fingertips of the hand, even though the hand is not really a part of his body. In the video after the break, you can see the greater precision and dexterity this hand allows for. Though the research still needs to be refined before practical use, it looks pretty far along — and pretty awesome — to us.Continue reading Prosthetic, robotic ‘Smart Hand’ has feelings, too
Prosthetic, robotic ‘Smart Hand’ has feelings, too originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Posted: October 24th, 2009
at 1:42pm by Laura June
Topics: Brain, ProstheticHand, RoboticHand, Robots, hand, prosthetic hand, robot, robotic hand, science
TMOS displays: the next step after AMOLED-backed LCDs?
I believe that headline contains what’s known as a gaggle of acronyms. TMOS (time-multiplexed optical shutter) is a new display technology that claims brighter, thinner, longer-lasting, higher-resolution displays. Hey! I hear you giggling out there. “Yeah, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.” Okay, so extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. I’d say their pitch is somewhere short of extraordinary, but if there’s anything to the technology, it really may just be all that they say. The company and technology have been around for a while, but they’re actually approaching the market at this point and you might want to know something about it before you start seeing the name pop up all over.
The idea is that by taking out as many layers of the display as possible, you reduce light interference (increasing brightness), power draw (better battery life) and component number (allowing for more pixels per square unit). But what to strip out? Uni-Pixel, the people behind TMOS note that instead of having three dots per pixel (red, green, blue in varying intensity), you could just have one, but with the dot changing color so rapidly that your eye only perceives the aggregate color. I’m not going to get all neuroscience on you here, but allow me to just say that there are biological reasons both for and against this technology, which I’m sure Uni-Pixel is aware of.
Micro-mirrors would direct light from side-mounted LEDs, which sounds clumsy to me, but they say it’ll result in refresh rates far above current displays’. They would also be simpler to manufacture, more durable, and more flexible. Anyhow, the engineering challenges are serious, but they say they should be able to put one in a product in 2010. Guess we’ll just have to wait!
