Nanoclusters that diffuse laser beams or create 3D telepresence
Think of the possibilities. University of Central Florida assistant professor Jayan Thomas, in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University Associate Professor Rongchao Jin, has developed a new material based on gold nanoparticles smaller than 2 nanometers, in a regime between atoms and nanoparticles called nanoclusters. Thomas and his team found that nanoclusters developed by adding atoms in a sequential [...]
Categories: Nanotech/Materials Science, VR/Augmented Reality/Computer Graphics Tags: blog
1987 time-capsule predictions for 2012
Writers of the Future has released the 1987 time capsule predictions from science fiction writers for the year 2012. They ranged from wildly utopian to prescient. The utopian predictions included people living in space and on the Moon, an expedition to Mars, much industry located off-planet, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease effectively cured, a network of levitated superconducting [...]
Categories: Biomed/Longevity, Nanotech/Materials Science, Physics/Cosmology, Singularity/Futures, Space Tags: blog
I’ve seen the future of electronics and it’s … vacuum tubes!
Huh? Yep, you read it right. We are bumping into a limit to increasing transistor speed, determined by the “electron transit time” — the time it takes an electron to travel, says Hong Koo Kim, a professor in the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering. It’s back to the vacuum, folks. Kim explains: electrons [...]
Categories: Electronics, Nanotech/Materials Science Tags: blog
Cellphones that can see through walls and detect cancer
University of Texas at Dallas researchers have designed an imager chip that could one day turn mobile phones into devices that can see through walls, wood, plastics, paper and other objects. The UT Dallas imager chip technology being explored by UT Dallas researchers is designed for imaging in the terahertz frequency range, specifically from 280 GHz (.28 [...]
Categories: Biomed/Longevity, Electronics, Nanotech/Materials Science, Physics/Cosmology Tags: blog
Will a Dutch discovery lead to understanding dark matter and a real quantum computer? UPDATE APR 17
UPDATE APR 17, 2012: “One, however, has to be cautious because while this experiment from Delft has provided the likely necessary evidence for the existence of the Majorana, the sufficient conditions are more difficult to achieve and may take more time.” — Sankar Das Sarma, University of Maryland (press release). Also see: “Zero bias conductance peak in Majorana [...]
Categories: Nanotech/Materials Science, Physics/Cosmology, Quantum Tags: blog
Battle of the ‘Fantastic Voyage’ researchers
The 1961 classic science-fiction movie Fantastic Voyage movie is about a team of scientists who are shrunk down and sent in a miniature submarine inside the body to repair a blood clot in an ailing colleague’s brain. How far have today’s scientists come in exploring inside the body? Pretty far. We’ve reported on 17 research [...]
Categories: Biomed/Longevity, Electronics, Nanotech/Materials Science Tags: blog
teleXLR8 returns, featuring quantum physicist Gildert on ‘Hack the Multiverse!’
This exciting news just in from Giulio Prisco: “teleXLR8 is reopening on Sunday 21 10 a.m. PST with a talk by [experimental quantum physicist/programmer] Suzanne Gildert on Hack the Multiverse!.” The teleXLR8 online talk program is “a telepresence community for cultural acceleration,” as their blog puts it. Translation: an audiovideo seminar — think TED in [...]
Categories: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience, Computers/Infotech/UI, Entertainment/New Media, Human Enhancement, In The News, Nanotech/Materials Science, Physics/Cosmology, Quantum, Robotics/ AI, Singularity/Futures, Social/Ethical/Legal, VR/Augmented Reality/Computer Graphics Tags: blog
The Singularity is Far: A Neuroscientist’s View
David J. Linden is the author of a new book, The Compass of Pleasure: How Our Brains Make Fatty Foods, Orgasm, Exercise, Marijuana, Generosity, Vodka, Learning, and Gambling Feel So Good. He is a Professor of Neuroscience at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Chief Editor of the Journal of Neurophysiology. It should [...]
Categories: Biotech, Cognitive Science/Neuroscience, Nanotech/Materials Science, Robotics/ AI, Singularity/Futures, VR/Augmented Reality/Computer Graphics Tags: blog
‘Orca ears’ inspire researchers to develop ultrasensitive undersea microphone
Imagine a miniature microphone that responds to ocean sounds from 1 to 100kHz (a deep inaudible rumble to ultrasonic sounds) with a dynamic range of 160 dB (a whisper in a quiet library to the sound from 1 ton of TNT exploding 60 feet away) and operates at any depth. An amazing microphone that does [...]
Categories: Electronics, Environment/Climate, In The News, Nanotech/Materials Science, Physics/Cosmology Tags: blog
Films inspired by renowned sci-fi author Philip K. Dick
Philip K. Dick Films website | Since Ridley Scott turned Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? into the science fiction classic Blade Runner, eight of Philip K. Dick’s novels or short stories have made their way to the big screen. To date, these films have generated over $1 billion in world-wide box office and ancillary [...]
