Menu

Blog

Page 10241

Feb 8, 2017

Measuring Time Without a Clock

Posted by in categories: particle physics, quantum physics

When light shines on certain materials, it causes them to emit electrons. This is called “photoemission” and it was discovered by Albert Einstein in 1905, winning him the Nobel Prize. But only in the last few years, with advancements in laser technology, have scientists been able to approach the incredibly short timescales of photoemission. Researchers at EPFL have now determined a delay of one billionth of one billionth of a second in photoemission by measuring the spin of photoemitted electrons without the need of ultrashort laser pulses. The discovery is published in Physical Review Letters.

Photoemission

Photoemission has proven to be an important phenomenon, forming a platform for cutting-edge spectroscopy techniques that allow scientists to study the properties of electrons in a solid. One such property is spin, an intrinsic quantum property of particles that makes them look like as if they were rotating around their axis. The degree to which this axis is aligned towards a particular direction is referred to as spin polarization, which is what gives some materials, like iron, magnetic properties.

Continue reading “Measuring Time Without a Clock” »

Feb 8, 2017

Large groups of photons on demand — an equivalent of photonic ‘integrated circuit’

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics

Our story on QC just keeps advancing as I cannot wait to see this technology on our smart devices.


Holographic atomic memory, invented and constructed by physicists from the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw, is the first device able to generate single photons on demand in groups of several dozen or more. The device, successfully demonstrated in practice, overcomes one of the fundamental obstacles towards the construction of some type of quantum computer.

Completely secure, high-speed quantum communication, or even a model of quantum computer, may be among the possible applications for the new source of single photons recently built at the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw (UW Physics), Poland. An unprecedented feature of this new device is that for the first time it enables the on-demand production of a precisely controlled group of photons, as opposed to just a single one.

Continue reading “Large groups of photons on demand — an equivalent of photonic ‘integrated circuit’” »

Feb 8, 2017

Health Solutions Straight Out Of Science Fiction Are Closer Than You Think

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health

Think patches that measure your blood chemistry and rooms geared toward your individual health are sci-fi concepts? Think again. Futuristic tech is improving health already — and it’s about to explode in popularity.

Read more

Feb 8, 2017

AI Systems Are Learning to Communicate With Humans

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Teaching robots to communicate more effectively with humans will allow for a smoother transition into a more automated workplace.

Read more

Feb 8, 2017

11 New Jobs in the Future of Healthcare and Medicine

Posted by in categories: augmented reality, biotech/medical, employment, virtual reality

The question is not whether disruptive technologies will transform the healthcare job market, but rather how and when will it happen. Healthcare navigators, augmented/virtual reality operation planners and nanomedicine engineers in the second part of my article series about future jobs in healthcare.

Read more

Feb 8, 2017

NASA Announces Space Robotics Challenge Finalists

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, space

Top teams will compete in a simulated Mars mission.

Read more

Feb 8, 2017

Chan Zuckerberg Biohub

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Is committed to curing, preventing, or managing all disease in our children’s lifetime. Biohub is a part of CZI.

Read more

Feb 8, 2017

The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub invests $50 million in its first 47 research initiatives

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, a non-profit medical research organization started by Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg (and not to be confused with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a limited liability corporation to advance human potential) today announced it would be doling out a total of $50 million to its first cohort of disease investigators.

The Biohub brings together Bay Area universities including the University of California, Berkeley; the University of California, San Francisco; and Stanford. One of the keystones to this collaboration effort is the investigative program.

Read more

Feb 8, 2017

Astronomers find first white dwarf pulsar

Posted by in category: space

Feb. 7 (UPI) — Astronomers at the University of Warwick have located a white dwarf pulsar — the first of its kind.

Until now, pulsars have been the domain of neutron stars. First discovered by astronomers in the 1960s, the binary stay systems are characterized by rhythmic blasts of electromagnetic radiation.

The newly identified white dwarf pulsar is called AR Scorpii, or AR Sco. It’s located in the constellation Scorpius, 380 light-years from our solar system.

Continue reading “Astronomers find first white dwarf pulsar” »

Feb 8, 2017

Hubble image captures the death of a star

Posted by in categories: physics, space

Feb. 3 (UPI) — A new image from the Hubble Space Telescope displays the beauty of a stellar death — in this case, the death of a low-mass star, similar to our sun in size.

Once a red giant, the star is currently in a transitionary phase: It’s on its way to becoming a planetary nebula. The Hubble image reveals the star’s layers of gas and dust being shed and thrown outward. The expelled material, now forming clouds, could eventually form new stars and planets.

Astronomers rarely catch dying red giants in their transitionary phase. It will only be a few thousand years before the star is a pure planetary nebula — a blip in space time.

Read more