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Apr 13, 2021

Whoa! Scientists create real Trek-style phasers from sound waves

Posted by in category: space travel

Circa 2013 o.o


We may still have a long way to go before we get a warp drive, but we may not have to wait much longer for our very own Star Trek-style phasers.

Scientists at NTT Basic Research Laboratories in Japan have managed to build the world’s first phaser, which is essentially a laser-like emission that works with sound instead of light. Like a laser, but not a laser. Aka a phonon laser. Basically: a phaser.

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Apr 13, 2021

A phonon laser: Coherent vibrations from a self-breathing resonator

Posted by in categories: particle physics, quantum physics

Circa 2020


Lasing—the emission of a collimated light beam of light with a well-defined wavelength (color) and phase—results from a self-organization process, in which a collection of emission centers synchronizes itself to produce identical light particles (photons). A similar self-organized synchronization phenomenon can also lead to the generation of coherent vibrations—a phonon laser, where phonon denotes, in analogy to photons, the quantum particles of sound.

Photon lasing was first demonstrated approximately 60 years ago and, coincidentally, 60 years after its prediction by Albert Einstein. This stimulated emission of amplified found an unprecedented number of scientific and technological applications in multiple areas.

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Apr 13, 2021

Device may inject a variety of drugs without using needles

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Circa 2012


Jet-injected drugs could improve patient compliance, reduce accidental needle sticks.

Apr 13, 2021

Needleless Injection Device and Jet Syringe Products

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Learn more about PharmaJet’s easy-to-use needleless jet injection device and accompanying products.

Apr 13, 2021

DARPA awards 3 companies contracts for nuclear spacecraft by 2025

Posted by in category: space travel

The Department of Defense’s research and development agency awarded contracts to three companies to build a nuclear spacecraft by 2025.

Apr 13, 2021

Arman Kashkinbekov — Honorary CEO, Renewable Energy of Kazakhstan — Making Kazakhstan Green Again

Posted by in categories: economics, education, energy, sustainability

Making Kazakhstan Green Again — Mr. Arman Kashkinbekov, Honorary CEO and Board Member, Association of Renewable Energy of Kazakhstan — Director, International Snow Leopard Foundation.


Mr. Arman Kashkinbekov, is the honorary CEO and board member, Association of Renewable Energy of Kazakhstan and Deputy Chairman of the Board, International Centre for Green Technologies and Investment Projects (Kazakhstan).

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Apr 13, 2021

Physics without time

Posted by in categories: information science, quantum physics

Place one clock at the top of a mountain. Place another on the beach. Eventually, you’ll see that each clock tells a different time. Why?


In his book “The Order of Time,” Italian theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli suggests that our perception of time — our sense that time is forever flowing forward — could be a highly subjective projection. After all, when you look at reality on the smallest scale (using equations of quantum gravity, at least), time vanishes.

“If I observe the microscopic state of things,” writes Rovelli, “then the difference between past and future vanishes … in the elementary grammar of things, there is no distinction between ‘cause’ and ‘effect.’”

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Apr 13, 2021

Hearing AIDS for the Masses

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, government, policy

Imagine Apple, Bose or other consumer electronics companies making hearing aids more stylish and relatively affordable — with people having confidence that the devices had been vetted by the F.D.A. Bose told me that it’s working on over-the-counter hearing aid technology.


This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it weekdays.

On Tech is back from a spring break, and the magnolia trees are blooming outside On Tech headquarters (a.k.a., my New York apartment).

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Apr 13, 2021

First GMO Mosquitoes to Be Released In the Florida Keys

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

This spring, the biotechnology company Oxitec plans to release genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes in the Florida Keys. Oxitec says its technology will combat dengue fever, a potentially life-threatening disease, and other mosquito-borne viruses — such as Zika — mainly transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

While there have been more than 7300 dengue cases reported in the United States between 2010 and 2020, a majority are contracted in Asia and the Caribbean, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Florida, however, there were 41 travel-related cases in 2020, compared with 71 cases that were transmitted locally.

Apr 13, 2021

Counting single photons at unprecedented rates

Posted by in category: quantum physics

In high-end 21st century communications, information travels in the form of a stream of light pulses typically traveling through fiber optic cables. Each pulse can be as faint as a single photon, the smallest possible unit (quantum) of light. The speed at which such systems can operate depends critically on how fast and how accurately detectors on the receiving end can discriminate and process those photons.

Now scientists at the National institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have devised a method that can detect individual photons at a rate 10 times faster than the best existing technology, with lower error rates, higher detection efficiency, and less noise.

“While classical communication and detection can operate at blazing speeds, , which need that ultimate sensitivity for those faintest of pulses, are limited to much lower speeds,” said group leader Alan Migdall. “Combining that ultimate sensitivity with the ability to achieve the counting of photons at has been a long-standing challenge. Here we are pushing both performance limits all in the same device.”