Lifeboat Foundation

Researchers have developed a new method that can automatically produce clear images through murky water. The new technology could be useful for searching for drowning victims, documenting submerged archaeological artifacts and monitoring underwater farms.

Imaging clearly underwater is extremely challenging because the water and the particles in it tend to scatter light. But, because scattered light is partially polarized, imaging using a camera that is sensitive to polarization can be used to suppress scattered light in underwater images.

“Our new method overcomes the limitations of traditional polarimetric underwater imaging, laying the groundwork for taking this method out of the lab and into the field,” said research team leader Haofeng Hu from Tianjin University in China. “Unlike previous methods, there’s no requirement for the image to include a background area to estimate the backscattered light.”

Circa 2017

Livescience.com | By LIVESCIENCE

Sound has negative mass, and all around you it’s drifting up, up and away — albeit very slowly.

Continue reading “Researchers Find Source of Strange ‘Negative’ Gravity” »

Not much is known about the vortex beams’ properties at the moment, but scientists plan to learn more by crashing them into other particles.

Complementarity relation of wave-particle duality is analyzed quantitatively with entangled photons as path detectors.

No Man’s Sky

Researchers have created what they say is the largest computer simulation of the universe, and have made the data available for anyone to download for free.

An international team associated with the Center for Computational Astrophysics created the virtual universe using ATERUI II, the world’s most powerful astronomical supercomputer, according to a press release by the organization. Dubbed Uchuu (the Japanese word for “outer space”), the simulation contains a staggering 2.1 trillion particles spanning 9.6 billion virtual light-years. That’s big. Real big.

Using a groundbreaking new technique at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an international collaboration led by NIST researchers has revealed previously unrecognized properties of technologically crucial silicon crystals and uncovered new information about an important subatomic particle and a long-theorized fifth force of nature.

By aiming subatomic particles known as neutrons at silicon crystals and monitoring the outcome with exquisite sensitivity, the NIST scientists were able to obtain three extraordinary results: the first measurement of a key neutron property in 20 years using a unique method; the highest-precision measurements of the effects of heat-related vibrations in a silicon crystal; and limits on the strength of a possible “fifth force” beyond standard physics theories.

The researchers report their findings in the journal Science.

One of the many areas graphene promises to have transformative effects is in fortifying construction materials like concrete and asphalt. A first-of-a-kind trial now underway seeks to apply the wonder material’s impressive attributes to one of the UK’s major thoroughfares, by deploying it in a road resurfacing project along a stretch of the A1 motorway.

Made up of a single sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb pattern, graphene offers incredible strength and flexibility, and by incorporating it into materials like asphalt scientists hope to develop road surfaces that last far longer, and therefore cost less to maintain.

Back in 2017 we looked at an interesting take on this from a pair of Italian companies that developed an asphalt material doped with a graphene additive to make it less likely to soften in the heat and crack in the cold under high loads. This product, known as Gipave, also incorporates plastic pellets and was recently rolled out along stretches of UK roads as part of trials to see how it can extend the lifespan of the surface.

Cold clouds of atoms—Bose-Einstein Condensates—will test quantum gravity, enable atom-scale lithography and prospect for minerals from afar.

Forget about online games that promise you a “whole world” to explore. An international team of researchers has generated an entire virtual universe, and made it freely available on the cloud to everyone.

Uchuu (meaning “outer space” in Japanese) is the largest and most realistic simulation of the universe to date. The Uchuu simulation consists of 2.1 trillion particles in a computational cube an unprecedented 9.63 billion light-years to a side. For comparison, that’s about three-quarters the distance between Earth and the most distant observed galaxies. Uchuu reveals the evolution of the universe on a level of both size and detail inconceivable until now.

Continue reading “Largest virtual universe free for anyone to explore” »