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345 GHz Observations Reveal Black Holes Like Never Before

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration has enhanced its observational capabilities, achieving unprecedented resolutions by detecting light at a 345 GHz frequency.

This breakthrough allows for detailed imaging of black holes, promising images 50% more detailed than previous ones and the potential to view more black holes than ever before.

Breakthrough in Black Hole Imaging.

India edges past the UK in critical technologies research; IIT Bombay, Roorkee top performers

India has edged past the United Kingdom by delivering more cutting-edge critical technology research during the period between 2019 and 2023, data published by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute on Wednesday (August 28) showed.

The institute updated its critical technology tracker this week by focusing on high-impact research or 10 per cent of the most highly cited papers, as a “leading indicator of a country’s research performance, strategic intent, and potential future science and technology capability”

The tracker covers 64 critical technologies and crucial fields spanning defence, space, energy, the environment, artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology, robotics, cyber, computing, advanced materials, and key quantum technology areas.

Scientist Claims His AI Can Tell Disturbing Things About You Just by Looking at Your Face

A Stanford University psychologist named Michal Kosinski claims that AI he’s built can detect your intelligence, sexual preferences, and political leanings with a great degree of accuracy just by scanning your face, Business Insider reports.

Needless to say, Kosinski’s work raises many ethical questions. Is this type of facial recognition research just a high-tech version of phrenology, a pseudoscience popular in the 18th and 19th centuries that sought to find links between facial features and their mental traits?

Absolutely not, Kosinski told Business Insider. If anything, he says his work on facial recognition is a warning to policymakers about the potential dangers of his research and similar work by others.

Fusion’s New Hero: The Liquid Metal That Beats the Heat

Scientists at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory are pioneering the use of liquid lithium in spherical tokamaks to enhance fusion performance.

Recent computer simulations suggest the optimal placement of lithium vapor to protect the tokamak’s interior from intense plasma heat. Innovative configurations, such as the lithium “cave” and porous plasma-facing walls, aim to simplify the design and improve heat dissipation, contributing to the future of fusion energy.

Inside the next generation of fusion vessels known as spherical tokamaks, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) envisioned a hot region with flowing liquid metal that is reminiscent of a subterranean cave. Researchers say evaporating liquid metal could protect the inside of the tokamak from the intense heat of the plasma. It’s an idea that dates back several decades and is tied to one of the Lab’s strengths: working with liquid metals.

Unveiling a novel sample configuration for ultrahigh pressure equation of state calibrations

In a paper published recently in the Journal of Applied Physics, an international team of scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Argonne National Laboratory and Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron have developed a new sample configuration that improves the reliability of equation of state measurements in a pressure regime not previously achievable in the diamond anvil cell.

Scientists develop DMG equalization strategy via femtosecond laser micromachining induced refractive index tailoring

Optical fiber, as a physical medium for information transmission, is the “highway” of modern economic and social development. However, with the continuous emergence of high-speed and high-capacity communication scenarios such as virtual reality, 5G, intelligent driving, and the Internet of Things (IoT), there is an upper limit to the communication capacity (traffic flow) of the traditional single-mode fiber-optic communication system (highway).

Computational imaging empowers laser material processing with snapshot compressive microscopy

A team of researchers has developed a novel computational imaging system designed to address the challenges of real-time monitoring in ultrafast laser material processing. The new system, known as Dual-Path Snapshot Compressive Microscopy (DP-SCM), represents a significant advancement in the field, offering unprecedented capabilities for high-speed, high-resolution imaging. The team was led by Yuan Xin from Westlake University and Shi Liping from Xidian University.

Ultracompact fiber-tip sensor achieves high sensitivity in magnetic field and temperature measurements

Magnetic field sensing plays a pivotal role in numerous fields of medical, transportation and aerospace. The optical fiber-based magnetic field sensor possesses outstanding characteristics of compactness, long-distance interrogation, low cost and high sensitivity, which has attracted intensive interest. However, the fiber-based magnetic field sensor is generally affected by the temperature perturbation.