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Jul 1, 2022

Universal optothermal micro/nanoscale rotors

Posted by in categories: biological, nanotechnology, robotics/AI, transportation

The fundamental rotation of micro and nano-objects is crucial for the functionality of micro and nanorobotics, as well as three-dimensional imaging and lab-on-a-chip systems. These optical rotation methods can function fuel-free and remotely, and are therefore better suited for experiments, while current methods require laser beams with designed intensity profiles or objects with sophisticated shapes. These requirements are challenging for simpler optical setups with light-driven rotation of a variety of objects, including biological cells.

In a new report now published in Science Advances, Hongru Ding and a research team in engineering and at the University of Texas at Austin, U.S., developed a universal approach for the out-of-plane rotation of various objects based on an arbitrary low-power laser beam. The scientists positioned the laser source away from the objects to reduce optical damage from direct illumination and combined the rotation mechanism via optothermal coupling with rigorous experiments, coupled to multiscale simulations. The general applicability and biocompatibility of the universal light-driven rotation platform is instrumental for a range of engineering and scientific applications.

Jul 1, 2022

What If We Built a Star-Sized Computer? | Unveiled

Posted by in categories: computing, neuroscience, particle physics

What if we built a Matrioshka Brain? In this video, Unveiled asks what would happen if we built a computer AROUND A STAR? This is one of the most incredible megastructures we’ve ever even contemplated… but what would the universe be like if it was home to these things? And how would we possibly keep control?

This is Unveiled, giving you incredible answers to extraordinary questions!

Continue reading “What If We Built a Star-Sized Computer? | Unveiled” »

Jul 1, 2022

What If We Could Harness the Energy of a Black Hole?

Posted by in categories: cosmology, physics

What would happen if you put a couple of physicists in a room with a rope, a box and a black hole? They might come up with a plan to power the Earth for centuries. Black holes aren’t something you come across every day. To make a black hole of your own, you’d have to squeeze a star ten times bigger than our Sun into a sphere the diameter of New York City.

Transcript and sources: https://whatif.show/what-if-we-could-harness-the-energy-of-a-black-hole/
Music: http://bit.ly/whatif-music.

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Jul 1, 2022

Real-time cardiorespiratory motion management during MRI-guided radiotherapy

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Join the audience for a live webinar at 3 p.m. BST on 5 July 2022 exploring the most recent real-time adaptive radiotherapy developments and the new cardiac radioablation treatment.

Stereotactic radioablation is a novel, non-invasive treatment option for cardiac arrhythmias. The heart is dose sensitive and its motion contributes significantly to dose delivery uncertainties.

Jul 1, 2022

Lab denies opening portals into parallel universes despite everyone thinking so

Posted by in categories: cosmology, government, nuclear energy, particle physics

A lab in Tennesee that does research in neutron, nuclear and clean energy had to debunk the myth that they were somehow attempting to open portals to other dimensions. Though if I ever learned anything from popular science fiction, if a research lab says they aren’t opening portals to parallel universes, my instinct tells me that they are totally opening portals to other dimensions. So you can imagine why folks would be skeptical.

Research scientist Leah Broussard explains in the video above that the experiments they are doing at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (which is managed by the US Department of Energy) aren’t exactly about building portals to other dimensions. Instead, they involved “looking for new ways that matter we know and understand, that makes up our universe, might interact with the dark matter that makes up the majority of our universe, which we don’t understand.”

Broussard also explains when a particle physicist says portal, they mean it in a figurative sense. All this talk of parallel universes came when her research was released and people started making connections to the Netflix show, Stranger Things. A show that, coincidentally, features kids stumbling across a shady government agency opening portals to other dimensions full of monsters, in the ’80s.

Jul 1, 2022

Hyundai gives first look at Ioniq 6 EV as market share surges

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, transportation

Hyundai is offering an early look at its upcoming all-electric sedan, the Ioniq 6. It comes as Bloomberg reports that the company’s EV market share is quietly surging in Europe and the US, causing even Tesla’s Elon Musk to take notice.


Hyundai has revealed an early look at its upcoming all-electric sedan, the Ioniq 6. It draws inspiration from the kind of streamlined car designs that were popular in the 20s and 30s with vehicles like the Stout Scarab.

Jul 1, 2022

Michelle Simmons: quantum machines at the atomic limit | The Royal Society

Posted by in categories: biological, nanotechnology, particle physics, quantum physics

Join Professor Michelle Simmons to find out how scientists are delivering Richard Feynman’s dream of designing materials at the atomic limit for quantum machines. 🔔Subscribe to our channel for exciting science videos and live events, many hosted by Brian Cox, our Professor for Public Engagement: https://bit.ly/3fQIFXB

#Physics #Quantum #RichardFeynman.

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Jul 1, 2022

This Energy Is Floating All Around Space. Can We Harness it?

Posted by in categories: energy, space

Space is a deep, dark, vast abyss that exists between the cosmos, separating them from each other. But is it truly as empty as we think it is? Or is the vacuum that spans everywhere hiding something from us? Something mysterious, and perhaps the most powerful source of energy?

Zero-point energy, also known as vacuum energy, has been touted as a potentially limitless and ubiquitous source of energy, if one could only find the means to harness it.

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Jul 1, 2022

Smart Camera System Saves Eagles from Wind Turbine Deaths

Posted by in categories: electronics, sustainability

An AI-powered camera system reduces wind turbine bird fatalities by stopping the turbine as soon as it spots birds. Read it here.

Jul 1, 2022

The struggle to find the origins of time

Posted by in categories: cosmology, mathematics, quantum physics

What is time? Why is it so different from space? And where did it come from? Scientists are still stumped by these questions — but working harder than ever to answer them.


St. Augustine said of time, “If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain to him who asks, I don’t know.” Time is an elusive concept: We all experience it, and yet, the challenge of defining it has tested philosophers and scientists for millennia.

It wasn’t until Albert Einstein that we developed a more sophisticated mathematical understanding of time and space that allowed physicists to probe deeper into the connections between them. In their endeavors, physicists also discovered that seeking the origin of time forces us to confront the origins of the universe itself.

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