Lifeboat Foundation

Circa 2012

Back in 1871, James Clerk Maxwell predicted that light exerts a force on any surface it hits. This radiation pressure was experimentally discovered some 30 years later and has since emerged as a hugely important force that is now exploited in systems such as solar sails and laser cooling.

Today, John Zhang and buddies at the University of Southampton in the UK go one better. These guys predict that a far more powerful optical force can exist between a metal or dielectric plate and a metamaterial, a substance with optical properties that have been engineered to control light in specific ways.

Continue reading “Metamaterials Generate Gecko-Like Adhesive Force” »

Circa 2016

A super-hard metal has been made in the laboratory by melting together titanium and gold.

The alloy is the hardest known metallic substance compatible with living tissues, say US physicists.

Continue reading “Scientists create new super-hard metal” »

Circa 2018

Measuring one million times less than the width of a human hair, graphene is harder than diamonds and 200 times stronger than steel. Small, strong, and flexible, it is the most conductive material on earth and has the potential to charge a cell phone in just five seconds or to upload a terabit of data in one. It can be used to filter salt from water, develop bullet-stopping body armor, and create biomicrorobots.

These incredible properties have captured the attention of scientists and industry specialists around the world, all seeking to harness graphene’s potential for applications in electronics, energy, composites and coatings, biomedicine, and other industries.

Continue reading “A Wood Product Stronger than Steel that Could Change the World” »

Circa 2016

By using heat and temperature to modify the orientation of atoms, scientists have created a spongy, ultrastrong material that is lighter than a zip-close bag.

It seems a fusion shield could survive a supernova explosion.

“That’s what makes this white dwarf unique — it did undergo nuclear burning, but stopped before it got to iron,” Gänsicke told Space.com.

“This star is unique because it has all the key features of a white dwarf but it has this very high velocity and unusual abundances that make no sense when combined with its low mass,” Boris Gänsicke, physics professor at the University of Warwick, UK, and lead author of a paper about the research published the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, said in a statement.

Continue reading “This Star Appears to Have Survived a Supernova” »

R Bamford ¹, K J Gibson ², A J Thornton ², J Bradford ¹, R Bingham ^1,6, L Gargate ^1,3, L O Silva ³, R A Fonseca ³, M Hapgood ¹, C Norberg ⁴, T Todd ⁵ and R Stamper ¹

Published 4 November 2008 • 2008 IOP Publishing Ltd Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Volume 50, Number

Multiple human organ chips that quantitatively predict drug pharmacokinetics may offer better, accelerated drug testing.

Quantifications are produced by several disciplinary houses in a myriad of different styles. The concerns about unethical use of algorithms, unintended consequences of metrics, as well as the warning about statistical and mathematical malpractices are all part of a general malaise, symptoms of our tight addiction to quantification. What problems are shared by all these instances of quantification? After reviewing existing concerns about different domains, the present perspective article illustrates the need and the urgency for an encompassing ethics of quantification. The difficulties to discipline the existing regime of numerification are addressed; obstacles and lock-ins are identified. Finally, indications for policies for different actors are suggested.

My latest blood test results are in-how’s my biological age?

In the video I discuss my dietary approach prior to my latest blood test, the blood test results, and my plan to improve them going forward.