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Though it sounds like something straight out of science fiction, controlling the speed of light has in fact been a long-standing challenge for physicists. In a study recently published in Communications Physics, researchers from Osaka University generated light bullets with highly controllable velocities.

According to Albert Einstein’s principle of relativity, the is constant and cannot be exceeded; however, it is possible to control the group velocity of optical pulses.

Currently, the spatiotemporal coupling of optical pulses provides an opportunity to control the of three-dimensional non-diffraction optical wave-packets, known as “light bullets,” in free space.

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Optics researchers from The University of Queensland and Nokia Bell Labs in the US have developed a new technique to demonstrate the time reversal of optical waves, which could transform the fields of advanced biomedical imaging and telecommunications.

Time reversal of waves in physics doesn’t mean traveling back to the future; it describes a special type of wave which can retrace a path backwards through an object, as if watching a movie of the traveling wave, played in reverse.

UQ’s Dr. Mickael Mounaix and Dr. Joel Carpenter, together with Dr. Nick Fontaine’s team at Nokia Bell Labs, are the first to demonstrate this time reversal of optical waves, using a new device they developed that allows full 3D control of light through an optical fiber.

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Virgin Galactic will fly again when VSS Unity is ready.

A bad computer connection foiled Virgin Galactic’s attempt to reach space over the weekend, company officials said.

VSS Unity, Virgin Galactic’s newest SpaceShipTwo vehicle, lifted off Saturday morning (Dec. 12) from New Mexico’s Spaceport America beneath the wings of its carrier airplane, VMS Eve.

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Am I reading this wrong? Sunelight is literally a cure / weapon against corona? Or am I missing something / making an incorrect logical link?

Researchers from Tel Aviv University (TAU) have proven that the coronavirus can be killed efficiently, quickly, and cheaply using ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (UV-LEDs). They believe that the UV-LED technology will soon be available for private and commercial use.

This is the first study conducted on the disinfection efficiency of UV-LED irradiation at different wavelengths or frequencies on a virus from the family of coronaviruses. The study was led by Professor Hadas Mamane, Head of the Environmental Engineering Program at TAU’s School of Mechnical Engineering, Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering. The article was published in November 2020 issue of the Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology.

“The entire world is currently looking for effective solutions to disinfect the coronavirus,” said Professor Mamane. “The problem is that in order to disinfect a bus, train, sports hall, or plane by chemical spraying, you need physical manpower, and in order for the spraying to be effective, you have to give the chemical time to act on the surface. Disinfection systems based on LED bulbs, however, can be installed in the ventilation system and air conditioner, for example, and sterilize the air sucked in and then emitted into the room.

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They’re another welcome weapon in the fight against fossil fuels.

After getting bodied in the news cycle for a few months, small modular nuclear startup NuScale Power has an additional potential path to the diverse energy market. In a new evaluation run by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, NuScale’s nuclear module performed effective catalysis for hydrogen.

☢️You love nuclear. So do we. Let’s nerd out over nuclear together.

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Recently, Google introduced Portrait Light, a feature on its Pixel phones that can be used to enhance portraits by adding an external light source not present at the time the photo was taken. In a new blog post, Google explains how they made this possible.

In their post, engineers at Google Research note that professional photographers discovered long ago that the best way to make people look their best in portraits is by using secondary flash devices that are not attached to the camera. Such flash devices can be situated by the photographer prior to photographing a subject by taking into account the direction their face is pointing, other available, skin tone and other factors. Google has attempted to capture those factors with its new -enhancing . The system does not require the camera operator to use another . Instead, the software simply pretends that there was another light source all along, and then allows the user to determine the most flattering configuration for the subject.

The engineers explain they achieved this feat using two algorithms. The first, which they call automatic directional light placement, places synthetic light into the scene as a professional photographer would. The second algorithm is called synthetic post-capture relighting. It allows for repositioning the light after the fact in a realistic and natural-looking way.

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The only total solar eclipse of 2020 dazzled spectators in South America, and some lucked out even as overcast skies threatened to put a damper on an incredible celestial event.

The so-called Southern Cone has now been treated to two total solar eclipses in back-to-back years. But each event was unique. Both eclipses were visible in Chile and Argentina, but the 2019 total solar eclipse happened in the wintertime for the Southern Hemisphere and in the late afternoon. This meant that the sun was low on the horizon, so the sky didn’t get as dark as it did this year.

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Put a robot in a tightly-controlled environment and it can quickly surpass human performance at complex tasks, from building cars to playing table tennis. But throw these machines a curve ball and they’re in trouble—just check out this compilation of some of the world’s most advanced robots coming unstuck in the face of notoriously challenging obstacles like sand, steps, and doorways.

The reason robots tend to be so fragile is that the algorithms that control them are often manually designed. If they encounter a situation the designer didn’t think of, which is almost inevitable in the chaotic real world, then they simply don’t have the tools to react.

Rapid advances in AI have provided a potential workaround by letting robots learn how to carry out tasks instead of relying on hand-coded instructions. A particularly promising approach is deep reinforcement learning, where the robot interacts with its environment through a process of trial-and-error and is rewarded for carrying out the correct actions. Over many repetitions it can use this feedback to learn how to accomplish the task at hand.

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