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May 21, 2019

Optical device decomposes a beam into a Cartesian grid of identical Gaussian spots

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, internet

A research team has developed a light beam device that could lead to faster internet, clearer images of space and more detailed medical imaging.

University of Queensland researcher and optical engineer Dr. Joel Carpenter worked with Nokia Bell Labs to build the device to tackle the challenge of splitting into the shapes it is made up of, known as .

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May 21, 2019

Chandra Discovers New Signal for Neutron Star Collision

Posted by in category: space

  • A neutron star merger without an observed gamma-ray burst has been discovered using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.
  • This result gives astronomers another way to track down neutron star mergers as well new information about their interiors.
  • This source, called XT2, is located in the Chandra Deep Field-South, the deepest X-ray image ever obtained.
  • By studying how XT2 changed in X-ray brightness, astronomers were able to identify it as two neutron stars that merged into a larger one.

These images show the location of an event, discovered by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, that likely signals the merger of two neutron stars. A bright burst of X-rays in this source, dubbed XT2, could give astronomers fresh insight into how neutron stars — dense stellar objects packed mainly with neutrons — are built.

XT2 is located in a galaxy about 6.6 billion light years from Earth. The source is located in the Chandra Deep Field South (CDF-S), a small patch of sky in the Fornax constellation. The CDF-S is the deepest X-ray image ever taken, containing almost 12 weeks of Chandra observing time. The wider field of view shows an optical image from the Hubble Space Telescope of a portion of the CDF-S field, while the inset shows a Chandra image focusing only on XT2. The location of XT2, which was not detected in optical images, is shown by the rectangle, and its host galaxy is the small, oval-shaped object located slightly to the upper left.

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May 21, 2019

Inside Facebook’s New Robotics Lab, Where AI and Machines Friend One Another

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

The social network has a plan to merge the worlds of artificial intelligence and real-world machines, so that both may grow more powerful.

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May 21, 2019

Schrödinger’s Art: Spooky physics paints microscopic artworks on “quantum canvas”

Posted by in category: quantum physics

Researchers at the University of Queensland (UQ) have produced what may very well be the first pieces of art made using non-classical matter. The team has reproduced famous artworks like the Mona Lisa and Starry Night on a “quantum canvas” as small as a human hair, by projecting light onto Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs).

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May 21, 2019

Amazon’s system for tracking its warehouse workers can automatically fire them

Posted by in categories: futurism, robotics/AI

A world where people are monitored and supervised by machines isn’t confined to the realms of sci-fi. It’s here now.

Tough conditions: There have been many reports over recent years about unpleasant conditions workers face at Amazon warehouses. Employees are under pressure to pack hundreds of boxes per hour, and face being fired if they aren’t fast enough.

What’s new: Documents obtained by The Verge show that it’s far more common for people to be fired due to lack of productivity than outsiders realize. Roughly 300 people were fired at a single facility between August 2017 and September 2018 for that reason. And crucially, the documents show that much of the firing process is automated.

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May 21, 2019

The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley (2019) | Official Trailer | HBO

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, education

From Academy Award-winning director Alex Gibney comes a documentary about the rise and fall of Theranos, the one-time multibillion-dollar healthcare company founded by Elizabeth Holmes. Premieres March 18 on HBO.

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May 20, 2019

Ebola confirmed in a city of more than 1 million in Congo

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The global health community gulped Thursday with the announcement that a case of Ebola had been confirmed in a city of more than 1 million in Congo, bringing the latest outbreak of the often deadly hemorrhagic fever out of remote rural areas. “Confirmation of urban #Ebola in #DRC is a game changer in this outbreak – the challenge just got much much tougher,” the World Health Organization’s emergencies chief, Dr. Peter Salama, said on Twitter. Here’s a look at the outbreak.

What is Ebola?

Ebola is a virus that without preventive measures can spread quickly between people and is fatal in up to 90 percent of cases. The symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain and at times internal and external bleeding. Symptoms can start to occur between two and 21 days from infection, according to WHO.

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May 20, 2019

TR-3B Anti-Gravity Spacecrafts

Posted by in category: nuclear energy

It doesn’t exist officially. It uses highly pressured mercury accelerated by nuclear energy to produce a plasma that creates a field of anti-gravity around the ship. Conventional thrusters located at the tips of the craft allow it to perform all manner of rapid high speed maneuvers along all three axes. Interestingly, the plasma generated also reduces radar signature significantly. So it’ll be almost invisible on radar & remain undetected. This literally means that it can go to any country it likes without being detected by air traffic control & air defence systems.

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May 20, 2019

Laser sensor sniffs out ‘fingerprint’ traces of chemicals

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, law enforcement

A new device could help law enforcement spot traces of drugs or bomb-making materials from more than 100 feet away.

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May 20, 2019

The Soviet Laser Space Pistol, Revealed

Posted by in category: futurism

The USSR honestly did try to build a handheld laser pistol for cosmonauts to carry. It never made it to orbit, though—that we know of.

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