Birds of Paradise have similar structures.
What Can Quartz Crystals Really Do?
Quartz is cherished for its properties, but I’m not talking about magic.
Ultra-thin flat lens leads to smaller, better, cheaper optical devices: from telescopes to VR goggles
Flat lenses could revolutionize optics, researchers say.
Rube goldberg machine demonstrates power of optics
Everybody enjoys a good ol’ entertaining Rube Goldberg machine, whether it’s a fantasy Loony Tunes contraption or a real-life state of the art display of engineering. What’s not to love when alarm clocks, sprockets, furniture and even boiling tea pots all work together in a lovely dance, ultimately ending in lighting a candle or something like that. Today, I’d like
Teleportation is possible, and is already a reality at the quantum scale
When people think of teleportation, inevitably a Star Trek reference like “beam me up, Scotty’ comes to mind. You’ve got to admit though, it’s a really cool idea – how many times did you think about instantly traveling to some place distant? I used to wish for teleportation every single day of my life when I was a kid and
World record wireless transmission of 100 Gbit/s achieved
German researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have achieved a new world record for wireless data transmission after they successfully reached 100 gigabits/second over a distance of 20 meters and at a frequency of 237.5 GHz. This translates into a transfer rate of 12.5 gigabytes per second – equivalent to exchanging the contents of a blue-ray disk or of five DVDs between two
What Light tells us about the Universe
I’ve written about our incredible biological ability to gather information about our environment by sensing electromagnetic radiation. As complex as our eyes are however, light holds far more information than what we are able to perceive with our eyes. Science has given us the means to determine far more than just that there is a speck of light in the
Imaging in 3D using a single camera lens
Using an innovative technique that mathematically infers what the environment outside the lens’ perspective might look like based on how light enters the camera, researchers at Harvard University have managed to create 3D images using only one lens and without moving the camera. The findings could prove to be applicable to amateur and professional photographers alike, microscopists and other media-related
Researchers create contact lenses with telescopic abilities
It’s the world of science fiction come alive – Swiss researchers have developed contact lenses which, when paired with special spectacles, bestow telescopic vision on their wearers. Cool, and very useful The contact-lens-and-spectacles have the ability of zooming in 2.8 times. The device was not created for Bond-like purposes, but rather to help people suffering age-related visual impairment and blindness.
Infrared holographic imaging allows firefighters to see through flames
I have nothing but the deepest admiration and respect for fighters – always faithful in the face of peril and always ready to put their necks on the line in order to save people from the hellish depths. As one can imagine, firefighting tech has evolved a great deal from simple fireproof clothing and a bare axe, still there is
Microwave metamaterial camera images in real time. It’s only a fraction of the size current devices are
Scientists at Duke University have devised a metamaterial that uses microwaves to image objects or scenes in real time, all through a set-up no larger than a book. Currently, the same imaging is being made with robust, huge machinery – the kind you see in airports used to scan people before they board flights – that are very expensive and
Nanodevice lets light waves travel infinitely fast. Theory of Relativity still in place
A team of international physicists have made a nano-sized device which can allow the phase velocities of certain wave of visible light travel infinitely fast. No, this doesn’t translate into instant communication, nor does it mean that Einstein’s Theory of Relativity has been broken. It’s safe and sound. Read on, however, about the potential uses this sort of experiment may
Smallest laser is so tiny you can’t see it with the naked eye
Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin, in collaboration with colleagues in Taiwan and China, have developed what’s considered to be the world’s smallest laser; a device so tiny, that it’s invisible to the naked eye. The laser is heralded as a breakthrough in the emerging photonic technology with applications from computing to medicine. Specialists in photon-based technologies, like
Are you ready for the Gigapixel age? Researchers build 50 Gigapixel camera
If you feel very proud of your iPhone’s 8Megapixel camera or your high resolution DSLR, you might want to consider what a camera capable of taking photos with gigapixel resolution implies. Researchers at Duke University and the University of Arizona thought this through, and managed to devise a 50 gigapixel camera. Here’s Paris in 26 Gigapixels just so you can form
Ultra-speed camera developed at MIT can “see” around corners
Researchers at MIT have developed a new revolutionary technique, in which they re-purposed the trillion frames/second camera we told you about a while ago, and used it to capture 3-D images of a wooden figurine and of foam cutouts outside of the camera’s line of sight. Essentially, the camera could see around corners, by transmitting and then reading back light
Scientists cloak 3D object in microwave spectrum
The much dreamed off invisibility cloak is just a few tiny steps away, after remarkable research in the field, many backed by military interests, have sparked some amazing advances. In the last few years alone, scientists have managed to successfully cloak various objects either using meta-materials that bent light around an object to conceal it or electrically stimulated nanotubes which cause
‘Time Cloaking’ remarkable experiment hides event in time
Cloaking used to be one of my favorite SciFi themes. James Bond supercars that would show up or disappear instantly at the flick of an alarm key, the hallow man, objects rendered completely invisible to the human eye and lost in the surroundings. I say used to be because spatial cloaking has transcended for some time now in the realm
Digital contact lens grants Terminator-vision
A group of ophthalmologists and optoelectronics scientists are currently working on contact lens that can display information directly to the retina. So far the device is quite rudimentary, displaying only one well focused pixel, however further research might allow individuals wearing this special computerized lenses to read e-mails, receive real time notifications of important events or even acquire Terminator-style lock-on. All as easy as
Mesmerizing light sculpture will blow your mind [VIDEO]
It’s amazing the kind of emotions and entertainment a good lights show can provide. Manipulation of optical phenomena has been employed by artists since the invention of the first mirror, however a really dazzling display can be quite rare. Just recently, I managed to come across one of the most amazing display of art I’ve been granted to see – “Parmenides
Sunstone viking “magical compass” proved by science
A very intriguing theory says that the Vikings used to navigate through traitorous Arctic waters, and possibly even through the Atlatic towards North America, by using a coveted mineral called the “sunstone“. These glowing, fabled stones used to guide the northsmen by revealing the position of the sun even when it was obscured by cloud or had sunk beneath the
