Lifeboat Foundation

Silvia Musolino defended her Ph.D. on new theoretical insights in quantum physics by studying gases at the lowest temperatures consisting of many atoms.

A practical way to study quantum mechanics is provided by gases that have extremely low density and consist of many atoms, often more than one hundred thousand, cooled down to temperatures close to the absolute zero. Silvia Musolino studied different types of interactions between these atoms, providing new pathways for future research on new technologies such as quantum computers.

Quantum mechanical laws govern the physics at the atomic scale and is distinguished by classical mechanics, which deals mainly with natural phenomena we can see, hear, or touch. However, even quantum mechanics influences our daily life. Transistors, which are crucial components of electronic devices, are based on quantum mechanical effects. Moreover, quantum mechanics paves the way for new technologies that may strongly impact our lives, such as quantum computers.

Chips power the modern world, and the global semiconductor shortage showed their impact. This graphic highlights the evolution of the chip-tech field.

ASML’s latest EUV lithography machine may be able to kill two birds with one stone! Reviving Moore’s law, the second solving the chip shortage.

A European retailer just leaked Intel’s Alder Lake CPU prices, but Intel’s going to have to back these prices up with performance.

General Motors will idle nearly all its assembly plants in North America starting Monday as the COVID-19 pandemic affects production of semiconductor chips overseas.

GM said its Arlington Assembly in Texas, where it makes its highly profitable full-size SUVs, will run regular production next week, along with Flint Assembly, where it makes its heavy-duty pickups, Bowling Green Assembly in Kentucky, where it makes its Corvette, and a portion of Lansing Grand River Assembly, where it will make some Chevrolet Camaro and Cadillac Blackwing cars.

But all other assembly plants in North America will idle starting Monday.

In a new review article in Nature Photonics, scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory assess the status of research into colloidal quantum dot lasers with a focus on prospective electrically pumped devices, or laser diodes. The review analyzes the challenges for realizing lasing with electrical excitation, discusses approaches to overcome them, and surveys recent advances toward this objective.

“Colloidal quantum dot lasers have tremendous potential in a range of applications, including integrated optical circuits, wearable technologies, lab-on-a-chip devices, and advanced medical imaging and diagnostics,” said Victor Klimov, a senior researcher in the Chemistry division at Los Alamos and lead author of the cover article in Nature Photonics. “These solution-processed quantum dot laser diodes present unique challenges, which we’re making good progress in overcoming.”

Heeyoung Jung and Namyoung Ahn, also of Los Alamos’ Chemistry division, are coauthors.

A piece of science fiction technology could be one step closer to reality with a new development in haptic holograms.

The idea of haptic, or touchable, holograms is familiar to millions from its appearance in sci-fi favorites like Star Trek’s holodeck, where characters can interact with solid-seeming computer simulations of people, objects and places.

Now, a team of engineers from the University of Glasgow have developed a new way to create the sensation of physically interacting with holographic projections.

In a discovery published in the journal Nature, an international team of researchers has described a novel molecular device with exceptional computing prowess.

Reminiscent of the plasticity of connections in the human brain, the device can be reconfigured on the fly for different computational tasks by simply changing applied voltages. Furthermore, like nerve cells can store memories, the same device can also retain information for future retrieval and processing.

“The brain has the remarkable ability to change its wiring around by making and breaking connections between nerve cells. Achieving something comparable in a physical system has been extremely challenging,” said Dr. R. Stanley Williams, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University. “We have now created a molecular device with dramatic reconfigurability, which is achieved not by changing physical connections like in the brain, but by reprogramming its logic.”

We’re going to need to store 175 zettabytes per year by 2025.