Lifeboat Foundation

The observation of a chemical reaction at the molecular level in real time is a central theme in experimental chemical physics. An international research team has captured roaming molecular fragments for the first time. The work, under the supervision of Heide Ibrahim, research associate at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS), was published in the journal Science.

The research group of the Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications Research Centre of INRS, with support of Professor François Légaré, has used the Advanced Laser Light Source (ALLS). They have succeeded in shooting the first molecular film of “roamers”—hydrogen fragments, in this case—that orbit around HCO fragments) during a chemical reaction by studying the photo-dissociation of formaldehyde, H₂CO.

😃 So the old ways still work!

A startup called SpinLaunch wants to do away with costly launch rockets. Let’s look at the physics.

Plan calls for a subtle but crucial shift toward applied research in Department of Energy fusion program.

Researchers at Oregon State University are making key advances with a new type of optical sensor that more closely mimics the human eye’s ability to perceive changes in its visual field.

The sensor is a major breakthrough for fields such as image recognition, robotics and artificial intelligence. Findings by OSU College of Engineering researcher John Labram and graduate student Cinthya Trujillo Herrera were published today in Applied Physics Letters.

Previous attempts to build a human-eye type of device, called a retinomorphic sensor, have relied on software or complex hardware, said Labram, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science. But the new sensor’s operation is part of its fundamental design, using ultrathin layers of perovskite semiconductors—widely studied in recent years for their solar energy potential—that change from strong electrical insulators to strong conductors when placed in light.

For now, it looks like our best bet for going interstellar is to rely on robotic spacecraft that are optimized for speed.

For countless generations, the idea of traveling to an extrasolar planet has been the stuff of dreams. In the current era of renewed space exploration, interest in interstellar travel has understandably been rekindled. However, beyond the realm of science fiction, interstellar space travel remains a largely theoretical matter.

Continue reading “Reaching for the Stars: The Case for Interstellar Travel” »

The Voyager probes have detected an entirely new kind of electron burst outside the solar system.

It is the first time this “unique physics” have been detected by a spacecraft, and could allow for new breakthroughs in our understanding of the “interstellar medium”, or the space between the stars.

The two Voyager spacecraft were launched by NASA more than 40 years ago, with the aim of flying to the far reaches of our solar system. They have now gone even further than that, reaching interstellar space, and exploring the gaps between the stars, giving us the first glimpses of what it might be like in that mysterious zone.

A new and potentially improved measurement of a proton’s charge radius brings scientists closer to an answer. But the issue is still unresolved.

Wherever you have fluid, there you can also find vortex rings.

Now, scientists have found vortex rings somewhere fascinating — inside a tiny pillar made of a magnetic material, the gadolinium-cobalt intermetallic compound GdCo₂.

If you’ve seen smoke rings, or bubble rings under water, you’ve seen vortex rings: doughnut-shaped vortices that form when fluid flows back on itself after being forced through a hole.

Circa 1997

Berkeley — An ultrasensitive, superfluid gyroscope developed by physicists at UC Berkeley has the potential to surpass today’s most sensitive devices for measuring absolute rotation or spin.

In a paper in this week’s issue of Nature, physics professor Richard Packard and his colleagues, graduate students Keith Schwab and Niels Bruckner, report a proof-of-principle demonstration of the new device.

Continue reading “04.10.97 Develop Ultrasensitive Gyroscope Based on Superfluid Helium” »