Lifeboat Foundation

Perspective view of the shallow megathrust looking seaward towards the trench; the frontal prism has been cut away. The color scales indicate depth below seafloor, and grey denotes the seafloor. Credit: Edwards et al., Nature Geoscience, Feb-2018 Geophysicists have obtained detailed three-dimensional images of a dangerous megathrust fault west of Costa Rica where two plates of the Earth’s crust collide. The images reveal features of the fault surface, including long grooves or corrugations, that may determine how the fault will slip in an earthquake. The study, published February 12 in Natu…

With a new, “portable” atomic clock, scientists are measuring not what time it is but changes to time itself.

12 Feb 2018 Engineering and Physical Sciences Photography Competition 2018 Previous slideNext slide1 of 16View AllSkip Ad Second place in the Weird and Wonderful category This picture of Placental ‘Pop Art’ has won Second place in the Weird and Wonderful category of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council’s annual photography competition. These images show automatically segmented chorionic vascular trees obtained from high resolution photography. Dr Rosalind Aughwane/UCL/EPSRC/PA Back to image.

A University of Texas at Dallas graduate student, his advisor and industry collaborators believe they have addressed a long-standing problem troubling scientists and engineers for more than 35 years: How to prevent the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope from crashing into the surface of a material during imaging or lithography. Details of the group’s solution appeared in the January issue of the journal Review of Scientific Instruments, which is published by the American Institute of Physics. Scanning tunneling microscopes (STMs) operate in an ultra-high vacuum, bringing a fine-tipped p…

The first discovered interstellar visitor to our solar system has had a violent past, which is causing it to tumble around chaotically, a Queen’s University Belfast scientist has discovered.

Using lasers instead of electrodes to vibrate the hairs in the inner ears could lead to less damaging cochlear implants.

It’s impressive, but it doesn’t seem that practical. Maybe a temporary solution while they get the cost of ATLAS down a lot, and get ATLAS equipped with human like hands.

In other news, this Boston Dynamics robot just learned how to open doors and let itself out: http://bit.ly/2EqgWN2

An international team of researchers has developed a tiny, liquid-based engine powered by a demixing fluid. In their paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the group describes their little engine and possible uses for it.

Fabricated device and band structure. (A) Scanning electron microscope image of the device, which is composed of two regions identified by blue and yellow shading, corresponding to two photonic crystals with different topological properties. The interface between the two photonic crystals supports helical edge states with opposite circular polarization (s+ and s–). Grating couplers at each end of the device scatter light in the out-of-plane direction for collection. (B) Close-up image of the interface. Black dashed lines identify a single unit cell of each photonic crystal. Credit: Science…