Reginald L. Goodwin's Posts

Snowzilla...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 25, 2016 at 7:00am

Image source: Slate.com - Bad Astronomy

Topics: Climate Change, Global Warming, Weather

I'm grateful for the many who called or text messaged to see how my wife and I were doing. We've learned from Texas to New York the fine art of "hunkering down," whether tornado or winter storm.

I'm loathe to express every weather event as climate change. However, the point of making a fuss about it - climate scientists, the Department of Defense et al - is the time to engage is not when the Earth has become the Sahara Desert: the next step at that point is illustrated quite well by Venus.

The following is a Scientific American article written in future tense for the then pending storm. Thankfully, it didn't quite impact upstate New York like it did say, Yonkers. The full term technical is Anthropogenic Climate Disruption, meaning don't expect to get what you've grown used to.

In case you haven’t heard, Washington, D.C., and other parts of the Mid-Atlantic region, are about to get walloped by a major storm that could bury the city in a record-breaking amount of snow.

The storm is expected to bring snows that could top 2 feet in the D.C. area and has already resulted in thousands of cancelled flights. While snows may not be quite as impressive further north, the storm’s fierce winds could whip up significant coastal flooding.

Part of the reason this Snowzilla storm is expected to dump so much snow is because it is pulling abundant moisture. As the planet warms because of excess heat trapped by human-emitted greenhouse gases, the atmosphere can hold more moisture. Scientists already expect heavy downpours to increase because of that. But there’s been little research into what that means for “epic blizzards” like this one.

Scientific American: The Future of Epic Blizzards in a Warming World
Andrea Thompson

Utopia...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 22, 2016 at 7:00am

Image source: Utopia, Loyalty Books (audio book)

Topic: Existentialism, Philosophy

We just passed the anniversary two Thursdays ago of what would become the first terrorist attack in Paris on Charlie Hebdo. Many cries went out "Juis Suis Charlie," which prompted this post by me.

Six months earlier, I posted this, seeing common cause in the movements around the world authoritarian, rigid, disdaining of change and fairly apocalyptic; in many cases racist and xenophobic.

Utopia: entered into our lexicon by Sir Thomas More (1516) in a book by the same name. Before that, humans used a similar words: heaven; nirvana, paradise. Benjamin Sisko used the term in an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in reference to Earth in the 24th Century. In his mind, there was no better picture of perfection*.

* Captain Sisko: I don't get much time to spend on Earth. And it is so pleasant here, with a Starfleet officer on every corner. Paradise has never seemed so well armed.

Star Trek is incredibly Utopian Science Fiction, the majority currently Dystopian have us as a species hanging on by our nails over a cliff festooned with deserts and cannibals that used to be our neighbors. Trek gave us warp drive, time scales we could live with to explore the stars and green exotic alien women for nerds to fantasize themselves with (as Captain James T. Kirk, of course).

We seem to reach for this perfection that we have no evidence of ever existing. Humanity is noble and cruel; wondrous and petty. We're both enamored with some past perfection that never was, and a future for which its Calculus is myriad, cloudy, or to put it in biblical terms: "in a mirror, darkly." That has never stopped the inane practice of end-of-the-world "predictions" that has a long track record of missed proclamations.

We thus map this desired perfection on our leaders; we give them a script they must parrot to comfort us and sooth our dissonance - cognitive and fearful - with empty rhetoric and faux flourish. Facts, reason or truth are all unnecessary.

Many have recently taken arms and sewed the seeds of sedition. In inner cities they are gangs; abroad terrorists and in bird sanctuaries: militants. Each expressing a kind of "aggrieved fundamentalism" (There were links too numerous popped up in a Google search. They could be applied to enlighten or insult; I chose not to do the latter.)

In this American election silly season, we are quaintly "looking for [a] Jesus" purity; an Avatar - when like humanity, democratic republics are simultaneously noble and cruel; wondrous and petty. Perhaps the most suitable definition for utopia need not lead us down a dark path of an undesirable Dystopian future, but summed up such that we no longer buy the snake oil sold by our politicians professing themselves as the "purist" of their respective bunches; taking responsibility for an ever-coming future in our hands we have yet to make, and realize our vaunted dreams of utopia for what they are, to:

"Nowhere place."

Fukushima Robot...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 21, 2016 at 6:19am

A previous incarnation on Geek.com, taken offline apparently.

Topics: Fukushima Daiichi, Robotics, Nuclear Power

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: When an earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011, causing a catastrophic meltdown and radiation leak, plans to use robots to perform much-needed repairs were quickly dashed. The environment simply proved too complex and unstable for any normal robot to venture into.

The Japan Times now reports that Toshiba, which manufactured the worst-hit reactor and is helping with the cleanup, has made a two-armed submersible robot that will float into reactor 3 to try to remove debris and retrieve some of the reactor’s fuel rods. The effort shows that, in contrast to all the fancy robots tested at the DARPA challenge, a simple, custom-made machine is sometimes the best solution for a given task.

Technology Review: The Underwater Robot That Will Repair Fukushima, Will Knight

Caveat Emptor...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 20, 2016 at 7:12am

Technology Review: Project Loon

Topics: Commentary, Economy, Futurism, Jobs, STEM

The expansion of Internet access is motivated largely by profit motives: i.e. the more consumers online, the more products sold, the Internet of Things, etc. I will say I don't think with Amazon Prime, Hulu and Netflix, cable television has much breath left in it. However, the unintended consequences of extended opportunity online seems to be the expansion of inequality, or the "Information Superhighway 2.0." This without the impact of net neutrality.

On page 18 of a very extensive report by the World Bank:

So, the internet can be an effective force for development. But as the Report documents, the benefits too often are not realized, and the internet sometime makes persistent problems worse. Why? The key insight is that for complex occupations, business activities, or public services, the internet usually can make only a portion of tasks cheaper, more efficient, or more convenient through automation. Another portion still requires capabilities that humans possess in abundance but computers do not. Many traditional tasks of an accountant or bank teller are now automated, such as making calculations or processing withdrawals. Others require complex reasoning or socioemotional skills, such as designing tax strategies or advising clients. Likewise, many public services involving provision of information or routine permissions can be automated. But others, such as teaching or policing, need a high degree of human discretion, tacit knowledge, and judgment.

Many problems and failures of the internet surface when digital technology is introduced but the important analog complements remain inadequate. What are these complements? The main ones are regulations that ensure a high degree of competition, skills that leverage technology, and institutions that are accountable (figure O.13).

• When the internet delivers scale economies for firms but the business environment inhibits competition, the outcome could be excessive concentration of market power and rise of monopolies, inhibiting future innovation.

• When the internet automates many tasks but workers do not possess the skills that technology augments, the outcome will be greater inequality, rather than greater efficiency.

• When the internet helps overcome information barriers that impede service delivery but governments remain unaccountable, the outcome will be greater control, rather than greater empowerment and inclusion.

I said so much in Luddites. There is a societal powder keg we've lit, and the fuse is burning.

Technology Review:
Sadly, the Internet Isn’t Making the World a Better Place, Will Knight
Who Will Own the Robots? David Rotman

Backseat Driver...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 19, 2016 at 7:02am

Image Source: Figure 4 System Overview in paper

Topics: Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Robotics

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: Buy a new car these days and the chances are that it will be fitted with an array of driver-assistance technologies. These can match the speed of a car ahead, manage lane changing safely, and even apply the brakes to help prevent a collision. So an interesting question is how much better these safety systems can become before the inevitable occurs and the car takes over completely.

Today we get a partial answer thanks to the work of Ashesh Jain at Cornell University and a few pals, who have developed a system that can predict a human driver’s next maneuver some three seconds before he or she makes it. This information, they say, can then be used to identify and prevent potential accidents.

The approach is straightforward in theory. Jain and co point out that a comprehensive knowledge of the driving environment, both inside and outside the car, can be used to make a pretty good guess at the driver’s immediate intentions. For example, drivers usually check the lanes next to them before making lane changes. So monitoring driver head movements helps predict whether the driver intends to change lanes in the next few seconds.

Physics arXiv:
Brain4Cars: Car That Knows Before You Do via Sensory-Fusion Deep Learning Architecture
Ashesh Jain, Hema S Koppula, Shane Soh, Bharad Raghavan, Avi Singh, Ashutosh Saxena

Plasmon Laser...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 18, 2016 at 6:50am

Schematic of the tunable terahertz laser, which is built upon a semiconductor substrate (thick grey slab). The salmon-pink region is the waveguide that is topped by a layer of gold and then graphene. The slits in the gold are shown as a red glow. The graphene is topped with an electrolyte (also shown in gold). (Courtesy: University of Manchester)

Topics: Graphene, Laser, Optical Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Semiconductor Technology

A new type of semiconductor laser has been created using the unique electronic properties of graphene. Designed in the UK by researchers at the University of Manchester, the prototype operates in the terahertz band and can be easily tuned to output radiation at specific wavelengths. The team says that its research could lead to the development of compact devices for a variety of different applications, from security scanning to medical imaging.

Coherent terahertz radiation can be created using quantum-cascade lasers, which were invented in 1994. These devices contain multiple quantum wells with energy bands that are split into subbands and minibands. When a bias voltage is applied to the laser, a periodic cascade of intersubband transitions is established. The population inversion necessary for terahertz lasing is then achieved through electrical injection.

Physics World: Plasmons call the tune in new graphene-based terahertz laser
Tim Wogan

Umbilical Cord...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 15, 2016 at 6:39am

NUNNOVATION: Renewable energy can help create jobs

Topics: Alternative Energy, Green Energy, Green Tech, Nuclear Fusion, Nuclear Power

Gas prices are falling ($1.95 in New York), and has nothing to do with the current president or any of the 43 previous. Prognostications of $6/gallon have been highly exaggerated.

However, there are more than a few financial posts regarding how lower prices at the pump are hurting, not helping the economy (albeit a biased opinion). There are obvious ties to war and retail grocery prices, for example. In a global economy where the manufacturing jobs of yesteryear have been outsourced to other countries, solar has outpaced coal in employees. Employment is a good way to stabilize a society.

It makes it quite obvious that as a species, we're not ready to let go of the umbilical cord to fossil fuels. Our economy is the numerator; dead dinosaurs its denominator. Old money has been created pretty much by Jed Clampett's "black gold"; "Texas tea."

There will sadly, be as legion a resistance to nuclear fusion once it is possible as there has been against solar power. I hope the decision of how we proceed centers on survival rather than "trickled-up" profits. Personifying the economy as a tree: If the trunk burns, usually the canopy will inexorably follow.

Investopedia: How Gas Prices Affect The Economy, Jean Folger
National Funding: How Gas Prices Affect Small Business and the Economy
Wall Street Journal: The Effects of Lower Oil Prices

Making Waves...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 14, 2016 at 7:45am

Topics: Einstein, General Relativity, Gravitational Waves

Rumors are rippling through the science world that physicists may have detected gravitational waves, a key element of Einstein's theory which if confirmed would be one of the biggest discoveries of our time.

There has been no announcement, no peer review or publication of the findings -- all typically important steps in the process of releasing reliable and verifiable scientific research.

Instead, a message on Twitter from an Arizona State University cosmologist, Lawrence Krauss, has sparked a firestorm of speculation and excitement.

LIGO: Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (MIT)
Space Daily: Gravitational wave rumors ripple through science world
Wired: Astrophysicists May Have Found Gravitational Waves. Or Not, Sarah Scoles

Entanglement Ion Trap...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 13, 2016 at 9:33pm

The ion trap used by Dave Wineland and colleagues at NIST to entangle two different kinds of ions. The gold-on-alumina trap can be seen in the oval window at the centre of the photograph. The oval window is about 2 cm across. (Courtesy: Blakestad/NIST)

Topics: NIST, Quantum Computer, Quantum Mechanics

Quantum entanglement has been created and measured between pairs of two different kinds of nuclei for the first time. Carried out by two independent research groups, the work is a key step towards the creation of ion-based quantum computers, in which different nuclei perform different functions. One of the groups is based at the University of Oxford in the UK and the other at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, Colorado.

Information in a quantum computer is stored and transmitted in quantum bits (qubits), which can be entities such as photons or ions. Qubits will quickly lose their quantum nature when in contact with the outside world, which is a challenge for those designing quantum computers. Individual qubits must interact with each other for a quantum calculation to proceed, and so cannot be completely isolated from the outside world.

Physics World: Physicists take entanglement beyond identical ions, Hamish Johnston

Phase V Hydrogen...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 12, 2016 at 9:50am

Planetary scientists think the interior of Jupiter is largely made of phase V hydrogen.
NASA Voyager

Topics: Astrophysics, Chemistry, Materials Science, Planetary Science

By crushing Earth's lightest element with mind-boggling pressures, scientists have revealed an entirely new state of matter: phase V hydrogen.

The squished hydrogen is a precursor to a state of matter first proposed in the 1930s, called atomic solid metallic hydrogen. When cooled to low enough temperatures, hydrogen (which on Earth is usually found as a gas) can become a solid; at high enough pressures, when the element solidifies, it turns into a metal. Planetary scientists think the interior of Jupiter is largely made of the stuff.

And so, in crushing hydrogen at such high pressures, the physicists also got a glimpse of the inner atmosphere of a gas giant, where pressures reach millions of (Earth) atmospheres. [Elementary, My Dear: 8 Elements You've Never Heard Of]

Scientific American: Strange New State of Hydrogen Created, Jesse Emspak, Live Science

CSI...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 11, 2016 at 6:47am

NIST chemist Tom Bruno, who invented a method for recovering trace chemicals such as environmental pollutants and forensic evidence, uses a portable version of the instrument to sample vapor inside an old paint can. The underlying technique is called PLOT-cryoadsorption, or PLOT-cryo - short for porous layer open tubular cryogenic adsorption.

Photo credit: Courtesy NIST/ Photo by Dave Neligh

Topics: Chemistry, Environment, Forensics, NIST, Research

A chemist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a portable version of his method for recovering trace chemicals such as environmental pollutants and forensic evidence including secret graves and arson fire debris.

If successfully commercialized by industry, the briefcase-sized kit could enable detectives, field inspectors and others to carry with them a convenient version of NIST’s “headspace analysis” technique, which identifies solid or liquid compounds based on the makeup of vapors released into nearby air.

The underlying technique is PLOT-cryoadsorption, or PLOT-cryo—short for porous layer open tubular cryogenic adsorption. PLOT-cryo is sensitive, quantitative and more broadly useful than many competing techniques. It can identify compounds that don’t readily evaporate and is not limited to samples dissolved in water, for example. The method recovers vapors by suction or by sweeping a gas across the air above a sample of interest. The laboratory version of the technique has been used to find traces of explosives, spoiled food, residues in arson debris and gravesoil.

NIST: Portable NIST Kit Can Recover Traces of Chemical Evidence, Laura Ost

Aliens Among Us...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 8, 2016 at 10:38am

See "into glass" link.

Topics: Biology, Planetary Science, SETI, Space, Space Exploration

Tardigrades are fascinating creatures. Not only are new species being found in Antarctica and Maine, they're near indestructible. The latest is when it really gets rough, they can turn themselves into glass. I think we'll find them on Mars and other planets in our own solar system. I think anything this adaptable and tough can live places WE can't! Most species have about 1% "foreign DNA," usually from ingestion of food stuffs and evolution: tardigrades have 17%.

I applaud the search for extraterrestrial intelligence and life on other worlds. I think with a simple microscope, we might have missed the obvious ones in front of us.

Two For One...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 7, 2016 at 7:03am

Image source: Space.com

Topics: Astronomy, NASA, Planetary Science, Space Exploration

On Friday (Jan. 8), the planet Venus will appear to pass close by Saturn, making this a rare opportunity to see two planets at the same time in a telescope's narrow field of view.

During the planetary encounter, Venus will appear to pass just 5 arc minutes north of Saturn. That means the distance between the two planets will appear to be a mere one-sixth of the diameter of the moon, small enough to fit in the eyepiece of a powerful telescope.

In a lifetime of observing the skies, I have seen such a close conjunction of two planets only two or three times. With the naked eye, even sharp-eyed observers will be hard pressed to separate the two points of light.

Space.com: Venus Shines Near Saturn in Dazzling Display This Weekend, Geoff Gaherty

Martian Concrete...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 6, 2016 at 7:12am

Figure 13 (paper): LDPM simulation typical crack propagation in (a) unconfined compression test and (b) splitting
(Brazilian) test

Topics: Civil Engineering, Mars, Materials Science, NASA, Planetary Science, Space Exploration

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: There is growing interest in the goal of sending humans to Mars. Various space agencies have begun to study the numerous problems such a mission would present, not least of which is protecting humans during the journey.

But once humans arrive on the red planet, they will require high quality buildings in which to live and work. They can take certain structures with them but this can only be a temporary solution. The first colonizers will quickly have to find a way to build structures using the planet’s own resources. But how?

Today we get an answer thanks to the work of Lin Wan and pals at Northwestern University. These guys have worked out how to make Martian concrete using materials that are widely available on Mars. And, crucially this concrete can be formed without using water, which will be a precious resource on the red planet.

The key material in a Martian construction boom will be sulphur, says the Northwestern team. The basic idea is to heat sulphur to about 240 °C so that it becomes liquid, mix it with Martian soil, which acts as an aggregate, and then let it cool. The sulphur solidifies, binding the aggregate and creating concrete. Voila—Martian concrete.

Physics arXiv:
A Novel Material for In Situ Construction on Mars: Experiments and Numerical Simulations
Lin Wan, Roman Wendner, Gianluca Cusatis

The Seventh Row...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 5, 2016 at 6:38am

Image source: Scientific American

Topics: Chemistry, Materiels Science, Periodic Table, Research, Science

Chemists and physicists have begun 2016 heavy with resolution—superheavy, in fact. Two days before 2015 came to end the guardians of the periodic table of the elements—the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry—announced that it was okay to add four new ones, filling out the seventh row. Atoms of each new element are packed with protons in their nuclei, giving the four atomic numbers of 113, 115, 117 and 118.

The permanent names of the new heavy foursome are as yet unknown. Right now they go by placeholders called ununtrium (113), ununpentium (115), ununseptium (117) and ununoctium (118).

Scientific American: 4 New Superheavy Elements Verified, Josh Fischman

Ig Nobel...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 4, 2016 at 7:01am

Topics: Diversity, Diversity in Science, Nobel Laureate, Nobel Prize, Women In Science

The Ig Nobel is an actual "thing." From their own description:

The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, and then THINK. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative — and spur people's interest in science, medicine, and technology.

Every September, in a gala ceremony in Harvard's Sanders Theatre, 1100 splendidly eccentric spectators watch the new winners step forward to accept their Prizes. These are physically handed out by genuinely bemused genuine Nobel Laureates.

CEREMONY: The 26th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony will happen on Thursday, September 22, 2016, at Sanders Theatre, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Tickets will go on sale in July.

It's mostly tongue-in-cheek obviously, but this article from Forbes caught my eye and reminded me of one I did in 2011 titled "Dark Matters" along the same vein.

The people I root for in the actual Nobel seem to never make it. Yet, in my and other's opinions, they're doing really great research and science that should be applauded, appreciated and lauded. Carl Sagan was so vilified when he was attempting to PROMOTE science via the original Cosmos - by other scientists - The Sagan Effect gives most caution and pause as to how much they'll enter the public sphere, if at all.

I've grown cynical, and not so sure that the Nobel Prize in its current format is the way to do so (I've given similar critique to the motion picture academy). It seems to me, the current format is contributing mostly to the old-boy system and "the big head."

The Nobel Prizes are not the final say in good science, and Nobel laureates are not necessarily the best scientists — much less the wisest human beings.

And like it or not, people listen to Nobel laureates when they speak, even when they are out of their areas of expertise. Sometimes the prize seems to go to the winners’ heads so much that they seem to lose it entirely. William Shockley, a co-discoverer of the transistor, and James Watson, who won the Nobel for discovering the structure of DNA, both used their reputations to promote very racist ideas. Most recently, Tim Hunt said some sexist and insulting things in front of a group of female Korean scientists — who had invited him to speak, no less.

One pointed excerpt by the author:

- Then there’s the bias toward European and American researchers, which is thankfully becoming less pronounced. However, historically it’s been a huge problem, and that’s not even including the antisemitism in the prize committee’s early years. No Nobel was given in 1921 to avoid awarding Albert Einstein. (He was grudgingly given the 1921 award the following year along with Niels Bohr’s 1922 prize, and even then antisemites fought his inclusion.) Racism in science is a very uncomfortable topic, but we need to face up to it, and the Nobel Prize hangs a lampshade on the extent we have yet to grapple with it.

Last year, we lauded Einstein for his contribution to the General Theory of Relativity; his coinciding birthday also as the nerdy "Pi day": 3/14/15, 9:25:53 am (3.141592553). This could all have been hidden and buried under a mound of antisemitism ignorance, not unlike the efforts in Texas to classify slaves as volunteer "workers," clearly in contradiction of their own publicly stated Articles of Secession, where variants of "slave" is mentioned over 20 times, as well as demonstrably faux denouncements of Africans.

I'm also inspired by Einstein's early stance on Civil Rights and friendship and activism with Paul Robeson. I think we unconsciously hold our Laureates to this standard, and are disappointed when they fall from Olympus; their Achilles heels quite evident.

We will fall as a nation and species under the weight of our own hubris.

Forbes: The Nobel Prize Is Bad And We Should Feel Bad, Matthew Francis

Backfire Effect...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 1, 2016 at 10:11am

From #P4TC post: ET and Prayer Cloths

Topics: Commentary, Philosophy, Politics, Research, Science, SETI, Space Exploration

As I've read, originally the "backfire effect" was applied to how professional women were treated in the workplace, negative to be sure. Lately, it's been applied to our political discourse - up is down; out is in; logic is illogical, and reason be damned.

Humans don't like being wrong, and facts only grind their heels into the cement foundation of their own biased certainty. No matter what, we retreat from reality to the comfortable; we reject data for the surety of our own preconceptions.

Becoming aliens

Neel V. Patel posited an interesting question in his post: "Will Humans Ever Build Starships?"

Think for a moment - if you're in the camp of aliens visiting our somehow special planet out of literally billions of others over several parsecs of options - what it would take?

1. First and foremost, as implied by the Drake Equation, such a civilization needs to survive its own hubris to travel, let alone communicate.

2. Crowd funding wouldn't do, this would be a global, expensive effort on any planet.

3. It would have to be a compelling reason: avoiding extinction, profit, water; to merely "seek out new life and new civilizations" alone wouldn't cut it.

4. Leaving whatever environment and life you've grown accustomed to as "home" for something likely utterly and completely different...alien. This would be a special breed of interstellar explorers indeed.

5. The unlikelihood of warp drive in the foreseeable future, such a 0.1-c trip would be one way in distance and time, else coming back to the home world, the astronauts would find via time dilation most of their former friends and family buried.

Lastly, the astronauts would have to have a means of evaluating new information, jettisoning old information once new data was known, in short steeped in the Scientific Method, something in our current climate of science denial/rejection we're not capable of just yet. A backfire effect even in low Earth orbit could prove suicidal to a crew, let alone a joint mission with a more senior intelligence.

If there are intelligent aliens out there, they are proving it...by ignoring us.

Bubble Pen Lithography...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on December 31, 2015 at 10:38am

Schematic illustration of the pattern-writing process using an optically controlled microbubble on a plasmonic substrate and the logo of “UT-AUSTIN” written with 60 nm polystyrene beads. Courtesy: M Yogeesh

Topics: Biology, Carbon Nanotubes, Medical Physics, Nanotechnology, Photonics, Semiconductor Technology

A new “bubble-pen” lithography technique can be used to pattern colloidal and biological particles on solid-state substrates according to researchers at the University of Texas at Austin. The technique, which works by using laser-controlled microbubbles to create the patterns, will find a wide range of applications in microelectronics, nanophotonics and nanomedicine.

Photolithography is one of the main techniques available today to make micro- and nano-scale components for semiconductor devices. However, the problem is that these methods have inherent disadvantages. “Far-field" optical lithography, for example, is limited by the so-called diffraction limit of light, which means that it is extremely difficult to create features smaller than several hundred nanometres across. Techniques based on "near-field" scanning optical microscopy can overcome the diffraction limit by bringing the light source very near to the surface, but they are low-throughput and can only scan small areas at a time. Electron-beam lithography, although able to produce much smaller features, is also limited by the choice of working materials and substrates that can survive exposure to an electron beam.

The new bubble-pen lithography technique invented by Yuebing Zheng's team in collaboration with Deji Akinwande's and Andrew Dunn's groups in Texas uses a single low-power laser beam to generate a microbubble at the interface of a colloidal suspension of nanoparticles and a plasmonic substrate containing a network of metallic nanoparticles that interact strongly with light via localized surface plasmons (collective oscillations of electrons on a metal's surface). These metal particles act as efficient optical nanoantennas and can focus light to wavelengths dramatically below the diffraction limit. The microbubble produced captures and immobilizes the colloidal particles on the substrate and by directing the laser beam to move the bubble, the researchers can create different patterns from the colloidal particles with varying sizes and architectures.

Nanotechweb: Bubble-pen lithography patterns nanodevices, Belle Dumé

Sufficient Verification...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on December 30, 2015 at 7:30am

Satellite imagery facilities at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s safeguards department. The IAEA will use imagery purchased from commercial satellite operators as part of its regime for verifying Iran’s compliance with the recent agreement to limit its nuclear activities.

DEAN CALMA/IAEA

Citation: Phys. Today 68, 12, 26 (2015); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.3014

Topics: Nuclear Physics, Nuclear Power, Politics

The International Atomic Energy Agency will use the latest surveillance technologies to ensure compliance.

As early as the end of this month, Iran says it will complete actions to dramatically scale back its nuclear program. Once those steps are completed and verified, the world’s declared nuclear weapons states and Germany, collectively known as the P5+1, are to begin lifting the crippling economic sanctions that were imposed on Iran beginning in 2006.

Experts are confident the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is sound. In a statement released in August, 77 nonproliferation specialists wrote, “The JCPOA is effectively verifiable. The agreement will put in place a multi-layered monitoring regime across Iran’s entire nuclear supply chain, including centrifuge manufacturing sites for 20 years, uranium mining and milling for 25 years, and continuous monitoring of a larger number of nuclear and nuclear-related sites.”

...3...2...1... counting down to the blowhards.

Fear is a lucrative business, and the Internet allows some to sound fairly legit with a URL and a few techno tricks in Dreamweaver. Playing footsies with Armageddon is an insane venture, with only one unpleasant end.

There is a general disdain for expertise and facts in an era where the louder one continues bloviating, the more likely you are to be taken at face value. Our media is more concerned with ratings than journalism; the ideals of "holding power accountable" sacrificed on the Baal altar of Nielsen.

I unfortunately, have used Isaac Asimov a lot lately.

Also sadly, our political establishment in collusion with the business of war, where "peace on Earth and good will to all men" must be counter to the business model. After all, profits go up in this country after every mass shooting, navel-gazing, hand-wringing nothing; the arsenal at ISIS/ISIL's disposal didn't just "drop out of the sky."

I wish the effort well as anyone sane should. "Duck and cover" should be a quaint part of our history of the previous century...not rediscovered.

Physics Today: Experts say Iran nuclear agreement is sufficiently verifiable
David Kramer

Sunset...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on December 30, 2015 at 7:28am

Light-based technologies wowed the crowds at Lightfest in Birmingham, UK, a celebration of light in science, art, technology and culture held in conjunction with IYL 2015. Visit Physics World Showcase: Light to see a video of the event and other light-themed videos.

Topics: Lasers, Optical Physics, Optics

The International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies (IYL 2015) will soon draw to a close, in a year that has seen thousands of events celebrating the science and applications of light in more than a 100 countries worldwide. Officially launched in January at the headquarters of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris, IYL 2015 has involved more than 100 partners from 85 countries – including the Institute of Physics, which publishes Physics World.

A range of international and national events have been held, touching on light in everything from archaeology and communications to medicine and the arts. The Light: Beyond the Bulb project, for example, has put the science of light into public settings around the world, such as parks, metro-stations, airports and libraries, while the Study after Sunset initiative promoted the use of solar-powered light-emitting-diode (LED) lanterns in parts of the world where there is little or no reliable source of light after dark. The iSPEX-EU campaign has used "citizen science" to measure air pollution with smartphones; while children, teachers, scientists and artists from more than 25 countries came together to write the "SkyLight" science opera.

Physics World: International Year of Light Draws to a Close, Michael Banks
#P4TC: International Year of Light