mardi 8 avril 2008

The Texas petawatt laser According to the University of Texas at Austin in a very short news release, the most powerful laser in the world fired up last week. The researchers said that this laser is 2,000 times more powerful than all power plants in the United States. But, as in previous experiments with powerful lasers, this power lasts only for a very short period of time, a 10th of a trillionth of a second in this case -- or 0.0000000000001 second. The physicists added that this laser 'is brighter than sunlight on the surface of the Sun.' They also said that is the only operating petawatt laser in the United States. But they forgot to say that a system installed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory broke the petawatt peak power barrier back in 1996. But read more... You can see above a diagram describing the optical design of the Texas petawatt laser. (Credit: University of Texas at Austin). Here is a link to a larger version of this diagram. This project has been led by Todd Ditmire, professor of physics and director of the Texas High Intensity Laser Science Group. You'll find more details by visiting the official site of the Texas Petawatt Laser. In particular, you'll find several pictures in this photo gallery. Now, how could be the usages for such a powerful laser? Here is the researchers' answer. "Ditmire and his colleagues at the Texas Center for High-Intensity Laser Science will use the laser to create and study matter at some of the most extreme conditions in the universe, including gases at temperatures greater than those in the sun and solids at pressures of many billions of atmospheres. This will allow them to explore many astronomical phenomena in miniature. They will create mini-supernovas, tabletop stars and very high-density plasmas that mimic exotic stellar objects known as brown dwarfs." I'm sure this petawatt laser will be useful for science. I just regret that the researchers did not mention the first petawat laser which achieved petawatt peak power on May 23, 1996 at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and which worked for three years before being decommissioned. For more information about this old project, you can read "Crossing the petawatt threshold," published in 1996, or "The amazing power of the petawatt," published in 2000. Sources: University of Texas at Austin news release, April 8, 2008; and various websites You'll find related stories by following the links below. Energy Optics Physics Science Technology 7:14:56 PM

mardi 14 août 2007

Exclusive images of Endeavour's damaged tiles Neptec Design Group, a Canadian company and a NASA prime contractor for 25 space missions, was kind enough to send me exclusive images of Endeavour's damaged tiles during its last take-off. So here are some of these pictures provided by Neptec. For more information, please read a recent interview with Iain Christie, the Neptec's president. Above is an excerpt from a Neptec video showing a damaged tile of the Endeavour shuttle. The image above shows a false color scan of the damaged area on Endeavour's thermal protection system produced by the Neptec's Laser Camera System (LCS). The two images above and below show the damages on Endeavour's thermal protection system. Finally, here is another image created by the Neptec's LCS and which was extracted from a video which is accessible here. [Disclaimer: I don't have any financial ties with Neptec, even if I've already written several times about what the company does for space exploration. Here are links to my previous posts.] Sources: Neptec, August 14, 2007 You'll find related stories by following the links below. Aerospace NASA Space Technology 11:36:51 PM

lundi 19 juin 2006

A Led Zeppelin robotic fan In a short article, RobotsDreams.com reports about MechaBonham, a Japanese musical robot based on the classic Kondo KHR-1 humanoid robot design. But even if the creators of this robot are fans of Led Zeppelin in general and of John Bonham, its drummer who died in 1980, in particular, MechaBonham, who can play guitar or piano, I doubt you will like to hear it everyday. Here is the introduction of this short post about this musical robot. MechaBonham made the trek to Tokyo last weekend for the KHR-1 Second Anniversary celebration, as a part of the Robo-Fighters group from the Osaka area. Many of the robots in the Robo-Fighters group are top rank ROBO-ONE competitors that have a well earned reputation for power and competitiveness in the ring. In contrast, MechaBonham is a very different, and at the same time very delightful, type of robot. When it comes time to fight, he prefers a tough game of "Rock, Paper, Scissors" or at least the Japanese version of the game. But, what he might lack in terms of pure strength or killer instinct is more than made up for by his musical abilities. Musical abilities? You'll be judge. At least, MechaBonham looks like a musician from the 70s. Below is a picture of MechaBonham playing guitar (Credit: SK-PANG). You can even hear the robot playing "When the saints go marchin in" -- at your own risk -- with its guitar by looking at this short video (QuickTime format, 18 seconds, 3.35 MB). But MechaBonham is a versatile musician and can also practice paiano as you can see below (Credit: SK-PANG). And again, you can hear this robot by watching this other video (QuickTime format, 36 seconds, 9.32 MB). And don't miss the video featured in the original article! After hearing MechaBonham, I'm sure you'll need to listen to some original Led Zeppelin songs... Sources: Robots-Dreams.com, June 15, 2006; and 'MechaBonham' web site You'll find related stories by following the links below. Engineering Innovation Music Robotics 5:43:27 PM

dimanche 30 janvier 2005

What's the date today? The answer is 2005-01-30 If you live in an English-speaking country, or if you're using an English-based software, chances are good that you're using "English" dates, and that today's date is displayed by default as 01/30/05 or 01/30/2005. On the contrary, in most areas of the world, the so-called "French" format will lead to something like 30/01/2005. Since 2003, the International Organization of Standardization wants us to use a single format worldwide. This ISO 8601 document, "Numeric representation of dates and time," has chosen the YYYY-MM-DD representation, going from left to right from the largest element to the smallest. So today is 2005-01-30. On this very serious topic, you also can read this funny article from the Toronto Star, "We can put a man on the moon but we can't agree on what the date is." Anyway, because of this incompatibility between different date notations, today is January 30, 2005 for me. The ISO document describes the problem. How can one avoid confusion when a date like 08/04/02 has at least six different interpretations around the world? A notation like 01/02/03 could mean 1 February 2003 or 2 January 2003 or 2 March 2001. Usually by deduction one can sort it out. Usually -- but sometimes, huge and costly confusions can arise. The problem is that all-numeric dates are not unambiguous and depend very much on local custom. That's usually OK within a country or region even if there are local inconsistencies between firms and administrations; but outside...? A simple nicety, you might say. Does this all matter? Well, it certainly does if you "misinterpreted" what was on that ticket. And if you multiply this type of unfortunate occurrence by millions, in business contexts as well as at the individual level, you can see that the compounded problem is something quite frightening. Before delivering its conclusions on the formats to use in the future, the ISO describes some apocalyptic consequences of today's situation. Think of the number of times that dates and times crop up in business dealings of all sorts, from insurance forms to travel agencies, from banks to tax forms. And there, huge stakes hang on dates, that can make the difference between winning a fortune... or losing it. Goods being traded internationally are relying on the right dates at each and every step -- and wrong dates often mean wrong deliveries or no deliveries at all! The Toronto Star looks at the same situation, but with a touch of irony. Here are some short quotes from this article dated 2003-01-23 (or January 23, 2005 if you prefer). In the United States and, increasingly Canada, today's date -- January 23, 2005 -- would be 01/23/2005, or 1/23/05 for short. In Europe, it would be 23/01/2005, a numerical version of 23 January 2005 or le 23 janvier 2005. Like a broken clock that shows the correct time twice a day, the two sides agree with one another 12 times a year -- January 1, February 2, March 3, and so on. That would be fine if the Americans only talked among themselves, but the world isn't like that. So when the American clan sends out invitations for a Feb. 12 family reunion in Florida, the European wing of the family won't bother showing up until December. They wouldn't be on speaking terms after that. Even for newspapers in Canada, things are not that simple, according to this example. On the masthead of its business section, the Globe and Mail uses the European format, while the Financial Post opts for the American model at the top of its stock listings. So, depending on which of those two papers you happen to glance at after reading this one, tomorrow will either be 24.01.05 or 01.24.05. (At least they agree on the dots.) So will you switch to the YYYY-MM-DD representation or will you stick to your current date formats? Sources: ISO 8601 document, 2003-01-30 (January 30, 2003); Kenneth Kidd, Toronto Star, January 23, 2005 Related stories can be found in the following categories. Economy Humor IT Management Software 6:25:10 PM

lundi 6 décembre 2004

Nanotech News Roundup #1 Here is a selection of articles about nanotechnologywhich appeared in the last two weeks. I might post such a collection on a bimonthly basis. Enjoy! Lasers drive nano locomotive A researcher from Texas A&M University and Fudan University in China has designed a laser-powered molecular locomotive that runs along a molecular track and can generate a pulling force ten times greater than that of kinesin, a biological molecular motor. A working prototype of the motor could be made within five years. The research work has been published by Physical Review E on September 15, 2004 under the name "Bioinspired laser-operated molecular locomotive." Here is a link to the abstract. Source: Technology Research News, November 17-24, 2004 'Self-cleaning' suits may be in your future Sending your favorite suit to the dry cleaners could one day become an infrequent practice. Researchers at Clemson University are developing a highly water-repellant coating made of silver nanoparticles that they say can be used to produce suits and other clothing items that offer superior resistance to dirt as well as water and require much less cleaning than conventional fabrics. Source: American Chemical Society, via EurekAlert!, November 22, 2004 Smallest 'test tube' scoops world record The world’s smallest test tube has been created by UK scientists. And the tiny structures could be used to produce materials with unique properties. A team with members from the University of Oxford and the University of Nottingham created minuscule test tubes which are in fact carbon nanotubes. They then filled each tube with fullerene oxide molecules which were coerced into polymerising in an ordered way as a result of the tube's shape. The research work will be published by the Chemical Communications journal under the name "Chemical reactions inside single-walled carbon nano test-tubes." Here is a link to the abstract. Source: Will Knight, New Scientist, November 23, 2004 Korean Scientists Make Nanotech Breakthrough A team of Korean scientists was successful in developing a revolutionary technology to mass produce nontoxic uniform nanoparticles, a must in various futuristic applications. It is the first time ever a technology for mass production of nontoxic uniform particles was developed although small-scale production technology has been tried outside Korea. Source: Kim Tae-gyu, The Korea Times, November 29, 2004 Short nanotubes carry big currents Researchers from Stanford University have developed a simple way to fabricate carbon nanotube devices whose length is as small as ten nanometers, and have shown that electricity can pass through the nanotubes very efficiently. The researchers found that 10-nanometer-long, two-nanometer wide carbon nanotubes with metallic properties were capable of carrying four times more current -- about 100 microamps -- than longer nanotubes, and 4,000 times more current by size than copper wire at room temperature. Source: Technology Research News, December 1-8, 2004 New microscope could focus nanotech dream The U.S. Department of Energy is enlisting partners to develop a microscope that can capture images of particles measuring a half an angstrom, or half the size of a hydrogen atom, a necessary step in the nanotechnology evolution. The $100 million project -- known as TEAM, or Transmission Electron Aberration-corrected Microscope--is being conducted at five national laboratories. The first TEAM microscope, which will be located at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif., is expected to become operational by 2007 or 2008. Source: Michael Kanellos, CNET News.com, December 1, 2004 Related stories can be found in the following categories. Materials Nanotechnology Science 8:44:49 PM

mercredi 22 septembre 2004

Cold Sugar Cloud Found in Space A cloud filled with simple molecules of sugar has been found 26,000 light-years away from us, near the middle of our Milky Way Galaxy. The 8-atom sugar molecules exist in a gas cloud named Sagittarius B2 at a temperature of only 8 degrees above absolute zero. Too far and too cold to bake your next cake! However, even if chemistry reactions on Earth and in this frigid sugar cloud are very different, astronomers think this "discovery suggests how the molecular building blocks necessary for the creation of life could first form in interstellar space." I'm not qualified to say if their claims are funded, but don't hesitate to tell me if they're right or wrong. Please read the original article for more astronomical details or just enjoy the illustrations below describing how prebiotic chemistry -- the formation of the molecular building blocks necessary for the creation of life -- occurs in interstellar clouds. This illustration shows how processes may produce complex molecules in cold interstellar space. (Credit: Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF) And this one shows that prebiotic chemistry -- the formation of the molecular building blocks necessary for the creation of life -- occurs in interstellar clouds long before that cloud collapses to form a new solar system with planets. (Credit: Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF) The above acronyms in the credits for the illustrations refer respectively to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, the Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Sources: SpaceRef.com, September 20, 2004; and various websites 8:32:18 PM

mercredi 11 août 2004

Howard Rheingold on 'new economic system' The online version of BusinessWeek carries a recent interview of Howard Rheingold, the author of Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution, about the "new economic system" he thinks it's emerging "from such seemingly disparate developments as Web logs, open-source software development, and Google." If you read the interview, you'll see that "Rheingold is worried that established companies could quash such nascent innovations as file-sharing." He also says that the Nokias and the HPs of our world should give prototypes of their gears to 15-year-olds to discover what these creative young people can do with them, instead on relying on marketing people. And if you haven't done it before, don't forget to visit the Smart Mobs Weblog and to read a previous interview of Rheingold about the US presidential election of 2004, "A Major Change in the Political Equation." Here are selected excerpts of what Rheingold says. The first one is about the way we are using Google or Amazon. Google is based on the emergent choices of people who link. Nobody is really thinking, "I'm now contributing to Google's page rank." What they're thinking is, "This link is something my readers would really be interested in." They're making an individual judgment that, in the aggregate, turns out to be a pretty good indicator of what's the best source. Then you look at Amazon and its recommendation system, getting users to provide free reviews, users sharing choices with their friends, users who make lists of products. They get a lot of free advice that turns out to be very useful in the aggregate. There's also Wikipedia [the online encyclopedia written by volunteers]. It has 500,000 articles in 50 languages at virtually no cost, vs. Encyclopedia Britannica spending millions of dollars and they have 50,000 articles Rheingold adds that these trends will produce a new economic system, but that lots of companies, especially in the media business, will resist changes. But if U.S. companies don't embrace disruptive technologies, other countries will do. BusinessWeek also asked him where these new trends will happen. We now have a world out there where billions of people have in their pockets technologies for innovation that far surpass what entire industries had just a couple decades ago. If you're talking about the communications industry, your innovation is happening with 15-year-old girls. That was where [Japanese cellular network provider NTT] DoCoMo won big. I think the total number of text messages sent is approaching 100 billion a month. Of course, the revenues on that are only a fraction of a cent each, but multiply a fraction of a cent by 100 billion, and it begins to add up to real money. You're seeing that now with the picturephones. People are not using them the way it was predicted. They're using them to share their days: Here's a picture of somebody's haircut. Here's a picture of somebody's melon. Look at this shoe in a store. It wasn't determined by an expensive R&D lab. It was determined in practice by young people who appropriate these devices in unexpected ways. There's nothing more inventive than a 15-year-old. I don't think that's going away. If I was a Nokia or a Hewlett-Packard, I would take a fraction of what I'm spending on those buildings full of expensive people and give out a whole bunch of prototypes to a whole bunch of 15-year-olds and have contracts with them where you can observe their behavior in an ethical way and enable them to suggest innovations, and give them some reasonable small reward for that. And once in a while, you're going to make a billion dollars off it. Here is the last exchange in this interview. Some folks in the U.S. are worried about the competition from overseas that comes from that dispersal of knowledge. We should have thought about it when we sold all those computers and chips overseas. These aren't just widgets. These are the building blocks of innovation. Do I need to add anything else? Source: Robert D. Hof, BusinessWeek Online, August 11, 2004 6:55:41 PM

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