Invisibility Cloak Made of Glass
“From Tolkien’s ring of power in The Lord of the Rings to Star Trek’s Romulans, who could make their warships disappear from view, from Harry Potter’s magical cloak to the garment that makes players vanish in the video game classic Dungeons and Dragons, the power to turn someone or something invisible has fascinated mankind. But who ever thought that a scientist at Michigan Technological University would be serious about building a working invisibility cloak?
That’s exactly what Elena Semouchkina, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Michigan Tech, is doing. She has found ways to use magnetic resonance to capture rays of visible light and route them around objects, rendering those objects invisible to the human eye.
Semouchkina and colleagues at the Pennsylvania State University, where she is also an adjunct professor, recently reported on their research in the journal Applied Physics Letters, published by the American Institute of Physics. Her co-authors were Douglas Werner and Carlo Pantano of Penn State and George Semouchkin, who works at Michigan Tech and Penn State.
They describe developing a nonmetallic cloak that uses identical glass resonators made of chalcogenide glass, a type of dielectric material (one that does not conduct electricity). In computer simulations, the cloak made objects hit by infrared waves—approximately one micron or one-millionth of a meter long—disappear from view.
Earlier attempts by other researchers used metal rings and wires. “Ours is the first to do the cloaking of cylindrical objects with glass,” Semouchkina said.”
Read more at Physorg (Thanks @moonylein)
Aircraft runs on algae biofuel
“EADS demonstrated the flight of an aircraft powered by biofuel made from algae at the Farnborough Airshow yesterday.
One of the two Austro Engine AE300 engines of the EADS demonstrator Diamond Aircraft DA42 New Generation was powered by specially grown and refined algae biofuel. The other was fuelled by normal diesel.
According to EADS, the aircraft has, as of now, been only certified by European aviation officials to fly with one engine powered by biofuel.
Jean Botti, chief technical officer of EADS, said the use of algae biofuel made the aircraft 10 per cent more efficient and fuel consumption was 1.5 litres per hour lower when compared to conventional JET-A1 fuel.
‘Algaes have more energy content than the equivalent diesel fuel,’ he explained.”
Read more at The Engineer (Thanks @soulmate02)
We’re happier when busy but our instinct is for idleness
“Forced to wait for fifteen minutes at the airport luggage carousel leaves many of us miserable and irritated. Yet if we’d spent the same waiting time walking to the carousel we’d be far happier. That’s according to Christopher Hsee and colleagues, who say we’re happier when busy but that unfortunately our instinct is for idleness. Unless we have a reason for being active we choose to do nothing – an evolutionary vestige that ensures we conserve energy.
Consider Hsee’s first study. His team offered 98 students a choice between delivering a completed questionnaire to a location that was a 15-minute round-trip walk away, or delivering it just outside the room and then waiting 15 minutes. A twist was that either the same or different types of chocolate snack bar were offered as a reward at the two locations.
If the same snack bar was offered at both locations then the majority (68 per cent) of students chose the lazy option, delivering the questionnaire just outside the room. By contrast, if a different (black vs. white) bar was offered at each location then the majority (59 per cent) chose the far away ‘busy’ option. This was the case even though earlier research showed both snack bar options were equally appealing, and even though the location of the two snack bar types was counterbalanced across participants. In other words, Hsee said, the students’ instinct was for idleness, but when they were given a specious excuse for walking further, most of them took the busy option. Crucially, when asked afterwards, the students who’d taken the walk reported feeling significantly happier than the idle students, consistent with Hsee’s theory that we’re happier when busy (a repeat of the study in which students were allocated without choice to the idle or busy condition led to the same outcome – the busier students felt happier).”
Read more at BPS Research Digest (Thanks @moonylein)
Pope To Be Protected From Arrest On UK Visit
“The Government has moved to prevent the possibility of an arrest warrant being issued against the Pope during his state visit this autumn.
Sky News understands that Whitehall officials have been “seriously concerned” that campaigners would use international criminal rules to try to detain the Pontiff while he is in the UK. Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC were among those campaigners reported to be looking at the options for bringing a private prosecution in relation to the Pope’s alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
Now Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has proposed changes to the rules on universal jurisdiction, a law that allows individuals to be prosecuted in the UK for serious offences such as war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture even if they were carried out abroad. The plans would mean the Director of Public Prosecutions would need to give his consent to any arrest warrant issued under universal jurisdiction. This would effectively mean taking that power out of the hands of the courts.
Ministers say the current rules are open to abuse because the evidence required to get a warrant is far below the threshold that would be needed to bring a prosecution. This has meant the rules are often used by those who wish to make a political statement or to cause embarrassment.”
Read more at Sky News (Thanks Tracey)
Scientific evidence of poltergeist knocking?
I’ll just start by reminding everyone that the posts on this blog do not always represent our views, and they are just for good healthy discussion!
“Has science finally established a paranormal effect?
Paranormal rappings associated with apparent poltergeist activity have been described for many hundreds of years. It is only now that an interesting pattern has been discovered within the fine detail of the paranormal rapping sounds. No explanation can be found for this pattern at present.
The current edition of the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), a learned publication dating back to 1882, carries an article by scientist Dr Barrie Colvin B.Sc., Ph.D., showing instrumental evidence for an inexplicable and objective banging sound detected in recordings made during alleged poltergeist activity.
Whereas raps and knocking sounds produced by ordinary means exhibit a normal acoustic pattern, those recorded in alleged poltergeist cases show quite a different sound signature.”
Read more at Society for Psychical Research (Thanks Tracey)
Teens get high off digital drugs?
“Forget about bongs, mirrors and crack pipes. Kids are getting high using headphones. Certain MP3 music downloads available online supposedly induce a state of ecstasy.
This new practice is called i-Dosing and requires a pair of headphones and something to play music. Proponents of i-Dosing say the ecstatic feeling listeners supposedly feel is caused by the binaural beat effect.
This effect is the result of two slightly different audio waves being heard separately by the left and right ear. The two tones played at slightly different frequencies makes the listener think they are hearing a quick beat.
YouTube is littered with videos that include these audio files, and even more reaction videos of teenagers freaking out after getting an i-Dose.
I was pretty skeptical about the whole idea of getting high with an audio file, so in the name of science and journalism, I decided to give it a try. I didn’t pay to download an i-Dose, because there are plenty of videos on YouTube, and I didn’t want to fill out an expense report for Discovery News asking for a four dollar reimbursement so I could get high.”
Read more at Discovery (Thanks @sonofsam83)
Poker Face Busted? Our Eye Position Betrays the Numbers We Have in Mind
“It will be harder to lie about your age or your poker hand after new research by the University of Melbourne, Australia has revealed that our eye position betrays the numbers we are thinking about.
In the study, participants were asked to state a series of random numbers. By measuring their vertical and horizontal eye position, researchers were able to predict with reliable confidence the next chosen number — before it was spoken. Specifically, a leftward and downward change in eye position announced that the next number would be smaller than the last. Correspondingly, if the eyes changed position to the right and upward, it forecast that the next number would be larger. The degree of eye movement reflected the size of the numerical shift.
The paper was published online in the journal Current Biology. First author, Dr Tobias Loetscher of the University of Melbourne’s School of Behavioural Sciences and previously of the Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland says the research demonstrates how the eyes and their position give insight into the nature of the systematic choices made by the brain’s random number generator.”
Read more at Science Daily (Thanks Aaron H)
A headset that reads your brainwaves
Tan Le’s astonishing new computer interface reads its user’s brainwaves, making it possible to control virtual objects, and even physical electronics, with mere thoughts (and a little concentration). She demos the headset, and talks about its far-reaching applications. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2010, July 2010 in Oxford, UK. Duration: 10:38)
Via TED Blog
Virtual Universe Study Proves 80-Year-Old Theory On How Humans Interact
“A new study analysing interactions between players in a virtual universe game has for the first time provided large-scale evidence to prove an 80 year old psychological theory called Structural Balance Theory. The research, published in PNAS, shows that individuals tend to avoid stress-causing relationships when they develop a society, resulting in more stable social networks.
This study, carried out at Imperial College London, the Medical University of Vienna and the Santa Fe Institute, analyses relationships between 300,000 players in an online game called Pardus. In this open-ended game, players act as spacecraft exploring a virtual universe, where they can make friends and enemies, and communicate, trade and fight with one another.
Scientists currently study data from people’s electronic interactions, such as emails, mobile phones and online retail behaviour, to improve our understanding of human societies. Online games such as Pardus produce vast amounts of data that scientists can also use to study interactions between players, applying their findings to understanding the way that people interact in society.
Structural Balance Theory is an 80 year old psychological theory that suggests some networks of relationships are more stable than others in a society. Specifically, the theory deals with positive and negative links between three individuals, where ‘the friend of my enemy is my enemy’ is more stable (and therefore more common) than ‘the friend of my friend is my enemy’.”
Read more at Medical News Today (Thanks @scratchndsniff)
Discovered: Indian spice reduces Alzheimer’s symptoms by 30%
“Despite millions spent on drug research and development, one of the more promising treatments for Alzheimer’s disease (a progressive brain disorder that affects more than 5 million Americans) is found in a substance widely known for its ability to spice (and color) food.
The compound curcumin, only found in turmeric, is a widely used spice found in Indian food, and is also popular in the cuisines of other South Asian countries like Nepal, Iran and Thailand. The bright yellow spice is familiar to fans of curry dishes, but it has been used in other preparations as well. For centuries, it has been used in Asian medicine.
Like other brightly colored foods (think blueberries, pomegranates and tomatoes), it is the compound that gives turmeric its color that makes it a powerful antioxidant — in this case, curcumin. And like the lycopene in tomatoes and the beta-carotene in carrots, bright orange-yellow curcumin has some seriously amazing health benefits. Curcumin has been found in clinical studies Preliminary clinical studies show curcumin helps reduce beta amyloid plaque in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s (and prevent plaque buildup in people who don’t have the disease).
This plaque is the key to understanding — and preventing — the disease. As the NY Times recently reported.”
Read more at MNN
NOTE: This article is being continually updated by the source due to inaccuracies. Read Gareth Jameson’s comments below for some more information.
