This work, reported at the 53rd APS Division of Plasma Physics conference, could help overcome a significant challenge to designing tokamak-based fusion power plants. Enormous electrical current (up to many millions of amperes) is driven through a donut-shaped ring of plasma to contain this ionized gas at the extreme temperatures (100 million °C) required for [...]
Entries from November 29th, 2011
A better way to make ultraviolet light beams
November 29th, 2011 · 1 Comment · Physics
The researchers have optimized a type of optical resonator to take an infrared signal from relatively cheap telecommunication-compatible lasers and, using a low-power, nonlinear process, boost it to a higher-energy ultraviolet beam.”We optimized the structure to achieve high gain over a broad range of optical wavelengths,” Jarrahi said. “This allows us to make low-cost, wavelength-tunable [...]
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Ravens Gesture With Their Beaks to Point out Objects
November 29th, 2011 · 1 Comment · Biology
When we were still a baby, before we learn how to climb, how to walk, how to talk. The thing we learn first is gesture. Like you will see a baby “pointing” (“look here”) and “holding up of objects” (“take this”) But do u know except human, Raven also good at pointing things either. But they [...]
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The Guilty Coral Killers?
November 29th, 2011 · 2 Comments · Biology
Coral researchers and reef managers found out a new method that allows them to classify specific diseases based on the presence of microbes.”Current classification of coral diseases is mostly based on a description of how the coral has deteriorated, such as the pattern of tissue loss and abnormal colours,” says Joseph Pollock, a PhD student at the [...]
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Comet Crashes into Earth-like Planet
November 28th, 2011 · 1 Comment · Physics
A comet has crashed into a nearby terrestrial body and has left a cloud of debris. There is a star near this body, and it is called Eta Corvi, Eta Corvi is sixty light-years away from Earth and is in the constellation Corvus. The dust that the comet left appears in approximately 1% of stars, [...]
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2D + Light = 3D
November 28th, 2011 · 2 Comments · Physics
Researchers at the North Carolina State University have developed a unique way to convert 2D figures into 3D figures without even touching them. Pre-stressed plastic is run through a ink jet printer to create bold black lines. These lines would be at the edges of a 3D figure. The figure is then placed under an infrared light, such as a heat [...]
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Rudolph the Red-Nosed Caribou
November 27th, 2011 · 1 Comment · Biology
In the northern regions of Europe, caribou are called reindeer. When the snow starts to fall the caribou move south, to look for more sheltered areas for them to feed. These animals dig for food by using their large hooves. Caribou are also the only animals that both male and females can both grow antlers. The caribou [...]
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A Tiny Flame Shines Light On Supernovae Explosions
November 27th, 2011 · 1 Comment · Physics
“Type Ia supernovae form when a white dwarf star – the left-over cinder of a star like our Sun – accumulates so much mass from a companion star that it reignites its collapsed stellar furnace and detonates, briefly outshining all other stars in its host galaxy. These stellar explosions have brightness that astronomers use to calculate [...]
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NASA Launches Super-Size Rover To Mars
November 27th, 2011 · 2 Comments · Physics
“The world’s biggest extraterrestrial explorer, NASA’s Curiosity rover, rocketed toward Mars on Saturday on a search for evidence that the red planet might once have been home to itsy-bitsy life.” It is predicted to take 8 1/2 months for Curiosity to reach Mars following a journey of 354 million miles. An Atlas V rocket hoisted [...]
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What’s an Exoring?
November 25th, 2011 · 1 Comment · Physics
Rings around distant planets are needed to block the most light as possible. It means that they would have to be viewed face on, instead of edge on. According to Schlichting and Chang’s study, they demonstrated that it is quite possible that the rings will be significantly warped because of gravitational interactions with the star. [...]
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