The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
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Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
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UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld Ontdek de Fascinerende Wereld van UFO's en UAP's: Jouw Bron voor Onthullende Informatie!
Ben jij ook gefascineerd door het onbekende? Wil je meer weten over UFO's en UAP's, niet alleen in België, maar over de hele wereld? Dan ben je op de juiste plek!
België: Het Kloppend Hart van UFO-onderzoek
In België is BUFON (Belgisch UFO-Netwerk) dé autoriteit op het gebied van UFO-onderzoek. Voor betrouwbare en objectieve informatie over deze intrigerende fenomenen, bezoek je zeker onze Facebook-pagina en deze blog. Maar dat is nog niet alles! Ontdek ook het Belgisch UFO-meldpunt en Caelestia, twee organisaties die diepgaand onderzoek verrichten, al zijn ze soms kritisch of sceptisch.
Nederland: Een Schat aan Informatie
Voor onze Nederlandse buren is er de schitterende website www.ufowijzer.nl, beheerd door Paul Harmans. Deze site biedt een schat aan informatie en artikelen die je niet wilt missen!
Internationaal: MUFON - De Wereldwijde Autoriteit
Neem ook een kijkje bij MUFON (Mutual UFO Network Inc.), een gerenommeerde Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in de VS en wereldwijd. MUFON is toegewijd aan de wetenschappelijke en analytische studie van het UFO-fenomeen, en hun maandelijkse tijdschrift, The MUFON UFO-Journal, is een must-read voor elke UFO-enthousiasteling. Bezoek hun website op www.mufon.com voor meer informatie.
Samenwerking en Toekomstvisie
Sinds 1 februari 2020 is Pieter niet alleen ex-president van BUFON, maar ook de voormalige nationale directeur van MUFON in Vlaanderen en Nederland. Dit creëert een sterke samenwerking met de Franse MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP, wat ons in staat stelt om nog meer waardevolle inzichten te delen.
Let op: Nepprofielen en Nieuwe Groeperingen
Pas op voor een nieuwe groepering die zich ook BUFON noemt, maar geen enkele connectie heeft met onze gevestigde organisatie. Hoewel zij de naam geregistreerd hebben, kunnen ze het rijke verleden en de expertise van onze groep niet evenaren. We wensen hen veel succes, maar we blijven de autoriteit in UFO-onderzoek!
Blijf Op De Hoogte!
Wil jij de laatste nieuwtjes over UFO's, ruimtevaart, archeologie, en meer? Volg ons dan en duik samen met ons in de fascinerende wereld van het onbekende! Sluit je aan bij de gemeenschap van nieuwsgierige geesten die net als jij verlangen naar antwoorden en avonturen in de sterren!
Heb je vragen of wil je meer weten? Aarzel dan niet om contact met ons op te nemen! Samen ontrafelen we het mysterie van de lucht en daarbuiten.
17-04-2022
Nano diamond batteries could last thousands of years
Nano diamond batteries could last thousands of years
Utilizing nuclear waste converted to diamonds, this company's batteries will reportedly last thousands of years in some cases.
Nuclear reactor parts converted to radioactive carbon-14 diamonds produce energy.
To keep them safe, the carbon-14 diamonds are encased in a second protective diamond layer.
The company predicts batteries for personal devices could last about nine years.
We have an insatiable need for energy. When we need to operate something that cannot be simply plugged in, power is going to have to come from a battery, and the battle for a better battery is being fought in labs all over the world. Hold that thought for a moment.
Nuclear waste — it’s the radioactive detritus from nuclear power plants that no one wants stored near their homes or even transported through their towns. The nasty stuff is toxic, dangerous, it takes thousands of years to fully degrade, and we keep making more of it.
Now a company from California, NDB, believes it can solve both of these problems. They say they’ve developed a self-powered battery made from nuclear waste that can last 28,000 years, perfect for your future electric vehicle or iPhone 1.6 x 104. Producing its own charge—rather than storing energy created elsewhere—the battery is made from two types of nano-diamonds, rendering it essentially crash-proof if used in cars or other moving objects. The company also says its battery is safe, emitting less radiation than the human body.
NDB has already completed a proof of concept and plans to build its first commercial prototype once its labs have resumed operations post-COVID.
NDB’s battery as it might look as a circuit-board component
The nuclear waste from which NDB plans to make it batteries are reactor parts that have become radioactive due to exposure to nuclear-plant fuel rods. While not considered high-grade nuclear waste—that would be spent fuel—it’s still very toxic, and there’s a lot of it in a nuclear generator. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the “core of a typical graphite moderated reactor may contain 2000 tonnes of graphite.” (A tonne is one metric ton, or about 2,205 lbs.)
The graphite contains the carbon-14 radioisotope, the same radioisotope used by archaeologists for carbon dating. It has a half-life of 5,730 years, eventually transmuting into nitrogen 14, an anti-neutrino, and a beta decay electron, whose charge piqued NDB’s interest as a potential means of producing electricity.
NDB purifies the graphite and then turns it into tiny diamonds. Building on existing technology, the company says they’ve designed their little carbon-14 diamonds to produce a significant amount of power. The diamonds also act as a semiconductor for collecting energy, and as a heat sink that disperses it. They’re still radioactive, though, so NDB encases the tiny nuclear power plants within other inexpensive, non-radioactive carbon-12 diamonds. These glittery lab-made shells serve as, well, diamond-hard protection at the same time as they contain the carbon-14 diamonds’ radiation.
NDA plans to build batteries in a range of standard—AA, AAA, 18650, and 2170—and custom sizes containing several stacked diamond layers together with a small circuit board and a supercapacitor for collecting, storing, and discharging energy. The end result is a battery, the company says, that will last a very long time.
NDB predicts that if a battery is used in a low-power context, say, as a satellite sensor, it could last 28,000 years. As a vehicle battery, they anticipate a useful life of 90 years, much longer than any single vehicle will last—the company anticipates that one battery could conceivably provide power for one set of wheels after another. For consumer electronics such as phones and tablets, the company expects about nine years of use for a battery.
“Think of it in an iPhone,” NDB’s Neel Naicker tells New Atlas. “With the same size battery, it would charge your battery from zero to full, five times an hour. Imagine that. Imagine a world where you wouldn’t have to charge your battery at all for the day. Now imagine for the week, for the month… How about for decades? That’s what we’re able to do with this technology.”
NDB anticipates having a low-power commercial version on the market in a couple of years, followed by a high-powered version in about five. If all goes as planned, NDB’s technology could constitute a major step forward, providing low-cost, long-term energy to the world’s electronics and vehicles. The company says, “We can start at the nanoscale and go up to power satellites, locomotives.”
The company also expects their batteries to be competitively priced compared to current batteries, including lithium ion, and maybe even cheaper once they’re being produced at scale—owners of nuclear waste may even pay the company to take their toxic problem off their hands.
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15-04-2022
Shock result in particle experiment could spark physics revolution
Shock result in particle experiment could spark physics revolution
By Pallab Ghosh - Science correspondent
IMAGE SOURCE,FERMILAB
Image caption,
The Fermilab Collider Detector obtained a result that could transform the current theory of physics
Scientists just outside Chicago have found that the mass of a sub-atomic particle is not what it should be.
The measurement is the first conclusive experimental result that is at odds with one of the most important and successful theories of modern physics.
The team has found that the particle, known as a W boson, is more massive than the theories predicted.
The result has been described as "shocking" by Prof David Toback, who is the project co-spokesperson.
The discovery could lead to the development of a new, more complete theory of how the Universe works.
"If the results are verified by other experiments, the world is going to look different." he told BBC News. "There has to be a paradigm shift. The hope is that maybe this result is going to be the one that breaks the dam.
"The famous astronomer Carl Sagan said 'extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence'. We believe we have that."
The scientists at the Fermilab Collider Detector (CDF) in Illinois have found only a tiny difference in the mass of the W Boson compared with what the theory says it should be - just 0.1%. But if confirmed by other experiments, the implications are enormous. The so-called Standard Model of particle physics has predicted the behaviour and properties of sub-atomic particles with no discrepancies whatsoever for fifty years. Until now.
CDF's other co-spokesperson, Prof Giorgio Chiarelli, from INFN Sezione di Pisa, told BBC News that the research team could scarcely believe their eyes when they saw the results.
"No-one was expecting this. We thought maybe we got something wrong." But the researchers have painstakingly gone through their results and tried to look for errors. They found none.
The result, published in the journal Science, could be related to hints from other experiments at Fermilab and the Large Hadron Collider at the Swiss-French border. These, as yet unconfirmed results, also suggest deviations from the Standard Model, possibly as a result of an as yet undiscovered fifth force of nature at play.
Scientists say they have found "strong evidence" for the existence of a new force of nature
Physicists have known for some time that the theory needs to be updated. It can't explain the presence of invisible material in space, called Dark Matter, nor the continued accelerating expansion of the Universe by a force called Dark Energy. Nor can it explain gravity.
Dr Mitesh Patel of Imperial College, who works at the LHC, believes that if the Fermilab result is confirmed, it could be the first of many new results that could herald the biggest shift in our understanding of the Universe since Einstein's theories of relativity more than a hundred years ago.
"The hope is that these cracks will turn into chasms and eventually we will see some spectacular signature that not only confirms that the Standard Model has broken down as a description of nature, but also give us a new direction to help us understand what we are seeing and what the new physics theory looks like.
"If this holds, there have to be new particles and new forces to explain how to make these data consistent".
IMAGE SOURCE,FERMILAB
Image caption,
Based on a 2,700-hectare site near Chicago, Fermilab is America's premier particle physics lab
But the excitement in the physics community is tempered with a loud note of caution. Although the Fermilab result is the most accurate measurement of the mass of the W boson to date, it is at odds with two of the next most accurate measurements from two separate experiments which are in line with the Standard Model.
"This will ruffle some feathers", says Prof Ben Allanach, a theoretical physicist at Cambridge University.
"We need to know what is going on with the measurement. The fact that we have two other experiments that agree with each other and the Standard Model and strongly disagree with this experiment is worrying to me".
IMAGE SOURCE,CERN
All eyes are now on the Large Hadron Collider which is due to restart its experiments after a three-year upgrade. The hope is that these will provide the results which will lay the foundations for a new more complete theory of physics.
"Most scientists will be a little bit cautious," says Dr Patel.
"We've been here before and been disappointed, but we are all secretly hoping that this is really it, and that in our lifetime we might see the kind of transformation that we have read about in history books."
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13-04-2022
CYBERTRUCK PROTOTYPE MOCKED FOR LOOKING EXTREMELY JANKY
CYBERTRUCK PROTOTYPE MOCKED FOR LOOKING EXTREMELY JANKY
WHY WOULD THEY CHOOSE TO SHOW THIS OFF TO THE PUBLIC?
CYBER OWNERS
Afterthought
All eyes were on Tesla late last week.
After hyping up the company’s brand new factory in Texas, Musk took some time on stage to show off the latest prototype of his company’s brutalist Cybertruck.
But after years of delays, Tesla still doesn’t have an awful lot to show off — and the prototype displayed last week leaves a lot to be desired.
Unfinished
Sure, from a distance, it looked like a Cybertruck. But attendees of the “Cyber Rodeo” event got a much closer look as well.
And up close, the prototype looked downright bad, almost like an afterthought, as seen in footage uploaded to YouTube by Cyber Owners.
We’re not talking just panel gaps here, as has been customary for the brand in the past. The prototype looks unfinished, as if Tesla was caught off guard by the gigantic party it was hosting.
The doors aren’t even the same color as the rest of the vehicle.
“Everything is bowed, bent at strange angles, leaving room for massive panel gaps,” Jalopnik‘s keen-eyed Steve DaSilva wrote. “Hopefully they don’t leak.”
Where’s My Truck?
None of that is exactly reassuring, considering that the Cybertruck has already been delayed a number of times.
At the event, Musk revealed that the vehicle is now slated to go into production next year, a middling consolation prize for those who preordered their trucks well over two years ago.
The company’s latest showing doesn’t instill any more confidence — we still have yet to see a production ready version of Musk’s passion project, despite the CEO’s many promises.
Falcon Solar-powered aircraft capable of solar flight with zero emission. Credit: Lasky Design
As the need for energy rises with the improving technology and the rising population, companies are coming up with the most efficient solutions that promise to meet the world’s energy demand. We already have seen a few examples, such as solar-powered cars and buildings covered with solar panels.
László Németh, a designer at Lasky Design, has developed a solar-powered aircraft concept capable of solar flight with zero-emission thanks to its large wing area. Named Falcon Solar, the concept design breaks with conventional aircraft design and uses the advantage of flying wings.
It features a low and elongated cockpit and pointed tail. Credit: Lasky Design
Nature has long provided engineers and designers with good ideas. Inspired by the body of the birds of prey, the streamlined concept features two large wings that curve upwards in a very harmonious way, a low and elongated cockpit, and a pointed tail.
The shape is unique in that the fuselage also generates significant lift while providing a surface for the solar panels. It doesn’t seem to have rudders to stabilizers, and its cabin also seems very compact. So, it’s difficult to say how Falcon Solar would function in the real world.
The fuselage provides a large area for solar panels in addition to the massive wings. Credit: Lasky Design
The Falcon Solar is designed as a passenger aircraft with the goal of making air travel more efficient and less expensive. Referring to the difficulties of flying on a cloudy day or at night, which would prevent the solar panels from generating power, Németh stressed that climbing to higher altitudes could help overcome these problems.
Though just an idea, for now, the designer hopes his bold and innovative concept can inspire the aviation industry to develop new and more efficient aircraft.
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06-04-2022
Scientists Start Construction of World’s Largest Fusion Reactor
Scientists Start Construction of World’s Largest Fusion Reactor
"Enabling the exclusive use of clean energy will be a miracle for our planet."
Image by INTER
Today, engineers started construction of the world’s largest nuclear fusion project in southern France, The Guardian reports, with operations planned to begin in late 2025.
The project, called ITER, is an international collaborative effort between 35 countries with enormous ambitions: prove the feasibility of fusion energy with a gigantic magnetic device called a “tokamak,” as per the project’s official website.
“Enabling the exclusive use of clean energy will be a miracle for our planet,” ITER director-general Bernard Bigot said during today’s virtual celebration, as quoted by The Guardian.
Fusion power, in theory, works by harnessing the energy released by two lighter atomic nuclei fusing to form a heavier nucleus, and turning it into electricity.
If proven to be economical — that is, if the machine generates more energy than has to be put in to kickstart the process — the technology could lay the groundwork for an entirely new way of generating nearly unlimited clean energy on a commercial scale. Fusion power would be far safer than conventional fission nuclear energy, since there’s no risk of a meltdown or leftover nuclear waste.
But if the last six decades of fusion research are anything to go by, it remains an elusive way of generating net energy. The extremely hot plasma inside the fusion reactors is notoriously difficult to predict and control.
That’ll make ITER an extremely complex build. Its final reactor will weigh 23,000 tons, including 3,000 tons of superconducting magnets connected to each other by 200 kilometers of superconducting cables, all of which have to be kept cryo-cooled down to -269 degrees Celsius, as The Guardian reports.
“Constructing the machine piece-by-piece will be like assembling a three-dimensional puzzle on an intricate timeline [and] with the precision of a Swiss watch,” Bigot added.
The team behind the ITER project is optimistic about the tests they’ll be able to carry out using the massive reactor. By producing self-heating plasma, the team is expecting to generate ten times the heat than the input amount. In other words, the team wants to generate 500 megawatts — just shy of the output of the smallest currently active American nuclear power plant — from an input of just 50 megawatts.
ITER may be a massive international effort to make fusion energy a reality, but it’s not the only one. A large number of fusion startups in the US and abroad are trying to turn it into a commercially viable source of energy as well.
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SCIENTISTS INVENT “PROFOUND” QUANTUM SENSOR THAT CAN PEER INTO THE EARTH
SCIENTISTS INVENT “PROFOUND” QUANTUM SENSOR THAT CAN PEER INTO THE EARTH
"THIS IS AN ‘EDISON MOMENT' IN SENSING THAT WILL TRANSFORM SOCIETY."
GETTY/FUTURISM
Gravitational
A major breakthrough in quantum sensing technology is being described as an “Edison moment” that could, scientists hope, have wide-reaching implications.
A new study in Nature describes one of the first practical applications of quantum sensing, a heretofore largely theoretical technology that marries quantum physics and the study of Earth’s gravity to peer into the ground below our feet — and the scientists involved in this research think it’s going to be huge.
Known as a quantum gravity gradiometer, this new sensor developed by the University of Birmingham under contract with the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense is the first time such a technology has been used outside of a lab. Scientists say it’ll allow them to explore complex underground substructures much more cheaply and efficiently than before.
While gravity sensors already exist, the difference between the traditional equipment and this quantum-powered sensor is huge because, as Physics World explains, the old tech takes a long time to detect changes in gravity, has to be recalibrated over time, and can be thrown off by any vibrations that occur nearby.
This new type of highly sensitive quantum sensor, on the other hand, is able to measure the minute changes in gravity fields from objects of different sizes and compositions that exist underground — such as human-made structures buried by the eons, tantalizingly — much faster and more accurately.
Hitting Gold
In a press blurb, the University of Birmingham’s Kai Bongs, who heads the UK Quantum Technology Hub in Sensors and Timing, said that the “breakthrough” presents “the potential to end reliance on poor records and luck as we explore, build and repair.”
“This is an ‘Edison moment’ in sensing that will transform society, human understanding and economies,” Bongs added.
Along with applications for both archaeologists and engineers who want to find out what’s below the surface of the Earth, this new quantum sensor will also, scientists hope, help predict natural disasters like volcanoes.
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22-03-2022
Israeli Drone and Robotics Companies Team to Introduce a Flying EOD Robot
Israeli Drone and Robotics Companies Team to Introduce a Flying EOD Robot
Heven Drones, a fast-growing Israeli drone technology company, has unveiled at ISDEF 2022 an integrated robotic solution combining an aerial multirotor and unmanned ground vehicle for land and air operation. Heven Drones and Roboteam, an Israeli tactical ground robotic systems provider, jointly developed the solution. The companies began working on the project responding to a specific requirement for defense and homeland security applications raised by a customer. They are now exploring additional use cases for land and air robots to maximize efficiency in other applications.
According to Bentzion Levinson, Heven Drone’s CEO, the new ‘flying robot’ can complete various tasks in the air and on the ground. “Our collaboration with Roboteam brings our vision one step closer with land and aerial robots working together to create a fully operational product that can complete tasks from the ground and the air.”
“This collaboration allows for one unmanned aerial & ground complete system for delivering a significant payload to the battlefield with Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) capabilities.” Matan Shirvi, Roboteam’s COO, said. “You can fly when you want to fly, drive when you want to drive, with one controller, one software, and one radio – a single interface for maximizing the operational range in the most difficult environments and complex terrains.”
The drone is fitted with a 30kg kit for this application that includes the MTGR, robot attachments, ramp, and toolbox supporting the MTGR. Photo: Defense-Update
The aerial platform selected for the combined solution uses Heven-Drones’ H100 Robo drone, a 71 kg Maximum takeoff weight drone that lifts a weight up to 30 kg for 36 minutes over a distance of 10 km. In its flying robot configuration, Roboteam’s Micro Tactical Ground Robot (MTGR) mounts the H-100 to hop over obstacles to land on rooftops or rapidly deploy to a location where it performs its mission. For this application, the drone is fitted with a 30kg kit that includes the MTGR, robot attachments, ramp, and toolbox supporting the MTGR, resulting in a first of a kind ‘flying robot’ that can be used which maximizes the time-to-lift capabilities of ground robots and flying robots.
In its flying robot configuration, Roboteam’s Micro Tactical Ground Robot (MTGR) can hop over obstacles to land on rooftops or rapidly deploy to a location where it performs its mission. Photo: Heven Drones
Heven Drones is an innovative drone solutions company that focuses on creating and commercializing multipurpose next-generation drone systems. Using proprietary technologies, the company makes fully customizable drones with superior stability, lifting capacities, and flight endurance. Founded in 2019 in Israel, Heven Drones rapidly expands into the global drone market.
Roboteam designs, develop, and manufactures cutting-edge, user-oriented, multipurpose unmanned platforms and controllers for Defense, Law Enforcement, and Public Safety missions. Their team includes dozens of highly experienced engineers dedicated to creating units that provide complete operational and tactical control, overall mission management, and enhanced force coordination.
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Israeli Drone and Robotics Companies Team to Introduce a Flying EOD Robot
Israeli Drone and Robotics Companies Team to Introduce a Flying EOD Robot
Defense-Update reports:
Heven Drones, a fast-growing Israeli drone technology company, has unveiled at ISDEF 2022 an integrated robotic solution combining an aerial multirotor and unmanned ground vehicle for land and air operation. The solution was jointly developed by Heven Drones and Roboteam, an Israeli tactical ground robotic systems provider. The companies began working on the project responding to a specific requirement for defense and homeland security applications raised by a customer. They are now exploring additional use cases for land and air robots to maximize efficiency in other applications.
Defense-Update.com provides a global coverage of military technology and defense news. Its monthly readership includes over 300,000 professionals worldwide
Some of Nikola’s facial action units (AUs). Row 1: (1) Inner brow raiser, (2) outer brow raiser, (4) brow lowerer, (5) upper lid raiser, (6) cheek raiser, (7) lid tightener. Row 2: (10) Upper lip raiser, (12) lip corner puller, (14) dimpler, (15) lip corner depressor, (16) lower lip depressor, (18) lip pucker. Row 3: (20) Lip stretcher, (22) lip funneler, (25) lips part, (26) jaw drop, (43) eyes closed. For AU 25, AU 25 + 26 is shown. Credit: RIKEN
Researchers from the RIKEN Guardian Robot Project in Japan have made an android child named Nikola that successfully conveys six basic emotions. The new study, published in Frontiers in Psychology, tested how well people could identify six facial expressions—happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, and disgust—which were generated by moving "muscles" in Nikola's face. This is the first time that the quality of android-expressed emotion has been tested and verified for these six emotions.
Rosie the robot maid was considered science fiction when she debuted on the Jetson's cartoon over 50 years ago. Although the reality of the helpful robot is currently more science and less fiction, there are still many challenges that need to be met, including being able to detect and express emotions. The recent study led by Wataru Sato from the RIKEN Guardian Robot Project focused on building a humanoid robot, or android, that can use its face to express a variety of emotions. The result is Nikola, an android head that looks like a hairless boy.
Inside Nikola's face are 29 pneumatic actuators that control the movements of artificial muscles. Another six actuators control head and eyeball movements. Pneumatic actuators are controlled by air pressure, which makes the movements silent and smooth. The team placed the actuators based on the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), which has been used extensively to study facial expressions. Past research has identified numerous facial action units—such as 'cheek raiser' and 'lip pucker'—that comprise typical emotions such as happiness or disgust, and the researchers incorporated these action units in Nikola's design.
Nikola the android expressing the six emotions. Pneumatic actuators move the 'muscles' in his face.
Credit: RIKEN
Typically, studies of emotions, particularly how people react to emotions, have a problem. It is difficult to do a properly controlled experiment with live people interacting, but at the same time, looking at photos or videos of people is less natural, and reactions aren't the same. "The hope is that with androids like Nikola, we can have our cake and eat it too," says Sato. "We can control every aspect of Nikola's behavior, and at the same time study live interactions." The first step was to see if Nikola's facial expressions were understandable.
A person certified in FACS scoring was able to identify each facial action unit, indicating that Nikola's facial movements accurately resemble those of a real human. A second test showed that everyday people could recognize the six prototypical emotions—happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, and disgust—in Nikola's face, albeit to varying accuracies. This is because Nikola's silicone skin is less elastic than real human skin and cannot form wrinkles very well. Thus, emotions like disgust were harder to identify because the action unit for nose wrinkling could not be included.
"In the short term, androids like Nikola can be important research tools for social psychology or even social neuroscience," says Sato. "Compared with human confederates, androids are good at controlling behaviors and can facilitate rigorous empirical investigation of human social interactions." As an example, the researchers asked people to rate the naturalness of Nikola's emotions as the speed of his facial movements was systematically controlled. They researchers found that the most natural speed was slower for some emotions like sadness than it was for others like surprise.
While Nikola still lacks a body, the ultimate goal of the Guardian Robot Project is to build an android that can assist people, particularly those which physical needs who might live alone. "Androids that can emotionally communicate with us will be useful in a wide range of real-life situations, such as caring for older people, and can promote human wellbeing," says Sato.
Wataru Sato et al, An Android for Emotional Interaction: Spatiotemporal Validation of Its Facial Expressions, Frontiers in Psychology (2022). DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.800657
Have you ever gotten emotional while texting? Was the emotion anger? Did that emotion cause you to do something you regretted later? To paraphrase an old meme, there’s a ‘bot for that. Specifically, engineers have developed a “handheld social robot” which they describe as a “mediator in text messaging between humans.” Does it work before the angry owner throws it against the wall?
“I’m sorry, I am late. The appointment slipped my mind. Can you wait another hour?”
How does that make you feel? That’s one of the questions researchers at Japan’s University of Tsukuba used to test OMOY — a handheld social robot developed to act as a buffer between an incoming text and the emotional response of the recipient. As he explains in the journal Frontiers in Robotics and AI, co-author and engineering professor Fumihide Tanaka says a text message has only written words to convey meaning – no facial expressions, vocal intonations, personal explanations or other means of controlling the emotional response of the receiver. Thus, what appears to be an upsetting message generates and upsetting or angry response that may be uncalled for.
Researchers at the University of Tsukuba create a handheld social robot that can appear to convey emotions by shifting an internal weight while reading out text messages, which may help improve digital interpersonal interactions.
Credit: University of Tsukuba
“(OMOY is) equipped with a movable weight actuated by mechanical components inside its body. By shifting the internal weight, the robot could express simulated emotions.”
Enter OMOY, the text message mediator. Instead of the recipient reading the text, OMOY reads it aloud and the recipient listens to the message. OMOY’s software then interprets the text message and gives a verbal opinion, a recommendation to stay calm, an expression of sympathy or some other response to control the recipient’s emotions. At the same time, the handheld robot makes physical movements which are designed to reinforce the calming response.
“The weight shift pattern used in this study makes the user feel strong intention of the robot.”
Ninety-four participants (51 males; 43 female) were recruited at the University of Tsukuba. Their level of anger caused by a text message was measured using ten questions with and without the OMOY mediator. The study found that with just the response and the movement of the weight shifts, most users perceived the ‘intention’ of the robot was to help them calm down and they did. This was done with a very simple robot – OMOY has no arms or legs or moveable face to make body gestures or facial expressions. Based on that, the study suggests the robot could be replaced in future tests with other handheld gadgets such as stuffed animals and cushions equipped with the movement mechanism.
Robot platform, named OMOY, used in this study. A 250 g tungsten weight is attached to the weight carrier unit, which allows the weight to move along a 2D planar space. We modified the weight carrier unit from the original version reported in Noguchi and Tanaka (2020): a linear guide rail and a Dynamixel motor were installed.
Credit: Frontiers in Robotics and AI (2022).
DOI: 10.3389/frobt.2022.790209
Can a simple handheld robot facilitate anger management during texting? Take a deep breath before responding.
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10-03-2022
How Small Can You Go? | RoboticsTomorrow
How Small Can You Go? | RoboticsTomorrow
Nanorobotics is about creating robots which are so small they are nearly invisible to the naked eye. Operating as a swarm, these tiny robots have the promise to do some really incredible things.
Nanorobots are so small that they actually interact on the same level as bacteria and viruses. Nanorobots or nanobots are measured in nanometers or a millionth of a millimeter. Nanobots are envisaged to be little machines, or tiny robots that rush around and do things like cleaning out blocked arteries or swimming through the ocean eating polluting chemicals.
Nanobots are no longer speculation, but unlike science fiction, they won't take over the world, at least, not yet. A hypothetical end of the world scenario involves molecular nanotechnology, in which out-of-control self- replicating robots consume all matter on Earth while building more of themselves because of a programming error.
Nanotechnology is an emerging field in robotics with a promise of different solutions to problems which have plagued mankind since our beginning. Nanobots can be one of the most important achievements humans have ever produced. Nanotechnology is the creation of microscopic objects, which are so small that they are constructed not with regular materials but with the very atomic building blocks of life. Nanorobotics is a part of this line of work, with its main focus on creating robots, which are so small they are nearly invisible to the naked eye. Operating as a swarm, these tiny robots have the promise to do some really incredible things.
There are various areas of science that can benefits from nanotechnology. These are medicine, environment, industrial manufacturing, and even warfare. The first real application in medicine will be in treating cancers. Nanobots are preferable to the existing means of fighting cancer because they can bring the medicine directly to the tumor, helping to avoid killing healthy cells along with the cancerous ones.
Nanobots, delivering a killing blow to cancer cells
Researchers from Columbia University announced a fleet of molecular nanobots that can deliver drugs to specific cells, and also identify certain genetic markers by using fluorescent labeling. This type of targeted therapeutic approach could prove beneficial, especially for cancer treatment, which presently sweeps up healthy cells along with malignant ones, very often doing more harm than good. We are about to see a new phase of pharmaceuticals where conventional drugs are incrementally replaced by nanodrugs.
In addition to cancer treatment, nanobots can potentially be used for other medical purposes, such as regulating diabetes. Diabetic patients have to test their blood several times daily to ensure stable glucose levels. Nanobots can be used to travel through patients’ bloodstreams and send data about glucose levels to external electronic sources. They could travel with the natural flow of the bloodstream, sensing blood sugar levels along the way.
Another potential application is the detection of toxic chemicals, and the measurement of their concentrations, in the environment. Since nanobots can change things at the molecular level, they could possibly solve our pollution troubles.
A swarm of nanobots released into the atmosphere could quickly set to work deconstructing the pollution molecules and turning them into harmless material, which could easily be eliminated from the air. These molecular scrubbers could remain in the air, cleaning, until the air was as fresh as it was eons ago.
The theoretical uses of nanobots are virtually endless, as their size would allow them to essentially rebuild matter. In this sense, properly programmed nanobots would be able to take raw materials and build them into anything, from proteins to foods to tiny microprocessors. If set up to do so, they could, in theory, build more nanobots, through the process of auto-replication. A small group of nanobots could quickly develop into a massive swarm, capable of large-scale projects.
A million nanobots can fit on the head of a pin.
The ability of nanobots to work on an atomic level has far reaching implications for industry as well. Industrial manufacturing requires many resources, equipment and manpower. This is due to the need to acquire resources, process them to a usable state and then assemble them into the products we use on a daily basis. Rather than building things piece by piece and then assembling the component parts, factories could employ nanotechnology to build complete products. Since they can use raw molecules, industrial nanobots would only need the most basic of raw materials to construct nearly anything. As long as they have enough raw materials, these factories could simply reprogram the nanobots to build something else. This would free them from the need to completely replace large portions of the factory just to change its output.
As nanoweapons, nanobots could be used for surveillance for the military, or for assassinations, even used to eat-up and destroy enemy armor. Inspired by colonies of bees, ants and locusts, army engineers are creating armies of nanobots, which are used to locate bombs, clean weaponry, or fly over remote regions of a battlefield. Each individual custom robot is quite basic, but the combined activity in the entire swarm is way more complex. The entire army of robots can be considered as one single customized system, just like a bee colony can be considered a super organism, exhibiting swarm intelligence.
The Nano-Hummingbird is a flying robot created through a program sponsored by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) that is meant to be used in future indoor and outdoor surveillance missions. DARPA requested a remote controlled nanobot that can fly, hover, move forward and backward and be controlled without an external power source. DARPA specifically asked AeroVironment to create a flying robot that had the body and wings of a bird. What better bird to use than the agile and tiny hummingbird?
AeroVironment employed biomimicry at a very small scale to create the nanobot, which flies just like the real thing. It can travel forward at eleven miles an hour; and resist a wind gust of 5 mph while hovering without being thrown more than three feet off track, and it can be controlled by a distant operator using only the information from an on-board camera.
Molecular nanotechnology (MNT), the umbrella science of nanomedicine, envisions nanobots manufactured in nanofactories no larger than the average desktop printer. The nanofactories would use nano-scale tools capable of constructing nanobots to exacting specifications. The design, shape, size and type of atoms, molecules, and computerized components included would be task-specific. Raw material for making the nanobots would be nearly cost-free, and the process virtually pollution-free, making nanobots an extremely affordable and highly attractive technology.
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THIS ROBOT IS SO TINY YOU COULD FIT TEN OF THEM ON A SINGLE PERIOD
THIS ROBOT IS SO TINY YOU COULD FIT TEN OF THEM ON A SINGLE PERIOD
ITS CREATORS HOPE THE MICROSCOPIC BOT WILL CRAWL AROUND INSIDE YOUR BODY TO FIGHT CANCER.
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
Jitterbug
A team of Cornell University scientists developed a new robot — so small that it’s invisible to the naked eye — that they hope will someday crawl around inside the human body and hunt for disease.
The robots themselves are little more than microchips attached to four origami-inspired legs, BBC News reports. But their simplicity — the engineers can manufacture 1 million of the bots every week, each one steered by beaming a laser at its feet — gives the team hope that they’ll become a useful medical tool. BBC News published a video of the robots wiggling around, and it’s highly recommended.
New Legs
The hardest part, the team told BBC News, wasn’t necessarily building a microscopic robot, but rather giving such a tiny machine a way to actually move around.
“People have become very good at shrinking computer chips to microscopic dimensions,” Cornell physicist Itai Cohen told BBC News. “The problem was that there weren’t any legs that would work at that scale that could connect to these microchips. We invented a new technology [that’s] essentially the legs for these robotic brains.”
Hunter Killers
So far, the team is celebrating the tiny robots as an achievement and development all of their own. But someday, Cohen hopes that they could serve as medical devices that root around for signs of disease.
“You could imagine having these as little microsurgery devices,” he told the BBC. “You inject these robots in, they locally track down either bacteria or maybe a tumor cell and then they go snip it up and destroy it.”
Barcelona-based startup Kreios Space wants to unleash the potential of very low Earth orbit (VLEO) satellite missions.
Its secret weapon? The company is developing a fuel-free propulsion system that enables satellites to orbit much closer to Earth.
"Right now, very low Earth orbit is an unused orbit simply because of the lack of propulsion systems capable of staying in this orbit," Jan Mataró, Kreios Space CTO told IE in an interview at the Mobile World Congress. "But it could allow for a huge increase in the resolution for both telecommunications and earth observation."
What is very low Earth orbit?
VLEO is roughly defined as any orbit in the range between 95 miles to 250 miles of altitude. As a point of reference, the Kármán Line, which some define as the boundary of space, is about 65 miles high. Most satellite missions currently operate at about 370 miles or much higher, where they can maintain an orbit that keeps them rotating around Earth with minimal thrust.
Operations in VLEO can provide substantial benefits, according to Kreios Space, but it is currently an unexploited orbit due to the fact that constant thrust is needed to prevent satellites from deorbiting because of the atmospheric drag effect at this relatively low altitude.
With current technologies, this constant orbital correction would simply be too costly, but Kreios Space thinks it has the solution — and it's one that could also help with the growing problem of space debris. Called ABEP, which stands for Air-Breathing Electric Propulsion, the company's system works by absorbing air to generate plasma, which is then accelerated through an IPT thruster and electromagnetic nozzle. And yes, there is still some air in the altitude at which ABEP will operate. The team at Kreios Space believes its system will lower the costs of VLEO operations enough to make them feasible.
There's no space debris in VLEO
But what are the main benefits of operating in VLEO? "Descending to VLEO would provide two major improvements," Mataró told IE. "The first one is a massive increase in resolution for satellite images, and the second comes from the fact that space debris does not accumulate at this altitude."
To be precise, Kreios Space says operating in VLEO will allow a 16x increase in resolution for Earth observation and telecommunications satellites. What's more, the firm claims its system "doesn't produce space debris" as satellites operating at such a low orbit will have to eventually make a planned deorbit. "When the satellite's lifetime is finished," Mataró said, "it will simply deorbit and disintegrate." More often than not, satellites are placed into a graveyard orbit at the end of their lifetime, which has resulted in a massive accumulation of orbital space debris over the years — according to the European Space Agency, there are approximately 98,000 tonnes worth of space objects currently hurtling around the planet.
According to a statement provided to IE, Kreios Space said it aims to have the first complete functional ABEP system ready by 2024. To do that, they hope to raise €2.5 million (approx. $2.7 million) over two upcoming investment rounds.
If Kreios Space — which is composed of six co-founding engineers from Barcelona — achieves its goal of making constant orbital corrections at such a low orbit affordable, it will open up a whole new avenue for satellite operators. This would reduce the cost of high-resolution images, making them more accessible to all. It would be of massive benefit to the scientific community, which is more reliant than ever on Earth observation.
Correction 09/03/22: An earlier version of this article incorrectly cited geostationary orbit and pointed to the effect of gravity on satellites as opposed to atmospheric drag. This was corrected.
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08-03-2022
WATCH AN AI TURN MUSIC INTO A BRAIN-MELTING VISUALIZATION
WATCH AN AI TURN MUSIC INTO A BRAIN-MELTING VISUALIZATION
"THE AI DOES NOT FULLY CREATE THE WORK, AND NEITHER DO I. IT IS VERY MUCH A COLLABORATION."
XANDER STEENBRUGGE
Neural Synesthesia
Synesthesia is the rare condition when our senses melt together — some say they can hear colors, others that they can taste words.
But what if we let the senses of an artificial intelligence overlap instead? Belgium-based machine learning researcher and educator Xander Steenbrugge has developed a neural network that can turn music into trippy visualizations.
It’s an impressive example of the synthesis between human-created artforms and AI algorithms.
Making Music
Steenbrugge’s project, called “Neural Synesthesia,” makes use of a generative adversarial network.
“This project is an attempt to explore new approaches to audiovisual experience based on Artificial Intelligence,” wrote Steenbrugge in a description of his project. ” I do not create these works, I co-create them with the AI models that I bring to life.”
First, Steenbrugge feeds an AI algorithm a basic dataset of images, then trains the model to replicate their visual style. Finally he allows the AI to twist and blend the visuals based on parameters Steenbrugge pulls out of different audio sources using a “custom feature extraction pipeline.”
“The AI does not fully create the work, and neither do I. It is very much a collaboration,” adds Steenbrugge.
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SCIENTISTS CREATE JET ENGINE POWERED BY ONLY ELECTRICITY
SCIENTISTS CREATE JET ENGINE POWERED BY ONLY ELECTRICITY
THE PROTOTYPE DEVICE DOESN'T USE ANY FOSSIL FUELS TO GENERATE THRUST.
PIXABAY/VICTOR TANGERMANN
Clean Air
A prototype jet engine can propel itself without using any fossil fuels, potentially paving the way for carbon-neutral air travel.
The device compresses air and ionizes it with microwaves, generating plasma that thrusts it forward, according to research published Tuesday in the journal AIP Advances. That means planes may someday fly using just electricity and the air around them as fuel.
Scaling Up
There’s a long way to go between a proof-of-concept prototype and installing an engine in a real plane. But the prototype was able to launch a one-kilogram steel ball 24 millimeters into the air. That’s the same thrust, proportional to scale, as a conventional jet engine.
“Our results demonstrated that such a jet engine based on microwave air plasma can be a potentially viable alternative to the conventional fossil fuel jet engine,” lead researcher and Wuhan University engineer Jau Tang said in a press release.
Air Jet
Air travel represents a small but not insignificant portion factor of climate change. The New York Timesreported in September that commercial air is responsible for 2.5 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions — though that excludes military jets.
“The motivation of our work is to help solve the global warming problems owing to humans’ use of fossil fuel combustion engines to power machinery, such as cars and airplanes,” Tang said in the release. “There is no need for fossil fuel with our design, and therefore, there is no carbon emission to cause greenhouse effects and global warming.”
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Scientists Create “Strange Metal” Packed With Entangled Electrons
Scientists Create “Strange Metal” Packed With Entangled Electrons
This could be the key to creating quantum technologies.
Image by Ahmed Neutron/Victor Tangermann
An international team of researchers has created what’s called a “strange metal” — and they say it could help harness the potential of the quantum world in a practical way.
Specifically, the metal provides evidence for the quantum entanglement nature of quantum criticality. But that’s a lot to unpack, so let’s start with something most of us probably learned about in elementary school: phase transitions.
We see evidence of classical phase transitions all the time — the ice in our drinks melts into a liquid at a certain temperature, for example, while the water we boil evaporates into a gas at another.
Simple enough.
Well, materials in the quantum world also undergo phase transitions under the right conditions, and when a quantum material is capable of transitioning from one phase to another, it’s called a state of “quantum criticality” — which brings us back to this new study, published this week in the journal Science.
Researchers Create "Strange Metal" Packed With Entangled Electrons
The researchers used the elements ytterbium, rhodium, and silicon to create a “strange metal,” a type of metal in which the electrons act as a unit rather than independently like they would in a regular metal, such as copper or gold.
When at the lowest temperature theoretically possible — absolute zero, or -273.15 degrees Celsius (-459.67 degrees Fahrenheit) — the team’s strange metal undergoes a transition from a quantum phase, in which it forms a magnetic order, to another phase in which is doesn’t.
While conducting experiments on ultrapure films made from the metal, the team noticed quantum entanglement among billions of billions of electrons in it.
So, why is this observation important? It could help in our efforts to create quantum technologies.
“Quantum entanglement is the basis for storage and processing of quantum information,” researcher Qimiao Si of Rice University said in a press release. “At the same time, quantum criticality is believed to drive high-temperature superconductivity. So our findings suggest that the same underlying physics — quantum criticality — can lead to a platform for both quantum information and high-temperature superconductivity.”
“When one contemplates that possibility,” he added, “one cannot help but marvel at the wonder of nature.”
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06-03-2022
THIS “QUANTUM BATTERY” NEVER LOSES ITS CHARGE
THIS “QUANTUM BATTERY” NEVER LOSES ITS CHARGE
THE BATTERIES OF THE FUTURE COULD EXPLOIT QUANTUM PHYSICS.
BERNDTHALLER/VICTOR TANGERMANN
Quantum Battery
A team of scientists from the universities of Alberta and Toronto have laid out the blueprints for a “quantum battery” that never loses its charge.
To be clear, this battery doesn’t exist yet — but if they figure out how to build it, it could be a revolutionary breakthrough in energy storage.
“The batteries that we are more familiar with — like the lithium-ion battery that powers your smartphone — rely on classical electrochemical principles, whereas quantum batteries rely solely on quantum mechanics,” University of Alberta chemist Gabriel Hanna said in a statement.
Dark State
A paper describing the research was published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry C. in July. The battery works by harnessing the power of “excitonic energy” — the state in which an electron absorbs sufficiently charged photons of light.
The researchers found that their resulting battery model should be “highly robust to energy losses,” thanks to the fact that their battery is prepared inside a “dark state” where it cannot exchange energy — by absorbing or releasing photons — with its surroundings.
Large Charge
By breaking down this “dark state” quantum network, the researchers claim the battery could be able to discharge and release energy in the process.
But the team has yet to come up with viable ways of doing so. They will also have to figure out a way to scale the technology for real-world applications as well.
Researchers and scientists spoke to The Daily Beast this week to express horror at Musk’s goal of connecting human brains to computers. Ultimately, at the heart of their trepidation is the infusion of Big Tech into the human mind.
“I don’t think there is sufficient public discourse on what the big picture implications of this kind of technology becoming available are,” Dr. Karola Kreitmair, assistant professor of medical history and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin, told the website.
“I worry that there’s this uncomfortable marriage between a company that is for-profit,” she added.
Indeed, the ethics surrounding technology such as the Neuralink is uncharted territory. As such, many are concerned about how these products — ostensibly meant to help those with disabilities — can ultimately be exploited for profit.
“If the ultimate goal is to use the acquired brain data for other devices, or use these devices for other things — say, to drive cars, to drive Teslas — then there might be a much, much bigger market,” Dr. L. Syd Johnson, associate professor at the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at SUNY Upstate Medical University, told the Daily Beast.
“But then all those human research subjects — people with genuine needs — are being exploited and used in risky research for someone else’s commercial gain,” she continued.
Kreitmair echoed the sentiment. While she believes that the technology could be “life-changing” for paralyzed people, she told the Daily Beast that its potential for consumer uses “raises such a slew of ethical concerns.”
Some experts are also worried that Musk is nothing but a carnival barker who’ll say anything and stop at nothing to make a buck — which, well, fair. He’s been known to make lofty promises before only to grossly underdeliver before. Who’s to say Neuralink won’t be the same?
“With these companies and owners of companies, they’re kind of showmen,” Dr. Laura Cabrera, a neuroethics researcher at Penn State, told the Beast. “They’ll make these hyperbolic claims, and I think that’s dangerous, because I think people sometimes believe it blindly.”
She later added, “I’m always cautious about what [Elon Musk] says.”
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05-03-2022
MIT STARTUP DRILLING 12 MILES INTO THE EARTH TO SUCK OUT ENERGY
MIT STARTUP DRILLING 12 MILES INTO THE EARTH TO SUCK OUT ENERGY
OKAY, THAT'S KINDA AWESOME.
GETTY IMAGES/FUTURISM
Fusion Drilling
An MIT spinoff has locked down significant funding for a literally groundbreaking project: using fusion power tech to drill 12 miles into the Earth and harvest the immense energy down there.
The startup is called Quaise, and it picked up $40 million in series A funding last month, according to a press release. It says the money is going toward its efforts to leverage fusion technology to drill one of the deepest holes of all time. If it proves viable, it could give humans access to nearly limitless and clean geothermal energy.
That’s right. Fusion drilling.
“We need a massive amount of carbon-free energy in the coming decades,” Mark Cupta, managing director at Prelude Ventures and one of the investors in the company, said in the release.
“Quaise Energy offers one of the most resource-efficient and nearly infinitely scalable solutions to power our planet,” he added. “It is the perfect complement to our current renewable solutions, allowing us to reach baseload sustainable power in a not so distant future.”
Potential Gamechanger
Aside from being just kinda awesome in a sci-fi-sounding way, using fusion tech to dig these ultra-deep holes could offer a number of notable benefits. For one, traditional drill bits are limited with how far they can go before the hot temperatures, gasses, and liquids prevent them from going further.
However, Quaise would use a machine called a gyrotron, which is typically used to create millimeter electromagnetic waves to superheat plasma in fusion reactors. Instead of plasma, though, the startup would point at the ground — and drill into it using energy beams.
The tech has the potential to take drilling to a depth we’ve never seen before. In theory, this could also allow people to access geothermal power from the Earth no matter where they are in the world.
Of course, this tech still has a long way to go. Quaise is slated to launch its first full-scale demonstration machines in 2024, with its first commercial operation by 2026. Plus, there’s a good chance that hiccups like running out of funding or pesky supply chain issues could prevent this from ever actually launching.
Still, the idea of a fusion drill tapping into the Earth for bountiful, clean energy is pretty dope.
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03-03-2022
Quantum Gravity Sensor Breakthrough Paves Way for Groundbreaking Map of World Under Earth’s Surface
Quantum Gravity Sensor Breakthrough Paves Way for Groundbreaking Map of World Under Earth’s Surface
ByUNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
A perspective of future gravity cartography being used with 0.5 m spatial resolution over a region, at an uncertainty level of 20 E. Expected signal sizes for a range of applications are shown.
Credit: Stray et al. 2022 Nature DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04315-3
An object hidden below ground has been located using quantum technology — a long-awaited milestone with profound implications for industry, human knowledge, and national security.
University of Birmingham researchers from the UK National Quantum Technology Hub in Sensors and Timing have reported their achievement in Nature. It is the first in the world for a quantum gravity gradiometer outside of laboratory conditions.
The quantum gravity gradiometer, which was developed under a contract for the Ministry of Defence and in the UKRI-funded Gravity Pioneer project, was used to find a tunnel buried outdoors in real-world conditions one meter below the ground surface. It wins an international race to take the technology outside.
The sensor works by detecting variations in microgravity using the principles of quantum physics, which is based on manipulating nature at the sub-molecular level.
The success opens a commercial path to significantly improved mapping of what exists below ground level.
This will mean:
Reduced costs and delays to construction, rail, and road projects.
Improved prediction of natural phenomena such as volcanic eruptions.
Discovery of hidden natural resources and built structures.
Understanding archaeological mysteries without damaging excavation.
Professor Kai Bongs, Head of Cold Atom Physics at the University of Birmingham and Principal Investigator of the UK Quantum Technology Hub Sensors and Timing, said: “This is an ‘Edison moment’ in sensing that will transform society, human understanding, and economies.
“With this breakthrough we have the potential to end reliance on poor records and luck as we explore, build and repair. In addition, an underground map of what is currently invisible is now a significant step closer, ending a situation where we know more about Antarctica than what lies a few feet below our streets.”
Current gravity sensors are limited by a range of environmental factors. A particular challenge is vibration, which limits the measurement time of all gravity sensors for survey applications. If these limitations can be addressed, surveys can become faster, more comprehensive, and lower cost.
How the quantum gravity sensor works
The quantum gravity sensor measures subtle changes in the pulling strength of gravitational fields when a cloud of atoms is dropped. The bigger the object and the greater the difference in density of the object from its surroundings, the stronger the measurable difference in pull. But vibration, instrument tilt and disruption from magnetic and thermal fields have made turning quantum theory into commercial reality challenging. The Birmingham quantum sensor breakthrough is the first to meet these real-world challenges and perform a high spatial resolution survey. The removal of noise due to vibration will unlock gravity mapping at high spatial resolution.
The sensor developed by Dr. Michael Holynski, Head of Atom Interferometry at Birmingham and lead author of the study, and his team at Birmingham is a gravity gradiometer. Their system overcomes vibration and a variety of other environmental challenges in order to successfully apply quantum technology in the field.
The successful detection, realized in collaboration with civil engineers led by Professor Nicole Metje of the School of Engineering, is the culmination of a long-term development program that has been closely linked to end-users from its outset.
This breakthrough will allow future gravity surveys to be cheaper, more reliable, and delivered 10 times faster, reducing the time needed for surveys from a month to a few days. It has the potential to open a range of new applications for gravity survey, providing a new lens into the underground.
Professor George Tuckwell, Director for Geoscience and Engineering at RSK, said: “Detection of ground conditions such as mine workings, tunnels, and unstable ground is fundamental to our ability to design, construct and maintain housing, industry, and infrastructure. The improved capability that this new technology represents could transform how we map the ground and deliver these projects”
Dr. Gareth Brown, joint Project Technical Authority for Quantum Sensing and Senior Principal Scientist at Dstl, said: “For national Defence and Security, accurate and rapid measurements of variations in microgravity open up new opportunities to detect the otherwise undetectable and navigate more safely in challenging environments. As gravity sensing technology matures, applications for underwater navigation and revealing the subterranean will become possible.”
Reference: “Quantum sensing for gravity cartography” by Ben Stray, Andrew Lamb, Aisha Kaushik, Jamie Vovrosh, Anthony Rodgers, Jonathan Winch, Farzad Hayati, Daniel Boddice, Artur Stabrawa, Alexander Niggebaum, Mehdi Langlois, Yu-Hung Lien, Samuel Lellouch, Sanaz Roshanmanesh, Kevin Ridley, Geoffrey de Villiers, Gareth Brown, Trevor Cross, George Tuckwell, Asaad Faramarzi, Nicole Metje, Kai Bongs and Michael Holynski, 23 February 2022, Nature. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04315-3
The breakthrough is a collaboration between the University of Birmingham, environmental, engineering and sustainability solutions provider RSK, Dstl (the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, part of the UK Ministry of Defence), and technology company Teledyne e2v. The project is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) as part of the UK National Quantum Technologies Program and under contract from the Ministry of Defence.
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 75 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.
