Latest Articles
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Feb- 2022 -25 February3D
What We Know About the Origin and Future of Hologram Tech
You must have seen Princess Leia as a floating image in Star Wars or the gesture-controlled three-dimensional models in the Iron Man films, those intriguing, moving 3D images are called holograms. Some experts define holograms as two-dimensional surfaces capable of manifesting information in three dimensions. In movies, holograms are an illusion created using VFX and animation, but in reality, they can be generated using a technique called holography. Holograms have featured in numerous video games and sci-fi movies and since holography is a complicated technique (when it comes to creating 3D holograms), for years, it was believed that holograms would…
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24 FebruaryAstronomy
Chinese Lunar Rover Discovers “Mind-Blowing” Translucent Glass Globules on the Moon
Yutu-2 rover on lunar surface. Credit: CSNA/Siyu Zhang/Kevin M. Gill This study is led by Dr. Zhiyong Xiao (Planetary Environmental and Astrobiological Research Laboratory, School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University), who is a core scientific team member of the first in-situ lunar mission to the Moon, Chang’E-4. The team examined images taken by the panorama camera onboard the Yutu-2 rover, and discovered several translucent spherical and dumbbell-shaped glassy globules (see images below). Perching on the surface regolith, the globules are transparent to translucent, and they exhibit a light brownish color. Such centimeter-sized translucent glass globules was not found on…
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23 FebruaryNeuroscience
Branch-Like Projections Called Dendrites May Help Neurons Perform Complicated Calculations
Lead Image: Researchers at MIT have demonstrated how dendrites — branch-like extensions that protrude from neurons — help neurons perform computations on information that comes in from other parts of the brain. Pictured is an artist’s interpretation of dendrites. Different types of these branch-like projections process incoming information in different ways before sending it to the body of the neuron. Within the human brain, neurons perform complex calculations on information they receive. Researchers at MIT have now demonstrated how dendrites — branch-like extensions that protrude from neurons — help to perform those computations. The researchers found that within a single…
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20 FebruaryNASA
Space Missions To Watch: A Lunar Return, a Jupiter Moon, and the Most Powerful Rocket Ever Built
Lead Image: Artist’s rendering of a SpaceX Starship leaving a lunar colony. Credit: SpaceX Space travel is all about momentum. Rockets turn their fuel into momentum that carries people, satellites, and science itself forward into space. 2021 was a year full of records for space programs around the world, and that momentum is carrying forward into 2022. Last year, the commercial space race truly took off. Richard Branson and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos both rode on suborbital launches – and brought friends, including actor William Shatner. SpaceX sent eight astronauts and 1 ton of supplies to the International Space Station…
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18 FebruaryEnergy
Fusion Breakthrough Once Thought Impossible Brings Energy Device Closer to Realization
Scientists have achieved a remarkable breakthrough in the conceptual design of twisty stellarators, experimental magnetic facilities that could reproduce on Earth the fusion energy that powers the sun and stars. The breakthrough shows how to more precisely shape the enclosing magnetic fields in stellarators to create an unprecedented ability to hold the fusion fuel together. “The key thing was developing a piece of software that allows you to rapidly try out new design methods,” said Elizabeth Paul, a Princeton University Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and co-author of a paper that…
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