Category: Science & Engineering

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From Ars Technica: Forget transparent aluminum: researchers make iron invisible to X-rays


Transparency is generally a property of a material’s density or
crystal structure, and varies depending on the wavelength of
light. However, transparency can also be achieved by exploiting quantum interference between energy level transitions in atoms. Up until now, such transparency has been confined to optical
wavelengths, due to the
typical energies of atomic transitions.

Transitioning between energy levels within atomic nuclei (instead of electron transitions) involves much
higher energies, corresponding to hard X-ray frequencies. Ralf
Röhlsberger, Hans-Christian Wille, Kai
Schlage, and Balaram Sahoo of the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) in
Germany have induced transparency in iron-57 nuclei, using an X-ray
laser to drive the nuclei to resonance. The experiment not only made
the iron nuclei nearly vanish, but also slowed the X-ray photons to a
small fraction of their usual speed. This result holds out the
tantalizing possibility of quantum optics in the nuclear regime,
providing us new ways of manipulating light at far higher energies than
have previously been possible.

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from Ars Technica

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From MAKE: New in the Maker Shed: Alpha Particle Detecting Geiger Counter Kit

Why spend $400+ on a Geiger Counter when you can build your own for a fraction of the price? This new Geiger Counter Kit, available in the Maker Shed, was featured in MAKE: Volume 29 and is able to detect α(alpha), β(beta) and γ(gamma) radiation using the included GMT-01 tube. The simple to build kit can be soldered together in a few hours and is designed to be reliable and long lasting. When complete, the Geiger counter will output a click and flash an LED each time a radioactive particle is detected. The unit has two digital TTL logic pulse outputs that allow connection to a number of accessory instruments such as a a data logger, Digital Meter, or RS-232 adapter for connection to a PC (none included.)

Features

  • GMT-01 tube detects α(alpha) β(beta) and γ(gamma) radiation
  • 2 digital outputs
  • Flashing LED and audio clicker alert you to detected radiation.
  • Robust circuit design
  • 9V battery not included

 

from MAKE

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From Ars Technica: Microsoft publishes fancy-pants heterogeneous parallel GPGPU C++ AMP specification


Microsoft has published the specification for C++ AMP (Accelerated Massive Parallelism), its new system for heterogeneous parallel processing in C++. When Microsoft first announced C++ AMP in June last year, it said that it wanted to make the AMP specification open to all.

AMP has been developed by Microsoft with input from AMD and NVIDIA. Microsoft’s implementation allows AMP programs to use both the main CPU and Direct3D video cards (via the company’s DirectCompute API), though the specification should also permit OpenGL/OpenCL-based implementations.

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from Ars Technica

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From Popular Science – New Technology, Science News, The Future Now: 10-Year-Old Accidentally Creates New Molecule in Science Class

Tetranitratoxycarbon Professor Robert Zoellner holds a model of tetranitratoxycarbon. He has a co-authorship on a paper about the new molecule–along with ten-year-old Clara Lazen. Humboldt State University
Little Clara’s tetranitratoxycarbon is brand new and explosiveClara Lazen is the discoverer of tetranitratoxycarbon, a molecule constructed of, obviously, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon. It’s got some interesting possible properties, ranging from use as an explosive to energy storage. Lazen is listed as the co-author of a recent paper on the molecule. But that’s not what’s so interesting and inspiring about this story. What’s so unusual here is that Clara Lazen is a ten-year-old fifth-grader in Kansas City, MO.

Kenneth Boehr, Clara’s science teacher, handed out the usual ball-and-stick models used to visualize simple molecules to his fifth-grade class. But Clara put the carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen atoms together in a particular complex way and asked Boehr if she’d made a real molecule. Boehr, to his surprise, wasn’t sure. So he photographed the model and sent it over to a chemist friend at Humboldt State University who identified it as a wholly new but also wholly viable chemical.

The chemical has the same formula as one other in HSU’s database, but the atoms are arranged differently, so it qualifies as a unique molecule. It doesn’t exist in nature, so it’d have to be synthesized in a lab, which takes time and effort. So Boehr’s friend, Robert Zoellner, wrote a paper on it instead, to be published in Computational and Theoretical Chemistry. Listed as a co-author: Clara Lazen.

Boehr says the discovery and subsequent publication has incited a new interest in science and chemistry at his school–and Clara seems particularly pleased, saying she’s now much more interested in biology and medicine.

[The Mary Sue via Gizmodo]

from Popular Science – New Technology, Science News, The Future Now