Diamond nanothread visualization
Scientists have discovered how to produce ultra-thin “diamond nanothreads” that promise extraordinary properties, including strength and stiffness greater than that of today’s strongest nanotubes and polymers.
Continue reading… “Scientists create ultra-thin ‘diamond nanothreads,’ world’s strongest material”
Nearly all technological advances in the past century or more have depended on our ability to produce and manipulate the vast variety of materials that nature has given us. Nowhere is this more evident than in the field of electronics. From a smorgasbord of semiconductors, polymers, and metals, we’ve been able to create a dazzling array of circuitry that now underpins pretty much every aspect of modern life.
Continue reading… “Making a better invisibility cloak with lasers”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSCX78-8-q0[/youtube]
The world’s smallest movie made by IBM Research has carbon monoxide atoms being moved around on a copper surface with a scanning tunneling microscope. The 250-frame stop-motion film, entitled “A Boy and His Atom,” uses discrete atoms to draw a stick-figure-like boy that bounces on a trampoline and plays catch with an individual atom “ball.”
Continue reading… “IBM makes world’s smallest movie ever”
When heated atoms can move with different levels of energy, from low to high. With positive temperatures (blue), atoms more likely occupy low-energy states than high-energy states, while the opposite is true for negative temperatures (red).
The coldest temperature possible is most often thought to be absolute zero. Researchers have now shown they can achieve even lower temperatures for a strange realm of “negative temperatures.”
Continue reading… “Researchers achieve temperatures colder than absolute zero”
Miniaturized information storage in atomic-scale antiferromagnets. The binary representation of the letter ‘S’ (01010011) was stored in the Neel states of eight iron atom arrays.
After five years of work, IBM announced on Thursday that its researchers have been able to reduce from about one million to 12 the number of atoms required to create a bit of data. (video)
Continue reading… “IBM creates a bit of data using only 12 iron atoms”
Explosions in deep space bring heavy atoms into existence.
Two new experimental facilities, billed as the successors to the Large Hadron Collider, will recreate the supernova explosions that produced most of the elements that make up our world.
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.