Tag: concepts

Book review: Surfing Through Hyperspace by Clifford A. Pickover

Pooja Kashyap

Surfing Through Hyperspace: Understanding Higher Universes in Six Easy Lessons by Clifford A. Pickover hovers around the concept of fourth dimension. In simple words, it’s a walkthrough of higher dimensions.   Clifford A. Pickover is an American author, editor, and columnist in the fields of science, mathematics, science fiction, innovation, and creativity. A futurist and science writer, Pickover likes to contemplate realms beyond our 3-dimensional reality. Interestingly, he puts his ideas down on paper for readers like us to experience his visualizations.

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Dynamics between Quantum Entanglement: Coupling at a Distance

Pooja Kashyap

Entanglement is a unique and powerful feature of quantum mechanics. It allows two or more particles, such as photons of light, to become correlated in such a way that the state of one particle is immediately determined by the state of the other particle, regardless of the distance between them. This phenomenon has been studied extensively in the field of quantum physics. It has important implications for the development of quantum technologies such as quantum cryptography and quantum computing.

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Wearable Electrotactile Feedback System: Skin VR

Pooja Kashyap

Haptic systems are mainly designed to control virtual objects. Their efficacy is good, but when it comes to controllers, joysticks, and steering wheels, things look slightly bulky. And tangled wires is another task to deal with. Researchers at City University of Hong Kong have come up with a portable solution to enhance the tactile VR experience.

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Crab Inspired all weather Vision System: Biomimicry

Pooja Kashyap

To improve the imaging component in robotics, researchers have been trying to create various types of highly performing cameras, sensors and artificial vision systems.      Most of the vision systems are bio-inspired that is, they have been emulated from the systems and elements of nature including humans, animals, insects and fish. These systems, however, have their own restrictions because they operate in limited environment respectively. For instance, majority of (bio-inspired) existing sensors and cameras works either one of the following scenarios: on the ground like biomimetic eye with a hemispherical…

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Two Neutron Stars could give Birth to a Third: Stellar Formation

Pooja Kashyap

An international team of astrophysics from Manly Astrophysics and Universidad de Murcia has proposed for a new type of exotic neutron star. According to astronomers Arthur Suvorov and Kostas Glampedakis, the novel neutron star could be the result of a super strong magnetic field that emanates during a collision between old neutron stars.

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Magnetic Tentacle Robot for Autonomous Endoscopy: Soft Catheters

Pooja Kashyap

Magnetic tentacle robot, strange it may sound but researchers at STORM Lab at the University of Leeds have come up with a tiny canular form of robot that can explore the smallest bronchial tubes in the lungs. The nano tubiform bot measures around 2 millimetres in diameter. That happens to be two times the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen. The tentacle robot will be guided from the outside with the help of (external) magnets.

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Light controlled Organic Microswimmers: Semi Autonomous Microrobots

Pooja Kashyap

The idea that nanobots flowing through our blood streams to deliver localised medication or to detect any tumour formation is no more a far-fetched dream. A group of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (MPI-FKF), have developed microswimmers that can navigate through biological fluids, areas that are otherwise difficult to access. Steering is done through external form of light energy.

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Formation of Single Unit by Collision of Multiple Grains: Resurrecting Quasicrystals

Pooja Kashyap

Quasicrystal is a form of matter with an unusual arrangement of atoms. Although it’s called a “crystal” but it lacks symmetry. Unlike crystals, pattern within the quasicrystal does not repeat itself. They were first discovered in 1980s and since then the possible atomic arrangements violated the rules that fall under the category of crystals, that is, the materials could have only two-, three-, four- or six-fold symmetry.  

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Nanoscale Thermal Transport: To Prevent Overheating in Electronics

Pooja Kashyap

Nano world is full of mysterious features such as uncertainty principle, probabilities and wave function. It’s been at the beginning of quantum mechanics that researchers are working unceasingly to understand the perplexing phenomenon of the nano realm. Unlike the macro world, events at the nano scale are beyond the comprehension of physicists. One such problem is why some uber small heat sources cool down faster if they are packed too close.

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Chameleon Inspired Next-Generation Artificial Camouflage: Biomimicry

Pooja Kashyap

To depict natural camouflage characteristics via artificial camouflage at device level has remained a challenge since decades. However, researchers at Seoul National University have developed an artificial camouflage that can adapt and blend with its surroundings. A defense strategy as seen in the case of chameleon that changes its appearance to avoid predators.

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