By: Miraz Jordan
Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz
Category: Film School Online
TIGHT NEUTRONS: Researchers at the University of New South Wales reckon they can make a clock that's accurate to within 1/20th of a second. If that doesn't sound very special, consider that it may gain or lose that 20th of a second over 14 billion years — the age of the universe. Atomic clocks currently use electrons orbiting an atom as the clock pendulum. But electrons are loosely bound and can be affected by external perturbations. The researchers believe they can turn the much more tightly held orbiting neutron of an atomic nucleus into the clock pendulum. They could achieve this by using lasers to orient the electrons in a very specific way. It's impossible to imagine that degree of accuracy. More info at the University of New South Wales.
DISAPPEARING WORDS: Recycling paper usually means sending it off to some distant processing plant. Toshiba's new copier system can erase text printed using a special toner from regular copy paper. The toner can only be used with compatible copiers, but when heated it becomes invisible, allowing the paper to be used again. The eraser device can also scan and store an image of the sheet of paper, so the data can be saved. Toshiba aim to release the system commercially this year. Why
don't we just stop printing all this stuff anyway? DigInfo news has more, and there's video here.
CAMO CAMERA: The trouble with trying to film lions is getting close enough. The BeetleCam Project solved it nicely with a small remote controlled buggy with a DSLR camera mounted on top and an armoured shell. Camouflaged to resemble perhaps a rock, the buggy could get right up to the lions and take still photos and video. The BeetleCam even managed to survive being carried off by a playful lion. Stunning photos! More on Beetlecam here, and video here.
FILMING DOWN UNDER: Film maker James Cameron is going down — to the bottom of the deepest part of the ocean, the Challenger Deep, where he will stay on the seafloor for around six hours. The lowest point is almost 11 Km below the surface of the ocean. The deep-sea submersible, Deepsea Challenger, has to cope with crushing pressure, freezing temperatures and total dark. The 7.3 metre long sub is vertical, rather than horizontal, and made of a highly sophisticated syntactic foam developed specifically to withstand the pressure. Thrusters will enable some movement, and a robotic arm will collect samples. The expedition is planned to take place within the next few weeks. That would have to be the most unusual film set ever. Check out the DeepSeaChallenge site.
LESS IS MORE: Researchers at MIT recently managed to get more light out of an LED than the energy they put in. It turns out that an LED's efficiency increases as its output power decreases. So when they put in only 25% as much power the light was reduced by 50%. The researchers reduced the LED's input power to just 30 picowatts and measured an output of 69 picowatts of light. Now I want my wallet to work like that. Details at PhysOrg.
Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10791927
