Researchers have managed to create a never-ending laser they say can run forever. Unlike normal light-powered lasers, this laser draws its power from a special phase of matter. The researchers published their findings on the laser in the journal Nature earlier this month. We’ve seen a number of breakthroughs in lasers in recent years, including …
Researchers at the University of Rochester and the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg have created the fastest logic gates ever. If the process is ever brought to market, the researchers say it would make computers millions of times faster.
Scientists firing lasers at NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter have finally hit a tiny reflective panel on the spacecraft after attempting to nail the mark for roughly a decade. The reflector is part of an experiment to understand why reflectors placed on the Moon during the Apollo missions are returning less accurate data than before. The …
Building a structure anywhere other than Earth is something that has never been done before… at least by mankind. We all like to imagine a colony of settlers eventually taking up residence on a place like Mars, but Earth’s Moon is the much more likely location for humans to construct the first off-world base. MOONRISE …
Earth orbits the Sun at a distance that allows both liquid water and water ice to exist on its surface in ample amounts. We like to think we’re pretty familiar with the various forms water can take, but new research suggests that water ice on Uranus and Neptune could take a bizarre new form that …
If you’ve ever been to an airshow you know just how cool it can be to see pilots perform fast flybys and stunts that seem to defy the laws of physics, but what about after the Sun goes down? Most planes aren’t all that interesting to watch in the dark, but the folks at Scandinavian …
Hearing someone across a crowded room can be close to impossible thanks to the way sound waves spread, but what if we could project audio with the same precision that we can project light? Researchers from MIT have developed a system capable of doing just that, creating a targeted audio stream that can be fired …
Laser vision probably isn’t super high on your list of superhero abilities that you wish were real — flying, invisibility, and super strength are obviously much more desirable traits — but it may be the first that actually comes true. Researchers at the University of St. Andrews have developed an incredibly thin laser membrane capable …
We may not live in a Star Wars-esque age of light speed travel and Death Stars, but that isn’t stopping the US military from turning its jet fighters into laser-firing weapons from the future. The Air Force Research Laboratory just dropped a cool $26.3 million on a contract with Lockheed Martin to develop a system …
Okay, okay, I know the future has, so far, been kind of lame in a lot of ways. Back in the 1950s, everyone assumed that by 2017 we’d all be cruising around in flying cars and taking regular trips to the moon for picnics, but that hasn’t quite worked out. But technology has met its …
