Latest news with #UniversityofRostock
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists make mind-blowing discovery after studying material that only exists exists for billionths of a second: 'Previously unimaginable'
Scientists have made liquid carbon in a lab for the first time, Interesting Engineering reported. Liquid carbon was thought to be impossible to study under normal conditions. The material only exists for billionths of a second under extreme pressure and temperatures of about 4,500 degrees Celsius, making this record-breaking technology limitless in its potential. Nuclear fusion, combining light atomic nuclei to release massive amounts of clean energy, has long been considered the holy grail of power generation. Fusion could change society by providing unlimited electricity without radioactive waste, helping cities, individuals, and companies save money compared to resource-intensive traditional energy methods. But fusion reactors require materials that can withstand high temperatures and radiation. That's where liquid carbon comes in. Thanks to its record-breaking melting point, liquid carbon could be both a coolant and a neutron moderator in future fusion plants. The research team from the University of Rostock and Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf used the United Kingdom's DiPOLE 100-X laser system to create these extreme conditions. They fired high-powered laser beams at solid carbon samples, turning them into liquid for just fractions of a second while X-ray beams captured the atomic structure. "The [Science and Technology Facilities Council's] laser system has opened new research possibilities that were previously unimaginable," the researchers noted in their published findings. "This is the first time we have ever been able to observe the structure of liquid carbon experimentally," said professor Dominik Kraus, head of the Carbon Working Group at the University of Rostock. "We are looking at a complex form of liquid, comparable to water, that has very special structural properties." The team found that liquid carbon has four nearest neighbors around each atom, similar to a diamond's structure, which gives it strength and stability. This technological innovation will impact energy generation by creating more efficient, durable fusion reactors that could slash energy bills and improve resource efficiency for everyone. Diversifying clean energy sources reduces harmful air pollution that causes respiratory problems and heart disease in millions of people worldwide. The best way to take advantage of clean energy innovations right now is to install solar panels, bringing your home energy costs down to or near $0. EnergySage provides a free service that makes comparing quotes from vetted local installers easy and can save you up to $10,000 on a solar installation. While this discovery is a step forward, fusion power plants are still years away from powering your home. Other fusion projects are targeting the 2030s for commercial power, bringing us closer to unlimited clean energy. Do you think the U.S. should tax goods from China? Definitely No way Only certain goods I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Sustainability Times
02-06-2025
- Science
- Sustainability Times
Scientists Hit Breakthrough Moment: First-Ever Liquid Carbon Created With Lasers Sparks Fusion Power Revolution
IN A NUTSHELL 🔬 Scientists have successfully created liquid carbon for the first time, marking a significant breakthrough in material science. for the first time, marking a significant breakthrough in material science. 🔥 The creation of liquid carbon, with its high melting point of 8,132°F, could revolutionize nuclear fusion reactors. reactors. ⚡ The process utilized the powerful DiPOLE 100-X laser to liquify carbon briefly, allowing researchers to capture its atomic structure. to liquify carbon briefly, allowing researchers to capture its atomic structure. 📈 This achievement resolves longstanding theoretical disagreements and opens new research possibilities in high-energy physics and materials science. In a groundbreaking achievement, scientists have successfully created liquid carbon for the first time, breaking barriers previously thought insurmountable. This remarkable feat, conducted by a team led by the University of Rostock and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), presents a new frontier in the study of materials under extreme conditions. The ability to observe the structure of liquid carbon experimentally opens up potential applications, particularly in the field of nuclear fusion, where its high melting point and unique properties may prove invaluable. Revolutionizing Nuclear Fusion The creation of liquid carbon is poised to revolutionize the future of nuclear fusion reactors. With an exceptionally high melting point of approximately 8,132°F (4,500°C), liquid carbon presents unique structural properties that make it a crucial component in fusion technology. It could be utilized both as a cooling agent and as a moderator to slow down neutrons, facilitating the chain reactions necessary for sustaining nuclear fusion. The UK's DiPOLE 100-X laser, developed by STFC's Central Laser Facility, played a pivotal role in this breakthrough, enabling research possibilities that were once unimaginable. 'The STFC's laser system has opened new research possibilities,' remarked the researchers, highlighting the potential of this discovery to transform nuclear fusion technology. The unique properties of liquid carbon could address some of the most significant challenges faced by fusion reactors today, paving the way for more efficient and sustainable energy solutions. This breakthrough not only advances our understanding of carbon but also marks a significant step towards achieving practical nuclear fusion. 'Ukraine to Restart Nuclear Power in Chernobyl': This Shocking Mini-Reactor Plan Sends Global Shockwaves Through Energy and Safety Circles Harnessing Extreme Conditions with High-Performance Lasers The process of creating liquid carbon required the use of the high-performance DiPOLE 100-X laser to generate extreme conditions. By liquifying solid carbon samples for mere billionths of a second, scientists were able to capture diffraction patterns using X-ray beams, revealing the atomic arrangement within the fleeting liquid carbon. This complex procedure was repeated multiple times, with slight variations in parameters, to construct a comprehensive picture of carbon's transition from its solid to liquid phase. Under normal conditions, carbon does not melt; instead, it transitions directly to a gaseous state. However, under extreme pressure and temperatures of approximately 8,132°F (4,500°C), it achieves a liquid state. The primary challenge was to take precise measurements within these brief moments, a feat accomplished using laser compression to create the conditions necessary for this liquid state. This innovative approach has expanded our understanding of carbon's properties under extreme conditions, offering insights that were previously unattainable. 'Even the U.S. Is Stunned': Japan's 100-Year Nuclear Battery Threatens to Blow Solar Power Off the Global Energy Map Overcoming Challenges and Paving the Way for Future Discoveries Overcoming the challenges of studying extreme states of matter like liquid carbon has been made possible at the European XFEL with the D100-X system. This system was specifically designed to study such conditions and has produced significant insights. The research team discovered that the systemics of liquid carbon resemble those of solid diamond, with four nearest neighbors, revealing new information about carbon's atomic structure. This achievement has resolved longstanding disagreements among theoretical predictions about carbon's melting point. The ability to precisely determine this point advances our understanding of carbon and its potential applications, particularly in nuclear fusion. The findings, published in the journal Nature , suggest that future results requiring extensive experiment time could be obtained in seconds once the complex automatic control and data processing systems are optimized, further accelerating advancements in this field. 'China's Nuclear Sites Could Be Attacked': These Future War Threats from the PLA Spark Global Fear and Urgency The Path Ahead: Liquid Carbon's Potential The implications of this research extend beyond immediate applications in nuclear fusion. Liquid carbon's unique properties may inspire new technologies and materials, influencing various scientific and industrial fields. As researchers continue to explore the potential of this extraordinary material, the possibilities for innovation and discovery seem boundless. The current achievements lay the groundwork for further exploration into the behavior of materials under extreme conditions, potentially leading to breakthroughs in energy, technology, and materials science. As we continue to push the boundaries of what is known, the question remains: What other revolutionary discoveries await us in the realm of high-energy physics and materials science? Our author used artificial intelligence to enhance this article. Did you like it? 4.5/5 (30)
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Seals playing a video game reveal how they find their way
The world's harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) are masters in seeing through the cloudy coastal waters they call home. Equipped with dexterous whiskers, these pinnipeds use a suite of senses to navigate their surroundings with ease. Harbor seals may also use an important part of their vision to determine which direction they are moving, even with such an opaque view of the world. Now, we might know a bit more about how they can tell which direction they are heading. New research involving a simulated swim finds that the particles in cloudy water moving across the retina at the back of the seal's eye can tell them which way they are moving. The findings are detailed in a study published May 29 in the Journal of Experimental Biology. Harbor seals are commonly found along the eastern and western coasts of the United States. Adult harbor seals are about five to six feet long and they 'haul out' (aka rest) on various rocks, reefs, beaches, and glacial ice when not at sea. This coastal lifestyle means they must navigate in some very busy and murky waters in order to survive. [ Related: Arctic seals have special noses. ] 'We wanted to know whether harbour seals can determine their heading from optic flow fields – the pattern of motion on the retina generated as a seal moves past visible objects, including particles in the water, in their surroundings,' Frederike Hanke, a study co-author and neuroethologist at the University of Rostock in Germany, said in a statement. To examine this, Hanke and the team essentially set up an arcade for seals with a gaming challenge. They designed three different computer simulations to show three captive seals. One simulated moving through the open sea, with dots streaming towards the viewer out of the screen. The second used a plane of dots rushing towards the viewer to simulate the seabed passing below. The third emulated the surface of the sea flowing above the viewer's head using another plane of dots. The team then trained three seals–Nick, Luca, and Miro–to shuffle into place in front of a large screen and showed them the simulations. They were encouraged to indicate which side they were moving towards while watching the simulations (left or right) by touching a red ball with either side of their heats. In return, they were given sprats as a reward. According to Hanke, Nick and Luca were gaming veterans and picked up this new task with ease. Miro was a novice, but he was reportedly a very open-minded seal, and 'coped with all new situations easily.' Once the seals were comfortable with the game, the team kept track of the animals' choices as they watched the dots in the simulations. The simulations appeared to show that the seal was heading in a direction that was 22, 18, 14, 10, 6 or 2 degrees to the left, or in similar positions to the right. The team then plotted the animals' successes and mistakes, as the seals indicated which direction they believed they were travelling in during the simulations. 'These are living animals, not robots,' said Hanke. 'Errors are most likely due to inattentiveness or sometimes a drop in motivation.' When the team plotted the seals' successes, it was clear the animals were capable of determining which direction they were travelling based on the dots streaming in their view, the way that particles would look while they were really swimming. Even in faint lights, the seals appear to be able to use their vision to take advantage of cloudy water to determine which direction they are travelling based on the motion of objects and particles in the water going past their eyes. In future research, the team is hoping to find out whether they use this same visual effect to determine how far they have travelled.
BBC News
14-02-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Radio vision: See through smoke and around corners
If you want to find out whether your robot can see through smoke, well, you're going to need some a University of Pennsylvania student got a shock when they began setting up a late night experiment to test such a after flicking the switch on the smoke machine, a loud fire alarm went off. "The whole building got triggered," says Mingmin Zhao of the University of Pennsylvania, smiling. "My student called me. He was very surprised."The incident was a minor setback for the team developing a robot equipped with a innovative radio-based sensing waves could allow robots or autonomous vehicles to see through thick smoke, intense rain – or even around corners. Such waves can even detect concealed simulating visual imagery based on radio waves is an unusual approach for robots and autonomous vehicles. Much more established in those fields are regular optical cameras, light detection and ranging (Lidar), and other Prof Zhao and his students have developed a potentially powerful way for robots to see using radio course radar, which uses radio waves, has been used for decades to track aircraft, ships and the weather. But the spinning array on Prof Zhao's robot throws radio waves in all directions. An on-board artificial intelligence (AI) system then builds a 3D view of the environment with this information."What we have been trying to do here is basically help robots obtain superhuman vision – to see in scenarios where human eyes or traditional visual sensors cannot," explains Prof suggests the technology could help a future search-and-rescue robot save people from a burning tests of the bot used a clear plastic box full of smoke placed around the its spinning equipment, in order to avoid triggering any nearby fire alarms. Although humans can't see them, radio waves are a form of light in the sense that they are part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which also includes X-rays and gamma rays. Only a small part the spectrum is classed as visible light, radio waves can reflect off surfaces and materials, though in a slightly different way to visible light. Prof Zhao and his colleagues have designed their robot so that it can sense these radio wave crucial factor here is that radio waves are much longer than visible light waves meaning they are not blocked by tiny smoke Zhao says he has also been working on adapting the technology so that the robot can see part of the way round a corner. Think of it like a hall of mirrors, he suggests, just for radio waves rather than visible light."It's really very interesting work and quite impressive," says Friedemann Reinhard at the University of Rostock in Germany, who was not involved in the work. In 2017, Prof Reinhard and colleagues described how Wi-Fi signals could allow spies to see into private slight limitation is that the spinning array cannot, by definition, see in all directions at once. Prof Reinhard says that a lot of data processing carried out by the system appears necessary to clean up the image that results from this spinning the robot sends out radio waves in the millimetre wave band (waves that are between one and ten millimetres long). This is the same technology used for some 5G installations."That's potentially very attractive, it's a very well understood, cheap technology," says Prof Reinhard. "I certainly would love to see a self-driving car driving only on radar." But it is possible to avoid using spinning radio-emitting devices to get a full picture, says Fabio da Silva, founder and chief executive of US firm Wavsens, which is also developing radio-based sensing technology."We created an algorithm that allows you to sense the entire space instantaneously and continuously so we don't have to spin our antennas," he describes the system as akin to echolocation, used by bats. It sends out radio waves and "listens" to how the waves come back, which reveals the shape of whatever they have researchers have used radio waves to detect concealed weapons such as hidden handguns and waves can even "fingerprint" the details of a room. Then, if scanned again later, this would reveal whether any objects in the room have been year, scientists in Germany proposed that countries use this method to scrutinise other countries' management of their nuclear weapons stockpiles. It would be one way of knowing whether someone had been moving the warheads around, for example. Separately, Luana Olivieri at Loughborough University has explored using a different form of non-visible electromagnetic radiation, terahertz waves. These are shorter than radio waves but longer than visible light waves. "This wavelength is particularly unexplored," says Dr is possible to see through objects and analyse materials using this form of radiation, she adds. Such a system could even, in theory, identify specific drugs by detecting their chemical while seeing through materials could help a rescue bot find a trapped person in some future disaster, it also has other applications. Police forces and militaries have access to radio-based technology that allows them to see through doors and walls, to some extent."Warfighting is definitely one market that it caters to. It can be used to find and kill someone," says Mr da Silva. He has exhibited Wavsens' technology to the US Department of Defense and the Israeli Ministry of Defense, he yet these applications are not entirely surprising, suggests Prof Reinhard, who points out that a range of emerging technologies have, in principle, made it easier to detect and attack people."Maybe radar sounds scary – but drones and cheap cameras are the much more dangerous thing," he says.
