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NEWS
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Quantum connection
A pair of entangled atoms spaced a meter apart
demonstrate a potentially practical way to build large-scale
quantum computers and quantum networks. Quantum computers
have the potential to crack today's encryption codes and
quantum networks could be used to transmit secure communications.
(Entanglement
of Single-Atom Quantum Bits at a Distance, Nature,
September 6, 2007)
Chilling radio
Radio waves cool a millimeter-and-a-half-long
sliver of silicon in the same manner that lasers cool
smaller objects. The technique could make it easier to
build ultrasensitive scientific equipment and test the
boundary between quantum and classical physics. (Passive
Cooling of a Micromechanical Oscillator with a Resonant
Electric Circuit, Physical Review Letters,
accepted for publication)
Tinier bits
A way to record data in magnetic bits as small
as 100 atoms promises to boost to today's data storage
technologies. A data storage device that uses such tiny
bits could hold thousands of times more data than today's
devices. (Current-Induced
Magnetization Switching with a Spin-Polarized Scanning
Tunneling Microscope, Science, September 14,
2007)
Changeable nanowires
Nanowires that rapidly switch between crystalline
and amorphous promise to serve as the basis for a future
generation of data storage devices. Such devices could
store large amounts of data, run on little power and retain
data when the power is turned off. (Highly
Scalable Non-volatile and Ultra-Low-Power Phase-Change
Nanowire Memory, Nature Nanotechnology, published
online September 16, 2007)
Microbe memory
Bacteria engineered with a feedback-loop gene
that constantly turns itself on proves that researchers
can design memory devices into bacteria and have the microorganisms
pass the self-activating gene on to successive generations.
The development is a key advance for the field of synthetic
biology, which aims to produce drugs, fuels and materials
using artificial or altered microorganisms. (Rational
Design of Memory in Eukaryotic Cells, Genes & Development,
September 15, 2007)
Muscle machines
Thin plastic films covered with rat heart cells
and formed into specific shapes are capable of gripping,
pumping, walking and swimming. The muscle sheets could
power small devices. (Muscular
Thin Films for Building Actuators and Powering Devices,
Science, September 7, 2007) |
FEATURES
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View
from the High Ground: ICL's John Pendry
Physics as machine tool, negative refractive
index, metamaterials, shattered wine glasses, higher capacity
DVDs, scientific backwaters, risk perception and practice,
practice, practice.
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How
It Works: Quantum computing: qubits
Photons, electrons and atoms, oh my! These particles are
the raw materials for qubits, the basic building blocks
of quantum computers. |
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"Physics
is to the rest of science what machine tools are
to engineering. A corollary is that science places
power in our hands which can be used for good or
ill. Technology has been abused in this way throughout
the ages from gunpowder to atomic bombs."
- John Pendry, Imperial College London |
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Thanks
to Kevin from
GoldBamboo.com
for technical support |
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