Archive for April, 2009
World’s fastest camera takes 6.1 million photos per second
Scientists have made the fastest camera ever. It can take 6.1 million pictures in a single second, at a shutter speed of 440 trillionths of a second. Light itself moves just a fraction of a centimeter in that time.
The camera works by illuminating objects with a laser that emits a different infrared frequency for every single pixel, allowing them to custom-amplify a signal that would otherwise be too dim to see.
“We have invented a new type of imaging technology that overcomes the fundamental limitation between sensitivity and speed,” said Keisuke Goda, an optoelectronic specialist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “It’s the world’s fastest camera.”
Shuttle layoffs begin as program winds down
With retirement of the space shuttle program looming next year and just nine flights remaining, NASA managers announced Thursday the first major wave of job losses, saying 160 contract workers would face layoffs Friday, the first of some 900 jobs that will be cut between now and the end of …
Originally posted at The Space Shot
Rescue Bottle purifies flood water by osmosis
A Swedish design student has created a device that could deliver safe drinking water immediately in areas hit by flooding.
The design works using osmosis, which takes dirty water, draws it through a membrane and produces clean water with added salts and sugars to help boost people in flood stricken conditions. For this process to take place, the device has four parts.
‘What are we expecting from consciousness?’
Right up there with the Big Bang and a reconciliation of quantum theory with Newtonian physics, biology has a daunting challenge all of its own, arguably the most difficult question ever: where is the physical basis for the subjective, first-hand experience of what we call consciousness?
A two-seater suit for space-lovers
The third law of motion may not be the most romantic starting point for sex in space. It is, however, crucial.
The law states that “every action has an equal and opposite reaction,” and on Earth that’s fine. Two people moving away from each other can rely on gravity to stop them flying across the room, but in a weightless environment that would be a problem.
As a way to overcome it, Vanna Bonta – writer, actress, sci-fi poetess and space enthusiast – developed 2suit, a two-seater space suit that will zip two astronaut lovers inside.