Technology News

How to predict the progress of technology
Wednesday, March 6, 2013 - 11:08

Researchers at MIT and the Santa Fe Institute have found that some widely used formulas for predicting how rapidly technology will advance — notably, Moore’s Law and Wright’s Law — offer superior approximations of the pace of technological progress. The new research is the first to directly compare the different approaches in a quantitative way, using an extensive database of past performance from many different industries.

 

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New Player in Electron Field Emitter Technology Makes for Better Imaging and Communications
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 - 21:18

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Maryland, College Park, have built a practical, high-efficiency nanostructured electron source. Described in the journal Nanotechnology*, this new, patent-pending technology could lead to improved microwave communications and radar, and more notably to new and improved X-ray imaging systems for security and health-care applications.

 

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New technique could improve optical devices
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 - 11:24

The new technique takes advantage of a fundamental property of thin films: interference. Interference effects can be seen in the rainbow colors visible on the surface of soap bubbles or oil slicks. Scientists can analyze how light constructively and destructively interferes at different angles to draw conclusions about the film itself — how thick it is, for example. This new technique takes that kind of analysis one step further for light-emitting thin films.

 

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Physicists Make Discovery in the Quantum Realm by Manipulating Light
Monday, March 4, 2013 - 14:27

Physicists at UC Santa Barbara are manipulating light on superconducting chips, and forging new pathways to building the quantum devices of the future –– including super-fast and powerful quantum computers.

 

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Vortex loops could untie knotty physics problems
Monday, March 4, 2013 - 13:40

University of Chicago physicists have succeeding in creating a vortex knot—a feat akin to tying a smoke ring into a knot. Linked and knotted vortex loops have existed in theory for more than a century, but creating them in the laboratory had previously eluded scientists.

 

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Man-made material pushes the bounds of superconductivity
Monday, March 4, 2013 - 13:14

A multi-university team of researchers has artificially engineered a unique multilayer material that could lead to breakthroughs in both superconductivity research and in real-world applications.

 

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