Map signals existence of other universes

PTI May 21, 2013, 05.11AM IST
LONDON: Scientists believe they have for the first time found evidence of the existence of other universes by analyzing data gathered by the European Space Agency's Planck spacecraft.
Theories that our universe could be just one of billions — or perhaps an infinite number — have been discussed for decades but until now, they have not been backed by any evidence.
However, a few weeks ago, scientists published a new map of the cosmic microwave background — the 'radiation' left behind after the Big Bang that created the universe 13.8 billion years ago. The map, based on the Planck's data, showed anomalies in the background radiation that, some experts say, could only have been caused by the gravitational pull of other universes outside our own.
"These anomalies are the first hard evidence for the existence of other universes that we have seen,, " said Laura Mersini-Houghton , a theoretical physicist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mersini-Houghton and her colleague Richard Holman at Carnegie Mellon University published a series of papers from 2005 onwards predicting what Planck would see. In particular, they claimed that the ancient radiation permeating our universe would show anomalies generated by the pull from other universes . The scientists analyzing the Planck data have now published a paper acknowledging the anomalies exist and cannot be explained by conventional means.
"It may be that the statistical anomalies described in this paper are a hint of more profound physical phenomena that are yet to be revealed," it said.
Planck gathered radiation from when the universe was just 3,70,000 years old — still glowing from the Big Bang. Planck's data showed the radiation is stronger in one half of the sky than the other. There is also a large 'cold' spot where the temperature is below average
No comments:

NRI teen invents 20-second phone charger

, TNN | May 21, 2013, 12.21 AM IST
READ MORE Intel|Gordon Moore|Saratoga|Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award|Eesha Khare
NRI teen invents 20-second phone charger
Eesha Khare (18) of California with top winner Ionut Budisteanu (19) (centre) and second winner Henry Lin (17) at the Intel fair in Phoenix.
WASHINGTON: Teenagers of Indian origin won a raft of prizes at the annual Intel science bash in what's now par for course, but although the top prize eluded them, the most electrifying breakthrough came from Indian-American high-schooler. A device she has developed can fully charge a cell phone in 20 to 30 seconds in what will be a boon for a gazillion mobile users who need to juice up their cell phones quickly.

Eesha Khare, 18, of Saratoga, California received the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award of $50,000 for developing a fast-charging supercapacitor that fits inside a cell phone, charge the battery in under a minute, and hold it for long. Khare says the device will also result in batteries that can last for 10,000 charge-recharge cycles, compared with 1,000 cycles for conventional rechargeable batteries.

"My cellphone battery always dies," she told journalists in Phoenix where the annual Intel science fiesta for young gearheads took place last week, in an obvious explanation for why she had worked on energy-storage technology, besides the fact that it allowed her to focus on her interest in nanochemistry. She said the technology also has potential applications for car batteries and other devices, while declaring she will be going to Harvard this fall to pursue research in nanochemistry.

Neither Eesha nor Intel offered any details of the breakthrough, which if validated, would be worth tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars, revolutionizing battery technology across the board, from mobile devices to computers and cars. The award cited Eesha for "Design and Synthesis of Hydrogenated TiO2-Polyaniline Nanorods for Flexible High-Performance," geek-speak for developing a new kind of supercapacitor. Typically, supercapacitors have higher energy density than conventional batteries.

To think that phone and battery companies would have overlooked the magic bullet of fast charging battery, manna to all gadget junkies, seems almost inconceivable, but to paraphrase the popular tv program of yesteryears: Kids to the darnedest things.

Meantime, the top prize of $ 75,000, called the Gordon Moore Award after Intel's legendary co-founder, went to Ionut Budisteanu, 19, of Romania for using artificial intelligence to create a viable model for a low-cost, self-driving car. The teenager's work found wide appreciation for addressing a major global issue. In 2004, car accidents caused 2.5 million deaths worldwide and 87 percent of crashes resulted from driver error.

With 3-D radar and mounted cameras, Ionut created a feasible design for an autonomously controlled car that could detect traffic lanes and curbs, along with the real-time position of the car - and it would only cost $4,000. Again, this is something many companies, notably Google, has been working on. But the technology from established companies is expected to be far more expensive.

Indian teens also won other prizes, including the top prize for mathematical sciences going to Vinay Iyengar and the top prize for environmental sciences going to Naomi Shah, both of Portland, Oregon.
No comments:

Make 3D images without camera

PTI | May 17, 2013, 07.05 AM IST
READ MORE University of Glasgow|Digital Camera|3D images
LONDON: Single-pixel power! UK scientists have found a way to make sophisticated 3D images without using the conventional digital cameras. Their system uses simple, cheap detectors which have just a single pixel to sense light instead of the millions of pixels used in the imaging sensors of digital cameras.

The technology developed by researchers from the University of Glasgow's school of physics and astronomy could be used to create much more affordable forms of 3D imaging in the future.

By using detectors capable of sensing frequencies beyond visible light, it could even open new possibilities in other fields including medicine and geography.

"Single-pixel detectors in four different locations are used to detect light from a data projector, which illuminates objects with a rapidly-shifting sequence of black-and-white patterns similar to crossword puzzles," professor Miles Padgett, lead researcher, said.

When more of the white squares of these patterns overlap with the object the intensity of the light reflected back to the detectors is higher. A series of projected patterns and the reflected intensities are used in a computer algorithm to produce a 2D image. Four detectors give images, each of which contain shadows, giving us clues about the 3D shape of the object. Combining the four images using a well-known technique known as 'shape from shade' allows us to create a full 3D image of the object," Padgett said
No comments:
Subscribe to: Comments (Atom)