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Blast Chiller for the Quan­tum World

“The quantum nature of objects visible to the naked eye is currently a much-discussed research question. A team led by Innsbruck physicist Gerhard Kirchmair has now demonstrated a new method in the laboratory that could make the quantum properties of …

By detecting tiny flashes of heat, scientists pave way for more stable quantum computers

“An international collaboration between quantum scientists resulted in a new way to measure heat dissipation in superconducting quantum circuits – crucial building blocks for quantum technologies such as computers. The discovery represents a step forward for experimental quantum thermodynamics, the field …

Can you trust your quantum simulator?

“A new technique helps verify the accuracy of experiments that probe the strange behavior of atomic-scale systems. At the scale of individual atoms, physics gets weird. Researchers are working to reveal, harness, and control these strange quantum effects using quantum …

Chicken Egg Incubator with Arduino

“This is a tutorial for how to make a DIY chicken egg incubator from scratch (pun intended) with Arduino! Fully automated incubator! Story I have some chickens, but I want some more! Buying chicks at the store would be way …

China’s Mingyang looks ‘beyond 18MW’ with 140-metre blade offshore wind turbine giant

“Manufacturer claims latest leap in size and power means machine can supply almost 100,000 people and slash build costs. Mingyang Smart Energy set out its stall to take China’s offshore wind industry to a new level of ultra-large …

Computers that power self-driving cars could be a huge driver of global carbon emissions

“Study shows that if autonomous vehicles are widely adopted, hardware efficiency will need to advance rapidly to keep computing-related emissions in check. In the future, the energy needed to run the powerful computers on board a global fleet of autonomous …

Counting the transistors in the 8086 processor: it’s harder than you might think

“How many transistors are in Intel’s 8086 processor? This seems like a straightforward question, but it doesn’t have a straightforward answer. Most sources say that this processor has 29,000 transistors.1 However, I have traced out every …

Deflecting lightning with a laser lightning rod

“A European consortium led by UNIGE, École Polytechnique (Paris), EPFL, hes-so and TRUMPF has managed to guide lightning using a high-power laser installed at the top of Mount Säntis in Switzerland. Forest fires, power cuts and damaged infrastructure…lightning fascinates …

DNS DriveBy: Stealthy GPS Tracking Using Open Wi-Fi

“How I created a $10 ESP8266 GPS Tracker that uses Open Wi-Fi networks & DNS exfiltration for communication. Low-Cost Tracking Challenge In a recent Hak5 episode, I took part in a challenge to track our elusive friend, Irish, and determine the …

Dolphin-inspired compact sonar for enhanced underwater acoustic imaging

“Operationally fast compact sonar that incorporates sparsity-aware image processing could be used in underwater sensing or navigation. Underwater imaging sonars are an essential technology for ocean exploration. Biomimetic sonars that are inspired from marine mammals such as dolphins are an …