Innovation is about finding a better way of doing something. Like many of the new development buzzwords (which many of them are over-used on many business documents), the concept of innovation originates from the world of business. It refers to the generation of new products through the process of creative entrepreneurship, putting it into production, and diffusing it more widely through increased sales. Innovation can be viewed as t he application of better solutions that meet new requirements, in-articulated needs, or existing market needs. This is accomplished through more effective products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas that are readily available to markets, governments and society. The term innovation can be defined as something original and, as a consequence, new, that “breaks into” the market or society.
Innoveracy: Misunderstanding Innovation article points out that there is a form of ignorance which seems to be universal: the inability to understand the concept and role of innovation. The way this is exhibited is in the misuse of the term and the inability to discern the difference between novelty, creation, invention and innovation. The result is a failure to understand the causes of success and failure in business and hence the conditions that lead to economic growth. The definition of innovation is easy to find but it seems to be hard to understand. Here is a simple taxonomy of related activities that put innovation in context:
- Novelty: Something new
- Creation: Something new and valuable
- Invention: Something new, having potential value through utility
- Innovation: Something new and uniquely useful
The taxonomy is illustrated with the following diagram.
The differences are also evident in the mechanisms that exist to protect the works: Novelties are usually not protectable, Creations are protected by copyright or trademark, Inventions can be protected for a limited time through patents (or kept secret) and Innovations can be protected through market competition but are not defensible through legal means.
Innovation is a lot of talked about nowdays as essential to businesses to do. Is innovation essential for development work? article tells that innovation has become central to the way development organisations go about their work. In November 2011, Bill Gates told the G20 that innovation was the key to development. Donors increasingly stress innovation as a key condition for funding, and many civil society organisations emphasise that innovation is central to the work they do.
Some innovation ideas are pretty simple, and some are much more complicated and even sound crazy when heard first. The is place for crazy sounding ideas: venture capitalists are gravely concerned that the tech startups they’re investing in just aren’t crazy enough:
Not all development problems require new solutions, sometimes you just need to use old things in a slightly new way. Development innovations may involve devising technology (such as a nanotech water treatment kit), creating a new approach (such as microfinance), finding a better way of delivering public services (such as one-stop egovernment service centres), identifying ways of working with communities (such as participation), or generating a management technique (such as organisation learning).
Theorists of innovation identify innovation itself as a brief moment of creativity, to be followed by the main routine work of producing and selling the innovation. When it comes to development, things are more complicated. Innovation needs to be viewed as tool, not master. Innovation is a process, not a one time event. Genuine innovation is valuable but rare.
There are many views on the innovation and innvation process. I try to collect together there some views I have found on-line. Hopefully they help you more than confuze. Managing complexity and reducing risk article has this drawing which I think pretty well describes innovation as done in product development:
8 essential practices of successful innovation from The Innovator’s Way shows essential practices in innovation process. Those practices are all integrated into a non-sequential, coherent whole and style in the person of the innovator.
In the IT work there is lots of work where a little thinking can be a source of innovation. Automating IT processes can be a huge time saver or it can fail depending on situation. XKCD comic strip Automation as illustrates this:
System integration is a critical element in project design article has an interesting project cost influence graphic. The recommendation is to involve a system integrator early in project design to help ensure high-quality projects that satisfy project requirements. Of course this article tries to market system integration services, but has also valid points to consider.
Core Contributor Loop (CTTDC) from Art Journal blog posting Blog Is The New Black tries to link inventing an idea to theory of entrepreneurship. It is essential to tune the engine by making improvements in product, marketing, code, design and operations.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/brand-new-fibonacci-sequence-discovered-by-accident-in-attempt-to-harvest-sunlight/
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https://hackaday.com/2022/05/21/voyager-1-talks-some-nonsense-but-is-still-working/
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https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/13616-puhtaampi-pii-tekee-nopeammat-sirut
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https://hackaday.com/2022/05/24/graphyne-finally-created/
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This Nobel Prize Winner Explains Why You Need A Dose Of ‘Soft Insanity’ To Be Successful
https://www.forbes.com/sites/markmurphy/2022/05/24/this-nobel-prize-winner-explains-why-you-need-a-dose-of-soft-insanity-to-be-successful/?sh=434fa64b2506&utm_campaign=socialflowForbesMainFB&utm_medium=social&utm_source=ForbesMainFacebook
Not all great discoveries are lauded, nor are all scientists and creators showered with praise. In fact, history is replete with great minds who were doubted, sometimes ferociously.
But science-fiction notwithstanding, prior to 1995, astronomers who asserted the discovery of an exoplanet were dismissed and often attacked. Noted Canadian astronomer Gordon Walker has said that “It is quite hard nowadays to realize the atmosphere of skepticism and indifference in the 1980s to proposed searches for exoplanets.” He’s even told the story of a distinguished astronomer standing up and striding out of the room when he started a talk about searching for planets. Princeton astronomer Josh Winn describes the search for exoplanets as taking place in an “atmosphere of skepticism bordering on hostility.”
“It seems like it should be easy to find a planet,” notes Queloz. “You take a telescope, point to a star, and find a planet. But this is not effective because the star is extremely bright; you really don’t see the planet. So you have to use tricks and machinery that helps you to see better. And the trick we have been using is to try to detect not the planet itself, but the effect the planet is making on the star. You look at the star to find something that tells you there is a planet. In our case, we were looking for a tiny change of speed, called the radial velocity of the star.”
While Queloz did, in 1995, detect a change in speed, it was so rapid that he worried he had made a mistake.
Queloz told me, “When I first saw the data, my reaction was, ‘It must be wrong somewhere. There is something wrong.’ And it was a kind of a panic moment for me because I was in the last mile of my Ph.D. I was a little bit ashamed to communicate this potential error to my supervisor, Michel Mayor, because I thought I had made a mistake somewhere. So I really worked quite hard on that until the point in my mind where everything I’ve tried failed to remove the effect. I had to come to the conclusion that the effect must be real.”
“I came to this conclusion after more than four months of battling with the data,”
Notwithstanding his and Mayor’s thoroughness, much of the scientific community at the time was skeptical. Some critics alleged overreading of the data, while other attacks were more insidious, asserting that this wasn’t a new kind of planet but rather some unknown effect.
The skepticism wasn’t always easy to take.
How did he survive those years? This is where his “soft insanity” comes in. Rather than becoming embittered, ruminating about his critics, and dwelling on the past, he pressed on. He’s noted that when people ask him to name his best or favorite planet, his response is “the best one is the next one.”
“This is what I call the ‘soft insanity of success’,” he told me. “It’s like a drug; it’s an addiction to the novelty, to seeing a bit further, to be the first one to see something that nobody else has seen. It’s an emotional drug, and when you’ve experienced that, you want to experience it again.”
Queloz’s insights mirror recent research on employee engagement. For example, a Leadership IQ study found that people who find something interesting in every task or project are significantly more engaged than their less-interested peers. And people who are always learning new things are 10 times more likely to be inspired at work.
Queloz’s advice isn’t just for Nobel Laureates. “Most of us have something that we want to do,” he said in our conversation. “We feel good by doing it, because it brings us this positive energy that helps us to continue and to try to do something more.”
many successful people exhibit some version of Queloz’s “soft insanity.” The past is lovely and builds a nice resume, but it’s looking forward that drives true success.
It took more than two decades for Queloz to be awarded the Nobel Prize for his 1995 discovery.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Box: Think Outside Of It
https://hackaday.com/2022/05/28/the-box-think-outside-of-it/
There’s no single recipe for creativity, as far as I know. But this week on the Podcast, Tom Nardi and I were talking about a number of hacks that were particularly inventive, out-of-the-box, or just simply “how did they think of that?”. One possible route to something new is learning from other disciplines.
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Neutrons In The Double-Slit Experiment Really Do Individually Take Both Paths
https://www.iflscience.com/physics/neutrons-in-the-double-slit-experiment-really-do-individually-take-both-paths/
An important principle of quantum mechanics has been confirmed via a variation of a thought experiment suggested by Einstein, made possible by technological advances. The researchers provide evidence for quantum superposition using individual particles, rather than statistical techniques.
A team of scientists has performed the double-slit experiment using neutrons, adding spin measurement equipment to investigate the path each neutron takes with the rigor previous generations of physicists only imagined. In the journal Physical Review Research the authors report a result consistent with the neutron dividing itself, with part going through each slit
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This remote-controlled robot crab can sit on the side of a penny
https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/25/this-remote-controlled-robot-crab-can-sit-on-the-side-of-a-penny/
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A Dragon Comes Home A mechatronic dragon, body-area networks, photovoltaics that convert infrared light to electric charge, and more in this month’s Big Picture
https://spectrum.ieee.org/a-dragon-comes-home
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EAVESDROPPING ON THE BRAIN WITH 10,000 ELECTRODES
https://spectrum.ieee.org/brain-implant?share_id=7067224
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Two Time Crystals Have Been Successfully Linked Together For The First Time
MICHELLE STARR
2 JUNE 2022
Physicists have just taken an amazing step towards quantum devices that sound like something out of science fiction.
https://www.sciencealert.com/physicists-have-built-a-two-body-system-using-time-crystals-for-the-first-time
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Whirlwind in the material: Physicists take the world’s first image of a 3D magnetic field
https://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news2/newsid=60754.php
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Researchers discover new ‘unexpected’ phenomenon in quantum physics of materials
https://phys.org/news/2022-05-unexpected-phenomenon-quantum-physics-materials.html
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Science, Space, Health & Robotics
New ‘impossible’ discovery could make computers 400 times faster
Researchers have created one-way superconductivity, paving the way for superconductors to supersede semiconductors in electronics.
Read more: https://www.tweaktown.com/news/85968/new-impossible-discovery-could-make-computers-400-times-faster/index.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2022/06/01/tutkimustoiminta-kay-pk-yrityksissa-vajaateholla/
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Artificial Reefs Built from Sun and Seawater Will Protect the Isle of Man
June 9, 2022
As climate change threatens the world’s fragile coastlines, a team of entrepreneurs have found a way to protect them with living artificial reefs built from sunlight and seawater.
Lee Goldberg
https://www.electronicdesign.com/power-management/whitepaper/21243917/electronic-design-artificial-reefs-built-from-sun-and-seawater-will-protect-the-isle-of-man?utm_source=EG+ED+Analog+%26+Power+Source&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CPS220606053&o_eid=7211D2691390C9R&rdx.ident%5Bpull%5D=omeda%7C7211D2691390C9R&oly_enc_id=7211D2691390C9R
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.electronicdesign.com/industrial-automation/article/21234789/electronic-design-seedinspired-batteryfree-microflier-collects-data-as-it-drifts-along
Tomi Engdahl says:
Riettaan sekoilijalordin kolmekymppinen tytär aloitti digiajan
https://yle.fi/aihe/a/20-10002980
Ada Lovelace kuoli 36-vuotiaana syöpään vuonna 1852. Sitä ennen hän ideoi tietokoneen, kirjoitti sille ohjelman ja pohti, voiko tietokone ajatella. Ada oli ihminen, jonka supervoima oli mielikuvitus.
Sinulla on tietokone ja älypuhelin osin sen ansiosta, että englantilainen aatelisnainen nimeltään Annabella hermostui lopullisesti aviomieheensä parisataa vuotta sitten. Mies oli kyllä suuri runoilija, mutta puolisona ja perheenjäsenenä aivan sietämätön.
Lady Byron oli itse lahjakas ja oppia saanut ihminen, ja hän arvosti kaikkea järkevää. Miestään katsellessaan hän oli alle vuodessa tullut siihen tulokseen, että runous, mielikuvitus ja sen kaltaiset seikat olivat ihmiselle lähinnä haitallisia. Tytärtä piti varjella Byronien huonolta hengenperinnöltä, kuten runoilulta.
Tytär vaikutti – isästään huolimatta – äitinsä silmissä lahjakkaalta ja fiksulta. Äiti aloitti Adan koulutuksen, kun tyttö oli nelivuotias. Mikä olisi mahdollisimman päinvastaista kuin isä-Byronin meininki?
Matematiikka. Tietenkin.
Lady Byronin suunnitteleman kasvatuksen johtava periaate oli se, että kaiken opetettavan piti olla mahdollisimman kaukana tytön isän edustamasta runoudesta, rappiosta, riettaudesta ja muusta haitallisesta.
Matematiikka oli toisesta maailmasta, siitä lordi Byron tuskin ymmärsi mitään, ainakin jos katsoi hänen paisuvia velkasaldojaan.
Jo nuorena aatelisneito Ada oli kiinnostunut mekaniikasta ja koneista. Hän suunnitteli lentävää laitetta, joka toimisi höyryvoimalla. Kun Ada aikuistui, hänet esiteltiin hovissa kuninkaalle ja kuningattarelle.
Samoihin aikoihin ovi avautui paljon kiinnostavampiinkin piireihin: Ada pääsi tieteentekijöiden tapaamiseen ja puheisiin matemaatikko ja filosofi Charles Babbagen kanssa. Heillä oli heti paljon yhteistä. Babbage oli kehittelemässä mekaanista laitetta, jolla voisi käsitellä lukuja.
Jonkinlainen laskukone siis. Joskus paljon myöhemmin sellaista laitetta sanottaisiin tietokoneeksi.
Ada naitettiin aatelismiehelle. Hänestä tuli Lovelacen kreivitär. Hän synnytti kolme lasta. Hänellä oli terveyshuolia ja kipuja, mutta onneksi isossa herraskartanossa oli henkilökuntaa tenavia kaitsemassa.
Ada palasi matematiikan pariin.
Ajattelu pitäisi hänet elossa.
Tutkijaystävä Charles Babbage oli koneensa kanssa vaikeuksissa. Ada avusti häntä matematiikan ja älyllisen keskustelun lisäksi myös kielitaidollaan: sivistyneenä ja hyvin kasvatettuna henkilönä hän osasi erinomaisesti ranskaa ja pystyi kääntämään ranskasta englantiin vaikeatajuisen tieteellisen artikkelin, josta oli suurta apua tietokoneen kehitystyössä.
Kaikki tosin eivät pitäneet artikkelia tärkeänä, koska sen oli kääntänyt nainen.
Voiko tietokone ajatella?
Ada Lovelace ideoi laitteen, joka pelkän laskemisen lisäksi pystyisi käsittelemään myös sanoja, symboleita, jopa musiikkia. Hän oli ensimmäinen ihminen, joka pystyi ajattelemaan, että tietokone voisi olla enemmän kuin pelkkä laskukone.
Ada Lovelace kuoli 36-vuotiaana kohtusyöpään vuonna 1852.
Sitä ennen hän oli ehtinyt yhdessä Charles Babbagen kanssa ideoida tietokoneen, kirjoittaa sille ohjelman eli algoritmin, kääntää ja itsekin kirjoittaa tieteellisiä artikkeleita ja pohtia, voiko tietokone ajatella.
Hän tuli siihen tulokseen, että ei voi.
Adan voima oli mielikuvitus. Hän pystyi kuvittelemaan asioita, joita ei ollut olemassa vielä hänen elinaikanaan. Vaikka lady Byron vihasi mielikuvitusta yli kaiken ja halusi karsia tämmöisen haihatuksen tyttärestään kokonaan pois, juuri mielikuvitus osoittautui aikuisen Adan supervoimaksi.
Nykyään, kun kehitetään tekoälyä, yhden työvälineen nimi on Ada Lovelacen testi. Kone läpäisee sen vain, jos se pystyy itsekseen luomaan jotain omaperäistä.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Internet Is Aflutter with Claims Of Alien Signals Detected By World’s Largest Telescope
A few news outlets in China have reported the claim that the 500-meter FAST radio telescope may have detected alien signals
https://www.iflscience.com/internet-is-aflutter-with-claims-of-alien-signals-detected-by-worlds-largest-telescope-64067
Tomi Engdahl says:
New Logic Gates Are a Million Times Faster Than Those in Today’s Chips
By Edd Gent -May 23, 202218,377
As Moore’s Law begins to slow, the search is on for new ways to keep the exponential rise in processing speeds going. New research suggests that an exotic approach known as “lightwave electronics” could be a promising new avenue.
https://singularityhub.com/2022/05/23/new-logic-gates-are-a-million-times-faster-than-todays-chips/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://phys.org/news/2022-06-twin-photons-quantum-dots.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Recent College Graduates Are Expressing Buyer’s Remorse
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2022/06/07/recent-college-graduates-are-expressing-buyers-remorse/
Many recent college graduates report feeling confused and lacking confidence about the value of their education and readiness for their careers. That’s one of the main takeaways from Cengage Group’s 2022 Graduate Employability Report, a survey of 1,000 graduates who completed a degree or non-degree program in the last 12 months.
Here are some of the main findings:
Graduates are skeptical about their education’s contribution to career “readiness.” Among college degree graduates, only 41% believed their education was a good indication of the skills they possessed. Among the non-degree completers, 49% said the same thing.
Graduates also express uncertainty about whether they are sufficiently prepared for the workplace, and if the skills they do possess are matched to their career goals. As a result, 49% of recent graduates said they didn’t apply for entry level jobs because they felt underqualified.
Added to the loan debt many graduates have assumed, many are feeling “buyer’s remorse” – just 25% said they would follow the same education path that they had originally taken.
In addition, more than half of all graduates (55%) admitted to second thoughts about the specific academic program they were studying, and 41% of graduates said that if they had it to do over again, they would focus on getting a credential in a more “in-demand field.”
Compared to the 55% of traditional degree graduates reporting second thoughts about the degree they were studying for, the “second thought” percentage for non-degree graduates was a bit lower, standing at 46%.
Today’s graduates disagree with the requirement of a college degree that employers still impose for many jobs. In fact, when it comes to job qualifications, 61% of graduates (compared to 58% in 2021) believe that employers should stop requiring two- or four-year degrees for many positions.
Graduates are open to, and interested in, additional workforce training – 95% said they would pursue online training and credential programs if their employer covered the cost.
Commenting on the findings, Michael E. Hansen, CEO of Cengage Group, said, “Various economic circumstances – inflation spiking, job opportunities and resignations flourishing, and a potential recession looming – are pushing many graduates to question their education and career choices. On top of that, a growing focus on skills-based hiring juxtaposed with the stigma of non-degree programs are leaving graduates confused about what education pathways provide a good return on investment and best prepare them for the workforce.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://futurism.com/the-byte/microscope-technique-powerful-watch-atoms-vibrate
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.llnl.gov/news/physics-based-cryptocurrency-transmits-energy-not-just-information-through-blockchain
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://phys.org/news/2022-06-collapsing-theory-quantum-consciousness.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
The end of film photography and the rise of deep learning are both easily explained within the brilliant expositions of Clayton Christensen.
Deep Learning’s Little-Known Debt to The Innovator’s Dilemma A small band of believers triumphed after years of quietly plugging away
https://spectrum.ieee.org/deep-learnings-little-known-debt-to-the-innovators-dilemma?utm_campaign=RebelMouse&socialux=facebook&share_id=7097768&utm_medium=social&utm_content=IEEE+Spectrum&utm_source=facebook
In 1997, Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen created a sensation among venture capitalists and entrepreneurs with his book The Innovator’s Dilemma. The lesson that most people remember from it is that a well-run business can’t afford to switch to a new approach—one that ultimately will replace its current business model—until it is too late.
One of the most famous examples of this conundrum involved photography. The large, very profitable companies that made film for cameras knew in the mid-1990s that digital photography would be the future, but there was never really a good time for them to make the switch. At almost any point they would have lost money. So what happened, of course, was that they were displaced by new companies making digital cameras.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.livescience.com/magnetic-higgs-relative-discovered
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://phys.org/news/2022-06-breakthrough-paves-photonic-ultimate-quantum.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Flame-Sprayed Nano-Sensor Can Warn of Harmful Pesticide Residue on Fruit in Just Five Minutes
Shelf-stable for months and produced at a low cost, these nano-sensors could help ensure the food you buy is safe to eat.
https://www.hackster.io/news/flame-sprayed-nano-sensor-can-warn-of-harmful-pesticide-residue-on-fruit-in-just-five-minutes-2d13f21d8d20
Tomi Engdahl says:
This MOF E-Nose, Connected to a Machine Learning Brain, Can Sniff Out Various VOC Mixtures
Offering a 96.5 percent accuracy in distinguishing different xylene mixtures, this compact sensor can replace a gas chromatograph.
https://www.hackster.io/news/this-mof-e-nose-connected-to-a-machine-learning-brain-can-sniff-out-various-voc-mixtures-5fd500bf325a
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Ten years after the Higgs, physicists face the nightmare of finding nothing else
Unless Europe’s Large Hadron Collider coughs up a surprise, the field of particle physics may wheeze to its end
https://www.science.org/content/article/ten-years-after-higgs-physicists-face-nightmare-finding-nothing-else
BACK TO ALL NEWS
NEWSPHYSICS
Ten years after the Higgs, physicists face the nightmare of finding nothing else
Unless Europe’s Large Hadron Collider coughs up a surprise, the field of particle physics may wheeze to its end
13 JUN 20221:30 PMBYADRIAN CHO
Work on the ATLAS detector earlier this year at CERN
ATLAS, one of the Large Hadron Collider’s four main detectors, has been upgraded for the new run of the giant particle collider and will start to take data in July.MAXIMILIEN BRICE/CERN
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A version of this story appeared in Science, Vol 376, Issue 6599.
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A decade ago, particle physicists thrilled the world. On 4 July 2012, 6000 researchers working with the world’s biggest atom smasher, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European particle physics laboratory, CERN, announced they had discovered the Higgs boson, a massive, fleeting particle key to their abstruse explanation of how other fundamental particles get their mass. The discovery fulfilled a 45-year-old prediction, completed a theory called the standard model, and thrust physicists into the spotlight.
Then came a long hangover.
Axial Higgs mode: Elusive particle discovered in a material through tabletop experiment
https://phys.org/news/2022-06-axial-higgs-mode-elusive-particle.html
An interdisciplinary team led by Boston College physicists has discovered a new particle—or previously undetectable quantum excitation—known as the axial Higgs mode, a magnetic relative of the mass-defining Higgs Boson particle, the team reports in the online edition of the journal Nature.
The detection a decade ago of the long-sought Higgs Boson became central to the understanding of mass. Unlike its parent, axial Higgs mode has a magnetic moment, and that requires a more complex form of the theory to explain its properties, said Boston College Professor of Physics Kenneth Burch, a lead co-author of the report “Axial Higgs Mode Detected by Quantum Pathway Interference in RTe3.”
Theories that predicted the existence of such a mode have been invoked to explain “dark matter,” the nearly invisible material that makes up much of the universe, but only reveals itself via gravity, Burch said.
Whereas Higgs Boson was revealed by experiments in a massive particle collider, the team focused on RTe3, or rare-earth tritelluride, a well-studied quantum material that can be examined at room temperature in a “tabletop” experimental format.
“It’s not every day you find a new particle sitting on your tabletop,” Burch said.
RTe3 has properties that mimic the theory that produces the axial Higgs mode, Burch said.
“The detection of the axial Higgs was predicted in high-energy particle physics to explain dark matter,” Burch said. “However, it has never been observed. Its appearance in a condensed matter system was completely surprising and heralds the discovery of a new broken symmetry state that had not been predicted. Unlike the extreme conditions typically required to observe new particles, this was done at room temperature in a table top experiment where we achieve quantum control of the mode by just changing the polarization of light.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://phys.org/news/2022-06-quantum-sensor-electromagnetic-frequency.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why Graphyne Isn’t Graphene 2.0 Made in bulk for the first time, this new carbon allotrope is the semiconductor graphene isn’t
https://spectrum.ieee.org/graphyne-wondering-over-the-new-wonder-material?share_id=7108651
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Humans Can Learn to ‘Echolocate’ in Just 10 Weeks, Experiment Shows
CARLY CASSELLA
20 JUNE 2022
https://www.sciencealert.com/most-humans-can-learn-how-to-echolocate-in-just-10-weeks-experiment-shows
With enough training, most humans can learn how to echolocate, using their tongue to make clicking sounds and interpreting the echoes that come back, reflected from the surrounding environment.
In as few as 10 weeks, researchers have been able to teach participants how to navigate obstacles and recognize the size and orientation of objects using the rebounding calls of their clicks.
The experiment, the results of which were published in 2021, involved 12 participants who’d been diagnosed as legally blind during their childhood, and 14 sighted people.
Echolocation is a skill we usually associate with animals such as bats and whales, but some blind humans also use the echoes of their own sounds to detect obstacles and their outlines.
Despite how useful this skill can be, very few blind people are currently taught how to do it. Expert echolocators have been trying to spread the word for years, and this study suggests a simple training schedule is all that’s needed.
“I cannot think of any other work with blind participants that has had such enthusiastic feedback,” said psychologist Lore Thaler from Durham University in the UK in June last year when the results were published.
Over the course of 20 training sessions, which were about 2 to 3 hours long, researchers found that blind and sighted participants, both old and young, all improved considerably at click-based echolocation.
For weeks, participants were trained to navigate virtual mazes – corridors arranged in T-intersections, U bends, and zig-zags – and identify the size and orientation of objects using mouth clicks.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ultra-Thin Capacitors Made of Barium Titanate Could Dramatically Boost Electronic Efficiency
Material discovered nearly a hundred years ago now considered a candidate for the future of processors and other electronics.
https://www.hackster.io/news/ultra-thin-capacitors-made-of-barium-titanate-could-dramatically-boost-electronic-efficiency-8e1e34753582
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Evolutionary tree of life: modern science is showing how we got so much wrong
https://theconversation.com/evolutionary-tree-of-life-modern-science-is-showing-how-we-got-so-much-wrong-185077
Tomi Engdahl says:
Plants Appear to Be Breaking Biochemistry Rules by Making ‘Secret Decisions’
https://www.sciencealert.com/plants-are-making-decisions-about-how-much-carbon-to-release-breaking-biochemistry-rules
Researchers have just discovered a previously unknown process that makes sense of the ‘secret decisions’ plants make when releasing carbon back into the atmosphere.
“We found that plants control their respiration in a way we did not expect, they control how much of the carbon from photosynthesis they keep to build biomass by using a metabolic channel,” University of Western Australia plant biochemist Harvey Millar told ScienceAlert.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Quantum microphone works even better than a regular one
By detecting tiny movements of particles of light, a quantum microphone has recorded human speech that is easier to understand than if it is captured by an equivalent classical version
Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2325051-quantum-microphone-works-even-better-than-a-regular-one/#ixzz7XCrKdRwA
Tomi Engdahl says:
Newly developed optical microphone sees sound like never before
https://techxplore.com/news/2022-06-newly-optical-microphone.html
A camera system developed by Carnegie Mellon University researchers can see sound vibrations with such precision and detail that it can reconstruct the music of a single instrument in a band or orchestra.
Tomi Engdahl says:
This Amplifier Chip for Light Is Faint No More The new device boosts signals 1,000 times and promises applications in telecom and lidar
https://spectrum.ieee.org/chip-scale-photonic-amplifier
Tomi Engdahl says:
Meet HyperTaste, an AI-Assisted Electronic Tongue IBM researchers built an e-tongue that can analyze the chemical composition of liquids
https://spectrum.ieee.org/meet-hypertaste-an-ai-assisted-electronic-tongue
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://phys.org/news/2022-06-world-ultra-fast-photonic-processor-polarization.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Remembering Data Compression Pioneer K. R. Rao The University of Texas professor co-invented discrete cosine transform
https://spectrum.ieee.org/krrao-tribute
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://phys.org/news/2022-06-insight-fast-emergence-magnetization.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.iflscience.com/youtuber-wins-world-record-for-worlds-first-retractable-lightsaber-62376
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://futurism.com/the-byte/make-infrared-light-visible-humans
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-develop-nanomachines-that-can-penetrate-and-kill-cancer-cells/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://fivemedia.com/gallery/the-future-as-seen-from-the-past/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://beta.nsf.gov/news/engineers-use-honey-make-brain-computer-chips
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://futurism.com/the-byte/levitating-objects-sound-waves