Lifeboat Foundation

Electronics have tons of gold and copper so we need to consider a global recovery and recycling electronics.

Three photojournalists have created an in-depth report on electronic waste — its negative and… positive… consequences.

What if you could hide an image in plain sight—so well that even the most advanced cameras couldn’t detect it? Imagine encoding visual information using the properties of quantum optics, rendering it invisible to normal imaging technology.

A new type of OLED (organic light emitting diode) could replace bulky night vision goggles with lightweight glasses, making them cheaper and more practical for prolonged use, according to University of Michigan researchers.

A new study led by researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities is providing new insights into how next-generation electronics, including memory components in computers, break down or degrade over time. Understanding the reasons for degradation could help improve efficiency of data storage solutions.

A new study led by researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities is providing new insights into how next-generation electronics, including memory components in computers, breakdown or degrade over time. Understanding the reasons for degradation could help improve efficiency of data storage solutions.

The research is published in ACS Nano (“Uncovering Atomic Migrations Behind Magnetic Tunnel Junction Breakdown”).

For the first time, researchers were able to observe a “pinhole” within a device and observe how it degrades in real-time. (Image: Mkhoyan Lab, University of Minnesota)

Today’s computers reach their physical limits when it comes to speed. Semiconductor components usually operate at a maximum usable frequency of a few gigahertz – which corresponds to several billion computing operations per second. As a result, modern systems rely on several chips to divide up the computing tasks because the speed of the individual chips cannot be increased any further. However, if light (photons) were used instead of electricity (electrons) in computer chips, they could be up to 1,000 times faster.

Plasmonic resonators, also known as “antennas for light”, are a promising way of achieving this leap in speed. These are nanometre-sized metal structures in which light and electrons interact. Depending on their geometry, they can interact with different light frequencies.

“The challenge is that plasmonic resonators cannot yet be effectively modulated, as is the case with transistors in conventional electronics. This hinders the development of fast light-based switches,” says Dr. Thorsten Feichtner, physicist at Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany.

A pen that can transform Braille into English text has been developed by experts at the University of Bristol.

Braille literacy is frequently reported as being in decline. This is despite visually impaired people often expressing a desire to learn it, and Braille literacy being a highly valued skill by those who are capable. This is often attributed to the lack of available learning resources, particularly away from large urban centers.

The handheld device, which includes a one-centimeter sensor with 19 channels programmed to read Braille, has demonstrated high accuracy in early trials.

Laser-plasma accelerators take up less space than conventional facilities, which are sometimes kilometers long. Such compact particle sources can accelerate electron bunches efficiently, enabling X-ray lasers that fit in the basement of a university institute.

Cornell University researchers have demonstrated that acoustic sound waves can be used to control the motion of an electron as it orbits a lattice defect in a diamond, a technique that can potentially improve the sensitivity of quantum sensors and be used in other quantum devices.