Category Physics

BLOODHOUND SSC during construction at the Bloodhound Technical Centre, Avonmouth, summer 2015. Credit: Author provided

It’s a staggering feat, a car faster than the speed of sound. On Oct 15 1997, Andy Green travelled across the Black Rock Desert, Nevada, in the Thrust SSC at 763.035 mph, or Mach 1.02. Two decades on, that record remains unchallenged. Until now. Back in 2007, a small team of British engineers headed up by Richard Noble and Andy Green decided to have a pop at the world land speed record once more. This time, their sights were set on 1,000mph...

A three-dimensional depiction of the spatial variation of the optical electromagnetic field around a microantenna following excitation with terahertz pulse. The optical field is mapped with the aid of electron pulses. Credit: Illustration by Peter Baum

Temporally varying electromagnetic fields are the driving force behind the whole of electronics. Their polarities can change at mind-bogglingly fast rates, and it is difficult to capture them in action. However, a better understanding of the dynamics of field variation in electronic components, such as transistors, is indispensable for future advances in electronics...

Scientists at EPFL and ETHZ have developed a new method for building microrobots that could be used in the body to deliver drugs and perform other medical operations. Credit: Selman Sakar

The robots enter the human body, where they can deliver drugs at specific locations or perform precise operations like clearing clogged-up arteries. By replacing invasive, often complicated surgery, they could optimize medicine. EPFL and ETHZ scientists developed a simple and versatile method for building such bio-inspired robots and equipping them with advanced features. They also created a platform for testing several robot designs and studying different modes of locomotion. Their work produced complex reconfigurable microrobots that can be manufactured with high throughput...

A representation of the quantum state in the new Yale device. Crucial to its success, the researchers say, is the ability to successfully detect and sort errors. Credit: Yale University

Yale researchers have crossed the “break even” point in preserving a bit of quantum information for longer than the lifetime of its constituent parts. They have created a novel system to encode, spot errors, decode, and correct errors in a quantum bit, ie “qubit.” The development of such a robust method of Quantum Error Correction (QEC) has been one of the biggest remaining hurdles in quantum computation.

“This is the first error correction to actually detect and correct naturally occurring errors,” said Robert Schoelkopf, Sterling Professor of Applied Physics and Physics at Yale...