Credit: Image courtesy of Technion – Israel Institute of Technology

Technion researchers have demonstrated, for the first time, that laser emissions can be created through the interaction of light and water waves. This “water-wave laser” could someday be used in tiny sensors that combine light waves, sound and water waves, or as a feature on microfluidic “lab-on-a-chip” devices used to study cell biology and to test new drug therapies. For now, the water-wave laser offers a “playground” for scientists studying the interaction of light and fluid at a scale smaller than the width of a human hair.

The study is the first bridge between two areas of research that were previously considered unrelated to one another: nonlinear optics and water waves...

As well as being the thinnest, strongest and lightest known material, graphene is flexible, impermeable and extremely electrically and thermally conductive. All properties well suited for next generation NFC antennas. Credit: Image courtesy of Graphene Flagship

Near-field communication (NFC) is a set of communication protocols that enables 2 electronic devices to transfer data. The most distinctive characteristic of NFC is the fact that it can transmit small amounts of data wireless only within a close range while other methods, such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, have a wide transmit range of up to 10 or even 100m. The reason why NFC technology is used to identify objects is that, with such a close transmitting range, it is more secure and less vulnerable to data hijacking...

This collage summarizes the research. Using the Okayama 188-cm Reflector Telescope and the observational instrument MuSCAT (See real photo on the bottom left.), researchers succeeded in observing the extrasolar planet K2-3d, which is about the same size and temperature as the Earth, pass in front of its host star blocking some of the light coming from the star (See artistic visualization at the top.), making it appear to dim (See real data on the bottom right.).(credit: NAOJ)

NAOJ, University of Tokyo, and Astrobiology Center among others havve observed the transit of a potentially Earth-like extrasolar planet, K2-3d using the MuSCAT instrument on the Okayama Astrophysical Observatory 188-cm telescope...

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Harvard-Smithsonian CfA About 4.6 billion years ago, a cloud of gas and dust that eventually formed our solar system was disturbed. The ensuing gravitational collapse formed the proto-Sun with a surrounding disc where the planets were born. That cloud might be similar to some region in this much larger complex of gas and dust about 4,500 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus observed by NASA’s Spitzer Telescope.

A research team led by University of Minnesota School of Physics and Astronomy Professor Yong-Zhong Qian uses new models and evidence from meteorites to show that a low-mass supernova triggered the formation of our solar system. About 4.6 billion years ago, a cloud of gas and dust that eventually formed our solar system was disturbed...